Ishan Shanavas does not have any promises to keep, but he surely has miles to go. So he manages his time between standing and staring at those lovely, dark and deep woods, even as he traverses swathes of the country to tell people what it means, and what it takes, to care for nature.
The enchanted stares at ecosystems, and at the life within them, began long ago, when he was just a little older than a toddler. From the balcony of his home, butterflies would fly in, and he would watch them with unabated attention.
Then came the countless books and the wildlife visuals on television. Nat Geo films, rather than cartoons, were his childhood favourites.
A turning point was the moment when he encountered a tiger. “I was 14, and we were travelling to Kozhikode through Bandipur sanctuary. The big cat walked on to the road and looked at me,” recalls the 22-year-old Malayali based in Bengaluru.
“It felt like I was being told something. Something changed in me that day; a lot of clarity came into me about what I should do. I found my interest turning into a passion, a calling.”
His school years at Rishi Valley in Madanapalle also played a part in his grooming as an environmentalist, with a clear motive to nurture a generation that cares for ecology. “My school was quite close to the forest area, a haven of such lovely beauties,” says Ishan, whose recent book, The Light of Wilder Things, has been garnering positive reviews.
“I woke up to birds chattering and peacock calls. I got to handle snakes there. The mornings would at times start with watching monkeys or wild boars. There would be monitor lizards outside classes for me to pursue. I also learnt to give better expression to what I further discovered was my calling to work for wildlife.”
Today, Ishan is more at home amid the life that sustains ecology, and finds in himself a need to inspire a generation that understands the earth’s urge to stay green and lively. ‘ECOINSPIRE’ emerged from this urge. It is a non-profit venture that Ishan set up to prompt younger people to live in tandem with the life found in the wild.
In fact, to him, wildlife is not something found only in the wild. “It’s essentially life. Life of nature, of existence. It’s all around us. My urge is to tell students to understand that life,” he says.
Ishan’s work involves travelling across the country, taking his modules to school and college students. “I have covered about 17,000 students in schools and colleges in 22 states, even those in very remote areas,” he smiles.
“The modules are more about making the children fascinated with ecology, probably the way I was fascinated. A bit of handholding into the world of wildlife, making them fall in love with it.”
Amidst all this, he remains grounded as he calls himself merely a ‘facilitator’.
“It is not about being an activist… I am certainly not one. There was a time when I wondered if my interest was a mere childhood phase — that wide-eyed moment at the roar of a lion or the trumpet of an elephant, or that familiar boyhood urge to handle insects,” says Ishan.
“I have explained all this in my book, in which I have spoken about my journey, my fascinations, and the sparks I felt as I ventured deeper into my interest.”
The book also carries his photographs and drawings of wildlife, and describes how keenly he observed creatures to capture their nuances. Notably, MP Shashi Tharoor wrote that The Light of Wilder Things was “witty and engaging”, and “ushers us to turn toward nature and learn from it”.
Ishan adds that he has also written about a time in life when he was at a crossroads on whether this was indeed the path for him. “Again, it had to do with a tiger sighting — this time, at Tadoba Tiger Reserve. If Bandipur was natural, out-of-the-blue, Tadoba was amidst an army of tourist jeeps,” he recalls.
“I felt lost as I watched people look at the tiger amid all the noise. I doubted my liking for the wild then.”
For Ishan, however, those moments of self-doubt were fleeting; his love for the wilderness soon took over again. He travelled through the verdant and barren tracts of western India and the icy heights of the Himalayas.
As a college student at Ashoka University in Haryana, he became clearer about his goal as he began writing a book, ‘Fauna in and around Ashoka University’, based on his explorations into the local wildlife in Sonepat. His blog and Instagram posts made him popular, with people wanting to know more about him, wildlife and his passion for it.
Has he ever been afraid of the wild? “More than fear, it is respect. I am also aghast at the lack of awareness among people about wildlife, how they understand it, how they treat it without knowing they too are a part of it,” says Ishan.
“As I said before, our feeling that we, as civilised beings, have nothing to do with ecology or wildlife is what has made them museum pieces and us mere observers who think they must be kept away for our safety. My aim is to bridge those gaps we have created.”
Looking back, Ishan feels that his passion has much to do with his upbringing and the dilemmas it presented. “I come from a background that is diverse, and this urged me towards a bigger diversity — the diversity of nature,” says the environmental science graduate.
“It was also the place where I felt my questions being answered in a larger context, where boundaries and borders gave way to a unity that emerged so beautifully out of that natural diversity. That understanding was truly home for me; it still is. My travels help me understand it even better. It is this understanding that I wish to transfer to the young ones who hear me.”