The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : A blend of karate and Nature

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Tuesday, Nov 10, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

A blend of karate and Nature

— Photo: M. Periasamy

C. Subramanian.

It’s an incredible combination of tastes.

He is a Black belt in karate and has been teaching the martial art for the past 35 years. He has been a tennis coach for the past two decades and can coach swimming as well. Above all, he can train falcon, a very rare hobby in India.

More interestingly, he happens to be the father of former national tennis champion S. Preethi. His son S. Prasad, who studied Hotel Management, is also a tennis coach in Philadelphia.

This 55-year-old is in love with Marudhamalai not because of its well known deity but for its flora and fauna. After the passing away of his wife a year ago, his life is more or less dedicated to the flowers, birds and animals of this small stretch of mountains.

The enthusiasm of C. Subramanian is infectious. Not only does he spend whatever he earns on his photography and birds but also most of his time.

He wants you to see his album of rare flowers on the Marudhamalai which stretches up to Thadagam Road in Coimbatore.

His love for birds, especially falcons, knows no bounds.

He talks about his life and love for nature in an interaction with G. Satyamurty.

“Though I hail from Sattur, I have been living in Vadavalli for quite some time now. My profession now is tennis coaching. But I have been spending considerable time on photographing birds and flowers, especially in Marudhamalai.”

Falconer

Mr. Subramanian says he is one among the falconers in India.

“For the past three decades, I have been attending to the injured birds and releasing them in the wild. However, if the birds were to suffer internal bleeding it would be very difficult to save them.”

Bird watching

He says he has seen Shaheen Falcon, Lahan Falcon, Crusted Hawk Eagle, Black Shoulder Kite, Kestrel, Booted Hawk Eagle, White-Eyed Buzzard eagle, etc.

“There is an excellent bird park in Singapore and Malaysia, and the collection of birds there is astounding. But there is nothing in India comparable to them.

Training

Falcon is also in the I Schedule and like tiger. Any attempt to harm it will attract stringent punishment, he says.

His love for falcon has goaded him on into browsing various websites on falcons.

He points out that in the UK one can buy falcon and even the English history reveals the love of royalty for falcon.

And in the US a lot of money is spent on the birds. But in India, there is hardly any such attempt.

Training a falcon costs as much as Rs 1.5 lakhs, and about a month in the UK. Besides, both in the UK and the US falcons are used in airports to disperse the birds.

“This can avoid bird-hit”. But no such attempt seems to have been made in India.

He claims he can train falcons within 25 days. “We need a programme for falcon—to breed and release”, he says.

Falcons come during January in Thadagam area and Race Course area for breeding.

How is that he fell in love with Marudhamalai, not a spot promoted for its natural resources even by the tourism agencies?

“Since I started coaching tennis, I have been taking my wards to Marudhamalai as climbing the hills help the heart and lungs. Now it has become a routine, almost three hours every day from 8.30 a.m. On holidays, I start a bit early.”

“So far I have listed 28 species of birds and photographed most of them. How is that he has fallen in love with birds though they have no relevance to his profession?

“From my childhood, I have been in love with birds. My father bought me a myna. Since then I used to keep birds in my house. Everyday I leave ripe papaya in front of my house and birds do come and eat it.”

Mr. Subramanian says Marudhamalai has quite a lot of butterflies, and also foxes, wild boars, mongoose and plenty of snakes. Even elephants come there once a way.

Tourism potential

“All of us think only of the deity on the Marudhamalai but none has bothered about its tourism potential”, he regrets.

He is confident that he will be able to get the details of all the birds there. “They could be useful for schoolchildren.”

“I have been taking photographs of rare wild flowers in Marudhamalai for the past 15 years and should be able to cover all within three more years”, he concludes.

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