On the wings of words

Bulbul Sharma’s latest book “Grey Hornbills at Dusk”, offers a new way of looking at the city

September 17, 2014 03:40 pm | Updated 05:19 pm IST - New Delhi

Painter and author Bulbul Sharma. Photo: S. Subramanium

Painter and author Bulbul Sharma. Photo: S. Subramanium

While the city grapples with crowds and exhaust fumes, work stress and household errands, Bulbul Sharma’s new book takes flight, carrying its reader away to another city. “Grey Hornbills at Dusk” (Aleph Book House) paints another Delhi, one with inhabitants who fly above its clutter and confusion, who make the city a little more colourful, and a lot softer. Bird-watching her way through its many parks, ruins and gardens, Sharma weaves an account of Delhi’s native and visiting birds, and giving her readers a new way of observing their city.

Excerpts from an interview:

The Delhi of your book isn't about the rush and the frantic pace of a Capital. It’s about its other inhabitants. How was it, separating the two worlds, and still keeping them together? Not just in the book, but in your life and in bird-watching?

Yes, Delhi does have a frantic pace, after all it is the Capital of India, yet it is one of the best places in the world to tree and bird-watch. Delhi’s green spaces, its old parks and ancient monuments – all shelter an amazing variety of creatures.

If you learn how to look properly, you will find so many wonderful elements of nature. Grey Hornbills will cross your path at a traffic light, a Flame of the Forest will display its flowers from one corner of a bustling colony –– all you have to do is look, look carefully. I have been living in Delhi since my childhood, in fact I was born here, and am fortunate enough to have met many people deeply interested in nature –– they shared their interest and knowledge with me and I felt I must share it with other people, especially children. Some times I get a bit carried away forcing my friends and family to look at a bird or study the pattern on an insect but I feel unless you make an effort to bring these amazing facets of nature out, no one will see them. Nature does not really care whether we admire it or not, but we must.

A little about putting this book together? Did it come together over a long period of time, in bits and pieces?

I have been bird-watching for the last 25 years. I have kept notes, made endless drawings of things I have seen over the years –– birds, flowers, insects and even stones. I also wrote a nature column for 10 years for a newspaper and have conducted hundreds of workshops with school children –– nature-related activities –– like painting birds and trees, writing about plants they have seen.

There is a timeless quality to the book, and you weave in words by poets and writers of before, Kalidasa, Amaru, Kipling. A little about this, and the influence they’ve had on you?

The words of our famous poets as well as other writers became a part of “Grey Hornbills at Dusk”, because I wanted the readers to appreciate the beautiful and sensitive writing that has been done for centuries on every aspect of India’s natural heritage. Some are serious and complex thoughts while others whimsical and witty. I think writing about nature has changed over the years, somehow it is not so popular now, not edgy enough, but in ancient India it was a very important part of literature. Not just literature but art, music and architecture too. I have been collecting books on nature for many years. Many of them by British writers who lived in remote areas during the 1900s and collected important facts about birds, trees and seasonal changes.

Bird-watching is such a visual activity, and as an artist as well, did you also think that perhaps you could express the same thoughts via your art, instead of words?

Yes, I often add elements from nature in my paintings but only if it balances the work. I have done a series of pen and ink drawings of birds and some of them are in the book. You know, birds do tend to creep in or shall I say fly in when I am not looking. My next book is a love story set in the hills and the main character is an avid birdwatcher.

The knowledge and information in your book adds another layer to it. Tell us a little about the research behind this project?

I read many other books on birds and trees of India to keep the factual information as correct as possible. The book is not a scientific guide to birds and trees. It is a book you may read even if you are not very interested in nature. I am hoping that when someone reads “Grey Hornbills” he or she will get involved and then want to explore our wonderful world of nature. The more people learn to love our natural surrounding, the more they will fight to protect it.

Do you think we are losing that pure, visceral sort of joy that nature provides? Is this book an attempt to not just capture but also revive it?

I think we had lost it for a while and nobody really cared about trees or birds except for a handful of dedicated people. But now I see great things happening, especially the young people. They are very keen to learn and preserve their natural heritage and many schools are really doing serious work in this field. There are so many nature clubs now but I wish there were more books on nature for children. There are no books in Hindi or other Indian languages at all yet we once had such great poets writing about nature. Most of the glossy, illustrated books are about Western countries, the English countryside. One child asked me the other day “Shall we pick some daisies?” She thought it was a common Indian flower! This book is an attempt to make people a little bit more aware of the amazing gifts nature gives us –– a sort of thank you.

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