Tribute to Dr.Salim Ali- the doyen of Indian Ornithology. I like to take permission of the administrators of Birds Bangladesh that I am a student of him and he was and still is father of modern Indian ornithology. Back in 1997 November I had written this piece and given to the then Daily Observer of Dhaka. I dont have any clue whether it was published or not. But with all of your permission I like to post it here as I hope it will be very inspirational for those who are keen bird or nature lovers but do not possess degree in the line or any discipline. The picture was shot by SA Hussain of BNHS in 35mm slide that I converted into print and scanned. He was in Mirpur Botanical Gardens during December 1980. Administrators: Pl remove if you consider this out of place MY FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH DR SALIM ALI By dr. reza khan, Head of Dubai Zoo. 10.11.1997 It was a hot, humid and sultry day in Bombay during the last week of June, 1974 when I reached there first. As a teacher of Dhaka University and considering my first visit to a foreign country I had worn all the attires needed to look like a perfect gentleman. My newly married wife made sure that I make no mistake in giving the right impression on my first encounter with the bird giant of Asia. On the late morning of 26 June I was whisked away from the Victoria Terminus to the Juggonnath Sunkerseth Hostel of Bombay University. I had just enough time to dump my over 100-kilo luggage and then follow the Curator and assistant curator of the 90-year old Bombay Natural History Society-BNHS. They took me to the Hornbill House at the Prince of Wales Museum. Curator Mr. Daniel asked me to follow him. It was not more than 10-steps apart, across the office hall, just after an air-conditioned room for the rare manuscripts and books, where the committee room is. They took me to the committee room where my would-be guru was waiting to receive his first foreign student. Mr. Daniel introduced me to a five-foot tall, thin gentleman with properly trimmed beards and moustache and short-sleeve shirt, tucked properly inside. This was Dr. Salim Ali. His family name was Salim Moizuddin Abdul Ali. He trimmed his family name to two-worded Salim Ali (SA) so that people do not find it difficult in calling him. As it was around mid-day and I had a complete suit with tie all my undergarments and shirt became completely wet due to perspiration and over sweating that resulted from the fear of the unknown and over excitement. Daniel introduced me to Dr. Salim Ali and other members of the Executive Committee of the BNHS. His first utterances, in the process of shaking of hands, appeared something like this: “How your journey was and how is the family. As far as I remember I had replied only with yes and very good. This is because I knew SA only from his books and almost a yearlong correspondence. However, I did not know the person and his personality. Third thing SA told me was that, well, Reza Khan, I think you should study Black-and-Orange Flycatcher, BOF. Daniel, call Rex and Serrao. Robert bolted out to fetch those two gentlemen. In the meantime SA kept ordering Daniel to write a letter to the Chief Conservator of Forests of Tamil Nadu and Mr.E.R.C. Davidar- a member of BNHS who was the last person to notice BOF in Coonoor area of the Nilgiris Mountain. In no time Serrao, the librarian turned up and SA told him to show me the copy of his manuscript on the same bird and all the relevant references. By that time Rex came too from the bird-room. He was told to show me the specimens of the BOF. Then SA told me to remain in regular touch with him. It seemed that was all the great birdman had to tell me for the time being. Robert understood the cue and took me out of the room and handed me over to Rex. When I was almost finished seeing the birds Robert turned up and took me to his office. He had realized my situation and told me to remove my coat and relax. I had a sigh of relief after listening to such affectionate tone from Robert. He was the second student of SA who received Ph.D. working under him. First being Dr. D.N. Mathew, at that time assistant professor of Zoology at Calicut University, Kerala. SAs first student was S. Ambedkar who worked with Baya in the early 1960s and second P.Kanon whose thesis was on Ornithophily- birds adaptations to drink nectar from flowers and vice-versa. These two had received Masters Degree. His 3rd Ph.D. student was Dr. V.S. Vijayan from Kerala. He studied bulbuls in Point Calimere, under Tamil Nadu State. I was the fourth and first foreign student. Total of 8 students received Ph.D. Degrees under the guidance of SA. Dr. Anwarul Islam and I are from Bangladesh; the rest are from India. It appeared everybody in the office was very particular about timings. It was lunch time. So Robert took me for vegetarian lunch at a nearby restaurant. He told me, Dont be afraid of SA. He is a great Guru and loves to do a lot of work He has some ideas in his mind. When he worked in the field, in his golden days from 1920 to 1950 or so, he could not study many scientific aspects of Indian Ornithology that attracted his attention. So, he is now keen to get those things done through the work of his students. SA is keen on the BOF because this is funny in habit. Unlike