5th M Krishnan Memorial Lecture — IIT M, Chennai, 20th Aug 2016

“Yes, everything about our wildlife fascinates me. That is at once my burden and my solace.”

– M. Krishnan, Illustrated Weekly of India, 15.6.75 (What fascinates me about wildlife).

Programme

05.00 pm – M Krishnan Memorial Nature Writing Award 2016 Prizes Distribution – Madras Naturalists’ Society
05.30 pm – 5th M Krishnan Memorial Lecture

Title: Ecological Patriotism: Nature & Nation in India by Mahesh Rangarajan

Mahesh Rangarajan is Professor of History and Environmental Studies at Ashoka University, Sonepat, Haryana. His work focuses on the environmental history of India. In the past, he has also been a political analyst in the print as well as audio visual media.

He has been Professor in Modern Indian History at the University of Delhi and also taught at the universities at Cornell and Jadavpur and at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru. He was previously Director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.

His first book, Fencing the Forest was published in 1996. Other works include Nature and Nation (2015) and India’s Wildlife History (2001). Co edited works are Environmental History as if Nature Existed (2010), India’s Environmental History (2012), Nature Without Borders (2014) and Shifting Ground (2014). He co-authored Towards Coexistence, People, Parks and Wildlife (2000). He was also Chair of the Elephant Task Force, 2010.

Krishnan’s columns in The Statesman and the Illustrated Weekly were eagerly read by Mahesh and were of considerable influence on him. Mahesh also recalls seeing Krishnan as a tongue tied school boy and was privileged to hear Krishnan speak at the Natural History Museum in Delhi in September 1979 and that left a lasting impression on him.

See invite copy.