WRITING OUTDOORS a Natural Reader
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WRITING OUTDOORS A Natural Reader Edited by Stephen Alter WWF – India Hanifl Centre for Outdoor and Environmental Study Woodstock School TABLE OF CONTENTS The Enchanted Forest 66 Prerna Singh Bindra Jungle Lore 73 Jim Corbett Writing Outdoors 1 Introduction Stephen Alter The Himalaya in Indian Ornithology 90 Salim Ali Outdoors 11 Anita Desai Establishing the Sanctuary 109 Billy Arjan Singh Five Encounters 13 M. Krishnan Trees 120 Ruskin Bond Are Warblers Less Important Than Tigers? 23 Madhusudan Katti Discussion Points, Exercises and Essay Topics 132 The Whistling Hunter 28 Authors 144 A.J.T. Johnsingh 148 The Folded Earth 40 Acknowledgements Anuradha Roy Why Save Tigers? 43 K. Ullas Karanth Escape From the Sanctuary 50 Bill Aitken The Saga of Harjit 61 Dhriti K. Lahiri-Choudhury WRITING OUTDOORS Ancient poets and philosophers drew inspiration from India’s rich and diverse ecology, Stephen Alter her forested plains, rivers and mountains, as well as the sea. Both the Mahabharata and the Ramayana epics contain episodes set in the jungles of the subcontinent, a primal wilderness that is both discomfiting yet protective of those who enter its green embrace. The Sanskrit poet Kalidasa composed narrative verse and drama that celebrates nature. His Meghduta contains one of the most remarkable metaphors - a cloud shaped like an elephant that drifts over the verdant countryside. Observed from this flying jumbo the landscape below is described with lyrical precision, curiously similar to satellite images we find today on Google Earth. The earliest invaders and travellers to India were struck by the lush fertility of the land. The Greek historian Megasthenes, who followed in the footsteps of Alexander, could barely contain his sense of wonder for the natural resources he discovered: India has many huge mountains which abound in fruit-trees of every kind, and many vast plains of great fertility intersected India has a long history of nature writing, going back to some of the earliest literature, by a multitude of rivers . It teems at the same time with including the Rig Veda, which contains several hymns to nature. One of these is animals of all sorts - beasts of the field and fowls of the air - of addressed to Aranyani, goddess of the forest: all different degrees of strength and size. It is prolific, besides, Aranyani. Aranyani. Timorous spirit of the forest, elusive goddess in elephants, which are of monstrous bulk, as its soil supplies who vanishes amidst the leaves. You do not ask: Where is the food in unsparing profusion...’ 2 nearest village? Lost in the wilderness, I hear a chichika bird echoing the crickets, Many centuries later, Mughal writers, too, were struck by the complex array of the alarm cries of animals. Could it be a hunter? Do I see a hut? species that they encountered after crossing the Hindu Kush. The Baburnama and At twilight your presence fills the forest. I listen in vain for cow Tuzk-e-Jahangiri, both imperial memoirs, describe the birds and other creatures bells. Insects creak like the unoiled wheels on a cart laden with observed in India, colourful elements of the land they conquered. Court painters were firewood. commissioned to copy miniature images of these species with scientific accuracy. Afraid of the shadows, I hear imaginary voices, graziers calling, Scribes who recorded the emperor’s memoirs included both physical descriptions as the sound of an axe. Silence.I am alone in the forest at night. well as accounts of the bird’s or animal’s behavior. Aranyani, gentle spirit who threatens no one. Unlike the tiger you feed on fruit. You do not lie in ambush like the bandit. Of all the visitors, interlopers and invaders to enter India, the British were the most Mother of wild creatures, your untilled forests are full of food, enthusiastic naturalists. Volumes upon volumes of research on plants, trees, insects, fragrant incense and sweet herbs—Aranyani, accept my prayers, reptiles, mammals and birds were produced by amateur and professional scientists. sheltering goddess of the trees. Botanists like J.D. Hooker made extended expeditions into the Himalaya, catalogu- ing and classifying thousands of different varieties of flowers, shrubs and trees. Ani- (Rig Veda 10.146)1 mal life, particularly those species identified as ‘game’, was of particular interest to 1This rendition is based on several translations, particularly Wendy Doniger’s ‘Lost in the 2McCrindle, J.W., Ancient India as Described by Megasthenes and Arrian. (Calcutta.Chuck- Forest’ from The Rig Veda ervertty, Chatterjee& Co. 1960)pp. 29–30. 