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LIJO LAWRANCE / PUBLIC DOMAINof Kerala’s media and The Hindu, whose circulation then was
restricted to the southern states. Key decisions were made in
the power ministry in Delhi and decision makers up north were
blissfully ignorant of the issues.
His interactions with leaders of the Save Silent Valley
movement such as Prof M. K. Prasad, who as the then head
of the Environmental Brigade of the Kerala Sastra Sahitya
Parishad (KSSP) as well as other Kerala-based experts like
V. K. Damodaran, M. P. Parameswaran, Sathis Chandran Nair
and U. K. Gopalan, convinced Darryl that the situation was
dire. He realised that the Valley was doomed unless public and
offi cial opinion – where it mattered, in the corridors of power
- could be roused. He wrote editorials in the Times of India
and commissioned detailed analyses by Kerala-based experts
in the paper’s Sunday magazine, which reached an audience in
North India – and crucially Delhi – for the fi rst time. Together
with Zafar Futehally of the Bombay Natural History Society
and Dilnavaz Variava, Co-ordinator of the Save Silent Valley
Committee in Mumbai, he helped internationalise the Silent
Valley’s perils at forums like WWF. Recalls Variava: “Darryl was
dedicated in his pursuit of the truth and when convinced of
the ecological importance of Silent Valley, he contacted me for
my fi les on the struggle. The many people he inspired will keep
Darryl alive, as they keep his values in their work.”
Prof. Prasad, now in his mid-80s and retired in Kochi, says:
“Darryl was unique among upcountry journalists to realise the
value of Silent Valley. He used his journalistic resources to
educate readers about the ecological issues during the anxious
period when the fate of the Valley hung in the balance. Indeed,
he was one of the earliest environmental journalists in India –
long before the environment became a regular media issue.”
It took a decision by the then Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi to fi nally cancel the hydel project in Silent Valley. She
accepted the rather hesitant recommendation made by the
M. G. K. Menon committee she constituted – and gave it the
smack of executive action.
Between jobs as Resident Editor at The Times of India
and The Indian Express in Mumbai, Darryl, took a brief
sabbatical. His interest in the whole environment versus
development controversy was whetted by his editorial
experience of Silent Valley. He decided to research Silent
Valley as well as two other causes celebre: the danger posed
to national monuments such as the Taj Mahal by the Mathura
oil refi nery and the human cost of the Thal-Vaishet fertiliser
plant, then the world’s biggest producer of urea.
The result was his bookTemple or Tombs? published by the
Centre for Science and Environment in 1985; by coincidence,
only a few months before the Silent Valley National Park was
formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Nobody
at the function, remembered Darryl or for that matter, any
of the others who helped save the Valley. But a decade later,
in 1995, the Kerala Forest Department held a seminar within
the Valley to which all those associated in the campaign to
protect Silent Valley were invited. Darryl couldn’t attend,
but those who did, included Mrinalini Sarabhai and Romulus
Whitaker who in their own ways helped alert the nation to
the priceless chunk of rainforest in the Western Ghats. Rom
is quoted in the opening sentence of the chapter on Silent
Valley in Darryl’s book. When contacted for this article, he
wrote: “My personal memory of Darryl comes from the early
1970s, so long ago now, when we were fi ghting the Silent
Valley battle, not knowing then, of course, that it would be
hailed as the battle that kicked off India’s environmental
consciousness. And Darryl was right at the forefront. I
was so honoured to be featured in his book Temples or
Tombs?, especially in the context of my early herp surveys
in Silent Valley.”
In later years, Darryl retained his fi erce interest in the
environment, inspiring many younger media persons to
specialise in environmental communication. He helped to set
up the Forum of Environmental Journalists of India and later
served as Founder-President of the International Federation
of Environmental Journalists.
In 2002, he authored a second book, Ripping the Fabric
documenting the exploitation of former mill land in Mumbai- and until the end, he championed civic and environmental
issues in his hometown.
Says fellow journalist and one-time colleague, Kalpana
Sharma: “The quality about Darryl that I appreciated the
most, was his desire to mentor other journalists. Although
a prolifi c writer himself, he made sure that the issues
that concerned him were also covered by others. That is
a rare quality in the competitive space that we inhabit as
journalists. As a result, even though he’s gone, he leaves
behind a large number of environmental journalists in
India, many mentored by him, who continue to investigate
and write about these issues.” To Bittu Sahgal, Editor of
Sanctuary Asia, Darryl was more than a friend. He says,
“Darryl was an original... intelligent, empathetic, eff ective and
ethical... with a twinkling sense of fun. He was a voice of calm
sanity even when turmoil was thrust upon us all.”
At a memorial meeting in Mumbai organised at the Press
Club, Joydeep Gupta, vice-president, Forum of Environmental
Journalists in India summed it all up: “Darryl obviously left
behind a void. But he has also left behind a whole generation
of journalists in his own mould.” B
Anand Parthasarathy has worked for
major newspapers such as The Hindu,
covering both Information Technology and the
environment and is the editor of the website
IndiaTechOnline.ABOVE Darryl D’Monte’s tireless and extraordinary journalism bolstered the
movement that stopped the proposed hydel project in Silent Valley.
FACING PAGE Darryl D’Monte (third from left) at a panel discussion held by
BMW Guggenheim Lab.