Anand Pendharkar: The green gurus

Some of the worldrsquos topmost green warriorsAll of August was like a wakeful dream There was much excitement and activity such as travelling to North Bengal to attend the third AllIndia Odonata Meet followed by making ecofriendly Ganesha idols and then planning our postGanpati visarjan beach cleanups And then all of a sudden last Sunday a bunch of interns brought a cake to celebrate Teachersrsquo Day Awakening to the fact that September had slipped in and the winter migrants will be here soon another thought took me on a nostalgic trail Who do I consider my green gurus and what are they up to nowadaysMy list of green gurus is long and unending It consists of school kids to retired professors but the list is headed by my parents who instilled in me the love for the outdoors Our family vacations and trips to the zoos parks museums and beaches provided me with enough passion to last a lifetime During my 10th Standard vacations my parents sent me to a nature camp that was led by a retired Army officer Thatrsquos where I met Major Paranjpye and Kiran Purandare my first nature gurus From Major Paranjpye I learnt that being selfreliant was an integral part of being a good conservationist Kiranrsquos indepth knowledge and superlative communication skills astounded me besides his power to lure birds by whistling their callsDuring college I met Dr Parvish Pandya a young and enthusiastic pied piper of sorts who would lead his flock of students to Bhavanrsquos Nature Club to explore and learn more about the great wilderness That became my home for the next five years where I met my fellow nature conspirator Anish Andheria Then came my association with WWFIndia and the BNHS where Sashi Menon Sashirekha Iyer Chandrakant Wakankar and Ashutosh Gogate who became my astute mentors They challenged guided and shaped my thought processAlong the way life threw me at another stalwart Lavkumar Kacchar I had a few but very interesting interactions with him when I organised nature camps in Manali I followed his writings right up to his last days By then I had entered the Wildlife Institute of India and was being trained by globally acclaimed experts such as Dr AJT Johnsingh GS Rawat SP Goyal John Eisenberg Asad Rahmani and Ajith Kumar They taught me that a scientist needs to challenge dogmas and unless the research doesnrsquot trickle down to the commonest denominator the outcome will remain academicDuring these years zoos became important conservation and learning centres for me My introduction to Ms Sally Walker who has spearheaded the zoobased conservation research outreach and captive breeding programmes in South Asia changed my life She was a powerhouse mentor and a multitasker par excellence Like the mythological Ekalavya I too had my distant role model in Dr George Schaller whom I interacted with as a fellow of the Wildlife Conservation Society WCS the worldrsquos oldest NGO He epitomises successful conservation outcomes and publications with a human touchMy ultimate green guru however has always been Nature itself It taught me patience acceptance of diversity cyclicity of events and that whether itrsquos a mosquito or an elephant they all have an equal right to survive and thrive on this planetWrite to Anand at sproutsenvttrustgmailcom