The Birdman of India

Nice artice.Ofcourse every educated Indian is aware of Salim Ali,he is a legend.
But not many know but his personal life.

Regards
Nandan

#35 soya, it is not caste or anything, its the angrez method ..this was the norm before automation in angrezistan too.

#32
Interesting observation. We overemploy as a means to reducing unemployment - go to a bank or any organization where you need to get work done, we need to go from counter to counter getting papers stamped or new pieces of paper issued, etc. Why have one person do the job when five can share it? This idea in modern india is partly a tradition carried over from our obsession with castes and partly an import from the old Soviet Union where, again, the state created a lot of useless, bench-warming jobs as a way of keeping people employed. Employment was not about productivity, it was a welfare measure.

Mr. Gill,

It`s refreshing to read an article on this topic.

As school kids we use to read a lot about him and discuss in schools about his work, especailly when he came and confirmed about Jerdon`s Courser bird, thought to be exticnt was spotted in AP in 1986. He took pains to educate the people about conserving the endangered bird. He took and preserved the lone specimen of Jerdon`s Courser in Bombay Natural History Society. The BNHS musuem in Bombay reflects the hard work done by Salim Ali. He was one of the inspring role models in pre-6/12 India.

Sahibi has become ingrained in us. I remember recently I had to take a gora to meet a GM of a large company in Mumbai. We sat and started talking. During the meeting suddenly the GM buzzed for a peon and asked him to pour him a glass of water. What shocked the gora was that the bottle of water was all the time on the table and all the GM had to do was to reach out open the bottle and pour himself some water rather than call someone to do it. Next the GM again buzzed, this time for his assistant, and asked him to dial so-and so, the assistant pisked up the mobile from the GM`s table dialled and when the connection was made he handed the phone for the GM to speak. The gora could not believe what he saw, no wonder, in the west they just do not have flunkeys like we do, there is no system of peons., evrybody does his own work, even closer home, in Iran in schools the Headmaster himself rings the bell at the end or beginning of a class unlike here.

kabuliwala:
Yes, he had a passion for motor cycles. His autobiography also shows that he considered Meinertzhagen a bulley although he himself was not daunted by him. He was kind of idiosyncratic in several ways and respected Salim Ali. I did mention in my article that he was a phony too.
I haven`t read Salim Ali`s autobiography cover to cover but have read pieces of it here and there. Dr. Salim Ali was naturally gifted and was fortunate that his greatness was appreciated all the world over in his lifetime.
Mohammad Gill

Dear Dr. Gill,

thanks for writing about the birdman of India...as a kid I used to think that he was the ugliest man ever and was quite scared of his picture...but much later read his autobiography and discovered that he and I shared a passion for motorcycles...his autbiography has quite a few pics of his motorcycle exploits, one of which I believe was travelling on his motorcycle from India to England...so u see, he beat Che both in terms of distance and for conceiving the idea before...while an Islam observant man, he had no patience or understanding for other religions as evindenced by his thoughts on Buddhist and Hindu practices during his survey of the birds in Nepal and Tibet...I found it odd that after having lived and grown up in India, he did not have the heart to understand the native faiths...regards

Kabuli

Please read desis and not desins, in the last line before you get any other ideas.

Re: # 28
Ajeet having repaired televisions myself when there were actual tubes other than the picture tube it has been my experience that when a tube burns out no amount of banging can bring things back to life. And I suppose this anecdote took place in the 70s before the hey-day of solid state electronics.

HP , a herpetologists studies reptiles. He doesn`t reduce the number of snakes, frogs etc. India has a lot of people doing research on reptiles even though a lot of those reptiles appear to be foreign born.

Delhiwala, Europe has been as contentious a continent as Asia. Its been full of Christians killing each other and the occasional Turkish Muslim all the way upto 1945 and also post 1992. Perhaps the British should thank the Indians because we let them get modern by looting us.

I love historical discussion especially when a thief and a murderer like Meinertzhagen is being defended, as being one of the race that taught us how to live.

This is not a question of slackness or stinginess. It is the culture which taught that if you are educated, working with hands was below your status. Also, HP before you get smug, I said desins and not Indians. One of the four guys was a Pakistani.

The Indian is not only a slacker he is stingy as well.....?

``The replacement cost is the key in your story, not the slackness!``(HP)

HP that sentence has a razer`s edge......:)

``He took them out and went to Radio shack and bought replacements,``

The replacement cost is the key in your story, not the slackness!

Does India have any Herpetologist? That is what is needed most with reptiles, amphibians, and frogs running around with impunity in every town and city. (Both literally and figuratively).

Nasah, don`t be too sensitive. The guy was right. Just accept the truth and take it like a man. Indians are slackers.

Re: # 20
Thank You HP, finally someone has the courage to show sense.

Dude, truth is that before 1947, Indians at day-to-day level were intellectually Null. Yes, there were lot of exceptions and you could some rich Indians getting educated in Vilayat and break the barrier, but only to avail the Brown Sahib status under the Gora Master.

I have had numerous discussions with elderly people, even some ICS officers as well as my elders who were tormented by Muslims in 1947. It always leads to the conclusion that Indians were living in Medieval times upto 1940ies under English.

Q: Were English racist?
A: Yes, they were.
Q: Did they help Indians?
A: Yes, they did in bringing Indians upto par with modern life.
Q: What would have happened if English were not there?
A: India would have been another Afghanistan with Hindus, Muslims killing each other, like Tutsus and Rwanadans.

It is hard to accept the truth because it hurts the pride.

Re: # 21
Addendum:
WW2 and the reluctance of Indians to serve under Gora-Officers leading to Indian Commissions(IC) was the turning point in educated middle class youth to relaize their potential. These Short Service Commissioned Officers became the fulcrum for making English realize that it is no Longer a feasibilty to rule India with Old King Commisioned Officers and at that rate would have been revolting.