"You can't keep growing infinitely in a finite world." That voice. The expression of concern and the expressive hand gestures. Sir David Attenborough, my inspiration and an icon to millions. I had the privilege of being able to
interview him a few weeks ago on climate change and the natural world.
He does not do emails or anything electronic. He still receives hand-written letters and writes back by hand. With that in mind, I called a number I had for his PA, who is also his daughter, hoping to be able to fix a sit-down interview with him. He is now 89 years old and the last sit-down interview he did a few months ago - well, he was interviewed by President Obama in the White House! I expected it to be really difficult to get permission. The first shock but lovely surprise also was that he picked up the phone and not his daughter. So there I was all geared up to pitch to his PA, and the voice I can recognize in my sleep said, "Hello this is David Attenborough". I said, "Oh goodness, can I have a moment to calm down?" It's true. I was having a fan girl moment. However, I did collect myself and sounded vaguely professional (hopefully) when I pitched my interview request. His first response was "Oh, I am off to Patagonia for two weeks and I am not in town." I fully expected him to regretfully turn me down. However, he went on to say, "Let me find my diary, I could be available on the 6th of November at 10 am". That was that. We fixed it up that I would do the interview in his house in Richmond Surrey in England. I was sitting in Cape Town. I immediately called into NDTV and was told to fly down as soon as I could to organize my visas and so on.
It was a cold wet day in London as I fought my way through traffic in trains and cabs getting to Richmond. As it was to be a sit-down two-shot interview, we needed to set up lights and cameras. We reached his home at 9 am. Upon ringing the door bell, we received another pleasant surprise: he opened the door himself. At first, he looked a little puzzled as he was expecting a radio interview! Clearly, the phone lines between Cape Town and London are not what they should be. I quickly explained to him that it was for television, my heart sinking the whole time, expecting him to say no. He said, Ok, we could set up, but in such a way that his house would not be seen too much. We took about 45 minutes to set up and in that time, he personally brought us water, helped us move furniture around, approved our final frames which was against book cases as backdrops and chatted with us about life, London, lions and Africa. He moves like someone decades younger than an almost 90-year-old. He is fit, alert and energetic. He just finished a new series, "The Hunt" and is working on a series on the Great Barrier Reef. Just back from Patagonia after doing a science program, and is still set to travel the world. He started his career in black-and-white television when TV first came to the UK, the country that started TV in the 1950s. He was responsible for bringing colour TV to audiences. He has won a BAFTA in black-and-white, in colour, in HD, in 3D, in IMAX, and now he is working on 4k and 5k. Nearly 70 years spent on TV, introducing audiences to the amazing miracle that is the natural world.
When we were doing sound checks, he said to me "Could you speak up a little? I am a little deaf" and he laughed. I realized I was so overwhelmed to be talking to him that I was speaking very softly (not my natural volume-soft). I immediately dialed up to my usual not-so-dulcet tones and asked him if it was ok now as I did not want to sound like I was yelling at him through the interview. "It's fine now," he said and laughed again, and that, more than anything, just automatically put me at ease.
"It's the greatest treasure we have - we depend upon the natural world for every bit of food we eat, every breath of air; if we destroy the natural world, in the end, we destroy ourselves. There is every reason nations must come together to form a uniform plan to tackle the greatest threat to every man, woman and child," he said of climate change.
At the end I wished him well and of course took photographs with him. When we left, he helped carry our equipment to the car and stood in the rain, waving goodbye till we left.
He is Sir David. He has been called a National Treasure. He has been polled as the most-trusted man in England, his voice has been polled as the most-recognized. For those of us with an interest in the natural world, there is no one we recognize more. His grace, graciousness, humility, ease and caring in the aura of being who he is was a lesson in how to conduct oneself.
It reminded me of an old quote, "If you are a legend, you don't need to talk and walk it because everyone knows it already. If not, well what's the point of talking and walking it?"
What I left with was most valuable to me and to maybe others who are in the field of fighting for the natural world. I asked him if he gets disillusioned. Decades spent in the field and things now are worse than ever, I said to him. He said, "Well, things would be much worse if conservationists and environmentalists were not doing something about it." Then he said, "Well, when things are bad, it's more reason to renew the fight and not give up."
Not give up. Well, once again he has inspired me like when I was 13 and watched his Life On Earth and thought, "That's what I would like to do." It's not what I do. Nowhere close, but the fact that I do the little I do is because of him.
(Swati Thiyagarajan is an Environment Editor with NDTV)Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.