In the Forest of the Night

Magic of Thunder in the rolling forests

2012-01-17T17:53:00.000+05:30

It was raining and the road was shimmering. Shimmering in the dark.

More than the rains though, there was the thunder. Soundless, giant streaks of white light. In periodic intervals, they lighted up the vast sky and turned outlines to figures. a lady on the left, a giant tree straight ahead, an elephant walking past. It was surreal and to see all this in a vehicle through the forests, at an unearthly hour made me gush with excitement.

It thundered more and the forests swayed. The jeep shook as if threatening to go off the road and into the ravines below. The state transport bus overtook us and disappeared in the distance.

I was in Wynaad and driving past the hope that sustains the hills, a Wynaad draped with bamboos and ferns and shrubs, a Wynaad that is plentiful - the hope smiled in return - a brief thunder just circled through the dense foliage of her..... Of the beauty, they call a forest.

We had left the Nilgiri hills late and had to reach Sultan Bathery before the forest gates closed. It was a hot day, even in the hills and we were perspiring. Wynaad promised to be worse.....

But then, when very late at night, we crossed the state border and turned left at Gundlupet, on this empty summer weekday, the thunder rolled up in front. Twenty minutes and we were freezing, the million thunders rolling all around. The forests began again and we fell into a trance. The rains somehow never really started, it was just thunder all around. The jeep slowed, we did not want to lose that moment and drove slow. Spoke less as well, just drove on, into the dark

Of all the feelings a human can assimilate, seeing the beauty of nature truly is one that we have been blessed with.............

You

2012-01-16T19:47:00.000+05:30

Written several several years back, perhaps just after school. Came across, thought of posting it and comparing it with myself.

You do not stay upto to your promises
You become self-pitiful at times
You get excited and speak too much and out of turn
You still dream at a wrong time and place
You unecessarily waste money on unnecessary items
You make derogaratory remarks about yourself
You are a hesitant gossip
You sometimes think that it is but obvious that people think in the same line as yours
You have a superior attitude sometimes

and

You are a true blooded optimist
You are in a lifetime long love with nature and that brings you closer to god
You respect the feelings of others
You feel beautiful. That makes you look so
You love reading
You care for small things, for the less blessed, for the unknown
You love observing the small details in life
Of the six billion, you are god's own child
Once hooked, you can't beat yourself.

You

2012-01-16T19:39:00.001+05:30

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

- Kahlil Gibran -

You

2012-01-15T19:19:00.002+05:30

You cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with.

- Wayne Dyer -

Me, seven languages and a train to Delhi

2012-01-14T20:58:00.002+05:30

Travellingon an Indian train is never to be taken lightly. Unsuspecting family members, raucousschool children and a diversity of cultures that can put any westernanthropologist into a bind. I had not been in a good mood when we took the longtrain from Bangalore to Delhi. We had gotten a little late arriving at thestation, mostly as a result of my experimentation with the increasinglycomplex Bangalore roads, and the husband and wife that we are, had a small tiffover my somewhat unnatural ideas. I got down of the vehicle, declining any helpfrom the driver and we walked away in a huff. Me angry at no one in general andSamita at me.

TheRajdhani to Delhi defied expectations and the evening was surely going to beruined a bit further. The entire train must have been an old reject from somepopular route in the 90s, toilets being unclean and the appearance of a train Iused to travel on when I was still a child. This was a not what we expected andin a fit of indignation, I asked the busy looking ticket checker whether thisis the train or ours will arrive later. He was as frazzled as I imagined myselfto be and replied in a gruff voice, Yes. God, this journey was proving to be asdifficult as a Himalayan odyssey.

However,we soon found our seats and encountered the first rat, one of the several thatwe met during the long journey to Delhi. The rat scampered away but left a badtaste in our minds. And then we noticed the curtains, they were frazzled andfelt dirty and the rubberized seats as well. Things were going out of hand whenwe noticed the motley gang who were occupying the other seats.

Anancient looking Punjabi uncle straight from the Pathan areas of erstwhilegreater India, his wife, a Coorgi with a heavyset figure, a hyper energeticMarathi, a Bengali intellectual, A Malayali and a serious looking Tamilian. Sothere it was and the first smile came to me in a long time. We were in acompartment with six more people who spoke the exact number of languages as mywife spoke within our language enriched life. And we were the only ones lookingout of scene, neither this nor that, neither a Punjabi nor a Bengali. We in oururbanized growth looked like we could have been from anywhere, but the generalassumption was that we were from Delhi. So they spoke amongst themselves, in theirrespective languages, to their wives and friends, talking about us often,oblivious to the fact that we were able to understand just about everything. Sothe evening went past and the rats retreated. We slept, rejuvenated from thisgroup, though no one spoke to the other, yet everyone was at peace.

