Dr. Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali was an Indian ornithologist and naturalist. Popularly known to many as the ‘Birdman of India’, Salim Ali was among the first Indians to conduct systematic bird surveys across India.
The several books on birds that he authored helped popularise ornithology (a branch of zoology that concerns the “methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them,” according to Wikipedia) in India.
Salim Ali became the key figure behind the Bombay Natural History Society after 1947 and used his influence to garner government support for the organisation, create the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary (Keoladeo National Park), and prevent the destruction of what is now the Silent Valley National Park.
Along with Sidney Dillon Ripley he wrote the 10-volume Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan, the second edition of which was completed after his death. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1958 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1976. Several species of birds and a couple of bird sanctuaries and institutions have been named after him.
Since the day I saw one of his books on Indian birds in my college library, I had been very keen to meet Dr Salim Ali.
When I learnt that he was living in Bombay (now Mumbai), I requested my media friends to find me his phone and address. To my utter shock I was told I should not waste my time and film on someone whose pics nobody was interested in! My reply to them was that I didn’t care as I was interested in meeting him.
As I called Salim Ali’s residence, he himself answered the call and immediately agreed to meet me. His residence was adjacent to actor Dilip Kumar’s bungalow on Pali Hill.
Dr Ali was very lean, short, dark-skinned and a very soft-spoken man. So soft that at times I couldn’t hear what he said. He took me to his large study which was full of books and papers scattered all around. Finding it difficult to shoot a dark-skinned genius inside his study with low light, I requested him to come out in the veranda and sit on one of the cane chairs lying there.
The result of that day? Well, this, clearly, is one of my favourite pictures of him.
Nobody may have ever asked me for his pictures, but I am so pleased to have met a great soul, a genius who had devoted all his life searching, watching and recording the lives of delicate and most colorful beauties of Mother Nature. The birds. He was indeed a ‘Birdman’. And I am glad I met him.
The views expressed here are the author’s own and The News Porter bears no responsibility for the same.
