Retired Prof. Writes Hyderabad's Rich Birdlife
Dr Manga said she wrote 34 essays on bird behaviour, nesting patterns, their association with trees and water, and the emotions she felt while observing them.
Hyderabad: A book that grew out of long mornings in Hyderabad’s parks and ponds got writers, artists and bird watchers together on Tuesday, where ‘Bird Watcher’s Journal’ by retired associate professor Dr V.A. Manga was released.
“It is exceptional to take up a hobby like this after retirement. Not a lot of people take it up. Usually TV and chai become your hobby,” said renowned ornithologist Ashish Pitti, who released the book and spoke about the growing number of young bird-watchers he encounters around the city. The book was released under the banner of Kala Patrika and Jayaho Publications.
The book was described by Dr Manga as a record of what she experienced during five years of walking through hills, ponds and parks after she took voluntary retirement. She recounted how a small moment set the course.
“I went to photograph flowers in the park near my house, and a little honeybee kept escaping my frame. That tiny creature pulled me towards birds,” she said. She learnt the camera on her own, travelled across the city’s green patches and eventually documented 226 species.
Dr Manga said she wrote 34 essays on bird behaviour, nesting patterns, their association with trees and water, and the emotions she felt while observing them. “These essays came from the moments when I forgot everything else while watching the sunrise or hearing birds by the water,” she said.
Ashish Pitti interestingly described Hyderabad as a place where people visit lakes and wooded patches every weekend, often in large groups. He added, “Lakhs of people across the city follow bird watching with interest.” He also requested Dr Manga to get her book translated to make it accessible to all the bird watching community. “It will be a great service you will do for the community.”
Dr Mohammad Rafee presided over the event and said the book stood out because Dr Manga “has brought an interesting book with the features of the rare birds of Hyderabad in simple Telugu, with figures that anyone can understand”.
Dr J. Chennaiah, who reviewed the book, said Dr Manga offered something rare. “Many people love birds, but only a few can read their inner world. She understood the behaviour, the sounds and the places they visit, and brought it all into these pages,” he said.
Several speakers touched on the decline of sparrows and the pressure urbanisation places on bird habitats. Rafee said that while bird watchers’ groups across the world do useful work, concerns remain about species disappearing. Manga said she faced her own hurdle while writing. “Finding Telugu names for birds and plants was the hardest. Even the internet could not help much, so I added appendices to make the book useful for others.”