The nextbegan well for curiosity got the better of all our passengers. They asked,almost in unison and at the first opportunity that they go, are you friends, incollege. What married, how many years… What 5 years, ohh where are you from.Oh, North and South, and finally they realized that we spoke all the languages.The curiosity turned to a childish grin as they realized that we might haveeavesdropped. But the amazement continued right till we reached Delhi, thoughthe rats never rested and the attendants were equally rude. It was a joy filledsecond day and all the pain of Bangalore got left behind.

In this country - Homogeneity VS heterogeneity

2012-01-10T19:37:00.001+05:30

Now, over the years, over countless debates and numerous fights, millions of us argumentative Indians might have discussed the issue of India as a single entity or our unity in diversity.

My opinions on this issue has changed or been modified several times since I was a child and I still have a fairly neutral view on the subject, but matters took a turn for the worse recently when I met a couple of old friends after ten years and these topics came up for discussion.

Initially, my so called urbane friends were talking about hindi or english to made as the universal language of the country and I kept on listening. Not for long though, as the tone got increasingly sharp as the day proceeded and these two well kept friends were fairly unanimous in the " Either my way or the highway" syndrome.

I tentatively joined int he discussion gleaning from my experience of having breathed the air of Bengal, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh and offered reasons for the need to having hundreds of languages and millions of dialects.

No though.... No way - the instant reaction was dismissal of my views and in loud tones. What surprised me the most is that they were unwilling to listen to me and shouted me down. No amount of reasoning, cajoling, arguing could bring them to listen to me. Disturbing thought this - educated people and not even pure hindi speakers being so adamnat of imposing a way of life that is alien to the hundreds of friends I have in across the country. They were infact dismissive of the fact that a lot of non-hindi speakers did manage to speak hindi out of their own interest and not out of compulsion.

The discussion went far and long but the crux is that they did not budge from their stated positions. The fact perhaps there are so many of us who may be educated and bright, well read and traveled - yet are so very narrow in their outlook that they have failed to see the beauty of the nation as it exists. Failed to see the magic of heterogeneity in eating rasgullas one morning and fish curry that evening, saying namaste and nallarkingla in the same breath.... It surely is a big task for mother India to keep the heterogeneity alive.

kya kahoon

2012-01-09T11:22:00.000+05:30

kya kahoon

kyon aise raton mein, andhekhi rahon mein.....

khayal tumhara aaya

fir socha main

ki chalta rahooon

fir socha main

ki chalta rahoon

Per yaad aati rahi

mein chalta raha

pass hi to thi humhare

yeh hume hai yakin

yuhin chalta rahoon

kyon saath ho tum humare

hume to bas dhoondte rehna hai

kya kahoon

kyon aise raton mein..................... rahon mein

A Day of Solitude by the forest

2011-12-23T21:47:00.003+05:30

Just as the morning mist started to disappear and the jacket was taken off, the forest began to come alive. It is a small forest where I live, small but protected, ensuring that all beings can live their days in peace from depredation. The forest where I live may have a number of planted species, but the silence when within it never fails to impress me.

Today, was one of those of days when I was blessed to have an occasion to sit with the forest in total solitude, and what an experience it was. Birds chirping for as far as one could imagine and nobody around. A book in my handed, a book about the forests, Folded Earth, and I sat for long. Occasional phone calls altered the rhythm, I grew thirsty once and had to come back to civilization for a glass of water, but the silence kept calling me back and I sat in peace. After long, the peace that is not searched but comes to you naturally, I was blessed this morning.

Yes, Politics is killing the big Cats

2011-12-11T12:38:00.001+05:30

Here where I live, I have a ringside view of how yes, politics is indeed killing this lovely animal called the tiger. And the attack is multipronged. I have been seeing how enormously dedicated forest officials are enticed and entangled in the web of political conspiracies, how their image might be tarnished time and again by vested interests who will make sure that all the good work being done by them is brushed aside. How the advisory committee that half of this planet's sapiens are, will time and again criticize the work being done by the forest department for their interests.

Eight years of being in the wild and I have been fairly convinced that howsoever critical a role NGOs may play ( and I worked in an NGO before for four long years), the real person to bite the bullet is the man in khakhi. And what worries me the most is that a conservationist, oh that is what I like to call myself, and half of my breed will be more interested in that next funding, the big grant, a superlative endowment and of course, unhindered access to the forest. And if that hapless forest official has the guts to put an end to this condescending fellow, god forbid as the newspapers are waiting.

