New Delhi: Twenty five years after Khushwant Singh penned his iconic 'Nature Watch', a new illustrated book containing text by the late author revisits the beauty of the capital city through its seasonal flora and fauna.
The book 'Delhi by Seasons', illustrated by Suddhasattwa Basu, the same artist who had created the imagery for Singh's 1990 work, was launched here late last evening by Pradeep Krishen, considered an authority on the trees of Delhi.
"The book was six years in the making. It seemed like an unending process because there was so much to do but in the end it seemed justified. The text is from 'Nature Watch' that was published several years ago and used by many people to wander Delhi and recognise its trees and flora and fauna," Karthika VK, Publisher Harper Collins said.
The work, she said was a result of a collaboration between Maya Dayal, the daughter of Khushwant Singh who passed away last year at old age of 99 and Suddhasattwa Basu.
Basu who has also illustrated a book of nature poems and prayers for children by Ruskin Bond, says he has interpreted Singh's text in better sketches and paintings this time. "Illustrating the text has been a lot of hard work. I had first gone into it 25 years ago. I was not a very good artist then. Not that I am a very good artist now but am now a better artist. I saw the text and thought the text would get better treatment," Basu said.
The book, which reads like the diary of a nature lover is patterned after the traditional Baramasi of Indian poets. It speaks of trees, flowers, fruits, birds, snakes, insects and animals to be seen during the twelve months of the year in and around Delhi.
Meanwhile Krishen recalled meeting Khushwant Singh a couple of times and said the late author and he differed in their styles of writing on nature.
"....I know that he and I belong to a different tradition. While he has a free-flowing gamboling style mine is like that of a hack going into the details.
"His way of writing would be wow what a wonderful tree mine is more finicky, to the point even it meant taking it to the herbarium in Dehradoon," Kishen said. Recounting a meeting at the Lodhi Gardens here, Kishen said Singh was amazed at his ability to identify a particular tree.
"I met him once in the Lodhi Gardens leaning against one of the tombs. He asked me what is the fig tree and I said that it was not fig but ozba and he just kept shaking his head and asked me how do you tell?" the environmentalist said.
Krishen also mentioned Singh's fondness for the Kosum tree, which sports one of the brightest red leaves around the end of February.
"When my book on the trees of Delhi was launched I wrote him a note on the Kosum and sent him a copy. When he died he had a copy of my book the Jungle Trees beside him. I liked to believe he was reading that before he died," Krishen said.
Incidentally Singh had in his later novel "The Sunset Club" mentioned Krishen's book in the plot.
The late author Singh became interested in nature when he spent time as a young man with friends at Oxford discovering the joys of the English countryside but upon returning to Delhi found that he knew very little about the flora and fauna of the city.
The cover of "Delhi through the Seasons" portrays Singh in kurta pyjama clutching a book, surrounded by flowering plants and trees, butterflies, birds and even a cat. The tome notes the beauty of fairs and festivals in the country; tells the story of clouds, of what their shapes and movements mean. It investigates why hailstorms come in spring and early summer and not in winter and writes about how birds communicate with each other and why their calls vary with the seasons.
Woven into the text are poems by Kalidasa, Guru Nanak, Meer Taqi Meer, Mirza Ghalib, Akbar AIlahabadi, Rabindranath Tagore, Rudyard Kipling and many others. "I wish Khushwant Singh could be around it seems it would have been perfect, yet am happy to have the product that we could have presented to him," publisher Karthika said.
The book launch was attended by Singh's children Rahul Singh and Mala Dayal. Gursharan Kaur, the wife of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, artist Arpana Caur and Nandini Mehta were among others present.
(With agency inputs)