Name K. Neelakantan | Died June 14, 1992 | |
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K K NEELAKANTAN - A LIFE FOR BIRDS (MALAYALAM)
K. K. Neelakantan (1923 - 14 June 1992) better known by his pen name Induchoodan, was a leading Indian ornithologist. He is widely regarded as a pioneer in the environmental movement in his home state of Kerala.
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Early life
Neelakantan was born in 1923 in Kavassery, a village in Palakkad district, in a Tamil Brahmin family. As his father was a veterinary surgeon in the Mysore Government Service, his early schooling was in Chitradurga. The rest of his schooling was done in five different schools in Malabar. He studied for the Intermediate in the Malabar Christian College, Kozhikode and for the B.A. (Hons) in English literature in the Madras Christian College (1941–44).
Career
He started his career in early 1944 as a tutor in The American College in Madurai. From here he was transferred to the Loyola College Madras, then to Brennen College, Thalassery, then to Rajamundry and again to Victoria College, Palakkad where he continued till 1947. After that he served the Government College, Chittoor, the Women’s College, Thiruvananthapuram, the Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam and University College Thiruvananthapuram. During his term as the Head of the Department of English in the Thiruvananthapuram University College, he retired in 1978.
Works
His magnum opus Keralathile Pakshikal (Birds of Kerala) first published in 1958 is considered to be a classic in Malayalam. Described with illustrations of 261 birds found in Kerala, it is considered a unique work among Indian languages. A collection of his essays on environment, bird watching and birds titled Pullu Thottu Poonara Vare won the award of the State Department of Science, Technology and environment for popular Science writing and also the I. C. Chacko Endowment prize by the Kerala Sahitya Academy. Pakshikalum Manushyarum, his other work on birds and bird watching for children, also has won two awards from the Kerala Government and Kairali Children's Book Trust instituted for Children's literature.
When the editor for Macmillan Publishers approached him for a book on any subject of his own choice in English, he offered instead to write a book on birds and bird watching for children in Malayalam. He started bird watching at a young age when he was living in his ancestral house at Kavassery. He practiced this hobby very seriously at all places wherever he had been working.
In 1949, Induchoodan got the rare good fortune of stumbling upon the largest pelicanry in India. He found it at Aredu some 13 miles from Tadepalligudam in the East Godavari District. This finding was published in 1949. Induchoodan was the president of Prakriti Samrakshna Samithi and led the Silent Valley Agitation during the year 1979. He was the founder and President of Kerala Natural History Society and Honorary member of WWF India. He pursued the study of birds until his death at the age of 69.