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Born Wild
By Swati Thiyagarajan
Published Bloomsburys
Paperback, 233 pages, Rs. 496/-
Environmental reporter Swati
Thiyagarajan’swords in Born Wild have
the same earnestness as her voice
on NDTV’s one-of-its kind, award-
winning series. What she achieves
brilliantly through this book, as her
editor Pranoy Roy mentions in the foreword, is connecting
the dots between our everyday choices and resultant
ecological damage, which we view as another person’s
problem. And what she reinforces and stays with you is – it
is not so much the livelihood choices of the few living close
to our forests, as it is the lifestyle choices of the majority
living far from it that is at the root of the all-too-familiar
distressing contemporary narrative of planet Earth.
Gifted with sensitivity to see all animals (including
a catfi sh!) as individuals, the book is fi lled with stories
of Thiyagarajan’s fascinating wild encounters, many in
journalistic pursuit for her show of the same name as
the book. She introduces species, occasionally individuals,
across chapters, while laying bare stark realities, but
doesn’t conclude before off ering if not always solutions, at
least ideas that spell hope. She writes about tigers, gorillas,
lions, leopards, sloth bears, elephants, pelicans, Painted
Storks, penguins, olive Ridleys, sharks, crocodiles, seals,
reminding us of how incredibly lucky we are to share our
planet with these wonderful beings and what we are set to
lose if we do not take collective steps to protect them and
their habitats.
Thiyagarajan goes back and forth from India to Africa,
perceiving conservation issues in isolation, maintaining
an informative, urgent tone, and driving points home
with facts. Her extensive travels enable an objectivity
that never loses sight of larger, looming environmental
catastrophes.Testament to over 20 years of writing and
reporting for television is her crisp prose, which makes it
diffi cult to put down the book without fi nishing a chapter.
Reading about her childhood reminiscences
interspersed throughout the book; one wishes for more
Uncle Siddharths in our world to make us warriors for
the wild in the same mould as Thiyagarajan. Remarkably
revelatory and delightfully anecdotal, Born Wild is as
fi ercely individualistic as the title suggests.
Reviewed by Anirudh NairIndira Gandhi: A Life
in Nature
By Jairam Ramesh
Published by Simon and Schuster India
Hardcover, 448 pages, Rs. 475/-
No matter what your political leanings,
Indira Gandhi will always be remembered
and respected as a powerful leader, who
was unafraid to take on her detractors.
There was also another side to this
fi rebrand politician – a side only few recognised. It is this aspect
that Jairam Ramesh taps into for what in his words is an
“unconventional biography of Indira Gandhi”.
Ramesh relies on archival information – primarily Gandhi’s
letters, memos, notes and messages – to craft an impressive
narrative that showcases her as a naturalist and leader. The
book reveals surprising snippets of information – whether it is
how time spent in the Naini Jail introduced her to the joys of
birdwatching, to how she liked climbing trees.
Indira’s gradual joy in birdwatching and identifi cation comes
through in her correspondence with Nehru. Ramesh writes of
how it infl uenced her actions in the early 1980s to protect
migratory birds. Conservationists of yesteryears recognised the
ally they had in the Prime Minister, who not only valued their
opinion but also took action. As Prime Minister, Gandhi chose
capable individuals such as Kailash Sankhala to helm Project
Tiger. She was undoubtedly a shrewd leader but often took
courageous environmental protection decisions that did not
necessarily have political returns.
What really strikes you is her sensitivity for the wilds. In one
letter she writes, “But alas much as I would like to go to Kanha,
I don’t think I should. My experience of what the security men
do before and during my stay in such places is heartbreaking.”
Gandhi used her political authority to take Chief Ministers
to task for inaction, to prevent the destruction of the Andaman
and Nicobar Islands, the entire northeast and the rainforests in
the Western Ghats including Silent Valley, and of course played
a key role in not only making Project Tiger a reality but also
several other initiatives that resulted in protection for species
including the blackbuck, hangul and crocodiles.
While Ramesh writes of Indira Gandhi as a reluctant political
leader, we must be thankful that she was India’s naturalist
Prime Minister. This well-researched and gem of a book leaves
one with a serious longing – for yet another leader who will
recognise the imperative of protecting India’s wildernesses and
prioritise environmental conservation.Reviewed by Lakshmy RamanBook ReviewS