A feather in his cap: An interview with Deepak Dalal on his Feather Tales series

Deepak Dalal hopes that his latest series will create a connection between children and birds and get the youth involved in conservation efforts

Have you heard of Terra-staan? Or Bay-Stan? Or the fictitious Rose Garden where Shikar, the squirrel, is best friends with Kabul (Bulbul), Longtail (wagtail), Sunglow (flamingo) Blackpie (magpie robin), Mysun (sun bird), Bongo (drongo) and Lovey and Dovey(doves) ...

Author Deepak Dalal conjures up an exciting world where birds are central characters. The Golden Eagle (Puffin) is the latest and fourth book in a series called Feather Tales. This, according to the author “was one of the hardest to write”. It is an adventure story but it provides Shikar’s back story.

The first book, Talon the Falcon, is about a peregrine falcon, (which have the potential to fly upto a speed of 300 km/hour) but has been caged. “I have always believed that locking birds away in cages is a terrible crime. Birds have wings that enable them to fly wherever they wish. Yet we imprison them. This story describes the agony of being locked up from a bird’s point of view. I’m hoping that children who read this book will never keep a bird in a cage,” says the author.

The second book A Flamingo in My Garden is about a flamingo birdnapped by the seagulls and crows of Mumbai or Bay-Stan “There are tens of thousands of flamingos in Mumbai. Bombay-wallahs should be proud of having these incredibly beautiful creatures in their city. But let alone not having any idea about the birds being resident in their hometown, most don’t even know what a flamingo looks like. The story is set in the familiar landscape of Mumbai and is all about a city flamingo that goes missing.” And, the wagtail’s hair-rising adventure in rescuing it.

The third book The Paradise Flycatcher introduces human characters amid the birds. “The paradise flycatcher is one of India’s most beautiful birds. I just had to create a story that showcases this stunning creature,” he says.

Deepak Dalal gave up a career in chemical engineering to write stories for children. All his stories have a strong conservation theme. His earlier Vikram Aditya adventure series is set in India’s wilderness destinations. Excerpt from an interview:

Why did you want to do the Feather Tales series?

The idea behind the series is to create a connection between children and birds. Today our children are brought up in cities and the only birds they are familiar with are pigeons, kites, crows, parakeets ... that live in there. But there are more than 1,200 bird species found in our country alone. Birds like storks, cranes, hornbills, orioles, ibises, pelicans, minivets, woodpeckers, eagles, etc. I’m hoping that by reading these books, children will pay more attention to birds and help ensure their conservation and well being.

How did you go about conjuring up the avian world?

Oddly, I never paid attention to birds till I turned 30. It was when I moved from Mumbai to Pune, into a home with my very own garden, that I started taking interest in them. Then I bought a pair of binoculars and, once I started observing them up-close, I was fascinated and hooked for life.

The home I live in is called Gulab and both my grandmothers were also named Gulab. That’s why the name, Rose Garden. Since the books are part of a series, I have a set of birds and squirrels that are residents of the Rose Garden. These central characters keep appearing in different stories and anchor the series.

It is interesting that the squabbles and chaos echoes the world of humans. But it also highlights values like love, care, trust... your thoughts?

These stories are realistic. Birds think and behave like humans. Birds are driven by the same emotions as us, so their world is more or less like ours. So, in a sense, though birds are the characters of the books, their problems, adventures, desires, sense of right and wrong and justice are no different from ours. This is important if you want children to relate to the stories.

Tell us about how you have combined your ornithological research with information about lakes, rivers and trees ...

I travel a lot in the country and outside and read about birds and bird migration. I have friends who are ornithologists. There is a lot of thinking that goes into a story. It’s all hard work. There are no shortcuts. You have to sit and work at it. There are many stories that don’t make the grade and you have to discard them. But you keep at it. You don’t give up. And finally you have a story.

The exciting world of secret caves, bird council, scouts and skybirds... how did you build them?

I was creating a bird world from scratch. I had to come up with names, bird institutions, bird law and a methodology for bird names. There is no particular cue for this. It all comes as you think and write. Realistic and beautiful images are a key back up to the stories. I can write as much as I want about birds. But if I want to draw a connect between the birds (I write about) and children, then illustrations play a vital role. The images bring out the beauty of the birds and the landscapes and settings of the stories. I am extremely lucky to have worked with very talented young artists.

Are there many more books in the making? What do you want to tell your young readers?

Yes; many, many books are planned. I’m hoping to have 20 books in the series. A Senegalese poet has said: “In the end we will preserve only what we love/We will love only what we understand/And we will understand what we are taught.”

These stories attempt to teach children not only about birds, but also try to inculcate a love for them. If I do manage to create a love for birds, we are more than halfway there on the road to conservation.