My Husband & Other Animals

by Janaki Lenin

What’s it like being married to Rom Whitaker – herpetologist, wildlife conservationist, and founder of the Madras Snake Park and Madras Crocodile Bank? Janaki Lenin, his wife, tells us, ‘There’s never a dull moment.’ In this compilation of stories, Janaki – also an animal enthusiast – gives us a peek into the zany and unpredictable world that Rom and she have built together, deep in southern India. They battle tree frogs that insist on colonising their house, travel to the wilds of the world pursuing venomous snakes and monster crocodiles, devote precious hours to befriending Gila monsters, playing with porcupines, and taming opinionated shrews. Entertaining, playful, and downright amusing, the essays shed light on the kingdoms of beasts and plants. They provide flashes of insight into animal disposition, relate human stories about the world and our place in it, and demystify nature’s secret code. Most of all, they highlight Rom and Janaki’s wide-eyed wonder at sharing this diverse planet with all creatures, large and small.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Biography, Essays, Biography Memoir, Science, Memoir

296 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Janaki Lenin started writing in 2004 after turning her back on film-making. Writing was the only choice she had, since she didn't know any other skill besides making movies. She discovered writing was just like producing movies -- same principles, different medium.

Janaki started out writing articles for wildlife magazines while also wrangling with wildlife management issues such as coexistence. In 2010, she began writing a popular column in The Hindu, one of India's largest English newspapers, called My Husband and Other Animals. The first volume of collected essays from the column was published in 2012 and the second volume was released in April 2018. Every Creature Has A Story came out in 2020 (paperback in 2023). Snakes, Drugs Rock 'n' Roll, the autobiography of Romulus Whitaker, which she co-authored, was published in 2024.

Reviews

[Pratip Vijayakumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title was intriguing enough for me to pick up this book. I haven't heard of Janaki Lenin or Romulus Whitaker or Lee Durrell. How often do we come across a Non-fiction book especially about Crawlers, Animals and birds to be interesting? We haven't, atleast I haven't. After reading this book things changed for me and Janaki not only made me sit through 296 pages with a treasure trove of information and knowledge but this is also one of the longest read for me. I literally took 5 months to finish this book with so many breaks in-between to digest all those pieces of information.

This book not only talks about the animals, birds and crawlers but also the life of this couple on their own farm or should I call a forest? I was made to enter into the wildlife with ease because of the kind of writing style Janaki imbibed in her book which let me peek into their journey to various countries and villages in India and outside.

Half-way through the book, I realised this was a collection of articles Janaki published in Hindu and when I completed this book she released her second book which I'm definitely going to buy. What made me immerse into this book was the humour Janaki added to each of the episodes. 

I am lost in words of How much I love this book that I will keep going back and read through the book whenever I feel like. I recommend this book to everyone even if you don't like non-fiction nor to read about animals. I'm sure you'll love it and crave for more. Thank me later :P 

Happy reading and do share your thoughts if you have already read this book. Cheers :)

Some Quotes I loved:
"If we can collectively recall our evolutionary history, acknowledge our dependence on the ecosystem functions sustained by biodiversity and behave as if we believe in it, then Earth . . . and we . . . will survive"

"what compels us humans to gobble and destroy our way through Earth’s resources until there is no tomorrow?’ The answer is that we have forgotten how we became human beings, how we evolved with and depended upon other species."

[Shweta Padma Das · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful collection of wildlife stories involving the author, her husband, and other animals. Available on KU along with the next book in the series.

[Sudharsan Haribaskar · Rating 5 out of 5]

பொதுவாக ’பிற உயிர்களிடத்தே அன்பு’ செலுத்துவது குறித்து நம்மிடையே பல வேறுபட்ட கருத்துகள் நிலவுவதுண்டு. அன்பு செலுத்துவது கூட இரண்டாம் பட்சம் தான். அந்த உயிரை ஒரு பொருட்டாகவாவது கொள்கிறோமா என்பது கேள்வி. சில சமயம் சக மனிதர்களையே ஒரு பொருட்டாகக் கொள்வதில், மதிப்பதில் சிக்கல் இருக்கிற நமக்கு பிற உயிர்கள் எம்மாத்திரம். காட்டு விலங்குளை விட்டுவிடுவோம். வீட்டு விலங்கான ஒரு நாய் மீதோ, பூனை மீதோ, அல்லது ஒரு மாட்டின் மீதோ காட்டப்படுகிற கரிசனம் ஊர்வன, பூச்சியினம் ஆகியவற்றின் மீது காட்டப்படுகின்றதா ? அதீதமான அருவெறுப்பு அல்லது அச்சத்தின் காரணமாக பெரும்பாலும் நாம் அவ்வுயிர்களை ஆபத்துக்குள்ளாக்கி விடுகிறோம் அல்லது சாகடித்து விடுகிறோம். பிற உயிர்கள் பற்றிய போதிய அறிவு இல்லாமையே இதற்குக் காரணமாக இருக்கலாம். கொஞ்சம் தேடலும் ஆர்வமும் வாசிப்பும் இருந்தால் நம்மைச் சுற்றியிருக்கிற சின்னச்சின்ன விஷயங்களைக் கூட வியந்து பார்ப்போம்.

