I have a dream….

If Martin Luther King were born in the forests of BR Hills in Southern Karnataka during the nineties, apart from perhaps running into Veerappan, he could’nt have expected more adventure. Nonetheless, I am sure he would still have had a dream.

His dream would have to do much more with owning a television and watching an action film. It may have been about having a bulb at home and a tap with water. It may have been about seeing the insides of a car or wearing colourful clothes. These are some dreams that a ML King look-alike, Ketha has in BR Hills.

Ketha from Gombegallu

Ketha is a Soliga tribal boy far removed from the realities that some of us take for granted. He does not have a facebook profile and the only tweets he hears are that of a a bird which shares his name, the Kethanakki, named after a tribal god’s coming that this bird announces promptly. He lives in a small hamlet within a wildlife sanctuary.

His life is a part of several debates in which he has no voice. There is for example the school of thought on development that wonders why indigenous tribal people are being ‘developed’. What about erosion of their culture? Another argues passionately that the fruits of development (Facebook and twitter included!) cannot be denied to them. The State refers to him as marginalised and has scheduled him.He is one of the 400-odd tribes in India constituting 8 per cent of our population.

Another group of people strongly believe that he and his kind living in protected areas are in fact the obstacle to the conservation of our forests. Wherever, man and wildlife have tried co-existance, some say has ended in a diasaster. Inviolate areas for wildlife are touted as a prerequisite for any conservation strategy. Others weave a more utopian reality for Ketha, suggesting that conservation of wildlife and human livelihoods can go together. Others nuance it further saying that this has definitely happened in some areas. Ketha, of course is blissfully unaware of such realities.

Where would he read these debates? In the textbooks….

Hardly….In the textbooks, Ketha finds references to events, he cannot understand even….such as September 9/11 terror attacks on the US. While, this chapter in the 9th Standard English textbook of Karnataka State Board makes a good effort at trying to convey to Ketha what a watershed these attacks were for global politics, it perhaps misses the boat on connecting with him on issues closer home such as tigers, tribal people or traditional knowledge.

What about the internet? Hardly. Ketha has no access to the internet. Having a local NGO run a school itself is such a privilege for him, when compared to his other tribal brothers in other areas.Perhaps, on the internet, Ketha could have participated in these debates that adorn journals and blogs.

Ketha and Pareto come to my mind as I read the recent guarantee of broadband internet access to every Finn as a fundemental right. I still remember joking about how I am waiting for the day when the Indian State will guarantee 2 Mbps per citizen with unlimited download as a fundemental right. Less than a year from my joke, a country that Ketha has never perhaps heard of, has guaranteed it. Recently, when Michael Moore made that wonderful ‘reality show’ called Sicko, he apparently removed scenes shot about the Norwegian health care system, because, nobody would believe it!

Anyways, my point is that there is today within Ketha’s lifetime, a country where broadband internet access has been granted as a fundemental right, while in Ketha’s country, we are still wondering how to give him and his kind a good primary education.

Late last year, Aphu died. A healthy young man, he was among the people hired to carry luggage and supplies for a group of people. We were visiting the village to see how we could address their health care needs. Cystic fibrosis did not dry up his lungs. Neither was it any of those eponymous autosomal diseases that strike the young, of which we learn so much in medical school. These diseases were very interesting, with articles about them in journals describing correlations to genes with numbers like the latest version of MS Windows. They all had their “Disability adjusted Life Years”(DALYs) that were screaming out their importance to be taken up in any of the new programs that the State might decide to launch. But, these rare and publishable afflictions were not among those that Aphu was ever afflicted with. He died, quite simply, of malaria. Quite ironic, that a country with nuclear power still has anaemic mothers and malaria deaths!

I have been to Aphu’s village a few times with the wildlife scientists who work here. His village happens to be surrounded by one of the northernmost primary rainforests in the world. The place teems with biodiversity and the forests of Arunachal Pradesh have witnessed descriptions of a new species of bird and even a new primate, all in the past few years. Although, it is the tiger that has given this area its protected status, it is not for the tiger that this national park and many of the forests in Arunachal Pradesh are known. They are famous for their rich biodiversity including several endemic insects, butterflies, birds and plants. Such rainforests play a central role in wildlife conservation and climate change. However, climate change and global warming are distant issues for the Lisu and other tribal people living in and around these forests. Strangely, tigers aren’t.

