The Hindu : Kerala News : On being one with nature…

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Monday, Jun 16, 2008
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Kerala

On being one with nature…

“Eco-spirituality is a way of understanding that everything in nature, living and non-living included, belongs to a single fabric of the cosmos.”

John C. Jacob

John C. Jacob , a retired Zoology professor, has brought many close to nature by organising field trips and camps. He explains to Mohamed Nazeer how he links spirituality with ecology.

He is among the pioneers who helped build the environmental movement in the State in the sixties when ecological awareness was yet to catch on. He has also influenced a whole generation of his students through his field trips and nature camps.

Despite ailments, John C. Jacob, 72, is still full of energy when he talks about nature and his involvement in the environmental activities at his residence near Payyannur. His students still recall the trips with him to seashores, forests and backwaters in and outside the State. Some of them are today actively involved in environmental protection and ecological awareness building activities.

The inspiration

Mr. Jacob, known as John C. Master among his students and colleagues, says that his love of nature and enthusiasm for studying environment and ecology were kindled by the idyllic ambience of the Madras Christian College (MCC) where he had studied zoology from 1956 to 1960.

“The MCC campus is a vast extent of forest land rich in biodiversity. Here, I first got a sense of deeper meaning of nature,” he says, adding that he had espoused eco-spirituality during his college days. Eco-spirituality, in his view, is a way of understanding that everything in nature, living and non-living included, belongs to a single fabric of the cosmos. “When I drink a glass of water it is a spiritual exercise,” he says.

He was also influenced by the village life and customs in his native place in Kottayam district. No less strong was the influence of his teacher J.P. Joshua at the MCC. After completing studies, he joined St. Joseph’s College, Devagiri, in 1960 and worked there till 1965 when he moved to the Payyannur College where he taught till his retirement in 1992.

Works of ‘Master’

He authored ‘Prakrithi: Nireekshanavum Vyakhyanavum,’ published by the Malabar Natural History Society, and ‘Urangunnavarude Thazhvarakal,’ apart from translating Daniel Quinn’s novels ‘Ishmael’ and ‘My Ishmael.’

Recently he was awarded the Kerala Biodiversity Board’s Haritham Award in recognition of his contributions to the environmental cause.

Active on campus

In 1972, he started the Zoological Club at the Payyannur College, which is arguably the first nature education movement on campuses. It was two years later the World Wildlife Fund for Nature started its nature club movement in India. In 1973, he started ‘Myna,’ probably the first nature education journal in the State.

A major event in his life, he recalls, was the conducting of the first nature education camp at Ezhimala in 1977. Among those who participated in the camp were environmental activists like M.K. Prasad, D.N. Mathew, ornithologist K.K. Neelakantan and L. Namashivayam.

Since then, he had organised for students and nature-lovers nature orientation camps in places such as Muthmala, Bandipur, Thekkadi, Parambikkulam and Neyyar, and conducted field trips to St. Mary’s Island near Malpe, Udupi.

Other ventures

John C. Master admits that organising was never his forte though he founded a few after the Zoological Club. Among them was the Payyannur-based Society for Environmental Education in Kerala (SEEK) established in 1979. He left SEEK in 1987.

‘Soochimukhi’ magazine, launched by him, is still being published by SEEK. His other initiatives include One Earth, One Life, an environmental body, and nature magazines ‘Ankh’ and ‘Prasadam’ which are still being edited by him.

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