The book highlights a shift in contemporary nature writing—from distant wilderness to the overlooked ecological life within cities. Sinha’s work blends rigorous field observation with personal memory, revealing a “parallel city” of birds, trees, and animals coexisting within Delhi’s urban landscape. The book emphasizes that urban nature is not separate from human life but deeply entangled with it, often requiring more nuanced understanding than conventional environmental narratives suggest.
A central theme of the book is loss and remembrance. Through vivid sensory descriptions and reflections, Sinha documents how Delhi’s biodiversity—once rich with species like wolves, vultures, and blackbuck—has diminished over time. Yet rather than being purely nostalgic, the narrative becomes an act of remembering what has been forgotten, drawing attention to the concept of “shifting baseline syndrome,” where gradual environmental degradation becomes normalized.
Ultimately, the book is both a memoir and a call to action. It urges readers to rethink their relationship with urban ecosystems, to notice and value the non-human life around them, and to recognize that cities are not just built environments but shared habitats. The reviewer praises Sinha’s ability to combine ecological insight with emotional depth, making the book a powerful reflection on memory, coexistence, and environmental responsibility.
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