How priceless is that forest officer, who recently gave his heart and soul to save a tiger that strayed in parts of Coorg and gave away hefty compensations for animal deaths,, buying time for the tiger in the process, knowing fully well that the tiger will return soon enough to the forest. What is the value of the lakhs of rupees he might have spent as opposed to letting that tiger being bludgeoned to death in some estate. Does this officer not deserve some award for god's sake or does he deserve brickbats.... What about a person who has stopped favour-seekers who had an unhindered acess to the forest by ticking them off and saying, please go by the main road and not be some exotic forest road.... What about a forest officer who has worked for more than what his brief calls for and has regulated tourism wit the attendant risk of being maligned by a set of hard bargaining photographers, what about a range forest officer who had the guts to stop a so called important person and had a charge made against him..... I, who worked with Keystone for so long wish that the department is respected for what it does sometimes......

THIS IS HOW THE ECLIPSE LOOKED FROM WHERE I LIVE - KABINI

2011-12-11T11:59:00.001+05:30

Thanks to Ashwin for letting me see this.

To be Noted

2011-12-09T20:16:00.001+05:30

A poem should not mean. But be.

- Archibald MacLeish -

Rockstar

2011-11-29T20:46:00.001+05:30

Am I amongst the 30% who liked Rockstar, yes..........

30.11.2011

2011-11-29T19:39:00.001+05:30

Tomorrow is a day that I will not forget ever. Though reluctant to have attachments, I am in deep gloom that my MD sir is retiring and leaving JLR forever. As the person who brought me into this institution, a place that I had longed to be in since Bhopal, I am forever indebted to him for this singular act.

However, what is more important is that he has brought in a tremendous amount of help for people like us whom he supported to the hilt. I deeply admire you sir and would not like to express my gratitude in mere words. It was a pleasure working with you and knowing you and learning from you.

Regards,

Kunal

Come to think of it...

2011-11-24T08:21:00.001+05:30

Come to think of it
all that I do is unnecessary,

And all that I spend
is, surely, a waste of money,

All the time that I dream
is, nothing, but a tax life's memories,

Come to think of it
thoughts are all but unnecessary...

Come to think of it
my life is nothing but a journey

and to reach the goal
one must use all the experiences thouroughly,

to go where one needs to, before he dies
it is better to walk straight and properly,

Come to think of it...

Cauvery - A Splendid Journey

2011-10-04T19:03:00.001+05:30

Of all its gifts to mankind, the Cauvery bestows the landwith an amazing richness and diversity of flora and fauna. Its river basin ofmore than 72,000 sq. km. is replenished by tributaries such as the Harangi,Chicklihole, Shimsha, Hemavati, Arkavathy, Honnuhole, Lakshmana Tirtha, Kabini,Bhavani, Lokapavani, Noyyal River, Amaravati River and more.

The rivers rise from the Western Ghats of Karnataka, Keralaand Tamil Nadu, and are the catchments for world famous forests such as Wyanad,Mudumalai, Nilgiris, Silent Valley, Attapadi,Perambikulam and the Anaimalais. The basin is home to several rare andthreatened animals, and to several of the unique camps of JLR, including atKabini, Dubare, Doddamakkali, Bheemeswari and Galibore.

Commencing from Talakaveri, the Cauverymeanders down to the Mysore plateau throughCoorg, marks the northern boundary of the Dubare Reserve Forest where elephantsare trained for various forestry and non-forestry purposes, and bifurcates to abeautiful island, Nisargdharma. This island has been developed as a populartourist site operated by the Forest Department of Karnataka and is a must seefor all those who visit Coorg.

It is here that the river becomes languid. Caressing the rocks,its banks often plays host to a large numbers of Tibetan monks from the nearbysettlement of Bylakupe, who relax and bathe in the shallow waters. The riverwidens out, before its waters are boundby the 31 sq km Krishnaraja Sagar dam near Mysore and several anicuts and irrigationchannels thereafter.

Thus, the great river which has travelled unhindered formore than 170 km is finally trapped and diverted into one of the first damsbuilt in modern

India

.However, the river makes amends soon and cascades down the dam gates through arocky outcrop which provides the dam with a dramatic visage. Thousands throngthe Brindavan Gardens each day to witness the soundand light show each evening.

Thereafter, crossing the favoured bird sanctuary ofRanghanathittu, the river bifurcates at Srirangapatnam, providing naturaldefences to the island that was to become the capital of the Mysore Sultans.Srirangapatnam is rich in history and enough books have been written to honorthis legacy. It is the history of Srirangapatnam that has in fact made it oneof the top tourist destinations of

India

Each day, one can find tourists of both Indians andforeigners throngs through the tidy streets of this town, guidebook in hand,marveling at that day in 1799 when Tipu fell after a grand fight and the faceof imperialism changed.

