Category: Uncategorized

The Indian Express: Love Will Keep Us Alive

by ArefaTehsin, posted in General, Uncategorized

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Love Will Keep Us Alive

Written by Arefa Tehsin | New Delhi |
Now, more than ever, we need love jihad. For, isn’t that how societies and the world change, one heart at a time?

couple-love-taj-mahal-759

Where even inter-caste marriage becomes an issue, how open are we about inter-religious marriages? (Source: Thinkstock images)

 

Disclaimer: This is a true story of love jihad, based on real characters in real circumstances. The names of the characters haven’t been changed (it’s a different thing that I haven’t named any of them).

Oh yeah, it is a filmi romance — a girl from the sleepy, lake town of Udaipur; a boy, two years her senior in college, from badass Bombay (uh-huh, Mum…baai). A college picnic in the remote, forested tribal lands of Jadhol. A few students from the picnic group go on a trek. The girl and the boy get lost in the jungle. Alone. Period. Need we say any more?

The girl is from a Bohra joint family, which has a history of love marriages from the early 1960s. Hindu-Muslim, Shia-Sunni, you name it. The reason: the grandparents — the matriarch and patriarch of the family — were both much ahead of their times. But the girl’s mother is a conservative Bohra, wanting to marry her daughter into a pious, godfearing family. What? A son-in-law without a beard? The clean-shaven, agnostic husband has been more than enough on her nerves all these years, thank you very much.

The boy, a rebel from a joint business family, an Agarwal — pure descendants of Agrasena himself, that too. Love marriage? Love happens after marriage, anyway. Inter-caste marriage? Unheard of. Inter-religious marriage? Heart-stopping. “Chhoro naak katavega!”

The boy and girl break the news to respective next of kin, or rather the news breaks itself. Ishq aur khansi chhupaane se nahi chhipti (love and cough can’t be kept secret), the girl’s mom’s prophetic words come true.

Both the sides are appalled, but they still have faith in providence. Surely, this is jawaani ka josh, which will soon die down. When it doesn’t, hell starts to break loose. A small word of caution travels from the boy’s family to the girl’s, through a common acquaintance. The boy hears about it and travels from Mumbai to Udaipur to apologise and have a word with the girl’s dad, a well-known and mild-mannered naturalist. They meet on the banks of the famous Fatehsagar Lake; both the wanting-to-be groom and the not-wanting-to-be father-in-law arriving on their scooters.

Boy: I really love your daughter.
Father: Boy, what’s the sense of it all? Your family is opposed to it, my wife is opposed to it. How will you make it work?
Boy: We will. You see…
Father: Hang on a second! Do you see that turtle there? Do you know about the hardness of its shell? (Father goes on to explain the scientific reason). But, my boy, what will happen when you have children? When they go to your place, they’ll teach them namaste, when they come to our place, we’ll teach them salaam.
Boy: Oh, it’ll all work out since we love each other.
Father: Wait a minute! Do you see that bird on the tree trunk? Do you know why it makes its nest there at that particular angle? (Another explanation follows). You know what, why don’t you both just run away and get married? I can’t convince her mother. You have my blessings.

The father is not spared the trouble as the couple doesn’t elope. However, the girl and boy realise that trying to wait for the families to agree one fine day is like waiting for a flight on a bus stand. The girl, with the secret help of her hassled father, calls her mama from Mumbai to convince his fiery sister. The boy, pursuing his MBA, conveys to his father that it’s either this marriage or lifelong celibacy. The father grudgingly agrees. And so does the girl’s mommy after a night-long convincing about fate and faith by her elder brother.

The boy, with the girl’s father, approaches the district court in Udaipur to file for their court marriage. The lawyer looks at them as if they have let loose venomous snakes on him. “Boss, why do you want to incite communal riots in our peaceful city?” It takes him a day to locate and pull out the dusty form for an inter-religious court marriage.

The boy, seeing the supreme reluctance of the lawyer, approaches the Mumbai courts. Without even looking up, the babu at the registrar, says, “Which date do you want? The 14th of February is completely booked.”

The small-town girl and the guy from the metro get married in the Mumbai court, and squeeze their way out after signing the paper, as the registrar calls, “Next!” When they emerge from the crowded court, they see the two Mummyjis hugging each other and crying, and not out of joy.

