Of playwrights and bird-men

NEW RELEASES

The Illustrated Salim Ali: The Fall of a Sparrow
Oxford University Press
Rs 225

Salim Ali (1896-1987) was the grand old man of Indian ornithology, and among the first to conduct systematic bird surveys in the country. The Fall of a Sparrow tells the real-life story of adventure and self-discovery of India's original bird-man.

Chronicling an era gone by and vividly describing forgotten landscapes, this engaging tale describes how a childhood curiosity for nature and an intrepid adventuring spirit led to an unusual career choice.

Born in Bombay, Ali was orphaned at age 10 and brought up by his maternal uncle and aunt. The secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society introduced him to the serious study of birds as a result of Ali's chance encounter with an unusually coloured sparrow. This episode and the subsequent tours of BNHS's stuffed birds collection sparked off the 12-year-old's lifelong passion.

Ali vividly describes his childhood forays in the wild and subsequent expeditions to almost every part of the Indian subcontinent. The bird-watching stories are interspersed with lively details of his family life and youthful adventuring. The more than 100 visuals "" photographs, drawings and paintings of birds by masters like G M Henry and J P Irani "" add immense value to this edition.

Govardhan's Travels: A Novel
Anand (translated by Gita Krishnankutty)
Penguin Books India
Rs 350

Halfway through his famous play on injustice, Andher Nagari Choupat Raja, Bharatendu Harishchandra stops: what is the duty of a writer "" to depict reality as it exists or to project what it should actually be? Unable to decide, Bharatendu abandons the play and releases Govardhan, the main character who is unjustly condemned to death, from drama to real life.

The noose still hangs over Govardhan's head as he walks out of prison as a representative of all those who are victims of the ruthlessness and absurdity of justice. He questions everyone he encounters and raises a storm, which gains momentum as he journeys through space and time.

Anand's imaginative recreation of Govardhan's life after his release from prison maintains the farcical nature of Andher Nagari Choupat Raja, although it moves away from the comfortable ending of Bharatendu's work.