The island soon ceases to be so when the two branches of theriver meet up at Sangam and the Cauvery continues its eastward journey. The river has been used for irrigation inthis stretch for centuries. It provides the Mysore region with its economic strength andvast, rice fields. The river provides much needed drinking water to severaltowns and villages along its path, besides being the backbone of the watersupply to Bangalore,one of the fastest growing cities in the world.

Traversing the Srirangapatna Island, the river turnstowards Najangud amidst a fertile land and meets the Kabini, the other greatriver of the Cauvery basin. The river meanders through Talakad beforecrashing more than 100 metres throughtwo rapids Bharachukkki and Gaganachukki at Shivanasamudra where it was firsttapped for its hydroelectric potential in 1902. This brought electricity to Bangalore and for some time, Bangalore held the claim for being the onlycity in the continent with regular electricity supply.

The Cauvery then enters a deep gorge, popularly known as theCauvery Valley and home to the Cauvery WildlifeSanctuary that covers an area of 526 sq km. A dramatic eco-region withelevations dropping to less that 250 metres and rising almost 1500 metres, thevalley and the sanctuary has been modified by nature into an amazing biome.

With a predominantly dry climate - albeit rich with waterfrom the Cauvery, the Palar and several streams - the river system is unique inthis stretch of the Cauvery. In fact, the vitality of Coorg hills and thefamiliar scene of the river crashing into huge rocks and forming deep poolsreturns and can be seen up to the Tamil Nadu border.

After its journey through the Cauvery Valley, bound by denseforests on both sides, the river enters Tamil Nadu through a series of wildgorges and falls at a place commonly known as Smoking Stone or Hogenakkal andis then dammed again at Mettur, creating a lake known as the Stanley Reservoir.Finally, after lazily moving through Tamil Nadu, it joins the seas nearCuddalore, forming a large delta in the Thanjavur region where millions dependon the river for cultivation. Thus, the river that began its journey on thewestern edge of the nation finally dissolves into the sea in its eastern ends.

A river so unpredictable and gracious like the Cauvery hasrightfully been accorded the virtue of being one of the most sacred rivers of India. Withmillions dependent upon it, the entire Cauvery basin must be provided thesanctuary it requires, so that it continues flowing the way it has for millionsof years

The Cauvery’s journey makes for an interesting reading andhas continued to fascinate travellers and pilgrims alike for centuries.However, it is the small 60 km stretch from below Shivasamundram till Mekedaatuthat has been of particular interest for thousands of enthusiasts from acrossthe world. They come and try their luck at least once in the deep pools of theCauvery, for this is the land of the Mahseer, one of the last remaining refugesof the tiger amongst fishes.

Nature has created this valley and accorded protection toit. The sheer drop from the Mysoreplateau ensures that there is no unwanted entry into the forests. Most of theoriginal forests remain and all that you can hear is the whistle of birds andthe gushing of the river. Running at a steep gradient, the river often crashesinto rapids and rushes down as small waterfalls.

This setting brings forth much needed life into the riversystems and unleashes a wealth of diversity with profuse fish populations andan abundance of other life forms. In lieu of its isolated nature, the CauveryWildlife Sanctuary was instituted in the year 1987, so that the inhabitants ofthis valley could be protected.

This Year and My Monsoon Run

2011-09-02T16:27:00.000+05:30

Bannerghata, Bidar, hampi, Dandeli, Wyanad, Coorg, Bhadra, Bandipur, Jog, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Belgaum, Pattadkal, Aihole, Badami, Belur, Halebid, Mangalore, Kudremukh, Talakkad, Bheemeswari -

This monsoon is turning out to be a transit in rains

The Kabini Manifesto on Waste/Life Management

2011-08-28T11:45:00.001+05:30

Waste is a threat, perhaps it is a lighter word. Waste is a curse and a needless one at that. What we do about it is entirely our responsibility. And come to think of how we shirk responsibility, nowadays, anybody talking about waste management is considered a green warrior. I would say that those who manage waste are just conducting the fundamental duties as enshrined by the constitution and nothing spectacularly out of the world. It is our duty to leave the earth cleaner than we found it.

It is in this context that at Kabini, we are striving to be sensible about waste and aim to spread the message as far as our influence can. There are critical issues in which a place like Kabini must move ahead in the coming years. They are the manifestos on waste management, energy management, conservation management with life management running as common thread across all.

The Kabini Manifesto

- No plastic in the campus. Whether by reducing intake or by recycling after usage, plastic must face death at our hands.

- Segregation to be seamless and effortless in the long run. Plastic, paper, metal, glass, waste plastic, tetrapacks, egg-shells, e-waste, napkins, sachets and their associates to be segregated and respectfully recycled.

- Besides segregation, designate a place to keep waste wood, steel, plumbing material, switches, pipes, wires so that they can be put to use later.

