By Dr. K. Javeed Nayeem, MD

My friend Dr. Sudhir Oswal, a practicing Physician like me, who is based in New Delhi, recently sent me a link to a site which was giving out free books about our common backyard birds, to anyone interested in knowing about them. Being a keen birder, who frequently goes out on bird-watching excursions across the country and sometimes abroad too, he keeps sending me links to all such activities, because I too have a modest interest in watching birds and studying their behaviour, during my free time.

Dr. Sudhir has also come to Mysuru a few times, in pursuit of his hobby, which he is trying to instill into his young grandson, Agastya, in whose company the two of us have conducted bird-watching walks around our ‘bird-rich’ Kukkarahalli Lake. Last year, in May, Sudhir was here in Mysuru with his entire family and our two families celebrated his birthday together here.

How the two of us met, more than fifteen years ago and became close friends, because of our common interests, is also an interesting story, worth a re-telling. Yes, I have told it once before, through this very same column, but that was very long ago and it has therefore most likely been forgotten, by most readers. My wife and I were on a visit to Lucknow and one evening we were seated, frantically swatting mosquitoes, while waiting for the ‘Son et Lumiere’ Sound and Light Show to start, at the historic Lucknow Residency, grounds that were the site of the bitterest part of India’s battle for freedom, in the year 1857.

And, because the tiny pests were there in unusually large numbers, our losing battle with them too was quite bitter and frustrating, not just for us but for all the others in our group. That was when a person seated next to us with his wife, whose face we could hardly see in the darkness, offered us a tube of mosquito repellent cream, which he had very thoughtfully brought along with him. This tiny act of kindness, turned the tide of the battle in our favour and thankfully, we were able to watch the show in complete peace and tranquillity thereafter.

It is a different matter that the show, with its very painful narrative, left us more than a little sleepless that night! The aftermath of the siege of Lucknow, left more than 2,500 people including women and little children, dead, and thousands more missing and wounded, with no one to help them. This show was really worth watching and it was one of the high-points of our visit to Lucknow. I say this because, unlike many other such shows across the country, some of which only qualify to be called ‘Noise and Glare’ shows, this one was a very muted, serious and sombre affair. But it was ‘back then’!

I’m unable to say if it has retained this quality now. I say this because this show which had, for some obscure reason, been stopped for more than a decade, has made a comeback, only since the year 2020, in an ‘updated’ form, which is said to include 4D surround sound, lasers, projection lights, holograms and many other spillovers of modern-day technology. Not having had a chance to see it in its present avatar, I’m unable to say what has changed or if this upgradation has been a change for good or bad, from the perspective of conservative, old-fashioned purists like me!

Let me now leave history behind, to fend for itself and bring you back to the present which is where we were and now are. I am therefore sharing a picture of the set of the free books sent by my friend, so that anyone interested in procuring them can do so by contacting the link given therein.

Now, there’s also a ‘part two’ to this narration. Over the past few years, I have come to know an interesting couple, Vidya and Rajaram, who live here, very much in our city. We first met, when Vidya started bringing her elderly mother to me for consultation.

But she did this with a prior warning that I might find my new patient somewhat bothersome, because, being elderly, she would expect an explanation for every doubt that would crop up in her mind, not just about her medical symptoms but also about my medical advice to her! I reassured her that I would not mind that one bit, because I happen to be a doctor who believes in giving a ‘patient hearing’ to all my patients, young and old.

Thankfully, this working relationship between my aged patient and a fast ageing me, worked admirably well for the rest of her life, which left me and perhaps her too, quite happy with each other. But what struck me as very interesting about Vidya was when she told me that she was a writer of children’s books, which seemed like a rather unusual pursuit to me. That’s because, at least, in my circle of contacts, I did not know of any writers of children’s books whatsoever.

Very recently Vidya and Rajaram dropped in on me with a special gift. They told me that it was a set of ten booklets they had written about birds, for young children and which had been published by Navakarnataka Publications, the well-known publishing house in our State. The interesting part here is that the narration in all these books is in the form of a conversation between the writers and their avian subjects, which is meant to hold the interest of little children. I’m more than sure that this little pack of delightful reading material will find much acceptance from little kids.

And, as someone interested in nature, I feel that our children will stand to benefit from resource materials like these little books which can go a long way, not only in igniting the spark of curiosity about nature in their fertile minds but also in stimulating them to develop the fast-vanishing habit of reading.

Thank you, Vidya and Thank you Raj. May you both continue to tread this sylvan path!

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