The Wild Heart of India

by T.R. Shankar Raman

Wild - untamed, hostile, remote. Yet, wild can be gentle, welcoming, and inspiring, too. This is the wild that preoccupies biologist Shankar Raman as he writes about trees and bamboos, hornbills and elephants, leopards and myriad other species. Species found not just out there in far wildernesses - from the Thar desert to the Kalakad rainforests, from Narcondam Island to Namdapha - but amid us, in gardens and cities, in farms, along roadsides. And he writes about the forces that gouge land and disfigure landscapes, rip trees and shred forests, pollute rivers and contaminate the air, slaughter animals along roads and rail tracks - impelling a motivation to care, and to conserve nature.

Through this collection of essays, Shankar Raman attempts to blur, if not dispel, the sharp separation between humans and nature, to lead you to discover that the wild heart of India beats in your chest, too.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Environment, India

476 pages, Hardcover

Published May 28, 2019

About the author

Author of The Wild Heart of India: Nature and Conservation in the City, the Country, and the Wild, Oxford University Press, India (2019).

T. R. Shankar Raman (aka Sridhar) likes to imagine he is a writer turned wildlife scientist turned writer, who now lives in southern India in a landscape of rainforests and plantations in the Anamalai: the ‘elephant hills’ in Tamil. As a wildlife scientist with the Nature Conservation Foundation, he works on the ecology and conservation of tropical forests and wildlife, mainly in the Western Ghats mountain range in India, studying plants and birds and other wildlife. As a writer, he writes creative non-fiction and reflective essays on nature and conservation for newspapers, magazines, and blogs, besides occasional book reviews and op-ed or feature articles.

Reviews

[Devathi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of essays, which provide a great insight into some of the pressing conservation issues in India (and the world at large), without the dense writing of scientific papers and most other books on conservation. As the title suggests, there is a lot of heart, in this book. In the last chapter 'Sentience for Conservation', the author makes a strong case for a conservation ethic that is 'built on human sentience, tempered by empathy'. This book is for everyone who has ever felt a connection to nature, but it's also especially for those who have been unfortunate enough to never have. In short, it's a brilliant, and often emotional, read.

[Vaidya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am surprised that I am the first to be reviewing this book. So many were showing it off on Instagram that I thought its the latest best-seller. But then it only shows the kind of people I follow and my interests.

Moving on to the book itself, I haven't read a book that I loved more than this one. I kind of expected it to be good, and it was more than that! I have followed and read some of Shankar Raman's articles - the one on warblers, written in The Hindu is a favourite. This book is more expansive collecting a lot of his articles and essays, some written with his partner, Divya Mudappa.

There are 3 parts - the first on his travels and life in general, the second on conservation topics, and the last on his general reflections. I loved the first and the last parts, and the second part sags only because the topics can get repetitive which is expected given that this is a collection of what has already been written. Just a quibble, especially given the other two parts.

The book is very quotable, and I couldn't help taking snapshots to post on SM.

But it is here in the Anamalai Hills, among people living on mountains named for the elephants, drinking the waters of a river named for the rainforest, that we have come to feel that we are only a member of that larger community that Leopold called the land. It here that we gained a sense that, in a world of wounds, to intelligently tinker with and restore land, one needs to nurture a land ethic. A land ethic and place in a community, open to all who care to participate, who will feel moved to act and make space for other species in their lives and in their hearts.

One also hopes that T.R. Shankar Raman has more such books in the offing.

[Rohan Arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book belongs among the annals of great writing on Indian wildlife. It chronicles a life in science of an author so clearly in love with the wild places of his country, it shows through every page. The book is an anthology of Shankar Raman's writing, collected over several decades and you can clearly read through the book the quiet maturing of a conservation thinker. If the book is inconsistent, it reflects the multiple voices in which he has written - from the precisely scientific to the lyrical and impressionistic. Shankar Raman writes a simple, effortless prose below which you can hear the murmurs of all his influences - from Leopold and M Krishnan to John Le Carre and Louis L'Amour. Like all anthologies, this is not one to be read at a single go but to have by your bedside always so you can dip into it at special moments. Each time I have, I have left it refreshed and with a newfound faith that the floundering art of simple nature writing still has something to say.

[Madhan Rajasekkharan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wild Heart of India by TR. Shankar Raman

A series of essays about India’s wildlife parks and forests and about various fauna & flora of the country by an environmentalist who works in the western ghats. Some essays transport you to the wild, some give mind blowing facts, some make you pause and think how humans assume nature is theirs to do with as desired. Found it an interesting and important read.

[Tanvi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book a few weeks ago now and brought it with me to college, where I'm keeping it in front of my desk as a reminder of India, and Indian wildlife, which feels very far away in the US. I enjoyed the essays for many reasons—their elegance, their eloquence, their force. But most of all I loved them because at least in the stage I'm at now, they modelled the kind of observation, research, compassion, and insight I want to approach my education and (hopefully!) career with. At the beginning of the book you talked about ecology as a study of home, and the way it brought the landscapes of India to the vivid presence of a home for the reader resonates with me. It describes the "wild heart" with such easy familiarity: not so far away after all.