தவறவிடக்கூடாத புத்தகம். கட்டாயம் படியுங்கள். உங்கள் பிள்ளைகளுக்கும் வாங்கிக்கொடுங்கள்.

To read more: https://ungalsudhar.blogspot.in/2017/...

[Harini · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

If you are someone who is interested in animal kingdom you will absolutely like this book. I really enjoyed reading this book. A more coherent review coming up soon.

[Malavika Rajesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

What made me reach for this book was the title,"My Husband and Other Animals".Since I had never read any of Janaki's columns in The Hindu, I didn't know what the book would be about.While reading this book, a bunch of articles gave me a totally new experience.
We live either in a city or in a village or in a flat or a good old mansion.We make god friends and enemies with your neighbours, relatives, friends etc.But we never would have given a thought about the various "other" beings around us.Reading this book made me literally me sit up and think about the toads, cats, dogs, birds, worms, flies and even mosquitoes[the beings around me].It did make me wonder about their conversations :).
Ms.Janaki favourite and recurring topic in her articles is her husband, Mr.Romulus Whitaker-who is an herpetologist and founder of Madras Crocodile Bank. They together have been living in Madras Crocodile Bank, and later on moved to a farm house near Chengalpet.While reading through the experiences of the author I was quite envious about her adventures and most importantly the fun she had while on them.Be it "always finding a way back to home toads" or "cyclone crocs" or "trekking deep forests", she has had a great run which we can only imagine.
Laughing and giggling to myself, I finished the book in no time.It was a quick and hearty read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Sonali Dabade · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun read this was! I didn't know this was Nonfiction and I picked it up on whim and I'm so glad I did!

It's informative in a very fun way, although there's so much information that remembering it all in one fell swoop isn't going to be easy. So many crocs, snakes, dogs, pigs, and so many other reptiles and amphibians that the author talks about in here that it will give you the creepy-crawlies, but it will also incite a sense of empathy, a sense of love towards them. I went, "Yes, I get you, I understand you, but I have a phobia BUT I will love them from a distance."

Would recommend!

[Vandana R · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading Janaki Lenin's columns in "The Hindu" as a child and I was very glad to have found this book which is a compilations of her column writings and essays.
She writes in a such an amusing way about her and her husband's (Romulus Whitaker) interesting journeys into the wild and every essay has something insightful like a tidbit about unusual animal behavior, the protein filled snack of termites or about the origins of "sambar" the lentil stew.
I have a great amount of respect for wildlife conservationists and their book, this book took my respect for them to the next level.

[Tia Raina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an interesting book. Will definitely read part 2!

[Varsha Rao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious, informative, touching, and deeply connecting with nature. Ghosh! I realized I know nothing about the animals and plants that we share this Earth with.

[Karan Rajpal · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a ride

This book is a very example of a life well lived, among nature's bounty. A view point that captures the spirit of what it is like to live with nature while being attached to our cities and creature comforts. A wonderful pick me up every now and then, between weightier tomes.

[Pruthvi Raj K S B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightfully beautiful.

[Raji · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband and other animals - just the title was enough for me to increase curiosity into the reading of the book. And then the foreword. I remember during my school days whenever we were taken to any place in ECR,chennai like the MGM or VGP , on the way back to school we will make a brief stop at the madras crocodile bank. Not even once have I got down the bus to enter it because of the foul smell of the reptiles and the place was intolerable. There were few others in the bus like me. But , can you imagine people living in the crocodile bank. I definitely couldn't until I read the foreword. I decided to definitely continue reading this book to get answers for all my questions.