People forget that there is always a reception before the “happily ever after.” In the evening, with just the two families and a handful of friends, the wedding reception is held at a resort. While the couple flashes 200 watt smiles, the rest look like fused bulbs.

Yes, it has been a filmi journey for us, minus the slow motion shots and background music. After more than a decade of being married, the families have accepted us wholeheartedly, opening their hearts and their minds. They have changed for us, and that speaks volumes. But isn’t that how societies and the world change, one heart at a time? And what our society needs more than ever today is love jihad. Let’s tickle the tender sentiments of the anti-Romeo (and anti-Juliet?) brigade and mix it all together so that they are completely confused about who to place before the firing squad. For, I believe, we do not have to save love. Love will save us.

Arefa Tehsin is an author and environmentalist.

 

 

The Hindu: Sleep Deep

by ArefaTehsin, posted in Nature/ Wildlife, Uncategorized

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Deep SLEEP

HANG OUT: Time to rest.   | Photo Credit: MAIL PIC

Check out these animals as they grab a shut eye. Not all of them need a bed!

“O bed! O bed! delicious bed! That heaven upon earth to the weary head.”

Thomas Hood rhymed in his cautionary tale of Miss Kilmansegg and Her Precious Leg. While she wanted a precious golden leg, we all want our precious golden slumbers. One can live without love, but sleep? Nah… What is life without those forty winks, the short naps, the afternoon siestas, the long deep night sleep and, well, those open dripping-mouthed snoozes. Ah…such comfort. In the first part of this article, we spoke about the REM (rapid eye movement or deep-wave sleep) and non-REM sleep; how humans need to have both while some animals don’t.

You would have seen mammals and birds sleep. Insects, fishes and reptiles too need their brains to rest in some or the other form. The little kankhajura would even risk falling prey to a hungry vagabond crow while he dreams of the multi-legged beauty who preferred to hang out with the Centi-the-senti-pede instead.

A few more snoozing secrets

Saddle up

Horses get most of their sleep while standing. They have a mechanism called “stay apparatus” where their ligaments and tendons allow them to remain upright with ease, even while sleeping. They do occasionally lie down to get REM sleep, but only for short periods. As they are standing, they can just bolt away if a predator attacks, even if they are asleep. No wonder, our wars have been fought and won on horses.

Don’t bat an eyelid 

Standing up and sleeping is fine, but can you beat sleeping upside down? Bats are masters at that. Unlike birds, they can’t take off in flight. They have to fall in it. This is because their wings are not strong enough to alight in flight and their hind legs not sturdy enough to bear their weight in an upright position. The special tendons on their feet let them hand effortlessly while they sleep. They are so effective that even a dead bat can continue to hang!

Power naps 

A study on fire ants showed that they take up to 250 naps a day! Each lasting around a minute. But those are the workers. The queen, of course, takes lazy long naps. The research suggested that queens dream while sleeping and move their antennas while they dream. RAM instead of REM, get it? Rapid Antenna Movement instead of Rapid Eye Movement. They live almost 10 times longer than the worker ants do. And they ask me why I’d like to be a queen!

The animal world is full of sleeping wonders: Our hairy cousins — the great apes like orangutans, chimpanzees and bonobos — make mattresses to sleep on. Sea otters occasionally wrap themselves up in seaweed, float on their backs and at times hold each other’s paws so that they don’t drift away while sleeping.

While elephants can do with three hour sleep a day, an edible dormice can sleep for nearly a year! You may like to hibernate like dormice but I am more like a giraffe who sleeps for five minutes at a time, on an average 30 minutes a day. As the quote collector, Terri Guillements says, “I’ve had such bad insomnia the sleep cops have issued a warrant for my rest.”

The writer is an author of fiction and non-fiction books and Ex-Hon. Wildlife Warden, Udaipur

The Sunday Times: Zoos – Best Option to Save Vanishing Wildlife

by ArefaTehsin, posted in Uncategorized

The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

Zoos: Best option to save vanishing wildlife

By Arefa Tehsin

 

Reuben David, a great naturalist and champion of wildlife, who was believed to have the power to speak to animals, created the Ahmadabad zoo. People used to come from near and far to see this man who could go inside the cages of lions and tigers. During his time, Ahmadabad zoo became one of the most remarkable zoos of India and contributed substantially to conservation and research. My father Dr. Raza H. Tehsin, a naturalist and animal behavioural expert who has been the advisor to the government of Rajasthan on wildlife, took me to meet the man. I was awed by all the stuffed animals in Mr. David’s chambers and the colourful feathers of pheasants that he gifted to me.

