From the Heart of Nature , livre ebook

PAMELA GALE MALHOTRA

From the Heart of Nature
The amazing story behind the creation of a private forest sanctuary in India
PENGUIN BOOKS

PENGUIN BOOKS
Contents
Preface: The Odd Couple
Introduction: My Childhood Dream
PART I: THE SEEDS ARE SOWN
1. Childhoods in Nature
2. Deep Roots
3. Barefoot and Free
4. Suds in the Water, Tar on the Beach
5. Dreams Beyond the Rainbow: A Collision of Worlds
PART II: THE TREE TAKES ROOT
6. Rocky Mountain Highs: Finding the Divine in Nature
7. From Pills to Plants: A Life in Healthcare
8. Colorado Rocky Lows: Missing Peaks for Uranium Tails
9. To the Land of Rainbows and Angels of the Sea
10. Awakening Compassion and Conscience
11. Keystone Species: Cornerstones of Life
12. From Europe to Alaska: Signs of Grace during Terrifying Encounters
13. Embracing the Sun amidst a Poisoned Paradise
PART III: THE CANOPY SPREADS
14. The Holy Himalayas
15. The Balding of Our Mother
16. The Final Transplantation
17. Weaving Together the Tapestry of Life
18. Living within the Heart of the Mother
19. From Love-Posts and Bears to the Gentle Giants of SAI
Epilogue: Reflections from the Past, Visions of the Future
Illustrations
Footnotes
1. Childhoods in Nature
2. Deep Roots
6. Rocky Mountain Highs: Finding the Divine in Nature
7. From Pills to Plants: A Life in Healthcare
8. Colorado Rocky Lows: Missing Peaks for Uranium Tails
9. To the Land of Rainbows and Angels of the Sea
10. Awakening Compassion and Conscience
11. Keystone Species: Cornerstones of Life
12. From Europe to Alaska: Signs of Grace during Terrifying Encounters
13. Embracing the Sun amidst a Poisoned Paradise
14. The Holy Himalayas
15. The Balding of Our Mother
17. Weaving Together the Tapestry of Life
Epilogue: Reflections from the Past, Visions of the Future
Bibliography, Notes and References
Acknowledgements
Follow Penguin
Copyright
EBURY PRESS
FROM THE HEART OF NATURE
Running barefoot and climbing trees, Pamela Gale Malhotra spent every moment of her childhood in the woods. Rooted in the spiritual culture of her Native American heritage, her love affair with Nature coincided with her lifelong journey with her beloved husband, Anil. A graduate of Colorado State University, Pamela worked with a major pharmaceutical company before training in natural healing methods.
Pamela s love of Nature has impacted everything she has done, the sanctity of Creation coupled with respect and devotion for the Creator being the key tenets she and Anil shared. Both enjoyed exploring wild places whenever they could, creating their first wildlife sanctuary on the Big Island of Hawaii. Eventually shifting to India, they established a model private wildlife sanctuary in Kodagu, Karnataka, with hundreds of acres of reclaimed, rewilded and preserved forests under their protection. The sanctuary was the fulfilment of Pamela s childhood dream, with Anil transforming that dream into reality. They also founded the non-profit charitable trust SAI (Save Animals Initiative) Sanctuary Trust to promote their cause. For more information, please visit www.saisanctuary.com .
Over the years, Pamela s environmental work and her efforts for women s empowerment have been recognized globally. She has received awards like India s Nari Shakti Puraskar (2017); Karnataka State s Environment and Conservation Award (2017-18); the International Institute for Peace through Tourism Women s Empowerment Award (2015); TOFTigers Wildlife Tourism Initiative (2014); lifetime achievement awards from Cauvery College and Kolkata s International Wildlife and Environment Film Festival (2016); Animal Activist in Defense of Animals award (2016); Indian Confederation of NGOs Karmaveer Noble Laureates (2008 and 2019); the Ramnath Goenka Social Service Award (2016); the Dharma Seva Trust Award (2016); and the Giraffe Heroes award (2021).
Pamela s goal is to inspire others to join the mission of protecting Mother Nature and rewilding the Earth for the benefit of the present and future generations.
To my beloved husband, Anil-my lifelong partner in this Journey of Love and Devotion-the one who turned my dream into reality.
May your life s work continue to be an inspiration for others to protect and preserve our dear Mother Nature.
Preface: The Odd Couple
It s hard to believe that the original manuscript for this book was finished on 21 September 2019, International Peace Day, as designated by the United Nations. That s over two years ago!
So much has happened during those two years-so many challenges, personally as well as globally. I have had to deal with my own health issues, while the world has been in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has touched the lives of so many millions and spread to every corner of the globe.