In India today, there is a public debate on tiger deaths. Tigers and tribal people are being pitted against each other in conferences and in hallowed policy-making chambers. Co-existence of tigers and tribals is being questioned. In an environment where health care is financed literally out of people’s pockets, a tiger’s fate and people’s health can get intertwined easily. And hunting becomes a means of averting any unplanned and sudden catastrophic expenditure. It is invariably health costs that crop up in the category of unforeseen expenses. With poor access to primary health care or even to community health workers, people in such remote regions often find that hunting can finance their long journeys to towns. And it does not help matters that private providers with expensive secondary level care and irrational practices become the first line health providers for these people. The Lisus travel through about 150 km of thick forests interspersed with rivers often in spate, to reach ‘civilization’. From here, they take a 6 hour bus journey to reach a town where they invariably see a private provider. Roads, understandably are a bigger concern than chloroquine.

I work in an NGO in South India, with another indigenous tribal people, called the Soligas. The forests have shrunken around the Soligas, leaving a 540 sq. km area, still remaining, due to its legal protection by the State. The Soligas were semi-nomadic people, until they were forced to settle due in part to the shrinking forests and the legal protection accorded to their forests. They couldn’t hunt anymore. However, a doctor who settled in these hills 25 years ago, began to provide health care to them. He went further to education and livelihood, as just providing health care was helping their health! This NGO today provides health care, education and livelihood to these tribal people. Today, the elderly Soligas talk about how climate has changed. They do not question it and do not need evidence. They know it and also see how their forests are getting choked from the outside.

These two glaring examples from South India and Arunachal Pradesh in North-east India typify the problems faced by people living in and around forests in India. However, the key is in access to basic health care and livelihoods. Wildlife scientists today see this connection between people’s basic needs and their conservation ethic. In fact, it was a group of wildlife biologists that started a community health care program and an education initiative among the Lisus. I went there to train a group of tribal youth in basic health care. Among other things, I wanted these youth to be able to identify and institute treatment against malaria. It was indeed a satisfying experience for me, to see how wildlife biologists had looked beyond their paradigm of biodiversity conservation, and had looked for solutions outside ‘their box’. We, in health care, sadly are yet to make this connection. A glance at our curricula reveals the level of medicalisation that we undergo. A glance at our policy shows how fragmented and restricted it is.

Shrinking forests are an important reason for climate change, and so are empty forests; forests devoid of their biodiversity. While hunting empties forests in some places, it is firewood needs and fires in other places. It is after all people, who are to blame for this. People living in and around forest areas depend on them for their livelihood and daily needs. And when there are financial pressures for any of their needs, they turn to their resources – forests. Thus, they find themselves being the villains accelerating deforestation and emptying the forests. Isn’t this the same thing that our forefathers did, that we find ourselves in this position today? Can we blame them for being late in destroying their forests, just because, we thought of legal protection for it now, and we have climate change now! As population pressures and urbanization increase in India, rural and tribal India face a different problem; one of access – both physical and financial. It is time for health planners to consider the special needs and contextual factors affecting tribal
people and those living or affected by forests. It would be presumptuous to imagine that national programs for any of the diseases will change the situation with these people. Lisus or Soligas and for that matter any individual is not asking for malaria control programs or early cancer detection programs. They are asking for plain health care – financial and physical access to a person who can cure them of their illness and can help them live a healthier life. A malaria program for them is even lower in priority than a road or a source of livelihood, simply because, they have accepted malaria deaths as their destiny. It is perhaps time to think beyond programs and address health as a need in itself rather than health as a consequence of our programs.

Aphu died of malaria in his early 20s only because he was born in a place where climate change and the biodiversity mattered more than his life. In many areas the world over, where man-wildlife conflicts occur, the situation is similar. How are we going to prioritize between biodiversity conservation and people’s needs? Are our politicians and policy-makers even seeing this problem of ‘First among equals’? The global health research agenda needs to gear up to answer these difficult questions; questions that matter to people dying of malaria in this age, when in many countries, research is addressing carpal tunnel syndrome.

