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uditnair24's review
4.0
Wild and Wilful is a timely book about the tragedy of wildlife we witness around us. The author has managed to convey the nuances of the wildlife conservation in a very lucid way. I really liked how the book focuses not only about the animals but other stakeholders involved too. Although the central theme of the book is very simple and that's showing the mirror to humanity. We often describe animals as intruders to habitats occupied by us. We tend to easily forget about the real intruders.
I specially like the way author also tends to convey some profound messages in between the stories of iconic species. Wild animals exist beyond our control. Those who know wild animals most intimately understand a wild animal requires acceptance for what it is, not enslavement for what we want it to be. This is part of the most profound truth of the wild, and world at large - that we are a part of it , not its owners.
I specially like the way author also tends to convey some profound messages in between the stories of iconic species. Wild animals exist beyond our control. Those who know wild animals most intimately understand a wild animal requires acceptance for what it is, not enslavement for what we want it to be. This is part of the most profound truth of the wild, and world at large - that we are a part of it , not its owners.
nuts246's review
5.0
Why are we moved by the plight of individual tigers, but don't care too much about the leopards in our midst? Solar power seems like a miracle from the sustainability standpoint, but what does it do to the habitat of the Great Indian Bustard? What made a tribe in Nagaland give up hunting the Amur falcons and now conserve them? Which is the creature that looks fragile and delicate but flits from one eco-zone to another with gay abandon?
The book has answers to all these questions and more.
Neha Sinha doesn't just study wildlife, she loves all creatures great and small. Her empathetic heart and lyrical prose draw you into the stories, and you can almost visualise what she describes. The book is divided into four sections- Earth, Sky, Water, Heart.
Heart! The Rosy Starlings. The iconic image of them with their head buried in a silk cotton flower- a feathered Thumbelina if you will. The Rosy Starlings that the author waited for during the desolate weeks of Lockdown. The Rosy Starlings which came late, but when they came chased the loneliness away and filled the heart with joy.
If you haven't read the book yet, please do. You will fall in love, forever.
The book has answers to all these questions and more.
Neha Sinha doesn't just study wildlife, she loves all creatures great and small. Her empathetic heart and lyrical prose draw you into the stories, and you can almost visualise what she describes. The book is divided into four sections- Earth, Sky, Water, Heart.
Heart! The Rosy Starlings. The iconic image of them with their head buried in a silk cotton flower- a feathered Thumbelina if you will. The Rosy Starlings that the author waited for during the desolate weeks of Lockdown. The Rosy Starlings which came late, but when they came chased the loneliness away and filled the heart with joy.
If you haven't read the book yet, please do. You will fall in love, forever.
ganesh_n's review
5.0
A tiger once lived in a dense forest, but not in the forest where humans wanted it to live. It was killed.
There once lived an elephant who came a little close to humans. The elephant and its calf were welcomed with fireballs.
There once lived a harmless dolphin in the Ganges. It became deaf and sunk deep into somewhere in the deep waters where the cacophony of boats rattling the water can't be heard.
There lived countless other wild and wilful species whose stories we may never come to know.
Wild and Wilful is a dangerous book, just like the wildlife, it is talking about. Dangerous because it shows a mirror to the evil face of humanity. Wildlife is merely wild and wilful for existence. Mankind is evil because we want to progress by taming or even by razing wildlife and forestry to our convenience.
It is ironic that we label wildlife as wild and untamed, while we humans are the ones who are behaving like barbarians who claim total ownership of everything.
Wildlife never chose to come close to us humans. We encroached into their habitats, into their living rooms, destroying their playgrounds, blocking their walking corridors blowing our trumpets of progress.
If any animal dared stood in the path, or even merely existed, we chose to eliminate them. Because we are the superior predator with the superpower of intelligence.
But the wild is wilful. It will put up a fight before dying down. And the loss is for humanity whether we acknowledge it or not.
There once lived an elephant who came a little close to humans. The elephant and its calf were welcomed with fireballs.
There once lived a harmless dolphin in the Ganges. It became deaf and sunk deep into somewhere in the deep waters where the cacophony of boats rattling the water can't be heard.
There lived countless other wild and wilful species whose stories we may never come to know.
Wild and Wilful is a dangerous book, just like the wildlife, it is talking about. Dangerous because it shows a mirror to the evil face of humanity. Wildlife is merely wild and wilful for existence. Mankind is evil because we want to progress by taming or even by razing wildlife and forestry to our convenience.
It is ironic that we label wildlife as wild and untamed, while we humans are the ones who are behaving like barbarians who claim total ownership of everything.
Wildlife never chose to come close to us humans. We encroached into their habitats, into their living rooms, destroying their playgrounds, blocking their walking corridors blowing our trumpets of progress.
If any animal dared stood in the path, or even merely existed, we chose to eliminate them. Because we are the superior predator with the superpower of intelligence.
But the wild is wilful. It will put up a fight before dying down. And the loss is for humanity whether we acknowledge it or not.
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