other flycatchers, it builds a globular nest and behaves more like small babbler than a flycatcher. So SA is very much interested to find out the truth behind these odd behaviours of this species. Robert continued, If you cannot work on it you may study Laughing Thrushes. These birds occur in three disjunct populations. One group in the Himalayas, another in the Western Ghats in Southern India and a third group in the Eastern Ghats. I was virtually shivering from the inside. First of all I had never heard of BOF. When Rex showed me the birds I had no clue of its identity. Also the box of full of reference materials on it, showed to me by Serrao, puzzled me a lot. I realized I had reached a place where people loved working and everybody was ready to do anything to please SA. All in the Hornbill House called him old man, of course not in front of him. By the time we finished lunch and returned to Roberts place there were several sermons for me from the Guru. I was to send him a weekly report stating what I had done during that period. He was keen to know how much studies I made during the week. Also Robert was advised to take me down to his house at 46 Pali Hill, Bandra and weekend birdwatching trip to Borivily National Park, some 30 KM from the Hornbill House. Up to 5 in the evening I worked in the library rummaging through the box of reference material on the BOF. Before I went to Bombay SA had cautioned me in several of his letters that I would not be able to maintain myself in Bombay with a meagre scholarship amount of Rs.300 per month from Salim Ali Loke Wan Tho Ornithological Research Fund. I was scared about my financial position from the start. So before leaving Dacca, now Dhaka, I purchased and procured all the clothing, Baby Hermes Typewriter- a gift from my elder brother, typing material such as ribbon, carbon paper, ordinary typing paper and Austrian Radio bond paper for thesis typing, pencil, eraser, pin, gems clip, rubber-band, ink and pen, shoes, chappals, iron, certain books and note-books one will need for a three-year period. So I had about 100 kg of luggage with me when I landed in Bombay. Before I left Hornbill House, by the end of the day, I was told that the committee had decided to raise my scholarship from Rs.300 to Rs. 400 per month considering the high cost of living in Bombay! It was the first blessing I had from my Guru. I was over-joyed. I took a taxi to return to my hostel in B Road in Church gate area. On the third or fourth day of my joining BNHS I received a call to visit SA’s house. Mr. S.A.Hussain- a scientist with the society was asked to take me down to his residence. In the later afternoon we reached Bandra Rly Station. From there took a bus to reach Pali Hill. After a 5-minutes’ walk from the bus stop we reached a side of a hilly area. Small, old-fashioned wooden gate boldly depicted 46 Pali Hill. That was the residence of SA. A barking dog in such villas is the most common feature. That was no exception in this house also. A barking dog welcomed us. The bark had already alerted the owner of the house Mr. Hasan Ali who called in the servants to manage it. We crossed the wooden gate, took a left turn and entered into a huge side room of the 2-storey villa. Amidst piles of books, journals, reprints and papers there was SA busy working with his autobiography. Hussain knew all the art of entering that room. We said salaam to the Guru, he rose and welcomed us into the room. Told me to pull a chair by his side and told Hussain to manage a seat for himself. SA had asked me to bring my Master’s Degree Thesis on the breeding biology of House Sparrow. I gave it to him. He started asking me questions about myself and my family, my educational carrier, Professor Kazi Zaker Husain (my former teacher), who had recommended me to SA, etc. He tried to make me feel comfortable. In the meantime there was round of tea and Hussain left the place. So we were face to face with each other and spend hours discussing my subject of future study. He explained why he was so much interested in the study of BOF. He showed me racks of reference books that I might need, other field guides and reprints. He told me to take whatever material I needed from his collection but I should enter every item into his diary at the time of taking out and returning. Then there was the ringing of bell for dinner. He took me upstairs where his beloved sister Kamooji and her husband Hasan Ali, both were anxiously waiting by the dinner table. We spend nearly two hours in the dining table not eating but talking and talking in a very private atmosphere. Then Kamooji mildly scolded SA since he seemed to have forgotten that I had to go back to Church gate to my hostel. It was a wonderful family chat that relieved me of all pressure of leaving behind my own family in Bangladesh. It opened up a new horizon of teacher-student relationship for me. After half-passed ten I left Pali Hill with a very satisfied mind and relaxed mood. I will never forget my first face to face meeting with Dr. Salim Ali and his sister’s family at Pali Hill. This had changed the course of my teaching carrier as for the first time I realized what the Guru-Sishshiya relation meant in the olden days.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 14:42:42 +0000