There is some sort of light at the end of the tunnel. I have pasted below the reply of the ‘artist’ I referred to in my earlier mail. The artist here is the doctor I work with, and he has been ‘seeing’ birds for a coupla‘ decades now. I presume his mail will more appropriately confuse Sudhee! As Guru adds, the mind-body problem is what I had in my mind (!) when I penned my reply. The seat of the mind has been quite a mystery for years. The realm of the answer has been classically left to philosophers and artists. However, it is those scientists who have stood at the shores of ‘science’ and looked beyond the oceans of art, that have seen the answer to everything.
I was just pondering on how science is relevant to the ‘artist birdwatcher’? Is it just enough then if we enjoy the whistle of a thrush and the cackle of a bulbul while not wondering on the hows, whys and whithers?

Consider an artist. A 20 year old man with a lot of ambition, and skilled as well (defining ‘skill’ is altogether another discussion!). He wants to take up landscape painting. Having been in Bangalore all his life, he does not get too much of the natural landscapes he likes. He initially wants some ‘mountain with sunset’ kind of subject to paint. A friend suggests BR hills and he goes there. He spends a day there and goes back to Bangalore with a painting. Which painting would be a true work of art (as they say!)…

1) Mountains with trees, and sun setting: Mountains are portrayed with a diffuse growth of trees and a huge expanse of forest is shown. While the painting itself is beautiful showing a vast expanse of forest, a magnifying glass would only show ‘trees with green leaves’!

2) The same mountains and trees and the expanse but, with an attention to detail…the Lianas hanging, the racquet-tailed drongos flying, the spot of the road (a nightjar for a trained eye!), the shadow of the cloud over the canopy, string of trees on the mountains with a plusher green(where the streams flow!), trees with bare bark near the water body (debarked by elephants!), a huge group of swifts overhead (strong monsoon winds are blowing!). This artist may not at all know what I have indicated in brackets, but his ‘work of art’ incorporates it. It is here that science meets art!

The artist here is like the tern we see or the cow that the doctor saw (refer the article below!) Where the cow or the tern never involve themselves in any ‘bheja fry’ like us, the true scientist-artist would. (Like it or not, we have a neo-cortex); And it is here that we see the meaning of birdwatching. Such should be our observations. In trying to see the angered tern or a ‘single racqueted‘ drongo, all of us have to look for a satisfying explanation. It is only that for some, this explanation lies in art and for others in science! And of course, the tern or the cow never really bothered, because they were the problem itself! (It is not the problem, but the solution that bothers us)

NB: I looked to S J Gould for some clarity. (Art Meets Science in The Heart of the Andes: Church Paints, Humboldt Dies, Darwin writes, and Nature Blinks in the Fateful Year of 1859 Pp 90-109 from “I Have Landed – The End of a Beginning in Natural History”, Stephan Jay Gould, 2002)

Dr. Sridhar’s reply:

Dear Prashanth,

//snip…Now let me add to the confusion. The word emotion is derived from its Latin ancestor ‘emovere‘ which means ‘to be disturbed’. So literally speaking, the bird was disturbed. To be disturbed is one of the essential qualities of “life”. In addition, emotion is the body’s response to life situations, preparing it to be “responsible”! Again, Responsibility literally means Ability to Respond adequately and appropriately from moment to moment. Coming back to emotions, it is a much earlier manifestation in evolutionary scheme, as the chemicals are released from the primitive reptalian brain and not from the much junior neo cortex. What the birds probably don’t do is to name the various emotions as we do . Our neo cortex constantly tries to name, find meaning where there they are probably not needed.We seem to complicate things in trying to find meaning.( philosophical ? uh?) So “life is constant Disturbance” and the beauty lies in constant Responsibility to the never ending Disturbance !!

