The first of week of October is marked as wildlife week in India. Wildlife safaris are advertised, with promises of sightings of lions and tigers and elephants.
How about a rethink on “What is Wild”?
Does it roar, does it growl? Is it beast, fish or fowl?
Inhabit rainforests or snowy peaks? Live in deserts, or the ocean deeps?
Does it have stripes, wear armour? Exotic feathers or thick fur?
Is it whiskered, huge and ferocious? Have claws on its paws, good gracious!
Does it grow wild in forests deep? Tangled in branches where monkeys leap?
That’s just where we all go wrong. Thinking wild is a lion or gorilla strong.
What’s wild can be large: a blue whale or an elephant.
But also teeny weeny: an amoeba, a mite or an ant.
Wildlife can be insect, reptile or bird. Living alone in a cave, or all in a herd.
It can be the trees in a jungle dark. It can be weeds in a garden or moss in a park.
It is the living things that we have not tamed; As pets in our house, or on farms retained.
That live on their own, as creatures free; In cracks in our homes, or up on a tree.
Lizards, spiders, weeds, rats and snails… Are wildlife as much as tigers or whales.
You don’t have to climb mountains or dive very deep. Plunge into dark jungles, or ride miles in a jeep.
There’s a wildlife safari you can take any day. Through home or garden or just along the way.
Just keep your eyes open and all your senses alert. Look out for these creatures, even in the dirt.
You’ll find the world around teeming with life. From tiny to enormous, you can call it all wildlife!
–Mamata
Millennial Matriarchs 