MEENACHIL RIVER OF WESTERN GHATS

An author had gifted me her creation a couple of months back. It had the author's email id and phone number.

As I had enough on hand it took some time for me to go through it.

It was amazing.

I posted the following in the id.

"Good Evening Ma'm

This is ..., ........

.........'s ......

Hope you'd recognise 

I have just been through the book you had gifted.

MEENACHIL RIVER OF WESTERN GHATS

Congratulations for bringing out such a wonderful creation.

It speaks vehemently on the plight of the Meenachil River and the efforts for its restoration.

It taught me Ramsar is an Iranian city and is the yardstick for the preservation of wetlands.

The information on Flora and Fauna is excellent.

The narrative details the origin of the river and what it means to the people who reside on its shores. It tells the name is drawn from the Madura Meenakshi temple - something I  and probably many never knew.

The language is superb, flawless. The pictures are a treat. Repetition, a curse in many presentations, is just not visible here. And it is devoid of glorification of the self.

Yes, it is comprehensive.  It is a call to humanity to preserve nature.

The tables and the technical terms were Greek to me as I had never been initiated in biology.

The Preface and the Acknowledgement exemplify the humility of the author.

It's indeed a great effort. 

Altogether, a must read."

There was no reply for two days. Then I thought I must check if the message had reached the destination.

I phoned one day in the morning. It was not answered. I left it there presuming the author must be engaged at the workplace gasping for breath.

In the evening I tried the number once again. The phone was picked up.

I introduced myself telling I was ...'s ......... The writer is closely related to the person. She asked whether I was .........'s ......... I said yes. She said she was busy with her job and whether I would mind if she called me later. I said, please.

I am still waiting for that elusive call.

I was sharing the experience with ..... just now with the comment, "I don't think the effort in reviewing the book was a wasted one as it had enabled me to refine my capability a little more."