In ancient times, painting was a part of our daily lives. People used to fill their walls, homes and their own bodies with sketches. But as we grew, art became far and away from the lives of common people. And so did caring about the environment and nature. We weren’t separated from the idea of ecology in our school days.
Our school was Built on the banks of a river called Amaravathi and it was filled with all the time. Many used to call it Jeevanadhi. We used to spend all our leisure time reading our legs at the banks of Amaravathi. Everything that surrounded the area, was the trees, wild birds, and snakes. Everything was familiar to us. All the wells and the farming were filled with water. I couldn’t see my school life without those beautiful things that nature blessed us with.
This excerpts from an interview with Theodore Baskaran, a research writer, and film historian. He was born in 1940 at a place called Dharapuram. After completing his post-graduation in history at the Chennai Christian College, he worked as a documenter for a few years. After joining the Indian Postal Service in 1964, he worked in various parts of India such as Trichy, Vellore and Meghalaya. When war struck in the regions of Bangladesh in 1970, he was appointed as the officer who would look over the postal telegram services and the security services. After working his way to being one of the top officers in India, he is now retired and resides in Bangalore.
He has written many books and essays on nature and ecology that are easy to read and in a way that could be understood by everyone. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers who talked about our ecology. Writing about the environment based upon scientific facts, data and traditional culture and bringing them up to a higher standard is his speciality. He has contributed to environmental writing by discovering and reclaiming ancient words of flora, and fauna and has coined various new words of his own as well.
Even though his first book ‘Innu Pirakkadha Thalaimuraigalukaga’ ( For the Generations Yet to be Born ) was released twelve years before, people still read it with such interest and excitement. And he has also written multiple different books containing essays on nature such as ‘Thaamarai Pootha Thadaagam’ (A Pond Filled with Lotus), ‘Vaanil parakum pullelam’ (All the grasses that fly in the Sky), ‘Malaikaalamum Kuyilosayum’ ( Sounds of a Quill and a Rainy Season), ‘Kaiyilirukum Boomi’ ( The Earth in our Hands), ‘The Spirit of the Black Buck’ etc… He has also written various Books on cinema as well. Even though he began his writing career in English, he has spent more than 45 years in Tamil literature after he made his way into it.
He was appointed as the Honorary Wildlife Warden. Now he is one of the trustees of WWF- INDIA. In 1998, Oxford University Publications published his book ‘ The Dance of the Sarus ‘ which contained essays about flora and fauna. He has also translated the book of the world-famous zoologist, Ullas Karandh’s ‘The Way of the Tiger’ into Tamil as well. He has been recipient of ‘IYAL’ (2013) an award presented by the Tamil Literary Garden of Canada. His book ‘The Eye of the Serpent’ won him the Indian Government’s Nation Film Award called the Golden Lotus.
In the lines of Cuckoo Conversations, Theodore Baskaran, a researcher, writer and film historian is set to converse with us about his life experiences today (8/5/20) at 5 pm. This will for sure be a talk that spreads upon art, the current situation of the creative field, reasons for the destruction of the environment, ancient Tamil words of ecology and much more. We believe his work has deep-rooted faith for all those who are going to come along the way and raise their voices against the threats that their environment faces.
You can listen to his conversation below: