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'Life is so elastic that everything depends on the way we see it', wrote Tejaswi. Otherwise, how could Tejaswi think of a common platform, to be shared by a Scientist, a Farmer, a Country simpleton, a Radio Mechanic/Photographer, a Cook and a Dog! As strange as this sounds, this is what Carvalho is about to begin with.
The whole story happens in a remote village amidst the beautiful Western Ghats. Western Ghats are the chain of mountains which run parallel to the West coast of India. An aerial view will show that these huge mountains are covered with the lush evergreen rainforests like a thick carpet, which boast many perennial streams and a diverse biosphere. Many remote villages are sprinkled throughout its area. There are a few townships located here and there. Mudigere is one such town. A farmer, takes the help of a Scientist (Carvalho) to solve the problem related to his crops. In due course, he also gets acqainted to Mandanna, a village simpleton. Carvalho, finds out about a flying lizard in the interior forests of the Western Ghats, through Mandanna. He will be shocked by the fact that the mentioned lizard is supposed to be believed as extinct. Carvalho, Farmer, his dog Kivi, Mandanna, Prabhakar (an amateur Photographer) and Biriyani Kariyappa (a cook) all form a team and set out for an expedition into the deep jungles of the Western Ghats in order to get that lizard. Read the book to find out more about their expedition and its result. The two extreme corners of the story are the Scientist and the Simpleton. Mandanna, who is native to the place and very close to nature, knows about the lizard but not in terms of any measurable unit. Carvalho, who has studied the subject, knows everything about the lizard through his book, but has never seen it. For Carvalho, the Flying Lizard is Everything, but for Mandanna, it is Nothing. The only means for the Scientist to reach his goal is the Simpleton. Slowly, you can see that the persona Scientist and Simpleton (Everything and Nothing) are interchangeable. Its just a shift in perspective that is needed. All other characters lie inbetween in the path of realization. If Mandanna represents a kind of Nihilism towards life, Carvalho stands in the opposite direction. The irony is that, Mandanna thinks Carvalho is a genius and Carvalho appraises the other way. All the facts and figures about the flying lizard evoke little or no interest to Mandanna. His main goal seems to be in fulfillment of his wish to get Married to his sweetheart. Mandanna depends on Carvalho for his livelihood and Carvalho's only hope to keep his interest alive and evergreen, about the flora and fauna of that place, is Mandanna. From an academic perspective, Mandanna stands the last, as he is just a kind of middle school level and not a graduate. The Farmer and Prabhakar (a freelance Photographer who works for Carvalho and also a small time radio Mechanic), are University graduates who stand at the Middle level. The highest level is of the Scientist Carvalho. As the story continues, we see that the Farmer and Prabhakar regard Scientist as better than themselves, whereas Carvalho, considers Mandanna as a genius! What brings such diverse attitudes together in the story, is a flying lizard that is supposed to be believed as extinct many many years ago. What is this lizard? If you see the different perspectives given in the story, Carvalho considers it as a invaluable rare specimen. Mandanna just considers it as one of the numerous fauna of that place, that he invariably comes across every day, and which is of least interest to him. For Biryani Kariyappa (the cook), its nothing more than a delicacy, which is worth tasting. The Farmer and the Mechanic are the ones that stand out. Why? As you can see, all the above given perspectives about the flying lizard are complete in their own sense, void of any kind of doubt. One originates from Scientist and the other from a born Naturalist. They never intersect with each other. Whereas, the University graduate Farmer and the Photographer, dont have any kind of firm perspective or opinion towards it. They are artifically groomed towards understanding various things and they have to depend on either Carvalho or Mandanna. Tejaswi creates a Flying Lizard that is needed to be searched in the dense jungles. It is important, more so, because it is the only one of its kind and was believed to be extinct many many years ago. He puts all the mindsets in the path of realization, on a journey, though in reality is forward in time, virtually is backward in time to reach the Flying Lizard. Simultaneously they travel both ways in time, being both Extrospective and Introspective. The strength of Tejaswi's narration is that, he never binds you to any perspective throughout the book. He puts life as it is, straight forward, and shows you the complex and simple ways of looking at it. How do we wish to extend those perspectives is our choice as well as limitation. Our academics have created an illusion of the term 'Science'. It has tuned our mindset to see it as only a subject, rather than a part of our lifestyle. This is why we started valuing 'Information' to 'Knowledge'. In fact, I simply believe that a syllabus based study limits our creativity and thinking to perform freely and limitlessly, and confines us to a particular mindset. It tries to induce a static focus (which it seldom succeeds even otherwise), rather than a dynamic focus. The Farmer and the Photographer are the perfect example for this. In the story, if Carvalho is considered as a Scientist because of his academic qualification, Mandanna is a Scientist with natural qualification. Related Study: |
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This book was first published in 1980. At the time of this article, it is in its 26th Edition. It has been translated to English, Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam and Japanese languages.
You can order the Kannada version via post, from:
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