A day after naturalist-conservationist and writer Gerald Durrell’s 95th birth anniversary, his birthplace Jamshedpur gifted his memory a book on Wednesday.

Titled The Durrell Legacy in Jamshedpur, the book has animal stories and poems written by schoolchildren, details of the Durrell family and Durrell himself.

Few know that the British naturalist and author of endearing books such as My Family and Other Animals was born in Jamshedpur on January 7, 1925. It was a D/6 bungalow, built in 1922, which is now bungalow 10 in Beldih.

After almost five years of conceptualising the book by the Gerald Durrell Initiative, a voluntary group of like-minded people working on conservation and wildlife awareness, the book, with substantial contribution by schoolchildren, was launched by Tata Steel vice-president (corporate services) Chanakya Chaudhary at the Centre for Excellence.

Founding members of the Gerald Durrell Initiative, Ronald D’Costa and Father Peter Francis were also among those present.

Also present were students who read out their poems and stories that they had contributed.

The bungalow at Beldih in Jamshedpur where Gerald Durrell was born. (Bhola Prasad)

For instance, Class VII student of Little Flower School, Nishtha Chakraborty, shared a heart-warming story of conversations with her pet fish Kibo.

The book also has words of appreciation by Lee Durrell, the writer’s wife who had visited Jamshedpur in 2017; volunteer of Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust Daniel Craven who visited Jamshedpur in 2016, and members of the Gerald Durrell Initiative.

The 68-page book is the outcome of a contest titled Jamshedpur Writes in March 2017. The members of The Gerald Durrell Initiative had approached a number of schools out of which students from six schools — Loyola School, Little Flower School, JH Tarapore School, Motilal Nehru Public School, Gulmohur High School and Kerala Public School (Kadma) — participated in the contest.

Of over 141 entries, the best were shortlisted and edited by a group of five academics and professionals from The Gerald Durrell Initiative to get the book ready for publication. About 500 copies of the book have been printed, partly sponsored by Jamipol.

Tata Steel vice-president (corporate services) Chaudhary said the book was wonderful because it brought out a facet of the city — that children were reading, writing and reciting their experiences. “The contributions of the children are all related to animals and nature. Being closer to nature means closer to god,” he said.

Akshata Singh, a Class VII student of Little Flower School who wrote a poem, The Moonbow Rabbit, for the book, called it a special experience. “Reading Gerald Durrell’s books, I realised that animals also have personalities. I’ve tried to bring that to my poem too,” she said.

Did she learn anything else? “Yes, animals have as much right to our world as us,” said the girl.