I read this book for the third time. I love to read books about wildlife and ecology. I read Theodore Baskaran, AJT John Singh, Davidar and Ullas Karanth. The difference here is the complete change in the kind of wildlife we read. Just like the great Romulus Whitaker, his wife Janaki Lenin also loves the amphibians and the reptiles. We hardly see people writing about frogs, shrews, Porcupines, crocs and lots and lots of snakes. What started as the Madras Crocodile Park’s newsletter changed to a newspaper article and took the avatar as one of the best books in India for lesser-known wildlife.
I loved Romulus Whitaker’s இந்திய பாம்புகள். It is more of a field guide, and I refer at times. The pleasure of the text is such an important thing these days to get hooked into the book. This book is way up there as a page-turner. However, we encounter so many snakes and crocodiles that I often have to stop reading and browse to find the images and videos (e.g. Taipan, Mambas, moccasin, red snakes, Mara river crocs). I also learned about Arunachal Pradesh’s own wild and beautiful Mithun. Well, I can’t avoid spoilers. The author says Enid Blyton and Gerald Durrell inspire her more than run of the mill Jim Corbett and Kenneth Anderson.
I will have to take a couple of stories which are close to me as I have experienced them in my village. Rom’s close friend Rajamani is one of the characters that you will encounter (yes, I had to use this word for a wildlife book review) few times. He is from the Irular community. I’m from the same district as Janaki Lenin, the undivided Kanchipuram district. So, in my village as well, they are the experts in catching any kind of snakes. We often encounter cobras and kraits in my village apart from the non-venomous water snakes, komberi mookans aka marameri and the mild venomous green vines. The story is different.
When I was studying in the sixth standard, few of my friends were eating fried, and masala mixed rice. When I enquired, it is rice fried with termites (ஈசல்). I tasted it, and I loved it. Usually, you can catch a lot of termites during the rainy season. In this book, there is a chapter on how to cook that fried rice. As accepted, they are a very rich source of protein and villagers love them and even sell them at places.
There is also a dreaded chapter on wild nettles. It is called as ஆனைமெரட்டி. We had a not so wild version of nettle in our village that we called பூனை காஞ்சான். We were such brutal brats that we pluck (carefully) and rub it on our pals when we get into skirmishes. You will develop sharp pain, itches and it will become a hell of a pain if you scratch it. The cure Janaki mentioned is to apply turmeric and lime juice on the spots. The cure we used is not a nice thing to write here :-)
She also took a dig at people with Tamil pride. Idli and sambar are not of Tamil origin. The coffee has its origin in Ethiopian wild. Let me stop here, connecting my experiences with the book. I have so many other experiences that writers like Janaki Lenin will repulse. We tormented so many little creatures as kids. Though I can’t change my past, I’m a better person now with genuine care for other animals apart from humans. I loved reading this book, and I will hopefully read the sequel My Husband and Other Animals 2 soon.
You can either buy this kindle book or read through Kindle Unlimited here - https://www.amazon.in/Husband-Other-Animals-Janaki-Lenin-ebook/dp/B009FTXW98
I loved Romulus Whitaker’s இந்திய பாம்புகள். It is more of a field guide, and I refer at times. The pleasure of the text is such an important thing these days to get hooked into the book. This book is way up there as a page-turner. However, we encounter so many snakes and crocodiles that I often have to stop reading and browse to find the images and videos (e.g. Taipan, Mambas, moccasin, red snakes, Mara river crocs). I also learned about Arunachal Pradesh’s own wild and beautiful Mithun. Well, I can’t avoid spoilers. The author says Enid Blyton and Gerald Durrell inspire her more than run of the mill Jim Corbett and Kenneth Anderson.
I will have to take a couple of stories which are close to me as I have experienced them in my village. Rom’s close friend Rajamani is one of the characters that you will encounter (yes, I had to use this word for a wildlife book review) few times. He is from the Irular community. I’m from the same district as Janaki Lenin, the undivided Kanchipuram district. So, in my village as well, they are the experts in catching any kind of snakes. We often encounter cobras and kraits in my village apart from the non-venomous water snakes, komberi mookans aka marameri and the mild venomous green vines. The story is different.
When I was studying in the sixth standard, few of my friends were eating fried, and masala mixed rice. When I enquired, it is rice fried with termites (ஈசல்). I tasted it, and I loved it. Usually, you can catch a lot of termites during the rainy season. In this book, there is a chapter on how to cook that fried rice. As accepted, they are a very rich source of protein and villagers love them and even sell them at places.
There is also a dreaded chapter on wild nettles. It is called as ஆனைமெரட்டி. We had a not so wild version of nettle in our village that we called பூனை காஞ்சான். We were such brutal brats that we pluck (carefully) and rub it on our pals when we get into skirmishes. You will develop sharp pain, itches and it will become a hell of a pain if you scratch it. The cure Janaki mentioned is to apply turmeric and lime juice on the spots. The cure we used is not a nice thing to write here :-)
She also took a dig at people with Tamil pride. Idli and sambar are not of Tamil origin. The coffee has its origin in Ethiopian wild. Let me stop here, connecting my experiences with the book. I have so many other experiences that writers like Janaki Lenin will repulse. We tormented so many little creatures as kids. Though I can’t change my past, I’m a better person now with genuine care for other animals apart from humans. I loved reading this book, and I will hopefully read the sequel My Husband and Other Animals 2 soon.
You can either buy this kindle book or read through Kindle Unlimited here - https://www.amazon.in/Husband-Other-Animals-Janaki-Lenin-ebook/dp/B009FTXW98
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