In his foreword Guha gives the reader a fair idea of M Krishnan, the multi-faceted man who was a bit of a poet, art critic, cricketer, literary historian, writer and photographer. He has worked as a teacher, judge, publicity officer, secretary, columnist and is best known for his column ‘Country Notebook’ in the Statesman. Above all, he was of course a naturalist who has raised goats, bred pigeons and walked the wilderness with all nature’s denizens.
No animal or insect was any less worthy than another in his eyes. M Krishnan’s observations encompassed the breadth of the jungles and the ways of the tusker seeking a last resting place, to the expanse of the walls of his room patrolled by Lenin, the lazy lizard who “lives to eat”!
The antics of babblers as seen from his room at home or waxing eloquent on the merits of being a weed like the Mexican poppy, quite indifferent to soil deficiencies, Bomakka, the buffalo who took upon herself to protect her herd against the predators and her intuitive wisdom, dogs and a lesson on how to skirt a sleeping dog— all are dealt in a masterly and impartial manner!
There is much to learn for anyone fascinated with all things big and small, all things wild and beautiful. For sure, you will keep coming back to the book. Sitting in your easy chair, you will be transported to the tranquil of nature’s lap. In pauses, you will smile or even laugh out.
Krishnan talks of, “having watched civilisation overtake the jungle crow in my backyard… it was a rude, uncouth, apprehensive bird in my youth lacking poise, shy and sidling … today it sits on top of the bucket with self-assurance and wears a sophisticated look. The amused, tolerant glint in its eye suggests that it is reflecting impersonally over something ludicrous. It is possible that it is thinking in its black mind that in the past 30 years it has witnessed the gradual taming and civilisation of one who was a robust young barbarian?”
The different sections focus on encounters in the wild, cultural essays on animals and religion, the less glam insect life, analysis and theories of Krishnan, on domestic animals and those that eco his concern of destruction of species and habitats. The last section is Krishnan on everything expect nature.
Perfect prose
There are no extravagant splurges in his description, when reading Krishnan. There is no word that is extra or a para that can be glossed over. That elephants can have a penchant for gorging on touch-me-not flowers, or that if well-camouflaged you can have the alert chital eating out of your hat, these are simply delightful tales! Real at that! Imagine a bear bending his head low and staring at intruders from between his legs! The recounting of how a dozen dolphins circled him in the sea water brushing against him and swirling around in a ‘whirligig of joie de vivre’ sends my hair raising in sheer happiness.
His analytical explanations of animal behaviour are very interesting. Like when speculating why some gaurs did not take to flight at the approach of the elephant, or the usefulness of the pinch period in the wild.
However biased you are against bears, when Krishnan explains how the ‘preoccupied sloth bears’ often do not take notice of what is around till too close, you can’t but forgive the animal, much feared in the wild. And however much you adore the pachyderm, when Krishnan says, “the tusker is a singularly dangerous beast”, you better accept that.
This is research based purely on observation, which needed no collars and antennas and satellites! He had surmised much before science delivered that elephants communicated in a range inaudible to man.
From chronicler he was forced to turn crusader as the environment began deteriorating. He was what Guha terms an ‘ecological patriot’ who lamented the fact that the Constitution did not recognise that, “the identity of a country depended not so much on its mutable human culture as on its geomorphology, flora and fauna, its natural basis.”
He believed that protection from hunting and human disturbance could result in the revival of threatened, wild animals. In appreciation of the conservation practices of the Bishnois in protecting the blackbuck, Krishnan makes acidic comments on, “vast and varied multitude of wildlife experts, Indian and exotic so keen on helping in the good cause that it is difficult to escape them and their cliques and coteries and theories.” A bit too harsh but easily excusable coming from a man who has seen it all.
He believed that wildlife preservation norms have to vary from country to country given the varying conditions when most experts were inclined to import ideas. He was also against the recognition of village rights in forests as he saw the demands on the forests to be the main reason for their destruction.
Leave it alone and protected, nature can take care of itself, he fully believed. While today’s conservationists say that things have gone too far to just sit back, it is worth while to think a while on what Krishnan said.
Nature's Spokesman
M Krishnan & Indian Wildlife
Ed by Ramachandra Guha, Penguin, 2007, rs 395 pp 310
