All of August was like a wakeful dream. There was much excitement and activity, such as travelling to North Bengal to attend the third All-India Odonata Meet, followed by making eco-friendly Ganesha idols and then planning our post-Ganpati visarjan beach clean-ups
Some of the world’s topmost green warriors
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All of August was like a wakeful dream. There was much excitement and activity, such as travelling to North Bengal to attend the third All-India Odonata Meet, followed by making eco-friendly Ganesha idols and then planning our post-Ganpati visarjan beach clean-ups. And then, all of a sudden, last Sunday, a bunch of interns brought a cake to celebrate Teachers’ Day. Awakening to the fact that September had slipped in and the winter migrants will be here soon, another thought took me on a nostalgic trail. Who do I consider my green gurus and what are they up to nowadays?
My list of green gurus is long and unending. It consists of school kids to retired professors, but the list is headed by my parents, who instilled in me the love for the outdoors. Our family vacations and trips to the zoos, parks, museums and beaches provided me with enough passion to last a lifetime. During my 10th Standard vacations, my parents sent me to a nature camp that was led by a retired Army officer. That’s where I met Major Paranjpye and Kiran Purandare, my first nature gurus. From Major Paranjpye I learnt that being self-reliant was an integral part of being a good conservationist. Kiran’s in-depth knowledge and superlative communication skills astounded me, besides his power to lure birds by whistling their calls.
During college, I met Dr Parvish Pandya, a young and enthusiastic pied piper of sorts, who would lead his flock of students to Bhavan’s Nature Club, to explore and learn more about the great wilderness. That became my home for the next five years where I met my fellow nature conspirator, Anish Andheria. Then came my association with WWF-India and the BNHS where Sashi Menon, Sashirekha Iyer, Chandrakant Wakankar and Ashutosh Gogate, who became my astute mentors. They challenged, guided and shaped my thought process.
Along the way, life threw me at another stalwart, Lavkumar Kacchar. I had a few but very interesting interactions with him when I organised nature camps in Manali. I followed his writings right up to his last days. By then I had entered the Wildlife Institute of India and was being trained by globally acclaimed experts such as Dr AJT Johnsingh, GS Rawat, SP Goyal, John Eisenberg, Asad Rahmani and Ajith Kumar. They taught me that a scientist needs to challenge dogmas and unless the research doesn’t trickle down to the commonest denominator the outcome will remain academic.
During these years, zoos became important conservation and learning centres for me. My introduction to Ms Sally Walker, who has spearheaded the zoo-based conservation research, outreach and captive breeding programmes in South Asia, changed my life. She was a power-house mentor and a multi-tasker par excellence. Like the mythological Ekalavya, I too had my distant role model in Dr George Schaller, whom I interacted with as a fellow of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the world’s oldest NGO. He epitomises successful conservation outcomes and publications, with a human touch.
My ultimate green guru, however, has always been Nature itself. It taught me patience, acceptance of diversity, cyclicity of events and that whether it’s a mosquito or an elephant, they all have an equal right to survive and thrive on this planet.
Write to Anand at sproutsenvttrust@gmail.com
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