Especially after beginning college, I've come more and more to realize how much this writing has influenced the way I think about wildlife, humanity, conservation, science, and justice. Again and again I think about how lucky I am to have Indian scientists like Shankar Raman as my role models for conservation biology research. Looking back at The Wild Heart of India is important for me because it keeps reminding me that it is possible to have grassroots research that has a sustained impact in an area, and also that the voices of scientists are important, not just in journals but also in art. And that it is possible to bring those two together with such wonder!

[Harsha Priolkar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me three months to get through, primarily because I’m not an avid non-fiction reader and also because it’s more a compilation of essays rather than a single flowing narrative which made it easy to put down and pick up as the desire took me.

Beautifully published by the Oxford University Press, this naked hardback packs a lot of information that is further enhanced by wonderful illustrations from Sartaj Ghuman. The text is divided into three sections entitled Fieldwork, Conservation and Reflections, within each of which we get insights from the author’s point of view. In the Fieldwork section we get a look at how Sridhar (author), as a child was an avid bird-watcher and how this hobby deepened into a passion and career. I live close to the Western Ghats that he talks about extensively in this book and his descriptions of their beauty and unique biodiversity are spot on! We cannot afford to let anything and anyone impinge on their existence! He tackles several endemic and endangered species in these essays - Hornbills, Gibbons, Clouded Leopards and many other bird, animal and plant species - that are engaged in a battle for survival that they cannot possibly win without out support and help.

The section on Conservation was the reason I took so long to read this book. It’s hard to read about the innumerable ways in which we humans are destroying the very environments that sustain us. I had to put the book down several times for some relief from the awful facts. As humans, we need to find a way to balance progress with conservation, whether that means tempering our greed & ideas of progress or ramping up our environmental education & awareness programs remains to be seen, although here again a balance can and should be struck to the benefit of both humans and Nature. This book reinforced my firm belief that no species is as self-centered and destructive to its environment as Homo Sapiens! Truly we are a long way away from becoming the Homo ‘Sentiens’ the author dreams of!

Reflections was my favourite section. It is where Sridhar reflects on various encounters he’s had over more than two decades of working in the Wild. He describes his current base in the Annamalai Hills and his take on how a network of ecologists, engineers and environmentalists together with governments and citizens can make a serious difference to the way Conservation is practiced in India. He states the problems we face clearly and presents solutions. He also mentions areas where solutions have been brought into practice successfully and where they haven’t. The essays I enjoyed most though are those where he describes encounters with the bird life and animals during his travels. These are exquisitely detailed and transported me straight into the scenes described! They were also fairly philosophical which I always enjoy!

Can we build a popular movement, devoted to a cause as to a nation, if we were to use only logic and dry fact, ignoring sentiment and disposition, music and arts, poetry and passion? Should we always seek answers in our intellect rather than in our humanity?

My only crib would be that there is a lot of information that can at times feel overwhelming and that there is a fair amount of repetition given that this is a compilation of essays often written on similar topics at different times. Also, a lot of the statistics are almost a decade old. If one gets past that, this serves as a great introduction to the Conservation Movement in India, although the author’s focus is primarily on the Northeast region, specially Mizoram and the Western Ghats.

The book also includes a comprehensive Notes section, a list of common and scientific Names of Species and a Bibliography. I have ordered and plan to read Rachel Carlson’s Silent Spring which is mentioned several times throughout the book. I also loved the quotes scattered throughout the text like this one below,

Season of Morning Dew

The Spring has adorned the earth, in a trice,
With the groves of palasha trees a flower
Swinging in the breeze,
Bowed with the load of blossom
Resembling flaming fire,
The earth looks like a newly-wed bride
In lovely red attire.
~ Ritusamhara (Canto V: 19)

All in all, a fascinatingly informative read that was made all the more enjoyable because I’d visited a lot of the places mentioned.

[Formed · Rating 4 out of 5]

"And land, again, an islet edged by a strip of fine, dark sand carrying the calligraphy of wader feet, and crested with sedges and shrubs into which a little tricoloured munia flies carrying a long blade of dry grass to tailor his nest among reeds. Then, water again, with Asian openbill storks walking—on stilt legs, like old people, heads bent in contemplation—wading in inches-deep water in the company of stately grey herons frozen in ambush, fierce eyes behind dagger beaks. Land again, a sandbar, tossed like a throw cushion on the satin sheet of the river, attended by a line of snow-white egrets, onto which a common sandpiper sweeps in on stiff, twitching wings, even as a cloud of three hundred pratincoles flares into the skies, wheeling, quartering, rising, twisting, dipping, flashing now white now brown, in a stupendous, heart-stopping, aerial symphony of movement, like one giant bird exploded into hundreds, yet alive. Then water, then land, water, marsh, and land again."

[Amit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Few quotes from author left a ever lasting impression on young biologists like me...

"A place that is marked by the presence of people is not unusual, but place that leaves indelible mark on people is extraordinary"

"like the proboscis of malaria mosquito, the Andaman trunk road pierces the Jarawa forest"

Now I must say this:
"A field biologist having amazing experiences is not unusual, but field biologist's experience in his diary that leaves an indelible mark on young scientists is incredible"

sooner or later it will be considered as 21st-century classic field diaries/field biologists experiences in India".

[Sachin Aggarwal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. We don't really experience the forests of India, or any country actually, till we live in them. While most of us don't get to do that, we get to live some of those experiences with Shankar in this book.

[Raylene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional