Saving Dalai Lama’s Cranes
by Neeraj Vagholikar and illustrated by Niloufer Wadia
“Saving Dalai Lama’s Cranes” by Neeraj Vagholikar and illustrated by Niloufer Wadia. Published by Kalpavriksh. An action packed story of a young monk and his friends from Arunachal Pradesh who need to save the Black-necked Cranes from danger.
Tenzin was a young monk studying in Tawang Monastery. He was visiting his village for the Losar (New Year) vacations. He got a call from his childhood friend Pema who needed his help and asked him to come immediately near the riverside. Upon reaching there, he got to know from Pema and another friend Tara who was a wildlife biologist that the habitat of the Black-necked Cranes was in danger. A company had put forward the proposal to build a dam across the Nyamjang Chhu river. For the proposal to get approved, a study had to be conducted which would include how the dam would affect the wildlife of that region.
The original study report stated that many species such as otters, squirrels, martens, serows and the threatened black-necked cranes would be affected adversely. This place was one of the only two places in India where the cranes arrived from Tibet for winter. The local people from the Buddhist Monpa community considered the arrival of these birds as auspicious. The sixth Dalai Lama had been born in this community in Tawang in the seventeenth century and written about this bird in his poetry. The people considered the bird as his embodiment and held it in great reverence. They called it “Trung Trung Karmo” which was its name in the Tibetan language.
The company had changed the study report to make it amenable for them. They must have paid the experts a hefty sum to make a U turn and state that the construction of the dam would not cause any problems. Now they were trying to get it approved from the government. Tara had found out all of this when she visited the government office in Lumla that day. The fraudulent report was going to be released! Tenzin was not happy about this at all.
What happens next? Do the friends decide to take things in their hand? What can they do? How can they stop the company from presenting the fraudulent report? Will the dam be built? Will the Black-necked cranes lose their winter home? Read the book to find out. My seven year old was excited to read the book and enjoyed it thoroughly. We could not put the book down once the adventure started.
This was his third book from Arunachal after “Hambreelmai’s Loom” and “Tine and the Faraway Mountain”. We have loved all the books from Kalpavriksh that we have read so far and this book was also excellent. It was a lovely means to create awareness about this regal looking bird that is sadly threatened. The last couple of pages talk about rivers and the choice of building dams across them. There is a glossary of regional Monpa language terms used in the book as well. The book is apt for children aged 7/8+. Thank you Vidya Mani of Funky Rainbow for recommending this lovely book!
Where to buy from?
The publishers Kalpavriksh here.
An independent indie bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.