Baba Dioum had said, “In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we’re taught.” Perhaps that is the reason the greatest conservators of all times have been hunters like Jim Corbett and naturalists like Reuben David.

Jerry Mander in his book Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television wrote that after sometime if you ask a child “Where do oranges grow?” he’ll reply, “In the supermarket.” Most city dwelling children, alienated from daily interaction with nature, are suffering from what is termed as nature deficit disorder. Our education system has failed to form a bond between the young ones and the great outdoors. An interesting, attractive place is required for education and awareness in conservation. It should stimulate their interest and provide a competition to internet, television and playstations.  A zoo is one of the best options available. Curriculum related topics can be explained easily and training and projects on endangered species can be conducted in zoo premises. Events like celebration of animal birth or a new addition to the zoo will not fail to generate interest in children. Wildlife Week, World Forestry Day etc. are already being celebrated in many zoos world over.

No one can remain unmoved after seeing an animal at close quarters. It always generates interest, curiosity and wonder. A child’s thrill during a visit to a zoo is unsurpassed. Zoos are places where children get to see the animals, which they’ve heard of in stories. They get to observe various animals, how they live and their behaviour and food habits. It gives a form to their imagination and opens up a whole new world of curiosity. Many of them grow up to become crusaders of wildlife protection. Those childhood visits to the zoos and jungles with my father sowed the seed of nature in me.

With the forest cover depleted to a bare minimum, animals poached to extinction and holidays in wildlife sanctuaries and reserves the interest or the privilege of a few – to bond with nature seems a distant possibility. Zoos and zoological parks remain the only places for the multitudes to connect with wildlife and be sensitised towards it. It is extremely difficult to spot animals in the wild. Many inhabitants of villages bordering the jungles pass their whole lives without seeing a wild animal. The largest chunk of visitors to small town zoos like Udaipur’s Gulab Bagh Zoo in India are villagers.

People of various strata of society, different income and educational levels, ages and socio-economic backgrounds visit zoos. Traditionally, zoos have provided a large vista of possibilities to educate people and bring them closer to nature. According to CEE India’s report, “In India there are more than 150 zoos, and they attract as many as 50 million visitors annually… Zoos’ potential for making people of all ages aware of the threats to the global ecology is unlimited.” According to the Assistant Director Anoma Priyadarshani of the Department of National Zoological Gardens of Sri Lanka, four million visitors, both local and foreign, visit the Dehiwela Zoo annually. And the number is growing. Colombo’s Dehiwela Zoo has a thumping selection of animals including albino cobras, albino koels, a pair of wild horses (the rarest of rare animals) and an albino crow! There are approximately 100 species of mammals, 110 species of birds, 35 species of reptiles, 65 species of fish, 6 species of amphibians, 30 species of invertebrates and 10 species of marine invertebrates. The vast compound with towering tropical trees is complete with a bird aviary, butterfly garden, aquarium, serpentarium, museum and zoo library. The zoo has its own publications, educational lectures and zoo projects. For children there are school and education programmes, kids’ corner and performances of elephants and sea lions. Instead of the hotels or homes, birthday parties can be conducted in the beautiful gardens of the zoo. They even provide lawn with animals.

The Dehiwela Zoo hospital provides veterinary graduate, undergraduate and voluntary training, does research in preventive medicines, provides medical and surgical treatments and undertakes laboratory and post mortem investigations. A significant number of local and foreign students get trained there annually in wild animal health related issues. On our last visit to this zoo we saw hippo babies with their mother and a lioness taking care of her litter born in captivity. Those are signs of a pulsating and successful zoo.

Animals are exchanged between zoos of the world. The Maharaj of Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, India, made history when he captured a white tiger in the wild. In time, generations of this white tiger have spread across the world. Zoos provide shelter to many orphan and stray animals, saving them an untimely end.