I would like to tell you about a certain event that happened a few years ago, which has left a deep impression in my mind. When I was in the clinic, a herd of cows came into the campus. Soon they were being driven away. One of them while trying to get out, got entangled in the barbed wire fence and came down with a thud. I wanted to help it extricate its leg . When I went
near it , it started struggling more vigorously and the leg started bleeding. Hence I withdrew. The cow lay there helplessly, frothing from the mouth and the eyes were upturned and pitiable. Soon, another cow on the other side of the fence came near the ‘fallen’ cow, sniffed it and started
licking. Within a few seconds, the cow came alive and got up smoothly extricating its trapped leg and went away. Probably , I noticed a wide cascade of emotional expressions in the cows, raging from fear, helplessness and love and thankfulness. The animals did not take the trouble to name the emotions, nor did they care to thank! Who knows, after a while they might have locked horns over an inviting bull!

I can only marvel at nature and I think I will be a terrible failure to explain everything . I would rather be an artist!

Sudhee asked “…During my regular birding sessions……i encountered many water birds….encountered 3 River terns and One blackbellied tern…the river terns “tried to attack” me by making harsh screeching calls in flight, coming very close and taking sudden upflight, everytime i tried to go near the water body….the blackbellied tern was attacking the river tern without reasons..like the river tern was taking rest on the bank..this blackbellied tern tried to attack it from above..it did that several times! later when the river tern also got angry they had a chase where blackbellied tern with enormous speed was able to attack the river tern more fearlessly…..the river tern’s attitude of territory(?)awareness..or breeding resposiblities have not been given in salim ali…i even observed once a red wattled lapwing trying to attack a DOG when it was approaching (? ) its nest..the blackbellied terns’ attitude ignited a question in me …do birds have emotions..very basic emotions..like caring(love)..Fear..and Anger or those are only reflexes? can anybody enlight me more…NS?”

Your description is more indicative of a nesting colony of River Terns rather than ‘plain territoriality’. However, I wonder if the lake you talk about can accomodate breeding colonies of River Terns. Does it have open sand banks. Is it a perennial lake and was it big enough. The terns prefer sandy ‘river’ banks for nesting and they may be found nesting in colonies with Pratincoles or with other species of terns. Both the River and the Blackbellied being resident terns occupying almost similar niches, conflict over resource(nesting site, feeding site etc) would be a common occurence. Now coming to your Question on emotions and birds…Hmm…I think it is a question most asked and never adequately answered. Not answered adequately, not because of lack of information to answer them, but because of lack of belief. Such is our hobby (profession??) that it comes somewhere in the grey zone between art and science. I would divide birdwatchers into those with predominant artistic traits and those with predominant scientific traits. Where one says “Blessed are we to be able to appreciate natures beauty”, the other would attribute it to his trained eye! Where one experiences wonder and awe at the Peacock’s tail or the Minivet’s scarlet, the other sees Sexual Selection! Where one sees a remarkable plan and purpose in and eagle’s hunt, the other sees survival! Where one sees ‘love’ when two bulbuls cuddle, the other sees ‘breeding record’! Where one sees anger, the other sees ‘territorialiity’ And like you saw passion and aggresssion in the tern’s action, somebody else will see evidence of a nest and “nothing else”! And so, is the scientist better, because he knows so much more about the whys, hows and what nots? Well, that would be like comparing Alexander and Buddha! (There are no common standards for this comparison)
Yesterday evening during a walk, I was asked by somebody who has been watching(seeing!) birds for 11 years, whether, I could just look at them and not name them. It was then that I realised that I had compromised a lot on the artist front in arming myself scientifically. I realised that my mind said “Scarlet Minivet” when I saw one of the most wonderful birds flitting around and whistling. It will probably take some time to reawaken the part of me which does not conclude anything on seeing. So here is a lot of mumbo-jumbo instead of the answer to your question. Trust me, I have been there and have not found any answers. I am sure the above will help you in your journey to find the answer. Science is one route. It will give you all the explanations that perfectly fit your observations. But does that satisfy you. If you are now told that the terns are mere survival machines which are programmed to react the way they did under particular circumstances, would you be happy to take that answer, just because it is scientific?

Art is another. Just read a poem (I am sure somebody has ‘poetried’ on terns) and you will see that the artist is able to attribute numerous purposes and emotions to the tern’s actions. Read Jonathan Livingston Seagull and you will see how there can be a whole world of gulls with their
own beliefs and traditions. But, how can you prove it, you mind will ask! So, the question rings back. Did the tern have emotion? All we can do is only conjecture or write poetry. The truth is with the tern, and it does not want to tell you!