A daughter feels happy on the dad’s shoulder. Rinzin did not get good times to be with his wife and daughter little Tannu. It was
later when Tannu grew up, they got to stay together. And this book is the
inspiration derived from the conservation of father and daughter. Under the
faint light of the glowing moon, Rinzin takes Tannu holding her fragile hand with a
DSLR camera dangling and a torch. They were going out to photograph the night
with the moon. Suddenly, they hear an owl. People in the village believe that
sighting an owl is a bad omen. They are usually driven by throwing stones. They
silently walk near the sound to take photographs. And get a good shot of the
bird.
They take the seat nearby their home. Tannu is very
inquisitive and asks her dad many questions. Its here she gets depressed and
unhappy about human-environment relations. Though she is barely able to
understand life, she understood what her dad says.
“Tannu, do you hear this sound of insects” Rinzin
whisperers to create a silent moment to hear the insect singing. They listen
carefully to hear only a few insects singing. Tannu asked her dad, why insects
are not sleeping by night and are singing all night? Rinzins voice shrinks. And
slowly murmur few prayers. He cleans his throat and brings Tannu nearer him. And
he shares the story.
Dear Tannu, our world is filled with different
insects. They sing day and night. Some insect sings to attract their mate while
some insect sings to find if there is any obstacle ahead of them. Insects is
very important in our life.
Tannu is fond of ladybird beetles, Spiders, and Butterflies. These insects are
often seen in nursery rhymes and children’s books. Our insects are facing the hard
reality of human greed. Rinzin makes the statement simpler. Our insects are
going extinct every day. Many are killed by spraying chemicals. Insects are
termed as pests in many cases while in many countries it serves as a delicacy.
“Papa Papa, do people eat insects also?” Tannu murmurs. Even though she is
little, she cares and loves animals. She loves feeding dogs and cats. At the farm,
she is fond of the calf, goats, and all. When she hears of people eating, she gets
hurt.
Chori, our insects are declining. Sir Attonberg,
a great environment conservationist and a biologist in his many works, have
described in length how we human have destroyed the habitat of insects. Rinzin opens his phone and opens YouTube apps to show Tannu how sir attenberg have
described insect decline. They get deeper and a full-length movie is
watched.
Tannu, with a teary eye, hugs her dad and whisper,
Papa, since many insects are already extinct and everyday many are dying. Will
I will be able to see insects when I grow up? Will I be able to sing Itsy Bitsy
spider when I grow up like you? What will happen to humans if all the insects
disappear? As the night is getting darker, they look at their watch. Oh its
7:30pm. Mom must be waiting for dinner.
Tannu and her dad leaves the place and goes home but
Tannus's mind is full of doubts with questions. Rinzin could not explain fully
to her, thinking she cannot understand.
A little girl who finds happiness watching animated
child series suddenly becomes a nature lover. This is the start of her story about how she infuses herself with nature. Every day, she learns something about
environmental issues.
She is reading and watching more episode on
Environment and Biodiversity. Anybody would feel the pain, she is feeling. Our
living planet, the earth, and the only planet where human existence is losing its
glory. After world war II, and the industrial revolution has been the cause
of the current scenario of the Environment. Every day, a large area of forest is cut down
for different purposes.
When the focus is on economy and development, natures and
biodiversity fail to stand up. Today, her father is reading a Living Planet
Report 2020 to her. In the last six decades, we have lost 64% of our biodiversity.
Seventy Percent of water bodies are altered. Our oceans are filled with solid
waste and chemical waste has polluted large water bodies. Our air is mixed with
so much of poisonous gas. This is causing so much threat to human survival.
Tannu is becoming a constant companion to her father.
They walk in the woods to explore wild beauty, taste the spring water, and
breathe the clean air. She is also learning photography.
It is summer here. The rain is raining cats and dogs.
The news channel is filled with various roadblocks and damages on
infrastructure. The international news is flooded with news of village being
submerged in flood, people losing their homes, and large slide destroying
villages. It's raining outside, she cannot go out to play.
Tannu can easily recognize many wild animals. She has
learned all those from rhymes. Rinzins is on his study table. He was
segregating some of the wildlife images that are downloaded from an automatic
camera installed in the forest. Wildlife monitoring nowadays is done with more
scientific methods. Passive infrared cameras are installed to understand its
movement pattern and abundance. In other places, Drones and Helicopters are
used.
She sits near him on her little densey chair.
Tiger…Tiger she exclaims. Papa, is the tiger under threats like other insects and
ladybirds? Sharing the information on how the tiger’s population has declined from
more than 100,000 to 3200 in a short span of time. She says an elephant Jumbo
kicked the tiger from the jungle when the tiger was chasing other wild animals.
The lonely elephant who didn’t get any friends in the jungle because of her size got
many friends after she chased away the tiger from the jungle. Tiger with many of
the predators is under pressure. Wild animals are hunted for meat, for
medicine, for a safari game, or trapped for raising as pets.
That is a monkey she points. She is quite afraid of
monkeys. We were travelling to Lampari Botanical Park. Along the road, there are
many local peoples selling local fruits and vegetables. Roasted maize is a
common scene throughout. These monkeys usually wait along the roads waiting for
people to give them some leftover maize or bananas. Pelzomail Drupchu is holy water that comes from a large rocky mountain. People from as far as
Thimphu and Paro also come to this place to get the holy water. Wildlife can be
seen at this drupchu drinking water.
Rinzin takes her back to Zhemgang. Hiking in the deep
jungles is what he loves. Rinzin was on a hiking tour to a pleasant deep forest
in search of a charismatic cat, Tiger. Together with his group of friends, they
packed their essentials and set off. The hike takes them through a thick forest
which local people usually use. It was a freezing winter. Most of the area was
covered by a thick white blanket. They sneak through the narrow track along the
ridges and after four days of continuous walk, they reach a large opening. The
area was used by local nomadic herders.
Rinzin calls his winsome lady and describes his tedious
journey through the thickets. Jamyang was eagerly waiting for Rinzin's arrival.
That was their last communication since his mobile battery exhausted.
As the team was walking deeper, they lost their
track. Their food essentials get exhausted and rely on the naturally grown plants to
fill their stomach. With no water for whole days, they become totally tired and
flaccid. For four days and nights, they struggle through ridges, thickets, and
gorges in search of nearby villages and water. It was one of the painful journeys.
They could not communicate for any help as they are out of communication sets. After,
a week of struggles, they finally arrive in a small helmet. It was a sigh of
relief.
Tannu, spent lots of time with her dad listening to his
story. But soon, she is departing from him. They have planned to send Tannu to Australia
to her aunt Deki.