Plastic Bottles PET, a subset of the larger plastic-chemical industry must be reduced. We thus purchase Kent systems while increasing the price of bottled mineral water, while sending a message to the consumer not to buy PET because of the inherent damage to the environment. The waste water from the RO systems is directed to the gardens.

- Recycle A4 papers in its entirety. First use both the sides, then send it to the segregation unit. Get a rubber stamp made that says "We only use recycled paper" and show it to the world.

- Start an organic garden. Even if the production is low, the message gets conveyed. And reverse the hesitation over organic products. Instead of the conventional higher rates, sell organic stuff at half the market price of that day and still make money.

- Reuse everything that is lying waste, especially those which the world feels just has no utility left at all. Reuse everything and see what happens. First use is made of the tonnes of waste wood lying around, then old pipes and then just about everything. The carpenter makes magic with wood, the plumber saves money from old pipes and the electrician has enough stock to last a year without fresh purchase.

- Consciously learn from the ones who have lived at a particular place for long periods and I have been blessed to stay at a place that has a documented history of more than 150-200 years when the place was used for elephant capturing. The senior people who live here are a treasure house of knowledge. Learn from their experiences on how much sand is adequate for building a wall, how knives can be sharpened, what is to be designed and in what way

- Set up a consolidated Decentralised Wastewater Treatment System, to take care of the wet waste that is generated in large amounts. This will be the final answer for waste generated in toilets, kitchen and dining areas and if as a result we get bio-gas and reusable water, nothing can top that.

- Save energy. A big challenge at Kabini as we are naturally disadvantaged. First step - finish replacing all bulbs with CFL and slowly with LED. Reduce usage of the generators by several hours a day. Compel drivers to increase their fuel efficiency. Move towards solar energy especially for heating solutions. Reduce spillover in the water tank, install power saver switches in the rooms, bath tubs are being removed.

- Our vegetable waste is now sold to the milkman who for 30 years had been taking it free. Now they pay us with five litres of milk daily. In the near future, we may start our vermicomposting unit and sell compost in good looking packs as organic compost or something.

- Use waste newspapers and old hammock strings to create carry bags to keep products sold at our Earth Shop.

- Dry leaves that were burnt are now to be collected. The collected material is strewn across the slightly big forest that we have inside the campus to convert into humus.

- Old logs to be reused in producing soil. They are kept at strategic places and people are made to understand the utility of insects and other organisms in converting organic matter into soil.

- Repackage the philosophy of treating people who collect waste. One way of doing that is to make good looking dustbins intricately designed by our carpenter that is easy to maintain and extremely attractive. Just by being positioned at a place, people should be attracted to see the dustbin and it is here that we spread the message of cleanliness to them.

Sachin as Actor

2011-07-25T19:52:00.001+05:30

Broke my heart........ After 20 years of seeing Sachin being idolised and worshipped by almost the entire billion that is India, here is a claim that he is an actor. For whatever reasons and to save whatever money, it really saddened an average fan like me..

May the next big prize - not the Bharat Ratna but the Oscars come his way

Life and times at Pillur

2011-07-24T12:00:00.000+05:30

Pillur is an unknown place not many have heard about. But I in my earlier avataar have written about it and a long time from now, I would remember my time there fondly.

Life is Pillur can be broken up into 2 parts - before and after marriage.

Before marriage, I used to be at Pillur, ostensibly looking after projects but never really sure about the level of interventions an outsider can have at a place.

I used to be up imeediately after the 6.30 bus would leave for Mettupalayam and after brushing would go out to the nearby shop for tea. A leisurely tea was followed by a visit to a nearby village or be at the centre itself. Invariably, hpowever I would return back 9.30 after completing most of the works and then just wait for the heat to hit.

Lunch was a massive Rs. 15 affair and then came the afternoon siesta. Then maybe a village visit during the evening. The period around dusk would be a heavy duty affir at the dam with me running about 8-10 rounds of the dam.

Oh, what a life it was and though the heat was immense and a constant struggle against whatever activity we set out to complete, I at least became healthy beyond belief, also because I used to exercise for some exams as well.

After marriage, life was more rushed as I was returning to Kotagiri every 4-5 days. This took a toll and caused an impression in the office. Nursery plantings were over and I could see that I have had a successful affair at Surki and Chitukunni, besides having put up a lot of efforts at Pucchamarathur.I stayed and worked at Pillur till January 2006 and then intermittently till March of that year.

My time at Pillur was spread over one year, from February 2005 to March 2006 and then infrequent visits continued till 2008. It was punctuated by aa series of fortunate incidents, none momentous but each filling up a space of nostalgia that is embedded in my memories forever.