The states of many countries have failed to implement wildlife laws effectively and provide proper enforcement response. Political commitment to prevention of wildlife crime, human encroachment in protected areas and habitat destruction has remained a low priority over the decades. Man animal conflict continues to intensify. The Wildlife Protection Society of India estimated that at least 3,189 leopards were killed since 1994 to 2010. Leopards are especially targeted as they attack livestock and enter human habitation. They are brutally killed by poison, snares and gunshots. “For every tiger skin, there are at least 7 leopard skins in the haul.” The wild animals today need protection and zoos are one of the safe havens for them.

Some animal activists talk about closing down zoos. What is the alternate plan to save various critically endangered species from being extinct? Banning zoos, for all we know, might accelerate their extinction. Zoos provide breeding places for the species that face a threat of extinction in the jungles. When a species is confined to only one place it faces a huge threat of being wiped away by a disease, famine or epidemic. “The extinction rate today may be more than 1000 times the normal biological rate of 1-10 species extinctions per year. Species are becoming extinct even before anyone has a chance to discover them. This rapid extinction rate is due to a range of factors, caused by a human population of over 6 billion, including: over-exploitation of natural resources, hunting, introduction of exotic and domestic species, pollution, habitat loss and fragmentation, and global climate change” (The Role of Zoos in Conservation). According to scientists, we are currently facing the sixth Age of Extinction after the dinosaurs, caused by one factor alone – humans.

Many species are bred in zoos and reintroduced/relocated in the jungles, which are their natural habitats. Sangai or the Dancing deer of Manipur is a highly endangered species. Its multiplying numbers in captivity provide an insurance against its extinction in the forests. The small, inconsequential zoo of Udaipur in India has provided many captive-bred cheetals to be released in the wild. The crocodiles bred in the zoo have been released in Udaipur lakes, from where they’d dwindled and disappeared due to commercial hunting.

Yes, there are issues of smaller spaces for animals which can be improved upon. So can they be for humans. Walk into a shanty in Mumbai which houses a family of six and you’ll know what I mean. You can never substitute an animal’s territory that stretches in square kilometres or that of birds, which goes on for cubic square kilometres. Even the Singapore zoo, considered the best in Asia, has many enclosures, which are quite small. While one can work towards these issues, closing down zoos or shifting them to far off places where not many visitors can visit is not a solution. Far from it.

It may seem cruel from a human perspective to cage animals and deny them their natural habitat, but not much of it is left anyway due to expanding human population and our so-called development. There are many advantages to live in captivity for the animals. Increased life span (most animals’ life span doubles in captivity), medical care and abundance of food (in the wild many of them go hungry for days), protection from poachers and villagers aggrieved due to man animal conflict are to name a few. “Indian Leopards are estimated to live up to about nine years of age, although it is difficult to track them in the wild. When kept in captivity, this lifespan increases dramatically to well over 20 years. This increase is due to an abundance of food and water, a lack of threat from hunters or locals and prompt medical care.”

The issue should not be to close the zoos, which are not well-maintained, but to put more investment into creating a naturalised environment for the animals, keep them healthy and well-fed, facilitate national and international captive breeding programmes, carry out research programmes in the field of zoology and veterinary, restore endangered species, understand animal behaviour, improve animal husbandry, develop conservation initiatives, and educate the visitors. Zoos are a sustainable way of conservation. They provide life system education and have immense educational, conservation and research value.

We need to take a holistic and not a puritan approach confined to the narrow perspective of cruelty against animals defined by human standards. Some of the notions that we wave away as cruelty today may be the only remaining links that we have with the natural world – one amongst them being the zoos. The real need today is to see the broader perspective if we really want to conserve that which we’ve already destroyed to a great extent.

 (The writer is the author of fiction and non-fiction books on wildlife.)

The Sunday Times: Killing Nature, Killing Us

by ArefaTehsin, posted in Uncategorized

 

The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

Lament for a littered ‘lake’

By Randima Attygalle

 

The messenger bird in the 15th century epic poem- Selalihini Sandeshaya (Grackle Letter) composed by the monk scholar Ven.  Thotagamuwe Sri Rahula Thera pays homage to the fauna and flora of the Kotte Kingdom as it soars into the blue skies. The legend says that the grackle carried a letter to God Vishnu who reigned over Dondra to intervene in finding a suitable marriage partner for the eldest daughter of the then Kotte monarch- King Parakramabahu VI. The grackle’s celebration of the Diyawanna Oya and the natural landscape which surrounds it holds testimony to the rich biodiversity the locale claimed since the times of our ancient monarchs.

Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte and its surroundings are still known as a hub of water bodies, cocooned in marshy swamps with abundant wildlife. The placard erected by the Department of Wildlife at the turn to Parliament Road, speaks for the rich biodiversity among which are endemic species as well. Added to the natural water bodies is the network of canals – a colonial legacy from the Dutch. The canal network facilitated not only the transportation of goods, but acted as a buffer against floods. Over centuries, the buffer zones besides these canals connecting to other internal water bodies have been encroached by illegal settlements, completely oblivious to the original purpose the colonial masters espoused. To make matters worse, these canals have been reduced to garbage disposal pits, not only raping the waters but destroying the marine life.

The Heen Ela flowing through Rajagiriya is an integral part of Colombo’s canal system dating back to the Dutch era. Turning into Lake Drive, opposite McDonald’s, Rajagiriya, one can take a ride parallel to Heen Ela, but the waters stagnate and emanate an  odour today. The Heen Ela which falls onto the water retention area (bluntly called the lake) from which the road derives its name ‘Lake Drive’ is or rather was once a home to many species of animals dependent on this water body: Herons, storks, kingfishers.

Now the banks of the Heen Ela water retention area is an eyesore, a haven for the dengue mosquito with a cocktail of garbage including plastic, arrack bottles, rubber slippers and old tyres, fished out of the waters, reminding one of the prophetic words of the Red Indian Chief Seattle; ‘continue to contaminate your bed and one night you will suffocate in your own waste..’

The ravaging of this lowland area and the water retention body found at the end of Lake Drive has become an issue of concern for several ‘nature loving’ and civic conscious residents who alerted the Sunday Times. Arefa Tehsin, ex-hony. Wildlife Warden of the Udaipur District, Rajasthan and daughter of the conservationist Dr. Raza Tehsin, who is presently based here, laments the loss of habitat in Lake Drive, particularly in the water front. “The lake (water retention area) is a complete mess here with industrial and municipal contamination largely being the cause of this. The stench is unbearable at times,” says Arefa who lobbies equally for the community and the wildlife so dependent on the water body. She bemoans the loss of habitat for several creatures including monitor lizards, turtles and even the regular visitor to the compound- the crocodile.

According to Arefa, sewage from the houses of the area goes “unchecked and unregulated” to this water body and the canal and even effluents from a nearby industry are released to the canal periodically. “It is a big health hazard not only for the residents but also for the workers who have to wade in the sewage and clean the canal daily and a threat to the animal life,” she adds. Arefa also maintains that the road being built up through Lake Drive, connecting to Kirimandala Mawatha in Nawala has resulted in “mindless destruction of trees and mangroves”, displacing many animals. “We recently had a land monitor whose eyes and mouth had been severed by a crane or a passing vehicle and we had it sent to the Dehiwela Zoo hospital,” she says, questioning if an Environmental Impact Assessment of the road project which runs across one of the last remaining environmentally sensitive zones in the heart of Colombo had been done.

Another resident, Hiran Cooray asserts that a sustainable solution should be found as a way forward. “It is not fair to expect the authorities to be solely responsible for the irresponsible behaviour of the culprits. Nor is it fair to point fingers at only one cross section of the community.

The want of the hour is awareness, a more effective garbage disposal system and a deterrent mechanism in place for the pollution of this magnitude.” Mr. Cooray said that despite the great labours taken by the cleaners who are compelled to wade through this polluted water and manually pull the garbage with tractors, a colossal amount of non-degradable waste is discharged to the waterways. “We cannot be blind to the fact that these workers are also at a huge health risk and have to bear the brunt of insensitivity of the community.”

Richard Mundy had been living on Lake Drive with his wife for the past 14 years and is concerned over possible dengue threats that could be triggered by coconut shells, rubber tyres and plastic containers fished out of the canal. “These were precisely the articles which we were told not to leave lying around during dengue prevention campaigns.” He also recalls seeing a ‘regular boat’ which would collect water samples to be tested for water quality as they moved to the area, which however had gradually stopped coming after a few years. “The water then appeared to be cleaner and certainly had less solid waste floating in it,” says Richard who suspects untreated sewage in the waters today, judging by the foul smelling oily scum which floats in it. “It is obvious that real efforts are being made to maintain the waterways and surrounding areas, but prevention of further pollution must be a major concern as the waterways and surrounding areas support a lot of wildlife and a thriving population of fish.”

