Paul Noronha woke me up from a noon snooze to say 'your friend' Varad Giri has got the Wildlife Service Award from Sanctuary Asia. A pride moment. Certainly happy. Know the gentleman working on caecilians (a group of limbless, serpentine amphibians), geckos, frogs. He belongs to an Indian wildlife tradition, a lineage, trying to keep the Indian part of the Earth green and being always failed by governments and corporates. 'Jo bacha kucha hai, usko bachane ka kaam hai, saab,' he remarked, the Kolhapur boy, working at the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). He has taken me on tours to Western Ghats, not anything technical, just for a feel of the Ghats; and the Konkan coast in search of Oliver Riddley turtles; that blessedness remains. Wish he writes of himself, caecilians, frogs, geckos, snakes; assured of one reader, me; but he is a reluctant writer. With his bino, black eyes, he spots a gecko on a rock where none can. His friends are ordinary; a gecko has no profile; a caecilian none cares. Somewhat like Zafar Futehally with Shanti Chandola and Ashish Chandola in The Song of the Magpie Robin. A Magpie Robin, who is that? 'One bird which was always seen in our garden was the Magpie Robin, and I began to keep regular notes about its activities -- its food, nesting, response to other creatures and above all, its calls and song. After months of silence in the non-breeding season, it attempted to sing amateurishly in early February. Slowly and steadily its initial twitterings coalesced into a powerful melodius song, which was also its weapon to keep away intruders who tried to share the resources of its domain. By mid-April, the song of this maestro consisted of almost 19 notes. Delivered early morning from the topmost branch of a casuarina tree in our compound; this was certainly the delight of the season,' writes Zafar. In the 1950s, someone wrote 'rubbish' about Magpie Robin in The Times of India. Salim Ali protested to editor J.N. Nanporia, recommended Zafar....'That is how I started to write 'Birdwatcher's Dairy' and continued doing so for close to 30 years, second only to M.Krishnan's Country Notebook in The Statesman (Calcutta),' Zafar informs. 9In recent times, The Indian Express runs a Sunday column,Down in Jungleland, by Ranjit Lal. At LIC Colony one has sighted Magpie Robins by their cheeps but not the Zafar manner; they are a delight. Zafar was born on March 19, 1920 at Andheri (Bombay), when his father took a horse carriage to Andheri railway station and then the local to Churchgate in 45 minutes. His house, Gulshun, stood in a two and a half acre garden, purchased by father from the Homi Mody family in 1918 for Rs.18,000. Perhaps, Zafar saw the first Magpie Robin at Gulshun. Not crying over change; rather over the quality of change; can Mumbai not have less noise and less cars, more green and more birds in its Smart City morph; Zafar Futehally was perhaps the longest serving Honorary Secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society from 1961 to 1973. In these years, the Society sat in its permanent offices at Hornbill House, named after William, the Great Pied Hornbill, who lived at the Society and was its mascot, reminds the Introduction. Will BNHS have a remit with the Bihar government ordering culling of nilgais? Nitishji please do not be so heartless. Reserve some space for Varad Giri and his cecilians. Smart Cities need Varad Giris most. For Smart City Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, Varad Giris could be best.
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Varad Giri
Paul Noronha woke me up from a noon snooze to say 'your friend' Varad Giri has got the Wildlife Service Award from Sanctuary Asia. A pride moment. Certainly happy. Know the gentleman working on caecilians (a group of limbless, serpentine amphibians), geckos, frogs. He belongs to an Indian wildlife tradition, a lineage, trying to keep the Indian part of the Earth green and being always failed by governments and corporates. 'Jo bacha kucha hai, usko bachane ka kaam hai, saab,' he remarked, the Kolhapur boy, working at the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). He has taken me on tours to Western Ghats, not anything technical, just for a feel of the Ghats; and the Konkan coast in search of Oliver Riddley turtles; that blessedness remains. Wish he writes of himself, caecilians, frogs, geckos, snakes; assured of one reader, me; but he is a reluctant writer. With his bino, black eyes, he spots a gecko on a rock where none can. His friends are ordinary; a gecko has no profile; a caecilian none cares. Somewhat like Zafar Futehally with Shanti Chandola and Ashish Chandola in The Song of the Magpie Robin. A Magpie Robin, who is that? 'One bird which was always seen in our garden was the Magpie Robin, and I began to keep regular notes about its activities -- its food, nesting, response to other creatures and above all, its calls and song. After months of silence in the non-breeding season, it attempted to sing amateurishly in early February. Slowly and steadily its initial twitterings coalesced into a powerful melodius song, which was also its weapon to keep away intruders who tried to share the resources of its domain. By mid-April, the song of this maestro consisted of almost 19 notes. Delivered early morning from the topmost branch of a casuarina tree in our compound; this was certainly the delight of the season,' writes Zafar. In the 1950s, someone wrote 'rubbish' about Magpie Robin in The Times of India. Salim Ali protested to editor J.N. Nanporia, recommended Zafar....'That is how I started to write 'Birdwatcher's Dairy' and continued doing so for close to 30 years, second only to M.Krishnan's Country Notebook in The Statesman (Calcutta),' Zafar informs. 9In recent times, The Indian Express runs a Sunday column,Down in Jungleland, by Ranjit Lal. At LIC Colony one has sighted Magpie Robins by their cheeps but not the Zafar manner; they are a delight. Zafar was born on March 19, 1920 at Andheri (Bombay), when his father took a horse carriage to Andheri railway station and then the local to Churchgate in 45 minutes. His house, Gulshun, stood in a two and a half acre garden, purchased by father from the Homi Mody family in 1918 for Rs.18,000. Perhaps, Zafar saw the first Magpie Robin at Gulshun. Not crying over change; rather over the quality of change; can Mumbai not have less noise and less cars, more green and more birds in its Smart City morph; Zafar Futehally was perhaps the longest serving Honorary Secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society from 1961 to 1973. In these years, the Society sat in its permanent offices at Hornbill House, named after William, the Great Pied Hornbill, who lived at the Society and was its mascot, reminds the Introduction. Will BNHS have a remit with the Bihar government ordering culling of nilgais? Nitishji please do not be so heartless. Reserve some space for Varad Giri and his cecilians. Smart Cities need Varad Giris most. For Smart City Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, Varad Giris could be best.
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Devarajan saab, it is great privilege to read this blog!
ReplyDeleteYou are one of the few people I met in my life, who really influenced me to love and care for nature. I know things are not going to remain same and we are loosing many things at a great pace. I do not feel that it is possible now to stop this damage but I am trying my best to document the biodiversity we share today! May be tomorrow, people will say that ohhh, these species were there on earth and no they are extinct. For me you are the inspiration.