Author Interview : Radha Rangarajan(10 Indian Champions Who Are Fighting To Save the Planet)

The fourth book in PRH Duckbill's nonfiction series for 8-12-year-old

 kids,10 Indian Champions Who Are Fighting To Save the Planet is an 

interesting read about people who are doing their bit to preserve the

 environment for the present and future generations. This book  spotlights 

ten eco champions and equips with you with information

 to do your bit for the environment.

 A must for every home and school library!

Radha Rangarajan, co-author of this book, shares more details.

                                        

1. What criteria did you choose to shortlist the champions for this book?

 

We first came up with a list of names of all the inspiring people who have worked on and are continuing to work on wildlife conservation, research and environmental issues. Some of the topics we wanted to cover were - birds, large mammals, marine wildlife, climate crisis, waste, rivers, reptiles, etc - so these became the broad categories under which we slotted names. And then came the main decision on whether we should cover the biggest names of the past, like Dr Salim Ali, Zafar Futehally, Indira Gandhi and Jim Corbett or focus on people who are actively working now. We picked the latter, and then we made more lists, with a focus on how to arrive at the right gender balance among the people we would feature in the book. When some interviews didn’t work out, we had to look for more people and bring in more options into consideration. The team of Dharavi Rocks was on our list from day one, since we were always sure about featuring children.

2. How did you approach the book after shortlisting the champions? 

We did a fair bit of research before shortlisting the names, so all the notes and references helped us. To prepare for the interview, we read books written by and about them and dug up old blog posts and articles they had written. We bravely tried to make sense of complicated research findings published in scientific journals and watched videos of their old interviews. Once the interviews were completed, we had to do further research on the topics that came up during the discussion.

 

3. How long did the project take to complete?

 It was in May 2018 that our first list of ten champions was finalised and in August of that year, we travelled to Chennai to meet Romulus Whitaker. That was our first interview. For a year after that, we had a crazy schedule involving many phone calls, meetings, emails. The first draft was complete exactly a year later, in May 2019. What followed after was multiple rounds of edits and interactions with our editors.

 

4. You have interviewed and done research about so  many eco-champions.  What's the common trait in all of them?

 Other than the fact that they all are among the best at what they do, the one uniform thing across the people we interviewed was that they all insisted that they couldn’t do what they did, by themselves. They all credited their colleagues, field assistants, forest department staff, guides, mentors and said they had lots of help along the way. People like Vidya Athreya, Rom Whitaker, Kavita Kuruganti and Aparajita Datta have worked closely with local residents and indigenous communities in their geographical area of study.

5. What are the three easy and basic steps an individual (adult/child) can take to make a difference and become an eco champion at home?  

                                    

Read. Read a lot. The more we read about the environment and our natural world, the better it is for our own sense of understanding of the ecosystem. This knowledge benefits us hugely and goes a long way in how sensitive and tuned in we are about the impact of our actions on the environment.

There is wildlife all around us. From the bees and spiders in our garden, to the mynas and crows on our terrace, to the gecko behind the bathroom door - irrespective of where we live, we are surrounded by wildlife of some kind or the other. We must learn to be patient with them and observe what they do. We must make room for them in our physical spaces and in our lives. Coexistence is the only way to live.

Follow the four Rs - Review-Reduce-Reuse-Recycle. Buy only if you must, and once you do, make sure to use it responsibly for as long as possible.

 6.There must be many new concepts that you must have learnt while researching and writing this book. Name one concept which impressed/ impacted /stayed with you. Why?

We learnt a ton of new concepts while working on the book. One of the most memorable conversations for the book was with Romulus Whitaker. He works closely with the Irula tribe and credits them for his knowledge on tracking snakes in the wild, since he spent a lot of time in the field with them. One of the things he told us was that the Irulas can tell you what kind of snake has crossed a path simply by looking at the slither-marks on the soil. They can also tell from the marks whether the snake was venomous or not!

 7.You have written and guest edited picture books in the past. Tell us your experience about co-authoring the book with Bijal Vachharajani.  

        

 Bijal is the reason I even considered writing picture books, the thought hadn’t occurred to me before she brought up the idea. I think of her as my mentor in my foray into writing for children. It was a fantastic experience to co-author a book with her (I hope she thinks the same way too!). I got to learn so much about writing, during the process of writing and editing our book, and continue to, even now.

 

8.How did Bijal and you work on this book? 

Bijal’s expertise lies in the area of environmental issues, climate change, food security, etc. I highly recommend that your readers should look up two of her other books for children - A Cloud Called Bhura and So You Want To Know About The Environment. So, she focused on the chapters that covered these topics. Between the two of us, I am more familiar with wildlife and I focused on those chapters. Once we wrote out individual chapters, we reviewed each other's work and edited them together.

 9. How did you foray into the world of writing?

I’ve been dabbling with writing for a very long time now, probably since I was 10. My grandmother, who was very well read, has been the biggest influence in my life, when it comes to reading and writing. I contributed regularly to Deccan Herald’s Open Sesame. I came up with a bad Suppandi joke, which I thought was rather clever back then, and it even got published in Tinkle, earning me a princely sum of 30 rupees! I participated actively in creative writing contests at school, and my articles turned up in the school’s annual book. In later years, I had a blog in which I wrote about my travels and wildlife and natural history observations.

 10. Any forthcoming books?

 I am currently working on two picture books for Pratham Books - one on plants and one on trees!

To  buy a copy of 10 Indian Champions Who Are Fighting To Save the Planet , click here!