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Chairman, Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation (SLLRDC), Asela Iddawela noted that the prime challenge for the SLLRDC which is responsible for canal management, is winning over the pollutants. “When walking further interior in this wetland, we can see the remnants of what people have eaten and drunk- there is plastic and polythene galore and our challenge is to convince the polluter to adopt correct means of disposal.”

Despite the Heen Ela water retention being cleaned regularly by SLLRDC personnel with administrative assistance provided by the SL Navy and Civil Defence Force, the mechanism of manual cleaning cannot be sustained, points out the SLLRDC Chairman. The cleaning personnel are provided with personal protection safe gear to guard themselves against possible skin diseases, says Mr. Iddawela who adds that they are quite susceptible to such diseases as chemicals found in the polluted water could be lethal.

It is learnt from the canal cleaning staff of the SLLRDC that no amount of cleaning which is regularly done will answer as long as pollutants keep on soaring. “We keep on pulling all this non-degradable wear from the waters but the garbage is continuously thrown,” said one of the supervisors. The waste unearthed from the wetland is presently taken to the Meethotamulla garbage dump. A colossal amount of funds is annually allocated by the SLLRDC for the management of canals coming under its purview. According to the SLLRDC figures, Rs. 470 million had been spent in 2016 while another 350 million is allotted for 2017.

Community awareness, targeting the next generation is already initiated through their community-supervision officers by means of education programmes and keeping canals clean as part of good house-keeping methods.  A dialogue with the Castle Street Maternity Hospital for scientific disposal of clinical waste in a waste park in Muthurajawela is also on the cards. It’s further learnt that this proposed Waste Park will facilitate the modern means of clinical waste disposal from the National Hospital as well. The SLLRDC Chairman also pointed out that a cost-effective waste disposal system aligned with the municipal councils of Colombo and Kotte is also envisaged.

The Heen Ela water retention area on Lake Drive which was preserved under the Great Colombo Flood Control and Environment Project,is a lowland as well, explains Mr.Iddawela. “Although the SLLRDC and several other authorities including the Urban Development Authority (UDA) and Provincial Road Development Authority (PRDA) are blamed for constructing a roadway (which connects to the Nawala Road) which is a hindrance to the residential area we need to remind that the road runs through the canal reservation on which road construction is authorized. Nevertheless we are conscious of safety and convenience of the residents, the reason why a considerable buffer area is planned alongside the road for parking of vehicles,” he elaborated.

The road project is funded by the RDA, the PRDA and SLLRDC are jointly responsible for the construction. “While SLLRDC is responsible for the gabion walls (for the strengthening of the canal bank), PRDA is entrusted with the remaining road construction.” Under the Megapolis 2015-2030 Plan, the new roadway is aimed at reducing traffic congestion.

In response to the alleged charges of ‘filling up of the wetland’ due to road construction by some of the residents in the area, Deputy General Manager (Wetland Management), SLLRDC, Dr (Eng). N.S. Wijerathne said there was no filling up of the wetland. “We are only strengthening the canal bank along Heen Elawhich is inevitable when a project of this nature takes place.” As to whether an Environmental Impact Assessment was done prior to construction of the roadway, Dr.Wjierathne responded that such assessment was not done as the wetland area is not affected by construction. “This however does not mean that we are on a rampage felling trees. We are mindful of the disturbance caused to the biodiversity, the reason why we have root-balled certain trees and replanted them in the Biodiversity Park in Thalawatugoda (adjacent to Ape Gama) and planning another replanting project once the road construction is over.”

Dr.Wijerathne also noted that in terms of rampant water pollution in Colombo’s internal water bodies which eventually flow to Kelani river, the situation is alarming. Although non-degradable waste cannot be underpinned, the chemicals mixed in water are the worst feared pollutants, he said. “Recent studies on the Kelani River basin reveal that pesticides and chemicals are the deadliest pollutants,” reminds Dr.Wijerathne who urges for more responsible community involvement in protecting the water bodies.

Killing nature, killing us

By Arefa Tehsin

While looking for a house in Colombo, I fell in love. It was with the small lake made by the convergence of canals, tucked away at the fag end of Rajagiriya’s Lake Drive. A green patch, the lung of this suburb and house to an astounding variety of critters, big and small. But love often results in heartburn I’m told and that’s what happened.

