Mangalajodi, a village located on the north-eastern corner of Chilika Lake, in Orissa, is a mosaic of freshwater marshes and reed beds that are home to an amazing diversity of birds, especially in the winter, when visitors from Siberia, Mongolia and China arrive. Looking at Mangalajodi’s tranquil beauty today, it is hard to imagine that the area was not always the bird paradise it now is.
Prior to 2000, this area witnessed mass slaughter and massive poaching of birds and their eggs. It was the efforts of Nanda Kishore Bhujabal, a former wildlife warden of the area that catalyzed the transformation of Mangalajodi. He sensitized locals about the effects of hunting on the migratory bird populations and also trained them to identify birds. His work resulted in radically transforming from a hunting ground to the haven it is today. Avinash Khemka’s Magic of Mangalajodi is a pictorial tribute to this marvelous habitat that, quite literally, rose from the ashes.
We plunge into the book by taking to the skies, with a series of images taken by a drone – this is exactly how the avian inhabitants see Mangalajodi – a mosaic of fields and water channels, boats cruising through a sea of reeds, and the all-prevalent human presence. Subsequent sections of the book showcase the rich diversity of resident and migratory birds. Many of these images – such as the one of a flock of godwits on the wing – capture the essence of what it’s like to be on a boat silently moving through the marshes with birds all around. The book celebrates the poetry of avian motion – we see birds in action, at their acrobatic best while hunting, flying, fighting and landing.
While it is a celebration of Mangaljodi’s birds, the book is also a testament to the technical prowess of the man behind the lens. Khemka has created arresting images through shutter speed techniques “ – a flighty egret transforms into a six-petalled bloom suspended in mid-air”, he writes describing one photograph. By pushing the limits of his craft, Khemka is showing us birds as never seen before.
The book then zooms out to the human context just outside the marshes – the lens focuses on people who live their lives cheek-by-jowl with the avian inhabitants of the area, practising agriculture, animal husbandry and weaving. Whether it is the series of drone shots depicting the patchwork of paddy fields in which local people work or the image of whiskered terns decorating a fishing net, it’s hard to miss the harmony of the co-existence of man and bird.
The farmers in Mangalajodi practise sustainable agriculture even sharing their produce with the birds in times of drought and scarcity, showing how human communities can live sustainably along with nature. The book is as much a tribute to the people of Mangalajodi who survive in a sometimes unforgiving environment where the water levels change considerably with the seasons, as it is to the birds of the region.
Khemka’s book, produced in classic coffee table format, has fantastic pictures that enfold one in Mangalajodi’s magical embrace. What could have made it even more compelling is a deeper textual interpretation of images to help the reader understand the conservation efforts that took place in Mangalajodi during the transformation of the local community from bird hunters to bird protectors. That would have underlined the area’s unique position in our ecological past and future.
Maitreya Sukumar, a second year student at Ashoka University has been birding for 15 years. He was named Sanctuary Asia’s Young Naturalist of the Year in 2018.
Mangalajodi, a village located on the north-eastern corner of Chilika Lake, in Orissa, is a mosaic of freshwater marshes and reed beds that are home to an amazing diversity of birds, especially in the winter, when visitors from Siberia, Mongolia and China arrive. Looking at Mangalajodi’s tranquil beauty today, it is hard to imagine that the area was not always the bird paradise it now is.
Prior to 2000, this area witnessed mass slaughter and massive poaching of birds and their eggs. It was the efforts of Nanda Kishore Bhujabal, a former wildlife warden of the area that catalyzed the transformation of Mangalajodi. He sensitized locals about the effects of hunting on the migratory bird populations and also trained them to identify birds. His work resulted in radically transforming from a hunting ground to the haven it is today. Avinash Khemka’s Magic of Mangalajodi is a pictorial tribute to this marvelous habitat that, quite literally, rose from the ashes.
We plunge into the book by taking to the skies, with a series of images taken by a drone – this is exactly how the avian inhabitants see Mangalajodi – a mosaic of fields and water channels, boats cruising through a sea of reeds, and the all-prevalent human presence. Subsequent sections of the book showcase the rich diversity of resident and migratory birds. Many of these images – such as the one of a flock of godwits on the wing – capture the essence of what it’s like to be on a boat silently moving through the marshes with birds all around. The book celebrates the poetry of avian motion – we see birds in action, at their acrobatic best while hunting, flying, fighting and landing.
While it is a celebration of Mangaljodi’s birds, the book is also a testament to the technical prowess of the man behind the lens. Khemka has created arresting images through shutter speed techniques “ – a flighty egret transforms into a six-petalled bloom suspended in mid-air”, he writes describing one photograph. By pushing the limits of his craft, Khemka is showing us birds as never seen before.
The book then zooms out to the human context just outside the marshes – the lens focuses on people who live their lives cheek-by-jowl with the avian inhabitants of the area, practising agriculture, animal husbandry and weaving. Whether it is the series of drone shots depicting the patchwork of paddy fields in which local people work or the image of whiskered terns decorating a fishing net, it’s hard to miss the harmony of the co-existence of man and bird.
The farmers in Mangalajodi practise sustainable agriculture even sharing their produce with the birds in times of drought and scarcity, showing how human communities can live sustainably along with nature. The book is as much a tribute to the people of Mangalajodi who survive in a sometimes unforgiving environment where the water levels change considerably with the seasons, as it is to the birds of the region.
Khemka’s book, produced in classic coffee table format, has fantastic pictures that enfold one in Mangalajodi’s magical embrace. What could have made it even more compelling is a deeper textual interpretation of images to help the reader understand the conservation efforts that took place in Mangalajodi during the transformation of the local community from bird hunters to bird protectors. That would have underlined the area’s unique position in our ecological past and future.
Maitreya Sukumar, a second year student at Ashoka University has been birding for 15 years. He was named Sanctuary Asia’s Young Naturalist of the Year in 2018.