Author Interview: Bridging the worlds of bureaucracy, biodiversity

Atulya Misra, Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Tamil Nadu, is on a mission. His experience as a seasoned bureaucrat for over a quarter of a century has now inspired a literary outpouring as many decades in the making. The work of fiction titled Oxygen Manifesto is his labour of love and a parable for the times that we live in — focussing on one of the biggest challenges facing us today — environmentalprotection.

Linking the past, present and the future through characters that seek to highlight everyday concerns about the ecosystem, Misra manages to touch upon various facets of our existence. His two central characters — Thatha, an odd man from Moreh (Manipur), and Ravi Chandran Bose, an interloper who helps connect the dots are cut from the same cloth as Misra — and have an agenda to keep the ‘greens’ intact.

Speaking to DT Next, Misra opens up on the germ of an idea that flowered into this modern day manifesto for planet Earth. He begins, “I had written this book a year ago with the intention of it being a call to arms of sorts.” The desire to pursue a doctorate on the subject of carbon footprint and its impact on the world had led Misra through the hallowed corridors of Anna University, for his second stint as a student. He recalls, “It was a difficult process — studying in a classroom filled with youngsters and embarking on painstaking research and meticulous calculations. Interestingly, like my varsity days, falling into a regimen helped me internalise the important aspects of learning.” This stint in research laid the foundation for his book, seeding the thought for creating a positive impact on the environment with sustainability at its core.

The actual trigger for the writing process was pulled under unexpected circumstances. He tells us, “At a family dinner to celebrate my wedding anniversary, I ran into a friend, whose conversation left me curious. This multi-lingual gentleman lived many lives — from his roots in Tamil Nadu to the North East where he travelled for work to ‘off the chart’ locations such as Afghanistan, Burma, Czechoslovakia, Mongolia.”

Misra draws our attention to a few historical fiction-like characteristics of his book including a tip of the hat to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose saying, “Thatha’s father and his family are said to have crossed over to the kingdom of Manipur, escorted by none other than Bose’s Indian National Army (INA).”

The book, he says, is meant to “convey a sense of urgency as the story takes you on a cross country journey — involving trysts with cultures, traditions, and environments. The idea is to offer insights into lifestyles and ethos followed by people keen on keeping their ecosystems alive and kicking. “For instance, in the chapter ‘The Trigger,’ the posting of the protagonist Ravi launches him into exploration mode. The challenges relating to a fragile ecosystem troubles him. Issues such as global warming, mono-cropping, deforestation, desertification, groundwater depletion, the rapid pile-up of nuclear and other hazardous waste, impurities in the air, contamination of water sources, the endless heaps of urban waste and other environmental issues haunt him,” he says.

Misra, the bureaucrat, channels his own journey into sustainability, through his characters. Be it minimalism, veganism or the rights of the citizenry in the form of pedestrian’s rights, he has aimed at presenting nuggets of information in a format that is meant to enthuse readers into thinking and acting. Showing the door to drone inducing data points and statistics, Misra chooses to draw parallels with a time when simple harmonious living was the norm. Misra owes a major debt of gratitude to change makers and activists who have come before him. “Take for instance, 92-year-young Sunderlal Bahuguna, the epicentre of the Chipko movement in Reni village of Uttarakhand, who created such a huge impact and without any social media at that time. He went on to inspire millions to put in persistent efforts to plant trees over decades.” With actioneers like Misra at hand, there still is hope to drive home a cohesive narrative of sustainability.