A flamingo in my Garden

Title: A Flamingo in my Garden

Author: Deepak Dalal

Series: Feather Tales

Illustrations: Lavanya Naidu

Year: 2016

Publisher: Puffin Books – Penguin Random House India

In his previous books like Ranthambore Adventure this author took the reads to forests while in this series he makes us aware to the species which share cities with us or rather whom we share cities with.

Illustration of the Marine drive in the beginning carries warmth. There’s something about the leaves on the lower left corner that touches. As one moves on to other pages one realizes that landmarks of Bombay have been nicely depicted without getting into names. I was waiting for one on the forest and caves!

The author has a way with drawing parallels. When one pauses on these lines one realizes that these contribute to create a ‘bird world’ and that most of these species too are those which share cities with human beings. Some of these below -

• More jarring than even a peacock choir.
• Green as a parakeets feathers.
• To expect kind heartedness from crows in as ridiculous as expecting penguins to fly.

He takes us to a parallel world where places have names – separate from those we are familiar with - and each bird has a name. birds, we tend to believe as we move along his line, or we get to co-habit with these avian friends. The book also makes one wonder why we have quotes and phrases on birds and animals when we know so little on them, ‘bird brain’ for example!

It is fun to read a book where lines remind one of what little one has read. ‘Never missed an evening gathering’ reminded me of Lavkumar Khachar’s take on nature around us ‘how many of us take out 5 minutes each date to watch sunrise and sunset two of gods most beautiful creations?’. Here this young one was doing it. ‘What is with you grown ups’ brought forth the classic - The Little Prince. ‘Human odours assaulted my nostrils’ – took me to the days of Shobha De’s description of Bombay in Sunday Mid-day ‘the world’s largest open toilet’; no one can miss the city’s smell – not even sky birds.

Like with all good in life there are questions. How many families (especially in the area the author talks of) have the luxury of fountains in their homes? At a couple of places – including footnotes - the editing could have been tighter. Also my conundrum with the use of not easy words continues -

• Squiggle
• Raucous
• Crummy

One also encounters ‘stereo typing’ when Maya serves tea and snacks but somewhere without preaching a need to sit silently as a family and watch nature is put across. These subtle messages are present across the book; messages which have far higher chances of being mulled over accepted than preaching. Not only has the author thought like a bird but he also has invested time to convey his ideas - of a better and more friendly world – within the story.

Without revealing the suspense I end by sharing one of my favourite fun lines ‘crows can never be silent. They probably have no idea what the word even means’.

Review of another book in the series – Talon the Falcon – here.
Thanks are due to Deepak Dalal and Puffin Books.