The Introduction

Ram

When did a tree last teach you something?… Not a teacher. Not a book. Not a video. A tree.… Arre, don't worry if you need to think. Most of us walk past a hundred teachers every day. And we never notice.

Ram

Namaste dosto! Welcome to Hey Nature. I'm Ram. This is the show about the teachers hiding in plain sight. And this is our very first episode. So today, we open the whole box. What Hey Nature is. Why nature deserves our attention. What's inside the book. And what you can do on the website. For that, I have Priya with me. Priya, welcome, yaar!

Priya

Thank you, Ram! I'm so happy to be here. Honestly, this is one of my favourite things to talk about.

Ram

So let's start at the very beginning. Where did Hey Nature come from?

Priya

It started with a few lines the author did not write. They came on WhatsApp. The way good lines often travel in India.… "There must be something special in your saltiness, hey Ocean. Otherwise, every sweet river doesn't long to meet you without any reason."

Ram

Wah. That's beautiful. Who wrote it?

Priya

Nobody knows. The author searched, but couldn't find the writer. So the book says so, openly. And it asks readers to help give them credit. But those lines raised a question. It would not go away. If the ocean has something to teach us… what about everything else?

Ram

And so he started looking.

Priya

Every morning, one thing from nature. One true fact. One simple question. A small poster on WhatsApp and LinkedIn, called Hey Nature. One poster became ten. Ten became fifty. People started replying. "I never knew that." "I sent this to my son." "This one is about my boss."

Ram

That last one is the best review possible!

Priya

A hundred posters later, they became a book. Hey Nature: 100 Gurus Hiding in Plain Sight. By SuRa Mukkavilli.

Ram

Okay, but let me ask the honest question. We have the whole internet in our pocket. We can find any fact in seconds. So why slow down… and look at a crow? Or a neem tree?

Priya

Because information is not our problem, Ram. Attention is. We know more than any people before us. And yet… many of us feel less sure. How to live. How to work. How to treat each other. Nature is our oldest teacher. And the most patient. Its lessons are free. They are right outside the window.

Ram

Right outside the window. Okay. But is there science behind it? Or is it just a nice feeling?

Priya

There is good science. In 1984, a researcher called Roger Ulrich studied patients after surgery. Some had windows facing trees. Some faced a brick wall. The tree group went home sooner. And they needed fewer strong painkillers.

Ram

Just a view… of trees!

Priya

Just a view. And in 2019, a study looked at nearly twenty thousand people in England. Those who spent two hours a week in nature were more likely to report good health. And better wellbeing. Two hours a week. Even split into a few short visits.

Ram

Two hours a week, yaar. That's less than one cricket match.

Priya

Exactly. But the book is not mainly about health. It's about what nature can teach us. How to see. How to stay steady. How to treat each other.

Ram

Okay, give me an example. Just one lesson.

Priya

Take the moth. We always thought it flies around a lamp because it loves the light. It doesn't. For millions of years, the brightest thing at night was the sky. So moths learned one rule. Keep the brightest light above your back. Then we invented lamps. Now the moth follows the same old rule. And it goes round in circles.

Ram

Hmm. So the moth isn't foolish.

Priya

No. It's loyal to a rule that used to work. And we do the same. "Work harder." "Never say no." "Do it all yourself." These rules carried us here. But the world has moved the lamp.

Ram

Oof. That one hit home. Accha, one more.

Priya

The mugger crocodile. Her bite is one of the strongest in the animal world. And yet, she carries her tiny babies in her jaws. Down to the water. Without hurting them. Real strength can be gentle.

Ram

Jaws that break bone. Jaws that carry babies.

Priya

You've read it!

Ram

Of course I have! Okay, Priya. Sell me this book. Why should I read it?

Priya

Hmm. Let me ask you a few questions first.

Ram

Arre, an exam?

Priya

A small one. What are you carrying that is too big for you?

Ram

Hmm. Too many things, yaar.

Priya

A hermit crab knows exactly what to do about that. Next one. What comes out of you when you are pressed?

Ram

Ooh. Not always the nice stuff.

Priya

The sugarcane has an answer for that. One more. What do you do after a miss?

Ram

Sulk, mostly.

Priya

Even the tiger misses. Most of its hunts fail. And it still goes again.

Ram

Wait, really? The tiger?

Priya

Really. That's chapter forty-two.

Ram

Okay, okay, I'm hooked. How many of these are there?

Priya

One hundred. Each one takes about two minutes. One with your morning chai. One on the metro. One before a tough meeting.

Ram

Two minutes. Even I can do that.

Priya

That's the idea. And every chapter ends with one small thing to try. Today.

Ram

So not just read and forget.

Priya

Read it. Try it. Feel it.

Ram

And how is it arranged?

Priya

Nine Parts. It starts with how you see. Then how you stay steady. Then how you treat others. And it ends with gratitude.

Ram

I like that. It ends with a thank you.

Priya

And some lessons… you won't believe. A bird that seals herself inside a tree. A bamboo that's strong because it's hollow. A forest… planted by elephants.

Ram

Okay, now I have to know. But are these true? Or just nice WhatsApp forwards?

Priya

Fair question! Every fact is checked. If a popular fact was a myth, it's out. The book says it plainly. "I would rather tell you less than tell you something false."

Ram

Respect. And I hear there's an old story behind it all?

Priya

There is. In the Bhagavata Purana, a wandering sage says he had twenty-four teachers in nature. This book walks that same old path. With science to check every step.

Ram

Twenty-four teachers.

Priya

Look closer. There are a hundred more.

Ram

Now, the website. This is where it gets fun. heynature.in.

Priya

Every lesson has its own page. Just type heynature.in, slash, and the lesson number. So the moth is heynature.in, slash, zero zero one. And every chapter in the book has a QR code. It takes you straight there.

Ram

And the home page has this periodic table!

Priya

Yes! A periodic table of nature's lessons. All one hundred, on one screen. Nine coloured columns, one for each Part. Each tile has a number, a short symbol and a title. Filter by Part. Search for a plant or an animal. Tap any tile, and the lesson opens.

Ram

My favourite is the self-check.

Priya

Mine too. Answer a few quick questions. It points you to the three Parts you need most. Because you don't have to read this book from page one. Read one a day. A hundred mornings, a hundred lessons. Read by need, with the self-check. Or read by chance. Open any page. Sometimes, the page you land on… is the one you needed.

Ram

And there's audio too. And video coming.

Priya

Yes! Every one of the hundred lessons has its own two-minute audio. Right on its page. Short videos are coming next. And this show, the Hey Nature podcast, will have one episode for each of the nine Parts.

Ram

So, dosto, that's the full map. But before we go, Priya, one thing. If someone wants to start today, right now… what should they do?

Priya

Do the small thing the same day. A lesson you act on today is worth ten you agree with. And once a week, go outside. Find a lesson of your own. A pigeon on a ledge. A puddle drying in the sun. Then write your own "Hey" to it.

Ram

Hey Neem tree. Hey Crow. Hey Puddle.

Priya

Exactly! That's the real gift of this book. After a few chapters… you start finding the lessons on your own.

Ram

Priya, thank you so much. This was lovely.

Priya

Thank you, Ram. It was a joy.

Ram

And thank you, dosto, for listening. Hey Nature is a book by SuRa Mukkavilli. Find all one hundred lessons, the periodic table and the self-check at heynature.in. Next time, we begin with Part one, Seeing Clearly. Till then… look up. Your next teacher is closer than you think.