THRISSUR: Amar Chitra Katha has brought out a new title: ‘Salim Ali - the Bird Man of India.’ Releasing the book at a function organised by the Salim Ali Foundation here, writer Sara Joseph said that through his life and work Salim Ali’s message was: For our own survival, nature has to be protected. By protecting the bird, one is protecting the trees on which it finds nesting places, and food, the insects and worms, many of which are useful to agriculture. By protecting the bird, one is protecting the forests and the wetlands - their chief habitats - which are vital for conserving water.Amar Chitra Katha has conveyed this message quite eloquently for kindling little hearts. She appreciated Shalini Srinivasan for scripting the story in an attractive manner.Shalini Srinivasan, who scripted the book, said that she was fascinated by the ‘The Fall of a Sparrow,’ the autobiography of Dr Salim Ali. It shows not only his love for birds, but also gives an insight into his commitment to conservation and above all his unique personality. Salim Ali’s contribution to Indian ornithology and conservation movement makes him so eminent that the message of his life has to go to the young children. She said she chose to release it in Thrissur rather than Mumbai because the Salim Ali Foundation, with its Chairman Dr V S Vijayan, one of his disciples, is located here. And she had received a lot of inputs from him during the preparation of the script.Welcoming the audience briefly, Vijayan sketched how the curiosity of an eight-year-old boy having shot a yellow-throated sparrow became an internationally acclaimed ornithologist. V S Vijayan highlighted Salim Ali’s determination, the quest for knowledge in ornithology, the painstaking field surveys over the entire Indian subcontinent at a time when the bullock cart was the main mode of transport, his integrity, acute power of observing the minute details of bird behaviour and the ability to transcribe them on to his field notebooks with the most apt words.
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