Book Review: Fall of the Sparrow


Salim Ali's interest in birds was sparked when as a child, his uncle, a member of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) introduced him to the then Honorary Secretary, Mr W.S.Millard to identify a bird he had shot. The Britisher not only identified the bird as a Yellow-throated Sparrow but also kindled his curiosity that lasted a lifetime.  He patiently showed him several stuffed specimens and lent him two books, Common Birds of Bombay and A Naturalist on the Prowl which Salim Ali continued to refer even after sixty years.

Salim Ali's autobiography 'Fall of the Sparrow' is named after that fortuitous incident. This event led him to cultivate a life-long interest in natural history and particularly birds. There was a dearth of documentation on Indian birds and Salim Ali filled that gap. He pursued his passion for ornithology & conservation for the rest of his life despite having a slender income, being ridiculed by a few family members for not having a proper job and losing his wife in his mid-life.

He travelled wide & far. Besides visiting several remote, uninhabitable & far flung places in India (Jagdalpur, Mayurbhanj, Dhenkanal, Kutch) for his bird study trips, he also toured Burma, Afghanistan, Europe & USA at various times. He made friends with scientists & conservationists around the world. For his work, he received several honorary doctorates and awards (though late) not just in India but also from science-loving countries around the world.

In about 250 pages of his autobiography, he takes us through important events & people in his life in a non-linear narrative. The writing is candid, opinionated, engaging & mostly light-hearted. Sample his views on English and religion -

..without English, India would be 'an archipelago of nations in a non-navigable sea..
Placed as we are today, nationally and internationally, I am convinced that in order to keep abreast with modern thought, concepts, science, technology, etc. it is not only desirable but imperative for us to foster English as a link language for India. This is not to say that all possible encouragement should not, at the same time, be accorded to the local languages and to Hindi...
English is one of the most-perhaps the most-important and beneficial legacy the British have left us. It has been the chief factor in the unification of the country, in such integration as we have so far achieved, and in India making a mark in the international sphere.

Like all Muslim children at the time when I was young, and in many Muslim families even today, we were taught from an early age to read and recite the Koran parrot-wise  without understanding a word of the Arabic in which it is written, and to go through the prescribed genuflections of formal prayer (namaz). I am sorry to confess that all this not only failed to elevate my spirituality but on the contrary rather put me off formal prayer for all time as a meaningless and even hypocritical performance. Critical observation in later years of some of my own ostentatiously sanctimonious elders-of their precepts vs. practices-has not helped to alter my views.

He lived life on his own terms. Born in a country that believes more in superstition than science, he pursued his passion for science despite all odds and worked tirelessly to create awareness about conservation. Nehru and Indira Gandhi too followed his books with interest. He is one of my science heroes. I look forward to reading more of his books to discover by myself the birds around me and also the fauna of India

I highly recommend this book to all those who love autobiographies, scientists or  India.

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Notes from other sources:

Before finishing his autobiography, he is quoted to have said: "I hope to finish it before it finishes me".

A friend of his once described him as a white-haired bulbul. Ali thinks the description is apt. In his high-pitched, squawky voice he quips: "I think it's because I sing so beautifully. But I would prefer to be called a vulture."

"It's a good thing to be recognised but I don't sort of begin to jump or dance. I feel all this talk about world-wide renown and so on is fictitious. In the context of world ornithology, the work we have done here is nothing. I feel like a frog in the well or a one-eyed man in the land of the blind."

Scouring the length and breadth of the country, braving bad weather and rugged terrain, Ali's bird-watching odyssey spanning seven decades has resulted in him becoming a walking encyclopaedia on the birds of the Indian subcontinent. Says Ali; "you forget about most things when you are concentrating on birds. You enjoy it. Its like looking at a beautiful women".

Ali is a strict disciplinarian to the point of being cranky on tours. He insists on frugality or what he calls "living off the land" and takes pride in the fact that his field trips are inexpensive - he shows his wrath on anyone who violates his orders but edge of his biting tongue is always blunted by his quick humour.

Ali has written eight books on birds, his opus being The Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan published in 10 volumes over a period of six years from 1968 to 1974 by the Oxford University Press and co-authored by his friend Dillon Ripley (who was earlier in the US Army).

Says eminent ecologist Madhav Gadgil: "He has certainly contributed as one man, more than anyone else to conservation in India in the 20th century."

Ali's radical views have resulted in him being called an "ecologist with a gun". Ali himself is an avid shikari and is unabashed about the fact that he eats meat. He proudly says that he has drunk elephant's milk, which he found "chalky" and eaten tiger's meat along with Ripley. Ali was the first to spot the Siberian crane in 1936 - he promptly shot one and ate it!

The award he appreciates most is the J. Paul Getty International Prize for Nature Conservation in 1976 because it carried a cash prize of $ 50,000 (Rs 5 lakh).
He promptly donated the entire amount to start a nature conservation fund at BNHS thereby fulfilling a "long-cherished desire" of his. Replying to the Getty citation, Ali thought it was an "over-generous reaction" and said: "I cannot point to any single flashy or spectacular achievement. In retrospect I realise that perhaps the chief merit of my work lay in waging something like a long-drawn 'war of attrition' on governmental apathy and public indifference."

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