Note: Every once a month, NiF will give the Editor's seat to a child. This child will assign us stories that we must deliver to you. These stories can be around their favourite species, a travel destination in nature, or a conservation issue they might want to discuss and tell their friends about. What will this do? It serves three purposes:
One, it allows the child to think more deeply about the animals they like, why they enjoyed a particular nature spot, or even why they should think about conserving anything at all.
Two, it allows their parents to participate in larger conversations about wildlife with children, and even have (a lot) of fun in edit meetings because, well, these are by default chaotic. Throw in a spirited child in the mix, and it becomes the most fun way to spend a morning.
Three, it allows a child to be able to share these concerns and opinions with their friends and their parents, sparking an interesting debate in their own circles, thus becoming ambassadors for nature in their schools. Win win.
This month's Editor is Sachit Nandan Anand, an eight-year-old from Bengaluru, who owned our hearts the minute he started the meeting.
“What’s your favourite animal?”
We expected usual suspects from the eight-year-old swivelling in the Editor’s chair: elephant, tiger, lion…
“Ants,” he said.
“Ants?” We were surprised.
“Ants. And beetles. I like bugs.”
And then he produced photographs – and a nature sketchbook – to prove it. Over the next few hours, Sachit took an editorial meeting with the NiF team on smaller creatures, less charismatic, the ones that don’t get all the good press. He led us through the small pocket book-sized treasure of stories, thoughts and sketches revealing a thought process that boggled the mind for someone so young.
For instance, he talked about a bee-hive in his residential complex, and expressed concern that the insecticide that was sprayed to drive away mosquitoes would hurt the hive, too, wouldn’t it? And other small creatures? The conversation flowed from coexistence to conservation and adventures in Coorg with a camera. We were elated by his interest and instinctive understanding of the natural world, and by his enthusiasm to join the fight for what matters.
Over to the Editor.
How I Fell In Love With Nature - Eight-year-old Guest Editor Sachit Nandan Anand tells us how a trip to Coorg got him fascinated with all creatures big and small.
Hoot! Honey, I Found An Ant! - Bijal Vachharajani gives us a booklist to read up on ants, bees and owls.
Owl Away! - Abhishek Gulshan details the beauty of the Barn Owl.
When The Ants Go Marching In - Karthikeyan Srinivasan talks to us about ants and bees and how they play a crucial role in keeping humans from extinction.