Our sanctuary has remained beautiful throughout, filled with Life , including new species who have made it their permanent home. As I write this, I hear the call of one of our new residents in the tree outside opposite me, asking me to come by to say hi. As I open the window, my new friend comes down on to the branches closest to me, just to chat to let me know that all is well, and that very soon, there will be a new addition to the family!
Now the mother comes out into the open, followed by the father. The mom s tummy is indeed very, very big! It looks like she could give birth to my little friend s sibling any time now.
It s a unique family, made up of two different species-one dark and one light-living together in love and harmony. It is so perfectly representative of the sanctuary as a safe home for all seeking refuge from harassment and persecution-a secure haven for all those outcasts and outsiders in need-somehow reminding me so much of Anil and me-the odd couple!
Included in this book are many more stories like this, as well as a call to my own brothers and sisters of the human family to join us in lending a hand to those most in need at this time-Mother Nature s other children , both flora and fauna, and Mother Nature Herself. Together, let s explore the wonders of our Mother, understand the challenges that She faces and discover the ways we can help Her face those challenges, and, in the process, help ourselves.
Introduction: My Childhood Dream
Since childhood, I had always dreamt about living in the heart of Nature. So powerful was this passion to live in Nature, surrounded by her forests and wildlife, that it shaped my life, and my goals in life. So powerful was its influence on my consciousness, that its fulfilment was shown to me in a prophetic dream many years before it became a reality.
In the dream, I saw a house on top of a small hill, overlooking a pond, with a river flowing past, within the heart of a wooded valley filled with wildlife, encircled by whitecapped mountains-the entire scene hauntingly beautiful and etheric in nature.
So vivid was this dream that I actually drew a picture of what I had seen-a picture that became a living reality many years later.
This is the story of the fulfilment of that dream, and the story of the life s journey it has taken to realize it-a journey that started on one side of the globe but was fulfilled on the other-from my childhood woods of America s Atlantic Coast to the snow-capped, rugged peaks of Colorado s Rocky Mountains, to the exquisite Pacific rainbow jewels that are the Hawaiian Islands, to the majestic and mystical Himalayas in India s north, to the biodiverse-rich, stunning, lush forests of the Western Ghats in India s southern peninsula.
It is the story of a childhood spent in those Atlantic woods, where the seeds of love for Nature were sown deeply in my heart; the story of my ancestors, and their own deep love and reverence for Nature as our Mother; of an extraordinary man who shared my love and transformed my dream into a living reality.
It is the story of a spiritual awakening into the truth of our being; of the opening of a secret door in Nature and of the revelation of the Presence of the Divine in Nature; of the realization of our Oneness with that Presence within and without as children of Mother Nature and the Divine Spirit.
This is also the story of Mother Nature and how being in Her heart heals our bodies, calms our minds and uplifts our souls; of how She cares for us in every way as we are Her children-part of Her Being.
But it is also the story of humanity; of how we have forgotten these truths, of how our ego has blinded us to these truths, has robbed us of our reason, our love and our soul, causing us to fight among ourselves while forgetting and forsaking our Mother, destroying Her forests, Her rivers and seas, Her wildlife and Her other children in pursuit of satisfying our ego s greed, bringing upon the world the spectre of ecological apocalypse as a result-an apocalypse that threatens our own survival and the very existence of Life on the planet, humanity acting like an all-consuming cancer, a parasitic plague killing its host, thereby ensuring its own demise as well.
It is the story of a world held hostage by a single species-us, humans-and how our activities are damaging the biosphere of the Earth to such an extent that ecosystems around the globe are on the verge of catastrophic collapse. Their collapse means the end of the services they provide-services that we are dependent on for our own survival, chief among these being water production and conservation, soil enrichment and crop pollination, climate regulation and mitigation of the disastrous effects of human-induced climate change.
Already, vital fresh water sources are drying up across the planet. The resultant desertification has turned a quarter of the Earth s soil to sand, severely impacting global crop production.
Already, half of Earth s tropical rainforests have been cut down with forests now covering only 31 per cent of the land area of the planet. Already, Nature s ability to rejuvenate herself is be