Janaki lenin, the author along with Romulus (Rom for all of us) whitaker,her husband, takes us through an adventure in a dense forest via this book. Janaki has vividly explained small episodes of her experiences like a Virtual imaging. She has also has introduced a variety of reptiles,birds,snakes and animals that I have never heard of until i read this book. Rom is truly a man of snakes and crocs. No wonder he setup the madras snake park and madras crocodile bank on his own. Rom and Janaki's multiple snake encounters throughout the book gave me a slight shock every time i came across one. Their knowledge on the varieties of snakes and how they try to understand the what breed a snake is all amazing. During the time of reading this book , almost everyday I had a snake dream. Apparently , i used to get one just by looking at a picture , but here it was like I walk in between snakes with janaki and Rom. so I couldn't help it.This also reminded me of a temple in penang , malaysia named snake temple and that you cannot walk inside the temple without stamping on atleast one snake.I believe janaki's house which has a farm/forest attached to it would be no different but with her husband and other animals as
the title says.

Though i enjoyed reading the book completely, some episodes were deftinely worth a mention.The story of the immaculate conception,the couple's travel diaries hunting for snakes along with the irula tribes,Rom's travel with his pet python,janaki's secret ingredient that made the food super delicious,her first insect tasting etc,.

Eagerly waiting to read the second part of this book to check what janaki has in store for her readers.

[Venkatarangan Thirumalai · Rating 4 out of 5]

The foreword by Lee Durrell makes it super clear on what’s the book about in the opening paragraph “It seems these days as if people have forgotten their biological roots or lost interest in animals and plans … The biodiversity of Planet Earth apparently doesn’t matter any more”.

Janaki has so much to say but she has wits to say them briefly. Throughout the book she walks a tightrope to avoid anything that can be controversial at the same time not hesitating to speak her mind on subjects passionate to her. The book boosts accolades comparing the work with those of legendary nature/wildlife columnists M.Krishnan & Gerald Durrell, I am off to reading more about them. And that sums up how good was this book

[Poonam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a collection of columns by Janaki Lenin that were published in Hindu. Janaki, as Rom Whitaker's wife, has abundant experiences of trysts with wildlife and nature. Of course, since Rom was a herpetologist, there are many short columns about snakes. Every column has some interesting tidbit, a croc in Andamans, Crocodile bank, attack of red ants or tree frogs and so on. It was a very pleasurable reading.

[Prathiba Swaminathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this book with a lot of enthusiasm, but that didn't carry me through for more than a quarter of the book. The style is formulaic making the narrated story all too familiar from one chapter to another. I did enjoy knowing about Rom's exploits, and the Madras Crocodile Bank, though.

[Nivedita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful compilation of the author's adventures laced with a humour. Really enjoyed reading the book.

[Rishav Agarwal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice collection of blog posts, made cab rides to office less boring but boring nonetheless.

[Anjana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Abandoned at 30%. It wasn't interesting enough. Just a bunch of articles strung together and many were too short.

[Chrissy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most charming book of 2020 for me. When I was growing up I devoured the James Herriot series, the stories set in the Yorkshire Highlands made me fall in love with the place, the animals and all the lovely people that James ( who was a vet) met.

This book reminded me a little bit of that, but it’s about an entire ecosystem of reptiles and animals in our own backyard! @Janaki Lenin wrote these stories for a column in the Hindu and now they have been compiled into a book. She is married to Rom ( and there is a cool story about his name i.e. Romulus! ) and they sound like the most adventurous couple. Rom was the individual who started the Croc Bank and the Snake Bank in erstwhile Madras . Because of this book I have to visit and since it’s on the way to Pondicherry I don’t really need an excuse.

The stories are heart warming with cool people that we meet like the drug runner who was smuggling drugs in exotic animals, or the whole story on virgin births in nature, how it’s not so easy to raise money for reptile conservation, stories about the couple’s pets including pigs and dogs with wondrous names like Pokhiri Raja, how snakes even poisonous ones like kraits are simply transported in India, Ajoba the leopard. I could go on and on, but long story short the stories are like nuggets of information that make for really interesting reading.

The writer is also somewhat of a history buff and a lot of her stories deal with the origins of the names of reptiles, birds or plants which is rather fascinating. The book talks so much about the rich diversity of reptiles and animals and foliage in India, that for someone from the city it seems like a place cut off from reality. I would love to meet them and hear their stories in person someday!

