Chennai: In a first of its kind initiative to document the creepy crawlies of Chennai, an exclusive book on the indigenous insects, authored by Poochi Venkat, a well-known macro photographer, was released by historian S Muthiah on Wednesday.
“Insects have likes and dislikes and they have a territory when it is intruded they attack as a group. I have been stung, bitten and infected many times reeling under pain. Also have faced severe allergy running for days,” said author Poochi Venkat at the launch of his bilingual book, which speaks about grasshoppers, flies, beetle, wasp and bees.
About 70 insects found in Chennai have been tabulated in the bilingual book. Chennai is a diverse city when compared to other metros and this has been documented in the book through the insect biodiversity, explained author Venkat. Most of the pictures were taken at Adyar Poonga, Guindy National Park, Nanmangalam, Chembarambakkam lake and East Coast Road.
Pictures used in the book are from early negatives, slides and a few of them from modern digital cameras.
The purpose of the book is to introduce the reader in to world of insects that is usually narrated as creepy, but when examined under lens, they are most colourful hardworking species on earth, said Venkat.
The author also hinted that soon a second book on insects is on the anvil, which will be a complete field guide helping those passionate on environment to explore the world of wasps and bees.
The new book will also have locations to spot the insects and give an introduction about the insects, which includes the dangers involved while shooting insects. “When publishers from Kalamkriya invited me to receive the first copy of the book Insects - Guardians of Nature, I asked them why me, what do I know about insects and the instant response was the book is all about Madras insects and they briefed that the book is all about well-being of humans and insects,” said S. Muthiah, who felicitated the author.
“Insects are not only creepy and at times can badly affect a person by their toxins. At times insects bite turns fatal and the rare pictures of wasps and bees covered in the books explain the difficulties the author has taken to take pictures of the toxic insects,” said Dr G. Ravichandran, chief of dermatology, Apollo Hospitals who released the book.
