Ishan, Why Do You Love Wildlife So Much?

One of my most frequently asked questions...

Hey friends,

Greetings from Ashoka University, India!

The first week of Write of Passage is through, and I am so tired but incredibly inspired! I’ve gotten an average of 4 hrs of sleep every night, but I feel incredibly energised. WOP does that to you. It makes you realise that you can write your future into existence, one article at a time…

Also, I’ve been working on redesigning my website. I am at that stage in my creator journey where I can take my content to the next level. That starts with upgrading my online home. It is still in the works, but I like how it is coming out.

You can see it here - ishanshanavas.com

I will share the details of what I’m going to be working on the coming weeks/months.

Here's the links I want to share this week:

• College Essay Samples: I realised that if you want to become a better online writer, then it pays to study college application essays. They are around a 1000 words, and they orbit one idea…

• What you’ll wish you’d known: Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator, writes about what he wished he was told in his younger days…

• What I learnt from David Yarrow: David Yarrow is, in my opinion, the best fine art photographer in the world. I have admired his work for years, and much of my own photograph is inspired by his. In this essay, I dive deep into why I like his images and style…

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“Ishan, why do you love wildlife so much?”

My vision zooms out. I’m dropped into my memories, on my 1st floor balcony watching squirrels bounce along. Two bicker at each other; one of them surely stole the nuts. Sunlight dances through the expansive cover of the rain tree across the road. A small green bird—a barbet—vanishes into a tree hollow metres from my face.

Issued from the tree's depths are small squeaks of hunger. Chicks. Two of them. 

Toes clench in excitement. Their tiny beaks poke out of the bark, snipping hungrily at the air. I see wrinkled skin and emerging winglets—they cannot be more than a few days old. Innocence in feathers. The father thrusts figs into their clamouring mouths before flapping out in search of more. 

Every morning, I grab a piece of toast and observe them. My elbows find the wooden railing while my hand supports my chin. Binoculars and bird books lay strewn on the floor. I stare. I stare and stare until I catch their curious eyes glinting in the hollow. Strength and fear, grace and sadness—I see all in their eyes. 

In the next few weeks, they grow older and so do I. They mature, leaving the nest as two young birds ready to face the world. Where they will go, only the skies know. Poetry in motion. Oh, how I wish to join them! Closing my eyes, my hands unfurl into wings. Fingers become feathers and, with one thrust, I soar into the skies. 

In my vision, a world of green emerges. A bewildering palette of landscapes, echoing with a million animals. Mist rises up from the rainforests depths; green melting into white. Unspeakable beauty. Birds, songsters of the wild, punctuate the jungle air while elephants heave down trees with a mighty THUD! Monkeys holler at those on the ground. Deer graze placidly in the clearings and somewhere, in the shadows, hidden to even to those who go search fervently for them, a striped cat is on the prowl.

I gawk at the trees. Dizzying in their innumerability. Guards of their forest home, bursting with leaves of a thousand hues. Green, brown, pink and grey—each telling its own story. Grasslands, deserts, mountains; they all come my way. And beyond is the sea—massive, glimmering with waves. The choppy surface hides strange creatures beyond count. An alien world. Suspended in water. With whales larger than houses and plankton smaller than sand grains . 

The wild is inseparable from me. It lives deep down, at the very bottom of my heart. It’s my north star, guiding me for as long as I can remember. Go beyond the haunts of man, it says. Traverse the paths less trodden. It has had me swimming with snakes and running away from elephants. I’ve spent thrilling nights out in the forest and I’ve lost hours reading books about it. And only 19 years have gone by. Think what adventures await!

At times, I wonder, “Am I doing enough?”. Am I helping the wild in any way? I am not out there in the field, studying animals we know so little about. Nor am I shielding the forest from those who seek to cut it down. Right now, I'm in a cordoned off corner of the world, merely taking pictures, making drawings and punching words into a computer. 

Most days, I don’t have an answer. 

But maybe it is in the small things. The little girl who, last week, said she drew one of my elephant photographs. Or the stranger on the internet who reached out to collaborate on a nature documentary. In the simple conversations with one another. Over social media. At meal times. During college lectures and in the dorm rooms.

Maybe I can’t end the siege of nature. But in my small way, through my small work, I can invite someone to revel in my passion. Is that enough?

Some can live in spreadsheets, dancing around numbers and dollar signs. Not me. My ballet is in the wild, among the birds, snakes and other animals. Dancing to an ancient magic, intangible but very real—something to be experienced. Among the trees I call home. 

So when asked this question, I answer with an all-encompassing, not-at-all vague, “I dunno.” It's true. I really don’t know! It’s an obsession that not even the best words can describe. I don’t know where it stems from. But I hung on to it, refusing to let go. And now, I don’t know where it will take me. But I am excited to get there! 

Postcard

Not everything is as it seems.

Take a look at this picture. Just a bunch of leaves right?

But hidden among these leaves is a serpent. Look carefully. Can you see it?

In the wild, life is hidden in plain sight, revealed only to a select few…

Favourite Quote

“Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.” ― Ray Bradbury

Have a creative, energetic and inspiring week!

If you’re new, welcome to The Owlet! My name is Ishan Shanavas, and I am an Artist, Photographer, Writer and Student of the Natural World.

Here I talk about my work, along with curating the most interesting ideas on the internet. I confine them to topics like Nature, Culture, Photography, and Art but often fall prey to other genres.

I would greatly appreciate it if you shared my newsletter and work with your friends. It really helps me out :)