Dr M B Krishna writes:
The birthday of Dr Joseph George who started the group birdwatching activities in Bangalore falls on the first of October. It is now over two years since his demise. So it was thought to have a memorial talk for the
occasion.
Since Dr George did so much to show that non full time professionals too could be contributing to our knowledge of birds, it was thought Shyamal would be the best person to give the talk for the day. Especially so since Shyamal’s recent visits to the museums in London and Tring have given him new perspectives and hearing bits and pieces over coffee have not done justice to his study and the subject.
So do come, and give a patient ear to Shyamal. For the scientists I bet Shyamal would be covering taxonomy, systematics and mapping. For the artists, I bet he would be showing us and commenting on at least a few pictures of the wonderful illustrations done by Indian artists of birds of the region over a century ago, which far out -surpasses the western art at that time, including Audubon. But unfortunately they did not get their due
recognition (an understatement of course) because it was perhaps subcontracted work from after all an erstwhile colony.
Shyamal has been able to decipher the signatures and initials on some of those works of art and will perhaps share his awe at why the museums and researchers there could just not tap into the teeming millions of Indians in UK to decipher and read the Devanagari script of the artists. So do come and applaud our own dear ‘Sherlock’ on his mission without funds or fellowship, and see what interest and passion can do, in the same spirit Dr George nurtured decades ago!
Place: Venkatappa Art Gallery Auditorium, Kasturba road, Cubbon Park
Date: Tuesday 30th September 2014, at 6:00 pm.
(we have to clear the place before eight, so please don’t come late; your
presence is valuable!)
“Observing birds – looking back to see ahead” by Shyamal L
This talk will look at some interesting bits of the history of
ornithology, particularly of India, to see if there are lessons to be
learned. It will also re-examine some themes that the speaker has written
about in the past, the links to which are below.
http://sites.google.com/site/lshyamal/IB.3.4.Shyamal.pdf
http://sites.google.com/site/birdspot/
http://muscicapa.blogspot.com/
About the speaker: Shyamal L has been interested in birds and the natural
world for three decades. Starting off in his school days, he enjoyed
observing birds in his backyard inside the then rich campus of the Indian
Institute of Science. Considering himself privileged to have been
surrounded by knowledgeable people who could interpret the world around
and keep his curiosity alive, he has sought to make more information
available to the not-so-privileged particularly through Wikipedia, where
he has been contributing for more than a decade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Shyamal