For last few days I am reading this amazing book that I ordered online (this is the amazing thing about buying online you can get rare and brilliant writers from anywhere in the world within few days –you are no longer in deep pit of Indian mediocre writing. Even a decade back you had to struggle to get a book and eventually give up after making rounds of bookstalls…I recall getting a desperately wanted rare book from South America from a person I randomly met and went out few times!). So here I am into a book that is absolutely besotted to Peregrine Falcon/tiercel (The Peregrine; JA Baker), his obsession to this bird is a unique form of writing –indeed brilliant, that I am yet to encounter (I have read many brilliant Indian writers on birds like Salim Ali, Ranjit Lal, M. Krishnan…so on). This book has since become a classic. Simultaneously I watch the world has become much dangerous as violence escalates to wars. Instability that question entrenched status quo is welcomed, dismantling pan global elite consensus on neoliberal capitalism that is founded on regressive values and nurtured on feudal exploitative structure, the chaos is much needed. Hopefully they churn out something that is reflection of reality and not fiction of unlimited growth. What is alarming is weakening of democratic institutions within nations, as also significantly, the breakdown of diplomatic consensus and restraint among nations. It is a remarkable failure of international community and lack of vision by leaders.
So as I read exquisite details that open up wonders of peregrine hawk I also see distressing videos of escalating war and mayhem while climate catastrophe creates other horror scenes of flooding and heat waves. “For warning…they (peregrine) rely on their remarkably keen hearing and on the alarm calls of other birds”, so the awareness of danger is from two sources, their own acute senses as also connection with reality of the world they live in. There are clear indication that world around us is collapsing, resilience of life giving ecosystem is diminishing, biomass diversity is reducing and species are vanishing. You can observe it by not seeing many species (like insects, birds so on) that you used to see and hear before. You can understand it by using critical faculties and reading extensively on these matters from people who have spent years researching and scientists who studied these minutely and reached a peer reviewed consensus, as also passionate people who have used innovative skills and ways to communicate the urgency of the matter. If you lack this basic sense then you are incapacitated to hear the warning. You also have to investigate the systems that incapacitate humans to hear and see the warning. How have their senses become so blunt, that they are so dehumanized, to use basic faculties? In nature there are two types of species which help humans understand condition of immediate environment. Indicator species like lichens tell us about quality of ecosystem. How people are reacting, responding and compromising with overwhelming systems that controls, tells us about condition of society and how much democratic humanistic concerns are valued. Clearly something is amiss. Sentinel species are the one that tells about dangerous environment, they detect toxic presence like canary in cave. There are prescient people with heightened sensibilities that connect to complexities of reality who keep warning us of the dangers. In an attention seeking economy and overwhelming crass these too are submerged by mediocre who caricature them for gain. Fortunately for humanity these wonderful people are nurtured and valued in evolved societies. They are making all efforts through their presence to warn us. I read them in their writing, hear them in their talks, watch them in their expressions, sense them in their art…the alarm calls are getting louder. If humans have senses even minutely as acute as peregrine falcon they will be alert. If they have any responsibility they will actively demystify and dismantle systems that blunt human sensibilities and negate humanity. Violence is a symptom of deep flaw and natural outlet of deviant systems.
“I saw his colours clearly in the brilliant light: back and secondaries rich burnt sienna; primaries black; underparts ochreous yellow, streaked with arrowheads of tawny brown. Down the pale cheeks the long dark triangles of the moustachial lobes depended from the polished sun-reflecting eyes. Through the smoke, through the spray, he glided over the wall in a smooth outpouring, like water gliding over stone. The wader shimmered to earth, and slept. The hawk’s plumage stained through shadows of smoke, gleamed like mail in glittering spray. He flew out in the grip of the gale, flicking low across the rising tide. He slashed at a floating gull, and would have plucked it from water if it had not flown up at once. He flickered out into the light, a small dark blemish diminishing along the great sword of sun-dazzle that lay across the estuary from south”. Phew, now that is some evocative writing!