One of the best things about this lake is the peace. Not silence, of course. The roll call of birds is the first thing you hear in the morning. As the day progresses, pelicans let out a guttural cry now as they waddle by clumsily. The jungle crows caw trying to steal some sticks from the garden broom for their nest. The squirrels let out a sharp chick-chick-chick with jerks of their tail if someone as much as eyes their famous nut. The mynahs go about looking like bandits but when they open their mouths they are nothing but songsters. The tui-tui crying parakeet smooches his girl as if there is no tomorrow. (Our current protectors of morality will faint at this grossly impolite behaviour!). The purple moorhens scold in a grandmotherly voice if you go too close. Our local Mozart, koel, reaches hysterical pitches trying to impress a girl who just eyes him critically. A Brahminy kite lets out a scream from the skies just for kicks.

And there are the silent ones too. Like the water monitor lizard who tries to approach an egret waiting for fish with clumsy stealth. Like the gentle fireflies who rise at night like little twinkling faeries. A reality show of animal lives happening all around you (drama, squabble, sex, haggling, luring, deceiving, hunting and being hunted), if you have the patience to watch long hours.

A porcupine was spotted in the area. Some claimed of seeing the resident croc too. This was all rosy, but the heartburn came soon enough. When reality struck. When pungent waste, which looks toxic, came floating by for the first time. And then again. And again. When water hyacinth, that thrives in dirty waters, spread and took control of the lake.

“So what’s new?” the older residents of the area shrugged their shoulders. There has been a constant war that wages between the workers who clean this lake and this water hyacinth and floating waste.

During the recent floods, when Lake Drive was flooded and our garden submerged in water, the biggest concern was the rancid water entering our pump. All the vegetable plants in our garden wilted and died with the first touch of that water. I wonder how the myriad of water and land birds and animals are surviving on these polluted waters.

Big sewage pipes (and small underground ones) constantly empty the house waste in the canals and lake. An oil refinery, I’m told, discharges its waste in the canal periodically. We may stuff our noses when the stench assaults our senses, or shut down the water pump when the garden floods. I wonder what the yogic grey heron, who meditates in water the whole day, is supposed to do. Or the kingfishers, waterhens, cormorants, river turns, night herons, snake birds, barbets, babblers, orioles or the other migratory birds who seek home in this water body every year are supposed to do? We are pushing the remaining wildlife out of our cities. And how!

What is direly needed is for the authorities to take stern steps to stop the dumping of industrial and house waste in these waters. We are harming ourselves as much as the environment. When I sit with my freshly baked fish, sometimes my eyes wander to the fishing boat in the lake casting its net. I realise it then. When you throw shit about, it invariably ends up on your table.

( The writer is an author, columnist and ex-hon. Wildlife Warden – Udaipur, India)

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My sessions at Jaipur Literature Festival

by ArefaTehsin, posted in Uncategorized

Dec has been festivities. Jan is a celebration of literature. First my sessions at THE HINDU’S LIT FOR LIFE in Chennai and then at #JaipurLiteratureFestival, in Jaipur, of course  

My Sessions and Introductions at the upcoming JAIPUR LITERATURE FESTIVAL
20th Jan – Do Tigers Drink Blood and Other Mysteries of Nature
21st Jan – Not Yet! #NandanaSen introduced by Arefa Tehsin  
23rd Jan – Rewilding a Rocky Desert: #PradipKrishen introduced by Arefa Tehsin 

Please do drop in if you’re around!

 

https://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/speaker-post/arefa-tehsin/

Arefa Tehsin

AREFA TEHSIN

Writer & Conservationist

Arefa Tehsin has been shortlisted for The Hindu Young World-Goodbooks Best Author Award 2017 for her book Wild in the Backyard.  Her picture book The Elephant Bird was read at over 3000 locations across India from the slums to the Presidential Library on International Literacy Day 2016. It has been translated into 25 languages. She is also the author of several fiction and nonfiction books on wildlife. She was appointed as the Honorary Wildlife Warden of Udaipur and has relentlessly pursued nature conservation through her writings and columns. Tehsin is also an avid traveller and contributes travel pieces for various publications.