[Brooding Brook · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book, having no idea about how it is going to be except that it is surely going to be about animals. The author Janaki Lenin, has done the narration rather deliberately, by which i mean, as we go through the chapters, it just doesnt feel like reading about animals. It is much more than that. As a reader, we connect not just with the book, but with the animals around us which the author speaks about. Rom, who is the author's husband,will be seen throughout the book, teaching the author of animals, which mostly involves crocs and snakes. Their(Janaki and Rom's) love for each other, is also evident through the chapters. There are many things which we come to know of animals that we didnt know before. Not just about those animals which most of us would never have come across in real lives, but also about pets-dogs, cats; snakes and crocodiles. The conversations between author and Rom, are funny. Apart from the animals, plants and trees that the author talks about for the most part of the book, there is something else which is very striking for me in this book, which is the author finding someone like Rom to be her husband. Though this is not like those books that got a place for a love plot, yet i feel like this book has that in it. Among all those books that I have in my collection, thrillers, romance, classics and the others, this book is going to be special.
To the tree or plant that you have in your backyard, you water it, give it all the required soil and chemicals, but it never grows nor yields. What can we do next? It's simple. Cane the tree and swear some words against it, the next day you will surely see different results.

[Kiranmayi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Janaki Lenin is no stranger to those who have followed her essays in ‘The Hindu’ newspaper over the years. This book is a collection of such essays/stories with each spanning 4–5 pages. There are a total of 90 stories talking of tree frogs, crocs, snakes, leopards, babblers, even nettle. Each essay speaks about one species and remarkable, generally unknown facts about them. Some are about the author’s own encounters with one of these animals.

The writing is perfect and high on wit while giving out wonderful details of wildlife, their natural traits and the kind of research that goes into understanding their behavior. If you ever wondered how animals and birds trace back to their home even after being taken away hundreds of miles, whether in the jungle or in the cities; how citizens keep even the most amazing snakes as pets, what happens when you stay on a farm and frogs come home in hundreds, how bird species get their names — this book comprises of all this and many more stories.

If you are a animal, nature lover this is a must must read. Even if this is the first time you are gonna read about wildlife, this one should not be missed. A fun ride into the wild and woods, by the end of it, the reader would learn about a handful of new animals and plants. While I complete this book, the next one is already out — ‘My Husband and Other Animals 2: The Wildlife Adventure Continues’.

Complete review on my blog:
https://medium.com/kiranmayi-g/book-r...

[Ashima Jain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard about this book at my first BYOB meet in 2017. The theme was short stories and the book club member who brought this described it as a bewitching collection of essays detailing domestic life in the wild.

Married to Rom Whitaker – herpetologist, wildlife conservationist, and founder of the Madras Snake Park and Madras Crocodile Bank - Janaki Lenin shares her experiences of living on their farm, deep in the forest in South India, where tree frogs hide in every possible nook and cranny, snakes crawl in the grass, and leopards and elephants make unexpected nocturnal visits. All in the company of their four dogs, a pair of emus, a flock of geese and a pig.

While I am sure the experiences are anything but hilarious if you have to live through them day to day, they do make for some very amusing reading. Some do end tragically (they are wild animals after all), but as the husband and wife navigate life with them, around them, you begin to see their wild friends in a different light.

The author has a knack for telling stories in a way that is both matter-of-fact and tongue-in-cheek. I am not an animal 'lover' per se, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[Kaushik Samanta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: My Husband & other animals

Author: Janaki Lenin

Page: 282

Language: English

Publisher: Westland Ltd.
*
***Description***
.
What’s it like being married to Rom Whitaker – herpetologist, wildlife conservationist, and founder of the Madras Snake Park and Madras Crocodile Bank? Janaki Lenin, his wife, tells us, ‘There’s never a dull moment.’ In this compilation of stories, Janaki – also an animal enthusiast – gives us a peek into the zany and unpredictable world that Rom and she have built together, deep in southern India.
.
***Review***
.
The book began as a short article for the Madras Crocodile Bank’s newsletter, Herpinstance. Her witty style of writing is both engaging and accessible. She charms her readers with diverse and fascinating topics. Invasion by tree frogs, virgin birth in reptiles are some of the many incredulous stories you will find in this book. This unputdownable book has snippets of information on all creatures-cute and scary. The stories are very short and highly amusing. And if you are a nature freak you definitely need this book.