1 2 colonial hunters who expressed curiosity and admiration for their prey, even as they decimated the population. The hunter-naturalist became an iconic figure during the Wild life? That is how we refer to the magnificent animals of Raj, entering the jungle with a rifle in one hand and a pen in the other. G.P. Sander- our jungles and to the beautiful birds that brighten our lives. I son’s Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts of India is a classic example of the genre, wonder sometimes what these animals and birds think of man which combines zoological research with bloodsport. Under British rule, man-eater and how they would describe him if they had the capacity stories became a popular subject in India, a junglee variation on detective novels, in to do so. I rather doubt if their description would be very which the hunter pursued an elusive killer through the forest, picking up clues along complimentary to man. In spite of our culture and civilization, the way - identifying pug marks, blood stains and alarm calls. in many ways man continues to be not only wild but more dangerous than any of the so-called wild animals . 4 Jim Corbett is the best known of these hunter-naturalists. Born in India, he had a closer connection with the land than most of his British compatriots. He approached After more than 64 years of freedom, Nehru’s words remain prophetic as the success nature with a sympathetic and observant eye, even as he tracked down man-eating stories of conservation have been heavily outnumbered by failures. India’s forests tigers and leopards, one predator pitted against the other. Corbett was among the first have shrunk dramatically and even those few areas marked out for preservation have to voice concern about dwindling populations of wildlife, particularly tigers. In a been seriously degraded. While the human population has multiplied exponentially sentence that has been quoted more often than any other statement on Indian wildlife, to 1.25 billion citizens, less than 2,000 tigers remain in the forests of India, not to Corbett writes: ‘The tiger is a large hearted gentleman with boundless courage and mention shrinking numbers of other species. when he is exterminated - as exterminated he will be unless public opinion rallies to his support - India will be poorer by having lost the finest of her fauna.’ 3 Unlike Today, more and more writers have taken up the cause of conservation. The Journal many of his contemporaries, Corbett was acutely aware of the fragility of nature and of the Bombay Natural History Society and other scientific periodicals publish its vulnerability to human encroachment. academic articles while magazines like Panda and Sanctuary promote an awareness of ecological issues in a popular forum. Though the overall picture may be bleak, it While the earliest nature writers in India chose subjects such as trees and animals, is encouraging that a new generation of naturalists has emerged in India. Whether simply for their beauty and exoticism, or the spiritual and emotional sentiments they they are botanists or birdwatchers, a small yet committed band of young people are evoked, twentieth century authors like Corbett and F.W. Champion, began to express learning to appreciate the natural heritage of India, which has been so sadly neglected a need for conservation and the importance of shooting animals with a camera instead and willfully destroyed. of a gun. Today, most nature writers follow this tradition, composing their books, ٭ essays and poems out of a desire to protect and preserve the almost-emptied pockets of nature that remain within the ever-expanding domain of man. This Reader is a modest attempt to encourage nature writing and thereby promote Both before and after 1947, Indian authors began to explore the country’s natural history an awareness and concern for India’s forests, mountains, deserts, rivers and oceans. with an independent eye. While there were those who continued with the man-eater Through the written word we can understand our place in nature, as well as the genre, others, like Salim Ali (himself a hunter-naturalist) and M. Krishnan, were more responsibilities of being a dominant species. This collection of essays, articles, concerned with field research, taxonomy and preservation. Part of the encouragement stories and extracts offers a limited sampling of nature writing from India. All of for studying and writing about nature came from India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal the pieces in this anthology were published after Independence, many of them in the Nehru, who was a strong advocate of conservation and helped establish national parks past decade. They have been chosen as examples of good writing but also for their and sanctuaries. In a foreword to E.P. Gee’s The Wild Life of India, Nehru wrote: variety of approaches to both subject and style. The primary purpose of this Reader 3 Corbett, Jim, ‘On Man-Eating’ in Jim Corbett’s India, ed. R.E. Hawkins (New Delhi. OUP, 4 Nehru, Jawaharlal. ‘Foreword’from E.P.Gee’s The Wild Life of India (London.Collins) p. 5. 1978) p. 247. 3 4 is to provide teachers and students with a collection of published texts, which can If that doesn’t make sense, then I suggest you read the thirteen selections in this stimulate discussion and debate, while serving as models of effective nature writing.