You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Scan barcode
A review by kartrick
A Naturalist’s Journal by M. Yuvan
4.0
Currently on a self-imposed exile in a foreign land far from home, a land under the humdrum of winter when the commendably optimistic tits are the biggest, and most often the only, sign of life, this book was a thoroughly enjoyable blast of nostalgia. Right after finishing the book, I spent a solid five minutes listening to the song of the Malabar Whistling Thrush, the audio playback almost as enchanting as the live performance.
"The bird must have surely been touched by something beyond itself to sing a song so elaborate and evocative."
The book was a joy to read. Many of the descriptions were evocative, like the song of a whistlingthrush. I loved the great deal of focus that has been given to interspecies interactions and trophic chains. The author also recognises the importance of community-centred approaches:
"But I, living between concrete walls with a proper roof over my head, living in affluence in every aspect, can go on and on about how these rustics don't understand snakes at all and nor did they even care to. Affluence is a poison to empathy. This man was truly afraid for his wife and mother and was least interested in snake taxonomy. He could only feel grateful the snake was removed from his house before anything undue occurred."
He also has a great sense of humour which is coupled with a special knack for witty descriptions, making most of his reflections vivid and unique.
However, there was one issue which I noticed multiple times throughout the book. Something seems to have gone wrong in the editing process, as there were numerous instances of (what I felt were) incorrect grammar, confusing syntax and oftentimes unnecessary punctuation. This often disrupted the otherwise beautiful flow of words, if not for which the book probably warrants 5 stars.
I especially loved the essay on paddyfields - teaching me a lot and also inspiring me to observe them more. The book also served as a reminder (one of many) to step out from the bubble of taxonomist tendencies; this is something that, as the author says, everyone is susceptible to, and is hard to correct. Unfortunately, I seem to require repeated reminding.
"Watch yourself when you see a bird. You see how tempted the mind feels to give the creature a name, put a noun, a label on it and then hastily shift its glance to something else. It is a psychologically arduous task to watch a bird without any memory of it, moreover, to consider what it truly means to be a bird. How would it have felt to have flown over the landscapes of several continents to reach this Bay? How would it be to catch and swallow fish day after day to keep alive? How would it be to float with the sea breeze on still pinions? A mind not caught in naming or describing, which is still and totally watching, for sometime fully becomes a Gull or a Tern and for sometime inhabits an entirely different world."
For one familiar with the ways of the land in south India, this book gives many reasons and more to cherish it, and for the stranger, reasons to experience the beauty firsthand.
A couple more favourite lines:
"Watching a spider on its web routinely on your wall corner can begin to turn your eyes alchemical as it sees the rest of the world. We in our contemporary ways of living have learnt to only respond to gross sensations and hard stimuli, to advertisements, to money, to pain, to power, to gunshots and to death and the many subtle and subliminal worlds of feeling, of sensations and of experience are far beyond the purview of what we call our lives. Now watch a spider every day on its web sharing your room, its stillness will acquire meaning, its silence will speak to you and its slightest movements will be dramatic events and so will you begin to be touched by life's slightest gestures."
"How does a moth know that it can fly when for so long it was a caterpillar? Indeed how does a creature crawling and hiding under leaves all this while, having spent all its life on a single branch on some extremity of a tree, know what its wings can do, what they are meant for when it suddenly acquires them. How does such a total transformation of body and consciousness take place? ... What does it really mean, what does it imply within one, to undergo a complete transformation, to burn all our old bridges, to shed away all our previous ways of living, to emerge from a cocoon, to be reborn, to see all the world in an entirely new light?"
"The bird must have surely been touched by something beyond itself to sing a song so elaborate and evocative."
The book was a joy to read. Many of the descriptions were evocative, like the song of a whistlingthrush. I loved the great deal of focus that has been given to interspecies interactions and trophic chains. The author also recognises the importance of community-centred approaches:
"But I, living between concrete walls with a proper roof over my head, living in affluence in every aspect, can go on and on about how these rustics don't understand snakes at all and nor did they even care to. Affluence is a poison to empathy. This man was truly afraid for his wife and mother and was least interested in snake taxonomy. He could only feel grateful the snake was removed from his house before anything undue occurred."
He also has a great sense of humour which is coupled with a special knack for witty descriptions, making most of his reflections vivid and unique.
However, there was one issue which I noticed multiple times throughout the book. Something seems to have gone wrong in the editing process, as there were numerous instances of (what I felt were) incorrect grammar, confusing syntax and oftentimes unnecessary punctuation. This often disrupted the otherwise beautiful flow of words, if not for which the book probably warrants 5 stars.
I especially loved the essay on paddyfields - teaching me a lot and also inspiring me to observe them more. The book also served as a reminder (one of many) to step out from the bubble of taxonomist tendencies; this is something that, as the author says, everyone is susceptible to, and is hard to correct. Unfortunately, I seem to require repeated reminding.
"Watch yourself when you see a bird. You see how tempted the mind feels to give the creature a name, put a noun, a label on it and then hastily shift its glance to something else. It is a psychologically arduous task to watch a bird without any memory of it, moreover, to consider what it truly means to be a bird. How would it have felt to have flown over the landscapes of several continents to reach this Bay? How would it be to catch and swallow fish day after day to keep alive? How would it be to float with the sea breeze on still pinions? A mind not caught in naming or describing, which is still and totally watching, for sometime fully becomes a Gull or a Tern and for sometime inhabits an entirely different world."
For one familiar with the ways of the land in south India, this book gives many reasons and more to cherish it, and for the stranger, reasons to experience the beauty firsthand.
A couple more favourite lines:
"Watching a spider on its web routinely on your wall corner can begin to turn your eyes alchemical as it sees the rest of the world. We in our contemporary ways of living have learnt to only respond to gross sensations and hard stimuli, to advertisements, to money, to pain, to power, to gunshots and to death and the many subtle and subliminal worlds of feeling, of sensations and of experience are far beyond the purview of what we call our lives. Now watch a spider every day on its web sharing your room, its stillness will acquire meaning, its silence will speak to you and its slightest movements will be dramatic events and so will you begin to be touched by life's slightest gestures."
"How does a moth know that it can fly when for so long it was a caterpillar? Indeed how does a creature crawling and hiding under leaves all this while, having spent all its life on a single branch on some extremity of a tree, know what its wings can do, what they are meant for when it suddenly acquires them. How does such a total transformation of body and consciousness take place? ... What does it really mean, what does it imply within one, to undergo a complete transformation, to burn all our old bridges, to shed away all our previous ways of living, to emerge from a cocoon, to be reborn, to see all the world in an entirely new light?"