The Hindu Business Line : Igniting a passion for the wild

MY friend Dinesh Kothari from Indore was in Mumbai a week back for talks with Bittu Sahgal on organising a Kids for Tigers (KFT) programme in select schools of his town. For about 10 years, Dinesh has been walking forests to sight birds and animals and now wants to pass on his passion to girls and boys in schools. For the last two years, he has been tracking the nesting of hornbills in a garden in Indore and has noted down each movement of the birds. Recently, Dinesh had taken some 50 girls and boys on a nature camp and got the local Hindi newspapers to cover the event. Dinesh came over to my office to show me the coverage and one lauds the effort of a lone man to spread the wildlife message in Indore, a town, which he dubs as "bekar (lousy)."

Having gone on two trips with Dinesh one can say the forest bug has caught him. Last year he sat in a hide in the grasslands of Sailana to click a few fine pictures of the Lesser Florican at a distance of 15 ft. Coming from Rajasthan, he is strong in Hindi and for a prosperous living runs a stock broking and accounting firm in Indore. For three days, he cooked tasty meals for us on a visit to Melghat. "Tho kya chal raha hai (So, what is happening)," he asked, sipping nimboo pani, as he does not take tea or coffee. One laughed as there was nothing happening. He told me of his plans to buy a two-room flat in Sailana with a well-equipped kitchen so that he could go there when in the mood and from Indore it is not a long run. "Jub aap ayenge tho udhar rahenge (When you come to Sailana, you will stay there)," he said as we are planning to visit the Sailana grasslands to say hullo to the Lesser Florican (Sypheotides indica) in September.

The bird is elusive and last year one waited in a hide but the bird did not put in an appearance. Little is known about its habits and at least Dinesh does not want anyone to study the bird as then it could generate public interest, which could harm the bird. He is for leaving Nature alone to its ways and means; when young, his father dumped religion on him and now he is trying to get rid of it. What is worrying him these days are the plans to link roads and rivers, which will certainly do away with the forests and its denizens. "Ye politicans barbadi kar denge (These politicians will destroy everything)," he told me and should be happy now that the new Government has dropped the twin plans. They want to widen the roads by cutting trees for cars to pass and one day there will be only roads and cars, Dinesh growled and he made sense to me.

As he was in no hurry, one informed him of the presence of over 1,000 bats (Indian Flying Fox) in a park which is about 10 minutes walk from Borivili (West) station. The entire day they quarrel, hanging upside down from Copper Pods with their yellow flowers and Mast Trees and thankfully none disturbs them. One has observed them with binoculars on Sunday afternoons and they do not seem to be disturbed by the vehicular traffic to and from the railway station. In the evening they fly north, though one is not sure whereto.

With the rains expected anytime, cattle egrets are busy building nests on an old tamarind tree, some 15 minutes walk from my home. The tamarind tree abuts a busy road but the cattle egrets seem to enjoy it. Salim Ali has noted that the nest, which is an untidy twig platform like a crow's, is often built in the midst of a noisy town and he could not be more right. From my office we walked to Hornbill House, housing the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), as he wanted to have a look at the books. Hornbill House is not a pleasant place to be in. Its insides are dark and could resemble the earth when its forests are gone. Wildlife experts sit grimly in air-conditioned cabins awaiting doom any minute. Amateurs should probably never visit the place as it has no cheer. BNHS has very few books on sale and one picked up Dr Salim Ali's Birds of Kerala and The Indian Blackbuck by M.K. Ranjitsinh. The cover of the Birds of Kerala has a Great Indian Hornbill flying. The book with its colour plates and precise writing by Dr Salim Ali is worth reading. We were informed that there may not be any reprints, which is sad, if true. While parting Dinesh pleaded with me to visit Indore in March when the hornbills will start nesting again. I promised to make it to Indore next year.

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