What I recal most are perhaps my coracle rides across the Bhavani river and so was the occasional jeep rides to Pucchamarathur, through Attikadavu. Biking up and down to Pillur from Kotagiri though the forest as well as through the longer road was fun as well. Walking upto to Situkunni and getting severely affected by some insect bite will remember with me foreever, so will the walk to mettupalayam through the river bed of the Bhavani.

The nursery that we started at Sittukuni was my first field work, we climbed to the village, went and cut bamboo from the forests above, somehow managed to carry the huge bamboo down and then set up the nursery. Involvement with that nursery till it was closed down was a learning experience and also was the other nurseries.

Going to the large tree a few kilometres from our base will always remain a memorable experience as was that walk that actually traversed the entire hill and landed us directly to the camp.

2011-07-19T11:53:00.001+05:30

Just a thought that crept in today. In days like these, when the pace of life is extremely languid and thoughts are at a premium, it is better to declare it as a holiday. Ok, chooti today

WWWWWWWWW

2011-07-12T13:28:00.000+05:30

When it comes to my field of work, I am pessimist to the core. I believe, perhaps I already know that our vast natural heritage is dying out. Not naturally but is being accelerated by our actions or inaction.

And as an individual, the more I see all of this happening, I become more radical about doing something. And yes, several times, I feel that all is lost. Yes, that is true as well... all is lost.... we will soon be a nation of cities siphoning of the resources in and around. Or as it is in Kerala, become one long urban village on both sides of the highway.

India as a city from north till south - the ultimate in national integration. We will not have states but mohalla names for our THE singular city - what we now know as Nagpur will be a Marathi Mohalla with a sprinkling of smaller linguistic mohalla. Patna will be a homogenous North Indian mohalla. 10 kilometres from Bhopal will be industries with their exhaust pipes turned towards the hinterland and supplying goods to the cities every hour. 20 Kilometres and the beautiful hinterland will start. Long stretches of wheat and rice will dot the landscape, cane swaying gently in the wind. Hundreds of cows munching on soft grass (IN AN EUROPE STYLE FACTORY). And no human in sight.

We would have achieved the American dream, here in India.......
We will have one person managing 10000 acres of land and the rest engaged in beautifying the city.

Drive for another 100 KM and you will see the same phenomenon repeating itself... What about the forest or lakes or pastures or hills or mountains.... Eaten up by the Indian Uncle Sam....

Thinking...

2011-06-22T16:14:00.003+05:30

In the glory and the perceived doom of the aftermaths of post globalised industrialisation, there stand so many interested parties that our politicians would die to have them inducted into their ideological fold. But what is so unique about the war for/against industrilisation and environmentalism is that the third group of the usual fence sitters is bigger than usual.

These are the very people who are forced to drink a mix of browny wowny slimy water each day and prefer to spend rupees eighty per day on treated water, month after month, on and on, yet choose, refrain and just do not step on the line which will make them capable of choosing a correct way of living, one that is free of the networking modern society provides. The net is never damaged.....safety net, spider net, societal net, parental net, friend's net or just a material net. Never.

Look

2011-06-20T23:10:00.001+05:30

Look through the glass,
you will find
Thy face not seen before
With the touch and the Care
that nature bestows

Look through the mirror,
you will find
the other face of you
Lost in the rat race
Life has become today

Can we go the extent of stopping the monsoons for our own benefit one day

2011-06-19T00:33:00.001+05:30

I suffer from ........ and I do not know what to do about it

2011-06-18T22:19:00.000+05:30

Mukurthi Again

2011-06-18T10:21:00.002+05:30

As a past resident of the Nilgiris, discounting an oppurtunity to visit the Mukurthi National park is not a choice but an eagerly awaited stroke of fortune, as people would testify to the difficulties of permissions and prohibitive costs involved in visiting this pristine zone. I have visited the park umpteen times for very short durations and the very abundance of nature at its best compels me to look at the westward sky, everytime I pass Ooty.

Mukurthi is infact a jewel in the hill district's crown and its very existence till today speaks volumes of the conservation efforts undertaken by past conservationists in enforcing policy decisions that led to the creation of the park.

Mukurthi is located in the western crescent of the Nilgiri district, looking over the expanse of the state of Kerala and almost appears as a wall like impenetrable fortress when seen from Nilambur region of Kerala.

The park is covered by grasslands and sholas and some stretches of the invasive tree, wattle.

The Forest Department and Nilgiri Wildlife Association were organising a census to estimate the population of the endangered Nilgiri Tahr and I bounced upon the organisers. With a stroke of luck, Mohanraj Sir, who is one of the most progressive conservationists in Southern India and also one of the main organisers of the event allotted me to survey the Bison Swamp region.

The effort was worth for the sheer opportunity to see pure nature with so few disturbances.

