THE WILDERNESS AND US I VOICES IN THE WILDERNESS, Contemporary Wildlife Writings I

Monkeys are curious animals. Stories about their antics amused me as a child. But I never had a chance to see one in its  "element", until recently. After a few "mysterious" disappearances from the refrigerator, I came face-to-face with the thief. A monkey perched on top of my fridge. Right foot on the door, left balancing her weight, left hand supporting her little one and the right rummaging through the booty. I tried to scare her away. She looked me in the eye, body taut, teeth bare. I couldn’t get her to leave while she was successful in scaring wits out of me. So I stayed frozen in my place for half-an-hour while she went on with her business. This incident turned me into quite an animal hater. A monkey had made me feel, literally, what it was to be pushed up against the wall.  I was mortally scared of "them" and felt their presence was an intrusion. Perhaps not the perfect state-of-mind to read a book on wildlife, but the wilderness  has its surprises for everyone.
Voices in the Wilderness  opens with Five Encounters excerpted from Nature’s  spokesman: M. Krishnan and Indian Wildlife. Of the brief encounters that follow one deals with photographing cheetals from a hidden spot. The author wears a herb camouflage only to have it eaten up by the grazing cheetals. The writer also describe his close shave with death as he runs into wild elephants once and a sloth bear at another time. The final encounter is about his being caught in the middle of whirling dolphins.  The stories are remarkable, not only for their brief and pointed narration but also for the panoramic view.
The pattern of variety is maintained throughout the book. The narratives that follow deal with birds, tigers, sea cows, snakes, turtles etc as seen or encountered by the writers. The range of the animals is equally matched with a variety of places and experiences.
"Curiosity in Animals" excerpted from The Jungle in Sunlight and Shadow by F.W. Champion is my favourite in the book. Quick stories about encounters with sambar hinds, tigers, elephants and monkeys reveal the inquisitiveness in animals. The author narrates how a mirror placed amidst a horde of monkeys produces amusing behaviour. Having seen themselves in the mirror, the monkeys go behind the mirror in search of the reflection and finding nothing circle back again clawing and making faces at it.
Each article is preceded by a brief about the writer. Stepping beyond the usual awards and qualifications, the introductions bring out the devotion of the writers to various aspects of the wilderness. Valmik Thapar, for example,  is described as tiger’s best known supporter who at one point put his pen down as he lost heart but later found faith at Ranathambore. The extract from Thapar’s Ranthambore: 10 days in the Tiger Fortress describes how he rediscovered his lost hope at Ranthambore.
Unlike a lot of nature works these writings are not alarmist. There is no attempt to tell you how your daily meal will affect the food-chain and ecology. They do dot beg for compassion. Instead they make you feel what you are missing. The stories wake you up to the world to which you have stayed blind so far.  On one hand they point to animal-human coexistence, on the other they bring out how unfair the deal is for animals.
Meanwhile, I have made my peace with the visiting mammal. I realise now, it is the mother-monkey who’s back is against the wall, not mine.

GHOSTS

It was something I saw,
don't remember what.
Something shamefully
trivial, my heart
was set after.

And though I tried, and
tried for an eternity, that
something, of all others,
I couldn't have.

So when eternity ended,
I took a deep breath,
bowed out, heaved
ahead my quiet life.

Rebuilt what had been
washed away, a world away
from where the dead lay
Till  a happy life came
to live next doors
and I knew it was,
that hearth that dance,
my lost dream.

NOT BAILING OUT

9...8...7...6
falling free
effortlessly
nearing end
in ecstasy

5...4...3
clouds rushing
into my face
pressing wet
out at corners
so hard to breathe
their tight embrace

2...1...0
loved life but
loved living more
i fall to feel,
live the void,
what fills it
or doesn't.

DUFFER'S GUIDE TO THE WORLD OF FAIRIES

If you thought fairies were harmless cousins of angels you are in for some shock.

Fairy beliefs are riddling folklore material. Begining with appearance, they mostly look like humans, subject to minor variations (e.g insect-style frail wings, ability to transform into animals or plants). Stories about their origins range from fallen spirits to dead beings, ancient Gods or "elementals" the mythological beings. The last comes closest to the Indian parallel of Yaksha who are also believed to nature-spirits, not always human friendly.

Traditionally, fairies were known to be mischievous and malicious. Mysterious illnesses and kitchen fiascos were written off as fairy work. The Scottish folklore classifies fairy-world into two courts. The Seelie Court being more benevolent (still dangerous) while the Unseelie Court comprising the wicked lot. Melissa Marr expanded on this division in her Wicked Lovely series (2007). She creates three fairy courts that live in the mortal world: The Summer Court, the Winter Court, and the Dark Court. The fourth court, the High Court, is in Faerie. The High Court is the top court with rulers who keep themselves away from emotions and appear steely. The Dark Court is ofcourse, the evil one, opposite to the High Court. It is the court of darker emotions and temptation. Dark Court fairies feed off emotions in other fairies. As such, the Dark Court thrives during periods of turmoil.

On the other hand, Aprilynne Pike in her Spells series makes fairies more elemental. They are given half-human half-plant form and are classified by the type of flower they bloom into. The division gets more hierarchical as the series unfold.

Fairies had an early appearance in literature, though not a consistent one. The fact that they were not bound by religion yet possess magical powers, gave writers greater leverage.

Since the early tales of legendary monarchs (Arthurian legends or a much later Spencer’s Faerie Queen) to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books or J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, the fairy feature has prevailed.

In last decade however, the occasional appearance of fairies in literature was transformed into a robust genre with a range of fairy characters: From simple ones like the evil Fairy Godmother in Shrek to more complex ones in Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (2001). 12-year-old Artemis Fowl II, the title character in the novel, is the son of an Irish crime lord. He believes fairies exist and decides to kidnap one with the help of his butler for a huge gold ransom. Captain Holly Short, the other main character, is the first female member of Lower Elements Police squad. A compassionate elf, she even helps Artemis and butler, despite their plans to hold her hostage.

The same year also saw The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris. Popularly known as the The Sookie Stackhouse Novels or The True Blood Series, it sees supernatural beings as real. Vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters exist and go public in the course of the novel. The central character Sookie herself is a part-fairy. The fairy-world trend thus set early in the decade hit a home run with the readers. As series after series of the novels were churned out they were parallely turned into televised versions.

 There are seven novels so far in the Artemis series with a film on way, while Sookie ran into its 10th novel and third TV season in 2010. Melissa Marr and Aprilynne Pike brought out later versions of the trend in their novels which are now running into second and third sequels.