KOCHI: ‘May I accompany you’, he learned this sentence at the age of eight from a guide and started asking this to the foreign tourists who visited Thattekad, his native. Whether they said yes or no, Sudeesh accompanied the tourists, learned about birds from them and continued this for years leaving his studies in midway.
Today, Sudeesh travels across the country by earning a living through his passion - ‘bird watching’. “I always had a love for pants and shoes, which attracted me to foreign tourists during my childhood. Later, I accompanied them as a route guide that turned out to be a stepping stone in my life,” said Sudeesh, who lives near the Thattekad Bird Sanctuary. He mentioned that the tourists used to keenly observe the birds and they were happy when he used to point out a bird to them. “On one such visit, I learned the names of five birds. I used to repeat this on my next visit and started learning more on bird species,” he added.
Sudeesh has later gifted a binocular and a book on birds by tourists, making him a bird watcher or guide from a mere path tracker. “I became so interested in being a guide that it affected my studies. I discontinued my studies by the time I was 16 and turned into a bird watcher and forest guide,” he said. He currently works as a freelancer guide for various companies including foreign ones. “Before taking up this, I have worked in Bengaluru and Mysore as a guide. It was after my marriage at the age of 23 years I came back to Kerala and indulged in freelancing,” he added.
Sudeesh highlighted that he works continuously for about six months travelling across South and North India, and Andamans. “ But since this is my hobby, it never feels like doing a job. The travel also depends on seasons as we usually don’t take trips during the monsoon. Not just birds, spotting animals are also part of the safari,” he said. He mentioned when he is free, he travels alone to the forest across India, stays there and understands the habitat of birds. “ This helps me get a field experience, which benefits while taking the tourists. The tourists may have a target of watching 200-250 rare birds and my lone trips help me get an idea of which bird can be spotted at a particular area,” he said.
According to Sudeesh, tourism has much more to be explored in the state and offers great space for employment too. He mentioned tourists would love to know the unique characteristics of the places here, be it food or other experiences.“And if we provide authentic to information to the outsiders, that is a great source of income. Our team is giving training to five people per year to become a guide. We also initiate classes on ‘one fireman for one house’ within the localities of Thattekad,” he said.
Sudeesh, who has now seen 960 plus bird across India noted the number has only increased. “ Though I used to photograph it before, I stopped it one and a half year ago. I don’t want to enter into the privacy of their space with a lens but rather enjoy watching them,” he said.