Famed ornithologist, author and explorer Enam-Ul-Haque sits down with The Business Standard to talk about his life’s work
Illustration: TBS
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Illustration: TBS
On the morning of January 6, the memory of Enam-Ul-Haque of Tanguar Haor was still fresh. He had just returned from a boat trip the day before, which was the first trip this year for the annual waterfowl census across the country. More trips will follow before the final conclusions are documented.
The 75-year-old ornithologist does not hesitate to offer tea or lukewarm water. He doesn’t quite lean back against the sofa in his living room, rather he leans forward and sits in a position, as if he’s ready to go again.
The energy was evident and downright refreshing. The enthusiasm to talk about a subject he loves so much, cocooned in a walled living space of bird books – many of which have been written – and bird feathers and bird figurines, radiated.
However, when Haque speaks, there is a certain calm. Perhaps it comes from the expertise that has been developed through decades of long experience and a laser focus on the niche topic.
Haque has been Bangladesh’s National Coordinator for the Asian Waterfowl Census since 2000. And that role is just a small part of his life dedicated to birds, nature and conservation.
Does age play a role? “Of course,” he said, “you see, to count birds on the water, you need excellent eyesight. The weather conditions might be too foggy,” Haque explained.
Photo: Noor Alam/TBS
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Photo: Noor Alam/TBS
Hard to fathom, but Haque said he lost energy over the years. “I used to be [more] energetic,” he lamented. And over time during the conversation in the living room, Haque seemed to have relaxed a bit. He started leaning back.
Between writing books on birds and field trips to observe the country’s bird population, Haque established the Birds of Bangladesh Club (BBC) and the Bangla Mountaineering and Trekking Club (BMTC).
The seasoned explorer was also one of the first Bangladeshis to set foot on both Antarctica and the North Pole. Haque’s gift to himself for his 62nd birthday was a marathon to the North Pole of all places.
In fact, Haque popularized mountaineering in Bangladesh. It formed Everest Team 1 in 2003, and four of its members went on to climb Mount Everest. Others have also reached the Himalayan peaks.
“This is the room where it all started,” Haque explained, pointing to photographs hanging on his wall of Bangladeshi climbers on the snow-capped Victory Caps. As a tactic to find ways to involve young people more in bird and nature conservation, he used his networks and formed the clubs (mentioned above).
Haque further explained how bird conservation and organizations dedicated to that end haven’t really taken off in the country, “You see there’s [young] the people of this country willing and ready to get involved, but those who have the opportunity to mobilize and create groups, unfortunately, do not really do their part.
“And large-scale organizations like the National Audubon Society started with ordinary people,” Haque said.
So what seed was sown that nurtured his intense love for birds? “A caged bird in my childhood home,” Haque recalls, “ignited my curiosity about these magical feathered creatures.”
Photo: Noor Alam/TBS
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Photo: Noor Alam/TBS
Life began at 50
Haque was born in August 1945 in a remote village of Kushtia. Surrounded by wildlife and nature, his attachment to the outdoor environment slowly but surely took root in his mind. Haque was privileged to benefit from the best of both worlds: access to rural nature and schooling.
“The first book that got me hooked was ‘The Prisoner of the Caucasus’ by Leo Tolstoy,” Haque recalled and said he was in his third grade when he was given a copy to get the first college job at the class.
The story moved him. His keen interest in reading books started at a very young age. And there was no turning back. Soon he also took up the pen and devoted himself to writing. His first publication was a nursery rhyme in the children’s section of a newspaper when he was in eighth grade. “I also remember writing something about the moon landing [1959] titled ‘Earthman on the Moon’ and have it published in a newspaper,” Haque said. It was his first published article.
One of Haque’s most prominent privileges in his life was the district library named Quaid-E-Azam Public Library, located across from his school. He ventured into the house of books when he was nine years old. He credits his direct interest in reading books, which has continued for nearly seven decades, to his ability to creatively articulate and write columns and books.
And not too surprisingly, this restorer’s favorite book, at least one of his favorite books, is Walden by Henry David Thoreau.
While Haque continued to write sporadically after his college years, he did not seriously pursue his love for birds. Instead, he joined the Air Force and spent 28 years in the armed forces. He was 50 when he retired and took up writing, and newspaper publications and books soon followed.
Haque has one regret. “I started late in life. I devoted my full attention to birds and conservation, and started writing regularly about birds when I was 50,” he said. , adding: “I lost many years”.
This newspaper’s Saturday column titled Haque Eye View is Haque’s first regular column in English.
“One of my fondest memories in my writing career is of then-editor Towab Khan of JanaKantha [in 1998]which had given me regular column space to write about the birds,” Haque said, “It was commendable, not many people would have done it.
On December 20 last year, Haque won the 2021 Bangla Academy (Science) Literature Prize, one of many accolades he had won for merit in writing.
What would you like to say to budding writers? “I’m an aspiring writer myself,” Haque joked, “I need guidance all the time… Keep a journal, if you’re serious about writing,” Haque added.
Writing down the most mundane details of our daily lives can be a start, he said. And keeping a bedside journal is perhaps another tactic for developing a discipline of writing.
“At the end of the day, and I often think about it, on my hospital bed, I would like to turn the pages of my diary, read and reflect on my life,” said Haque, while continuing to wear guarantor of the importance of newspapers in the life of a writer.
And focus, finding it is the key to life, he says, “like for me, they’re birds and I know I’m still not really ‘an expert’ [again because of a late start]but I’m sure I know more about birds in general than the next 10 people.”
Haque intentionally filled his life with birds. “I remember telling my mother that I’m not getting married. I’m married to the birds,” he recalls. Haque lost his father very early in life.
However, when Haque retired from the Air Force, he joined Brac as program manager and eventually befriended one of his colleagues there, who had returned in Dhaka after completing her Masters in Development Studies. In fact, they became close friends who decided to get married a few years later because it would make their family members happy.
“We were perfectly fine as friends and partners, but if a marriage certificate is going to make our families happy, so be it,” Haque said with the slightest hint of a smile, and his eyes showed the slightest hint of reminiscent joy. . She died in 2019 of cancer.
Photo: Noor Alam/TBS
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Photo: Noor Alam/TBS
“A dive of decline [in the waterbird population]Haque noted, after more than two decades of surveying the country’s bird population, “Birds need space and we have dangerously encroached on their spaces.”
The Sundarbans have not shrunk, according to the traveler, “but their quality, thanks to the oil spills, has deteriorated sharply. Have you seen its water lately?
However, Haque refrains from calling the bird population decline a “nose dive” because as a conservationist he believes: “We certainly have reason to hope. Nature can and should heal once given the chance and the space.”
Like many other conservationists and environmentalists, Haque doesn’t want to put people off. He wants to encourage them to get involved in nature conservation and to believe that if we put in the work, we will see nature heal.
“I know my readership must be small. But even if I inspire one person a month, that’s 12 a year. I’ll take that,” Haque said, “that’s a huge number for the birds, the nature and conservation. We need everyone.”