Former West Bengal Governor Gopalakrishna Gandhi on Thursday regretted that politics and policy-making lacked a long term vision. “The short-termisms of public policy and of corporate strategy have given us a dangerous myopia,” Mr. Gandhi said.
Launching a book containing various articles by renowned wildlife columnist M. Krishnan titled ‘Of birds and bird songs’, Mr Gandhi said if what seemed good for now need not be so for tomorrow. “What is good for a particular place may not be so for another place. Similarly, what is comfortable for us in the short run may not be good for us in the middle and long run. Politics and policies are now tragically short-termist,” he said.
Recalling his association with M. Krishnan, Mr Gandhi said 45 years ago he was once invited to Mr Krishnan’s house.
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He happened to see two wooden cornices there and was awe-struck by the wooden plank that depicted flying birds. Mr Gandhi said many may not know that Mr. Krishnan was a highly hand-skilled person. He was an intellectual and a workman, “a writer who carpented, a documenter who calligraphed, drew and photographed.”
Mr Krishnan had created his own envelopes. A small rectangle of sky blue to the envelope’s top left had an impressionistic white bird resembling a seagull drawn by him. The word ‘Par Avion’ in his own handwriting flew out into the drawing. Mr Gandhi said he had preserved some of the envelopes.
As a naturalist, Mr Krishnan knew that the future of life on the planet is as much about its flora and fauna as its human population, Mr Gandhi added. The articles of Mr Krishnan were edited by Shanthi and Ashish Chandola, well-known wildlife cinematographers, writers and photographers.
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