The Wyanad Tale - Young Men on the Move

2011-06-17T11:46:00.000+05:30

Vinayan is from Wyanad, one of the northern districts of Kerala with a substantial indigenous population and a degree of backwardness that is an aberration to the overall growth oriented outlook of Kerala but it is not infact backward in the Central India sense of the word.

There are hardly any destitute poverty stricken people hanging around. Visiting here from Eastern Uttar Pradesh, one would amaze at the number of vehicles, number of public buses, innumerable bakery shops and so many umbrellas, that popular umbrella companies infact have their showrooms in most of the towns of the district. But Mananthwady, Sultan Bathery and many more small towns and villages have a story to tell.

The story is that Wyanad did a fast forward leap to modernity, sidelining the vast populations of indigenous people, who could not adjust to modernity in the modern sense of the word.

Wyanad was and still is, one of the least densely populated districts of the state of Kerala and it is people like Vinayan (whose family originally brought about destruction of the forests) as they, along with thousands of other immigrants from central and southern Kerala have taken up cudgels to preserve the remaining forests of the district.

Vinayan sees the forest as an integral part of Wyanad, a sea change from early migrants who viewed the then vast forests as a resource to be logged and burnt and pillaged. For then, the forest was a dark brooding competitor in the land starved minds of most people. Encouraged by the government, the tale of Wyanad's forest is a tragedy of the present times leading upto this situation where barely some parts of the original forests remain as per the original habitat.

Vinayan's father and Sujin's father settled in Chettapalam and Thrissilay close to the town of Mananthawady.

Saneesh's father also was a migrant from Ernakulam. Infact, when it comes to Wynad, almost everyone is a migrant in the correct sense of the word. Nobody belongs to Wyanad as Wyanad Belongs to None.

While Wyanad is no one's ancestral home, except for the indigenous people who have lived in the primeval forests for long, it is now referred to as home by many who live here.

Saneesh, Vinayan and Sujin are but a few amongst the growing tribe in the region who are passionate about the pearl and not averse to irking the establishment in order to get their demands met.

These three are infact are a part of the story that turns the familiar cycle round and round - the fathers destroyed large areas of forests, the sons are now rebuilding the forests as is laying fresh plaster on a dilapidated house.

They are birders, take part in animal census regularly, conduct environmental education classes, together with more friends maintain one of the best libraries, small town India might have ever known - the Youth Library at Manathwady.

These boys and their many friends are working towards restoring the lost primacy of Wyanad’s natural heritage into the lives of the ordinary people - they are not frazzled by the infrequent progress and take it as part of the larger game.

What they do and are attempting to do is simply one of the earliest known solutions to turn back deforestation. Educate all and sundry. Hold classes for students in natural; settings, take them on nature walks to Kuruvadwip island, take part and exhort citizens to be active members in tree planting ceremonies and much more.

This strategy of educating people is seemingly one of the least attractive measures to confront deforestation, but the high thinking promoters of complete closure of protected areas and/or complete autonomy of indigenous populations are slowly taking up this path.

Today is long gone

2011-06-15T12:13:00.003+05:30

Today is long gone..........

If that is all that matters, I am losing still....

For all I may do is to sit still and all I can do is to freak all day....

For all the suffering that she has had, all I have done is not much....

For all I have done is to give empty drums, to their depths of sorrow....

All I know is that I am going deeper underground....

And yet, all I know is that nothing is totally lost for then, nobody would have been a better person today.

If living an imperfect life is a crime, one must suffer or should One, I ask?

There is always a chance, that we will pull through and then, maybe we will...

I can't oversee your death. I can see you over that climb and help you along. It is a challenge but it is true.

Your life is all you have, have to make it remain with you.

The heaven that is Mukurthi

2011-06-11T20:38:00.009+05:30

Again, a visit to my personal heaven. I have explored virtually every corner of this heaven in the wonderful opportunity that I got in the past few years.

I wonder if I will ever get over my singular love for this small patch of forest. Why, after a million visits, feel like going again.
I hope it gets more strict to enter there, for we nature lovers help ruin that beauty more than others.

If I ever decide to die on my own terms, I will do it here. Here and nowhere else. My best memory would be walking that early morning right along the edge or just sleeping during the days or so many more.

Change

2011-06-10T12:23:00.002+05:30

As and when life begins anew, it brings a fresh whiff, a scent wondrous and it is now that you feel that it is young, hopeful and it is divine.

For when the ride is uphill with its strains and hiccups, only when you reach the top, does it feel so nice and so fair.

Leaving one's world and going to another random place, life beckons. And for me, a change every few years is just like an experience breathing in fresh air. While in the hills, one of the strongest memories was looking out of the window and seeing God's magnificent creations that gave me an immense sense of pride.

