BARD OF BIRDS

WORDS FOR BIRDS IS AN ENGAGING COLLECTION OF ALL OF ORNITHOLOGIST AND CONSERVATIONIST SÁLIM ALI’S POPULAR RADIO BROADCASTS

- ANAND GUPTA

Transformation is not just change; it is like metamorphosis… a revolutionary turn that’s not bound by the past. It is something that happened to a forest dacoit and turned him into sage Valmiki, the teller of Lord Rama’s life story. Dr.Salim Ali’s life is also a story of transformation. Someone raised to follow the past tradition of finding pleasure in relentlessly hunting wildlife, into one who inspired and motivated a whole nation towards conservation of animals, birds environment and ecosystems.

Scientists have a tendency to suck pleasure out of anything and make it into a drab subject study. Ornithology is no exception and its followers can go blue in the face debating subtle features of this or that bird. Avid birdwatchers compete to log in more and more species viewed in a calendar year, or their lifetime. But Dr. Salim Ali has tried to plant a tiny seed in the minds of general people, of finding simple pleasure in just observing other life forms.

Through a series of talks on radio broadcast he shared stories of his observations of intriguing bird behavior and complexities in their lives. Although he selected birds as his choice of protagonist, they were only representative of the other several species that form the complex ecosystem around that most of us tend not to see!