A DAY WITH THE SHAMA

by S. Theodore Baskaran

A DAY WITH THE SHAMA- S THEODORE BASKARAN. On a misty morning nearly half a century ago, Baskaran watched in awe as a skein of Bar-headed geese landed in Devarayan lake near Tiruchi. Their honking calls through the surrounding fog rendered the moment with a certain magic. That morning sparked the beginning of Baskarans nature writing. The articles he wrote over the years, published mostly in The Hindu, examined wildlife, ecology and conservation, reflecting his enduring concerns with environmental issues. His writing based on personal observation has a sense of immediacy that draws readers to the lived experiences of nature. The essays in this anthology range from an account of the stream-dwelling Brown dipper to a search for the lost orchid of courtallam. As Peter Matthiessen said, " one way to grasp the main perspectives of biodiversity is to understand the precious nature of a single living form, a single manifestation of the miracle of existence; if one has to truly understand a crane- or a leaf or a cloud or a frog- one has understood everything." The articles anthologised in this volume represent a lifetime's pursuit of such an understanding.

255 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 6, 2020

About the author

Baskaran worked as Researcher in Tamil Nadu State Archives for two years. He joined the Indian Postal Service in 1964 as Divisional Superintendent at Trichy. He served as the "Special Officer For War Efforts" in Shillong during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. He took study leave in 1974 to research Tamil film history on a fellowship from Council of Historical Research.[1] He eventually retired as the Chief Postmaster General of Tamil Nadu.[2]
Baskaran published his first article on film in 1972 about Chidananda Dasgupta's documentary The Dance of Shiva. Encouraged by his friend Charles A. Ryerson, he decided to do research about Tamil Cinema.[1] He joined a Film Appreciation course in 1974. He became a member of the Advisory Board of National Film Archives, Pune.[3] In 1976 he joined the Calcutta Film Society. The same year, he presented his first research article titled Film Censorship as an Instrument of Political Control in British India in the Indian History Congress at the Aligarh. This and other articles formed the core of his first book The Message Bearers published in 1981. His second book The Eye of the Serpent (1996) won the Golden Lotus (Best Book on Cinema) Award in 1997. He has also written several books and articles on film history in Tamil. He was a Senior Associate in National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. He has lectured on cinema in many universities including Princeton University, The Australian National University and the University of Chicago.[3] In 2000, he won the Ki Va Ja prize awarded by the Kamban Kazhagam. He was a Hughes Visiting Scholar in the University of Michigan in 2001 and taught a course on Film Studies. He was a jury member at the 2003 National Film Awards.[3] During 1998-2001, he was the Director of the Roja Muthiah Research Library.[4] He is a member of the library's Board of Trustees.[5] He has also acted in a supporting role in the 2010 Tamil film Aval Peyar Thamizharasi.
Baskaran is a keen bird watcher and a naturalist. He is a former honorary wild life warden and the South India Representative of the International Primate Protection League.[2] He is a trustee of WWF-India. His collection of essays on nature and wild life conservation has been published as The Dance of the Sarus (Oxford University Press) in 1999. He edited a book of articles on nature titled "The Sprint of The Black Buck" ; Penguin (2009)

Reviews

[Krishnan Sampath · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engrossing read. Each piece is a sheer delight to read. Author's love of nature is infectious. A must read for all nature/wildlife lovers.