Though Stephen Alter refers to himself as a mere ‘amateur naturalist’, his extensive writings on India’s natural heritage have invariably been knowledgeable, wise and hugely significant. Among other works, he has produced two marvellous books on the Himalaya: one, a magisterial tome, and the other, a spiritual quest. In the book under review he steps beyond the subjective categories usually employed to understand nature; searching instead, in his words, for ‘those fleeting intimate moments in which we see a wild creature looking at us with a shared awareness of our mutual presence’, thereby reinforcing their equal place on Earth.
Robert Macfarlane, the well-known explorer and nature writer, speaks of ‘species loneliness’ of human beings as we strip Earth of other forms of life. Anthropocene, with its connotation of human arrogance and hubris, is notable for placing the future of Earth itself in peril. Glenn Albrecht, an environmental philosopher, suggested that Anthropocene be rechristened Symbiocene to emphasize the symbiosis, mutualism and collaboration that must necessarily be the basis of life on Earth in the centuries to come. To overcome the loneliness as well as egotism that characterize the species at the apex of the pyramid, human beings must alter the way they see other life forms.