Book Review: 'How Blue is our planet?' by Katie Bagli

Book: How blue is our planet?
Author: Katie Bagli
Publishing House: Shree Book Centre
Price: Rs 225

Katie Bagli is a teacher who is passionately in love with the planet. Over the years, she has become known for writing children's books about nature. How Blue is our Planet? is the sixth of a series of story books on nature, published under the title of 'Nature's Delights'. The others in the series are Birds of Different Feathers, Mammals Mighty and Meek, Odyssey in the Oceans, Intriguing Insects and Our Green Saviours.

"Our planet is the only one in the solar system which appears blue from outer space because it has water. It is this water in liquid form which supports life. Thus the title 'How Blue is our Planet?' is a metaphor relating to the health of our planet," she says. 

Through the book she has tried to highlight the beautiful and unusual regions of Earth, from cloud forests and lagoons to alpine meadows and limestone caves. Bagli has also included stories that talk about matters adversely affecting the planet, from diverting rivers to make more and more dams and thereby submerging vast tracts of forest land and drowning the wildlife therein to sand mining causing the sea to erode the shores. In 'Avalanche', a young lad from a poor Tibetan home is lured by a large amount of money to hunt for the precious 'Keera Jari' (insect herb) which will then be smuggled into China to make medicines. The unseasonal melting of glaciers is just a part of the story but how it affects the boy's life is what stays behind. 

Bagli's stories are short and simple. Each one focuses on one aspect of the damage that man is causing to nature. The stories revolve around one person, usually a poor, simple man who is happy with what he is and lives in harmony with man and animal alike. How they react when their natural environment is threatened is like a life lesson Bagli wants to give to people - how a small act can make a big difference when it comes to caring about the Earth. In 'The Dam', a young schoolboy plays his part in helping the animals of a valley - threatened to be flooded by the building of a dam nearby - into safer regions.  

In 'Bijli Kaka to the rescue', a kind-hearted lighthouse keeper neglects his duties at night to perform an even greater one - saving a trapped whale. The story exposes the greed of commercial trawlers that descend on water bodies with the aim of catching as much fish as they can with no thought to the destruction they leave behind. This is in stark contrast to those fishermen who practice sustainable fishing using simple conventional methods to catch just enough fish to sell and earn a decent living. 

It is not just human beings who play the heroes in Bagli's stories. Many of them revolve around an animal or bird whose existence is threatened and how they react to it. 'Underground' is a quirky little story that shows how underground creatures in a society garden - from the trees to the worms - protest against the concretisation of their world. 'The Hungry Sea' talks about the effects of illegal sand mining especially along the sea coast. In A hair-raising story, a camel guides two young boys stranded in a desert to safety. In 'Caved in', two boys trapped in a cave get out by tying ropes around two monitor lizards who lead them to safety. 

The most poignant story involves a tigress, Padmini, who is reduced to becoming a thief in a Ranthambore jungle she once reigned over. There are two reasons behind this - an internal fight among the clan members to become queen of the jungle and people who had built their homes on forest land. 

Each story is accompanied by a colourful illustration and interesting tidbits about the topic mentioned. "I have ensured that my stories do not leave the reader feeling depressed but have a positive approach," she says. "I have strived in my books, to impart education in a fun way."

The book, as she says, isn't just for children. "It is also meant for teachers and parents who can use the stories in the course of their approach to sensitise children."