Rauf Ali (1954-2016) was a wildlife biologist who played an important role in environmental conservation and ecological sciences in India. He was the founder of the Foundation for Ecological Research, Advocacy and Learning (FERAL) and a professor in the Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences of Pondicherry Central University. Rauf was named finalist for the St Andrews Prize for the Environment in 2011.
Rauf All occupied a unique place in the world of conservation and ecological sciences in India. A true polymath and intellectual, he played various roles a mentor and teacher for many, an institution builder: a sounding board for professionals; and a warm affectionate friend to even more. His research publications were, perhaps, few in comparison to his academic accomplishments; his greater legacy was the way he touched the minds and hearts of many conservationists: in the country, who continue to remember him with deep. And abiding affection. We lost Rauf Ali to cancer on 1 April 2016; his vast agenda yet incomplete.
Rauf Ali was born on 2 September 1954 to Saad and Sadia Ali, part of a well-heeled business family in Mumbai. He spent his early years in Agra and Mumbai, with much time spent outdoors and on bird watching trips with his grand-uncle. Salim Ali, the famous ornithologist. His anecdotes from these trips, which he has included in this book, depict a side of Salim Ali largely unknown to the world. Rauf later went to BITS Pilani as an undergraduate to major in biology. And his PhD was at University of Bristol for which he researched the behavioural ecology of bonnet macaques in Mundanthurai, supervised by the famous primatologist John Crook. After his PhD, he worked at Harvard with Irvine De Vore and Richard Wrangham, at the anthropology department. He also did stints at Smithsonian Institution (Virginia, USA) and Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute.
This is most definitely not an autobiography. That is for famous people, and I'm not one. Anyway, most people live dall drab lives, even the famous ones. They are just better at marketing than the rest of us. However, in between the dull and drab phases there have been interesting places visited, and amusing people met. The people have sometimes been famous, and sometimes even obnoxious. I try to describe some of them. I shall probably.
Get sued anyway. I was fortunate enough to have begun my career as a wildlife biologist when this discipline was in its infancy in India, and observe the beginning of environmentalism here. Much of this tribe sucks, frankly. However, exciting ideas were generated, and some mistakes made by all concerned. I share some of these. I also try and share some of the joys of being a biologist, together with some of the issues that we are grappling with.
Cutting through all the justification, finally the book arose out of a drunken conversation with a few fellow biologists camping out in the wilds, who said I should try and put some of the entertaining stories we were exchanging on paper.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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