[Kru · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting read. Compiled as short chapters, like the weekly columns in Newspapers, mildly humorous, this is one more amazing Non-Fiction I read this year. Took more than my normal time since I bought the Tamil version foolishly assuming it must be the original. But it is originally in English by the author, and translated by a different person.

So had difficulty in reading, like a very sentence with multiple phrases gets translated phrase to phrase in Tamil and makes it too difficult to arrive the intended meaning. Such sentences are easy to understand and imagine in my opinion. Tamil is a simpler language, and looks very hard when translated this way. The translator has done a great job no wonder, but my opinion is a general one. I have felt this with other translations too, but this was comparatively better.

But the premise is interesting and what crocodiles mean to me only my very close friends know ;-)

[Shubham Shetty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of Janaki Lenin's columns from The Hindu, which chronicles her life and adventures with her husband, herpetologist and conservationist Romulus Whitaker. Rom, founder of the Madras Croc Bank and the Madras Snake Park, is quite a character and Janaki manages to capture his personality perfectly. Lenin's style is engaging and humorous, and her short anecdotes always manage to enthrall despite the limitation on size. Her descriptions of their interactions with the wildlife in and around their home, including tree frogs, jaguars, porcupines, pigs, snakes, etc always drew a laugh. She paints an amazing picture of her life which leaves us wanting to know the couple personally and partake in their adventures. Some stories may have missed the mark but that can be expected, and overall the book is an amazing read! 10/10 would recommend this to anyone looking for a good, light read on the fly.

[Balachander · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be quite honest, I had no idea what kind of book this was going to be when I picked it up. The title (and some vague memory) led me to believe this was going to be a rib tickling short comic novel. Imagine my surprise when I find out that the book is indeed about the author's husband and other animals! Once I overcame my initial mild shock, I had a fun, interesting time reading this. The author's style reminded me of articles I used to read as a child in the Hindu. (No wonder, since her pieces have appeared in that newspaper.) Not only in terms of style (sparse but not lacking in mild humor) but also because reading this collection of short articles on crocs, snakes, insects and other creatures was like taking a trip down memory lane. In addition, one gets to read about the Madras Crocodile bank and its origins, about Rom Whitaker and his (and the authors) many adventures as well his connection with Satyajit Ray and Renoir. I'll be scouting for Janaki Lenin's other books for sure.

[Vinayak Hegde · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is written by Janaki Lenin - the wife of Romulus Whitaker - founder of the Madras Croc Bank. I first heard about him and his work in BNHS's Hornbill magazine as a kid. This collection of stories are educative, funny and illustrative of the wildlife around us.

There are lots of small beautiful stories that educate about the wildlife in southern India (And the world) without being boring or preachy. Janaki has an easy way with words and the collection never gets boring. If you have been on wildlife treks or gone camping in the jungles - these are the kind of stories you will hear and enjoy. Very well written. looking forward to read the sequel to this.

These collection of stories was serialized as a column in the Hindu. The stories are fresh and written by someone who really loves wildlife. A nice read.

[Sharada Mohan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am thrilled to have read this book. Janaki's way with words made me hooked to this book even though I know zilch about wildlife or whatever it is that she is talking about. I was attracted to this book by its very apt name ;). Each of her articles in this book is a gem in its own way and makes us realize how far away we humans have moved apart from nature and animals on this planet. Some of her experiences gave me goosebumps and made me so curious - wanting so much to visit Rom Whitaker's Croc bank in Chennai. Kudos to Janaki and her husband for their amazing work - all husbands are animals ( us too ;) )

[Megha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this one purely for it's intriguing title. Its an easy read, a compilation of Janaki Lenin's column in The Hindu. For those already familiar with it, this book might not have a lot to offer. Personally, the stories were interesting for me also because this was the first time I came across her writing. The stories/posts are crisp and engaging, making this an ideal read when commuting or even better: while taking a break from other long-form reads. What I especially loved is how Janaki connects her observations about the animal world to that of the lives of 'human' animals, with a dash of humour.

[Zhenya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love how each chapter is not so long but concentrated with tons of well researched facts along with references to where you can reach them by yourself. i have not come across a book with so many biologists ecologists and conservationists referenced in a single book. First name basis like normal people I mean. You can often see them referenced with initials and surnames on scientific papers. Absolutely amazing.
Hope to get my hands on the second book the soonest it reaches Sri Lanka.