When most people of his age are retired and settled down in life, this 63 -year-old birder's thirst for capturing beautiful birds and animals through his lens is endless and it takes him to many places. Subramaniam Chockalingam resident of Vadavalli is a polymath. He is an avid photographer, bird watcher, tennis coach, swimming coach. karate champion, all combined into one.
Subramaniam, the avid lensman and bird -lover talked to simplicity about his passion for clicking birds and love for nature at length.
"I am a native of Arthur near Madurai. In my early days, I have seen many houses had pet birds.My dad got me some Mynahs and Parrots which indeed gave me a good company and with that started my love affair with birds and Mother Nature. “I began to observe various birds, its behavior, colorful plumage and flying patterns of each bird I have spotted,” Chockalingam said.
"Seven years back my wife succumbed to cancer.My kids have settled abroad and I was left all alone. So I started traveling to many places and one such place was the Bird Park in Singapore.I was amused to see how the bird park was engaged in educating people in the city about birds of prey, eagle, pigeons, falcons using the photographs and also birds." Chocolingam said.
"After I returned to Coimbatore I decided I should also educate people in our city regarding the variety of bird species and started photographing them.I never went for any professional photography course, but in course of time while clicking these birds I have learned about the birds and also mastered the art of photography."
“Marudhamalai in the city is a favorite spot of mine. And I was delighted to see so many migratory birds visiting Marudhamalai. Usually, Marudhamalai is known for the deity but I admire it for the amazing flora and fauna.I was the first person to spot nearly 60 species of birds in Marudhamala” Chockalingam said beaming with pride.
So far I have photographed about 200 species of birds which includes Asian Paradise Fly Catcher, Blue Bearded Bee Eater, European Bee Eater,Malabar Trogan, Falcons.I have also published a book Amazing Birds of Coimbatore 3 years back which has the collection of nearly 200 bird species and one book about the various species of butterfly and it has 60 species documented in it.
Apart from that I frame all the pictures that I click and place them in few schools for educating the kids.
As many people do not know about birds of prey, migratory birds so I keep taking my photographs to various schools and give awareness to them. In foreign countries, the zoo's are well maintained and have enough birds and animals that can educate kids unlike in our country.
I earn my living by teaching martial arts and whatever money I earn I spend all of them for undertaking such trips. I have traveled all over South India and thankfully my students are co-operative as they understood my passion and let me take two or three days break from martial arts training.
Off late whenever I have been traveling , I realize the sighting of birds has been reduced and rare. The migratory birds are very less compared to previous years. Since the state has been facing severe water crisis the lakes have dried up and birds are not preferring to visit the city.Apart from that people too have become irresponsible by dumping waste in lakes and water bodies contributing to their extinction. Stringent action must be taken against people who disturb the nature and the birds and animal species.If we do not conserve them we will have to pay heavy prices for it in future".
When asked as to how he manages to keep traveling at this age too and what are the his future plans, Chockalingam said "I love birds, animals, nature and going for long trips and photographing them gives me immense joy. When you do something which you love the most nothing comes in its way and that is how it works for me. All my friends know my interest and whenever they go for a trip they make sure they take me too. I have almost captured various species in southern part now I wish to travel to the northern part of the country and explore the flora and fauna there."