Continuing with my series of human
interest stories about real world inspirations I meet in the most unlikely of
places. This time it’s about a young and dedicated wildlife conservationist
working on preserving the fast disappearing wetlands of Chennai for migratory
birds to come every year in their migratory cycle- a topic I was not aware much
of, until I learned about it from the person seated next to me, a few days ago.
I met this young person recently
at a public event where everyone was discussing about their hobbies and
spending their spare time usefully, and then, when the talk came around to
birds, I was my usual wise-cracking self and went on to describe to the company
present my adventures in sampling the various varieties of birds hunted and cooked
by the Narikuruvas of the Pallikarani marshlands, near Adyar. The swamps of
Palikaranai- before a certain to-be-unnamed politician decided to “develop”
Velachery- was an outdoor lover’s paradise- in the late 90's- with marshes and
lake and teeming with varieties of wildlife and so near to the city too,
perfect for a sudden and impulsive day trip with buddies.
Many's the time, me and a few
friends from Guru Nanak college- my school buddies- have traipsed around on a
full day picnic of the marshes, with homemade poles to catch fish, spending an
entire day just fishing and swapping
stories, until we caught at least one or two and then we would take them
to the Narikuruvas (the Gypsies) who lived on the marshes in tents on the
fringes of the dry lands and embankments and who still hunt with priceless old
match-lock rifles and are sharp-shooters too and these gypsies would then
clean, gut and fry the fish for us. Of course, they also had a stock of their
own catch ready to taste- including, to my great regret (now in my old age)
Siberian Storks, Wild Geese and turtles. But the thought of experimenting with
culinary adventures tempted and got over any inhibitory complexes and I have
tasted them at least once just to see how they are.
I was blithely sharing this story
around when I happened to glance over at my neighbor’s face which showed an
absolute “O” with horror at me. Intrigued by her reaction, I got her to slowly
share the reason for the disgust on her face at me and then she told me all
about her work. But before that a little something about her background first.
Ms.G as she is known, has been a
total animal person from her childhood- something which she attributes to her dad. Although she wanted to
do Veterinary Medicine, she ended up doing Zoology with plans of working with
conservation groups and wildlife enthusiasts. But practicality and family
sentiment won, and she ended up doing business administration, after which she
landed into an IT firm. And there her dreams should have died, like so many
others dreams do.
But she was made of sterner stuff-
she dint let the long work hours, exhausting commute and the lack of support
from others stop her. She volunteered with all sorts of wildlife groups and
NGO's trying to do her little mite for our speechless cousins. She enjoys the
little pleasures that wildlife offers, She travels to Vedanthangal, Pallikarnai
and Pulicat to spot/ identify/gaze at the migrant birds. She works with Blue
Cross for the cause of abandoned animals that need shelters.
And all of this had been done
anonymously, without any self publicity or advertising. She was even reluctant
to share her story with me. But hey, you know me; I have a way of making people
comfortable enough to talk their life stories with me. And so I ended up hearing
from her, all her dreams about looking forward to someday dedicating herself
full-time to bird conservation and research about migratory birds in wetlands
And this was the person, I was
telling stories from my past about tasting rare birds. Consider the pickle I
was in. So, instantly adapting to the changed circumstances, I told her I am
now a reformed ex-rare bird eater and would gladly join any new nature trek
their group organizes in the near future. What better way to exculpate past
sins? And I vowed to henceforth look at bird for their plumage and beauty and
not to wonder how they would taste, properly prepared. Anyway, the point of
this post is not my culinary tastes and exotic dishes I have tasted in the
past. It’s about what a privileged life I (And a lot of us) lead daily without
giving anything back to anyone while people who have the heart to do so,
transcend their circumstances to help in ways we can’t even think of.
I am especially impressed with
Ms.G's mother for being so supportive of her interests and standing by her.
Most single mothers would actively discourage their children from pursuing any
passion which is not strictly mainstream. And it is even worse when it comes to
unmarried girls, because the mothers (rightly or wrongly?) consider their girls
as a burden which must be passed off to the right person at the first
opportunity available- the first suitable alliance which turns up. But here the
mother trusts her daughter to pursue her own interests without piling any
additional pressure on her to get married soon. An exemplary, supportive and
understanding mother.
And what can I say about my friend
herself? She truly is an inspiration to lazy bums everywhere, who with no fixed
ambition, drift around taking life as it comes philosophically. There is no
great big cause, no driving force behind most youth of today, beyond personal
ambition. They have not yet paid their dues to society or to this earth for
sustaining them all these years without demanding anything back. Its only when you
meet people like this- who are silent achievers in their own sphere, you
realize that there is so much more everyone, including yours truly, can do too,
if only you want to. Mere online ranting, is not enough, it’s the real world
doing that counts. Go out and do something, anything, contribute your mite to
mama earth. It’s your planet too.
So, here’s to wishing Ms.G that
she becomes the Salim Ali of our generation. Salut.
(P.S. And in addition to all her
social obligations, she finds the time to blog too. The link to her blog is http://rhapsodic-xana.blogspot.in
)
No comments:
Post a Comment