India, June 27 -- This month we commemorate the hundredth birthday of Sir David Attenborough. We are not merely celebrating a broadcaster, a writer, or a natural historian, but celebrating the way of seeing the world. For many of us, Sir David did not simply teach us about beautiful and exotic plants and animals or take us to places we have only imagined. He taught us how to look at life with patience, curiosity, humility, and wonder.

My early childhood in the 1970s was spent in Africa. Still untouched by modernity, yet the ravages of war and famine knocked on its door. This was also a time when early television programming still carried a certain magic. There were only a handful of programmes that truly transported you beyond the walls ...