Purple herons, darters, small blue kingfishers, pelicans… they're all here at Osai's wildlife photo exhibition at VOC Park. This exhibition, Uyir Nizhal, has been organized in partnership with Rotary Club of Coimbatore Metropolis, Tamil Nadu Forest Department- Coimbatore Division, State Bank of India and Coimbatore Corporation Zoo.
Awesome documentation
Almost all of peninsular India's animals, birds, fishes and insects find a place here, categorized according to their habitat and species. There are also screenings of conservation films, by Shekar Dattatri, Krupakar B. S. and Senani Hegde, in Tamil (English, on request).
No wonder this writer found many students playing truant just to be at the exhibition.
Photo contributions have come from the United Kingdom, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Chennai and Coimbatore. Arranged under a circular tent, the display begins with water birds. K. R. Karthikeyan, an organizer with Osai , explains that these have been further classified into deep water birds, surface swimmers and waders. They are subdivided into species- herons, egrets, storks, kingfishers, etc. “Here's a picture of the smallest kingfisher- the small blue, catching a fish, and the largest- the stork billed kingfisher. Here's one of a pied kingfisher in holy ghost position,” he says. The black and white pied kingfisher hovers over the water, resembling Jesus with his arms stretched on the cross. It swoops down to prey on fish close to the surface, he adds.
Interactions held in the evening to talk about the animals in the pictures have been running to packed houses, says Karthikeyan. These are done with volunteers from Government Arts College, PSG College of Arts and Science, VLB Janakiammal College of Arts and Science, Bharathiar University, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and, Avinashilingam University for Women.
There are pictures of around 500 species of birds alone. Almost all wildlife of the region has been featured. These include a rare picture of a chinkara in Sathyamangalam. “People thought chinkaras aren't found here. Sathyamangalam is also the only forest where there are both tigers and black buck,” explains Karthikeyan. There are charts on a range of interesting topics and personalities. These include one explaining International Union for Conservation of Nature's red list of threatened species, fishes and orchids of the Anamalais. There is also one on Salim Ali, “the birdman of India.”
Wild life films
But, what attracted people the most were the films. A glimpse of leeches wriggling in the rain in Dattatri's Save our Sholas drew in groups of youth who didn't mind standing, as the seats were full.
Students say that news of the exhibition spread through word of mouth and they didn't mind coming here during engineering exams.
One of them said, “We learnt how the Sholas can be conserved. It's useful to all of us.”
What chance do such trivialities like attendance and exams stand in front of royal Bengal tigers and rattlesnakes?
The exhibition is till October 18. Film screenings go on all day. For details call 09566643808.
