This was my tribute to Gerald Durrell in The Statesman, an abridged version of which was published in 'Solitaire' last year.
Missing Gerry
When a normal child studies in class IV or V, there are endless squabbles over who is going to read a Hardy Boys, a Famous Five, an Asterix or a Tintin but when I was that age I could not be bothered to read them, because I knew what I was going to do. I was going to read a book about animals.
I have been fascinated by animals ever since I can remember and I got to know of Gerald Durrell from a Bengali book. Since that day I yearned to read his books and I really pined when I could not lay my hands on them. My first meeting with Durrell took place in the school library(how well I remember it) when a friend handed me a copy of Three Singles to Adventure. The joy of having a Gerald Durrell in my hands! I kissed the book, held it firmly between my hands and ran about muttering to myself.
On reaching home, once the tutor had left, I jumped at the book. I had the joy of journeying to British Guyana with my hero. I went past magical rain forests full of birds and beasts of every colour and description and embarked on the collecting spree. I was with Durrell when he caught teguxins(a sort of lizard), sloths, eels, iguanas(another sort of lizard), and of course, Amos, the Giant Anteater.
Seven days seemed too short a period with Durrell but that was the introduction to a friend – who would be my hero, mentor, guru and guide for the next six years until death put an end to our strange and wonderful relationship on Tuesday, January 31, 1995.
As I grew up, to the consternation of my parents and relatives my interest in animals, far from abating grew stronger by the day and with it grew the friendship with Gerald Durrell. No school exercise book could remain free from my ministrations and any blank space had to be filled with my hero’s name. I slowly got hold of more Durrell books and my addiction grew. I made friends with many other colourful characters as well ; the Magenpies(magpies), Roger(his dog), Ulysses(the Scops Owl) and Quasimodo(the pigeon) in My Family and Other Animals, Hiawatha(the Hoopoe) and Esmerelda(the Dormouse) in The Garden of the Gods, Trumpy(The Grey Winged Trumpeter), Claudius(the Tapir), Leo(The Lion), Whiskers(the Emperor Tamarin) and Binty(The Binturong) in Menagerie Manor., Nandi, Npongo, Jambo(all Gorillas) and Oscar(the Orang Utan) in the Stationary Ark. The list is endless and includes humans like Larry, Leslie, Margo and Mother(My Family and Other Animals), Coco(The Whispering Land) and others.
Gerald Durrell wrote some books which shifts the focus from animals to human beings. Who can forget the hilarious Fillets of Plaice, or The Picnic and Suchlike Pandemonium? Being reminded of Mr Romilly or his girlfriend Ursula provides heart chuckling pleasure. I feel that Gerald Durrell portrayed the human race as and how it looked to him and did not try to make it fall into his own line of thought. Perhaps that is what made his books so enjoyable. His last book, Marrying off Mother, was sentimental but it still provides us with a fine picture of human nature. He not only loved animals but enjoyed life and wanted us to enjoy it with him.
Then I got a new English teacher whom I regarded as an inexhaustible supplier of Gerald Durrell books. She is one of the very few teachers with compassion and understanding. I had one more dream to fulfil that was to get associated with his zoo, the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. That dream was realized in October, 1991. Since then the bonds between us strengthened and have not loosened with his death. He is really a part of me. Gerry, the little boy in golden Corfu, I hope you can hunt for dung beetles in heaven.
31 March, 1995, VOICES, The Statesman in School.
I often think the tedious nature of export/import planning, permits, CITES permits, transport arrangements and then quarantining time is forgotten by excited zoo lovers 
It was only 2008 when the plans were unveiled, I'm personally suprised we've done as much as this already!