Wyanad in the night

2011-06-08T12:36:00.007+05:30

You enter Wyanad ususally to pass through it - to Cochin, to Calicut or to Southern Kerala. You hardly roll down the window when the clear sky becomes dark due to the madly dense canopy, you think about the impending vomit of your chidlren now that the hills are twisting, you do gaze at the fields and wonder about the greenery of God's Own COuntry. As you reach closer to the border of this hilly district, you will yourself to sleep as there are no longer any interesting buildings to watch and speculate the prices of, neither are their any towns to buy your regular snacks from. You invariably sleep and wake up at Mysore, smiling pleasantly at the noise of the Maharajah's bus stand and his palace that stands tall.

But my eyes pop open long long before I entered the land of the forests. I sit up in anticipation in the red and white KSRTC bus that does reek of vomit, but is regularly cleaned in the depots. I sit up and move over to the window to watch the spelendour of the hills and forest draping her modestly. I become a poet watching the clouds over Brahmagiri. I point out exactly to whichever part of me that is able to twist that if Brahmagiri is front, Chembra must be behind. I wonder and wonder and reach the forest.

It was about eight in the dusk when I drive into Wyanad through Gundlupet in Karnataka. The road was wide and empty except for a turboed KSRTC bus and the sights were a beauty. It was raining in the strange Karnataka sort of a way that makes you feel that any rain in this dry zone is inadequate yet if you step out you wet and drenched to the bones. It was raining and the road was shimmering and more than the rains, it was the thunder. In periodic intervals, it lighted upo the skies and made outlines turn to figures. A lady to the left, a giant tree straight ahead and a Pachyderm walking past. To see all this in a quite vehicle at an uneartly hour made me gush with feverish excitement.

It thundered more and the forests swayed. I was in Wyanad and was driving past the hope that sustains the hills and the surrounding plains, a Wyanad draped with Bamboo and grasses and shrubs, a Wyanad plentiful - the hope smiled and returned - the thunder just circled through forests forest's fargile shadow. I reached the checkpost..

How to Park in Kerala

2011-06-07T12:17:00.002+05:30

Step 1 - Enter the town and look around. As the crowd moves on your left, move with them, or atleast try to. Take a complete round of the town.

Step II - Again, go round, look around for a place to park.

Step III - Take a final round. By now, you would have become familiar with the policeman who is efficiently directing the traffic to go round, a couple of striking employees who are being watched by hordes of others. Try the India Coffee House for a parking but it is invariably full, finally try with as many citizens as possible who get equally confused with the most vexing question ' where to park'

Warm...

2011-05-14T13:17:00.002+05:30

A warm afternoon,
Seeing into the wild...
I am here at home - Thinking a lot, also about nothing at all.

And when I grow old and see nothing closeby, I will have the young ones read this for me before I say bye.

And the world, it will keep on rolling - A giant ball and we walk smartly.

Plants on Yesterdays's walk

2011-04-26T10:27:00.000+05:30

I had a chance to go around with Sadanada Ji, a man with enough energy to outlast most of us, for his 72 years on earth and he showed me a number of plants.

1. Saw the Thunbergia grandiflora flower in the garage next to the office. This is ornamental in nature with beautiful flowers and climbs up, has covered our garages providing it with a wild look.

2. We walked towards the north block and saw the tree Lannea coromandelica, which has grown quite tall. I believe that it is anti-inflammatory. Just next to room 14.

3. We saw large clumps of lemon grass that I told the gardener to plant all around.

4. Saw the marigold and remembered my childhood for a few seconds.

5. Ipomoea quamoclit is just near the entrance to the north block from the Viceroy lodge side and on the right arch. Beautiful flower, also known as the cypress vine.

6. Vinca rosea, found just about everywhere in India is highly medicinal in its nature, used for a series of medicines.

7. Spoke about the pods of the gulmmohar for long and also about the entada, found in Mudumalai.

8. Clerodendrum inerme or the vishwadhari, it is used popularly as a hedge plant and is the main hedge near the Viceroy Lodge.

9. Duranta, also we saw - very popular as a hedge plant wherever I went in Coorg. Dubare elephant camp has a large number of these plants, though they have not come out really well.

10. Towards the evening, when dusk came in, saw a number of spiders, saw the flower gloriosa superba, Bauhinia variegata, saw some orchids that Colonel Wakefield has planted at his garden. Then saw the Avacado or the Persia americanus.

11. Finally, it was swietina macrophylla also known as Big Leaf Mahogany, Big-leaf Mahogany, Bigleaf Mahogany, Brazilian Mahogany, Honduras Mahogany, Large-leaved Mahogany, Sky Fruit, Tropical American Mahogany.

10 things I like about Keystone ( While I was there)

2011-04-11T12:42:00.002+05:30

Found this entry in an old diary, about to be disposed..... A lsit written perhaps at a moment, when I must have been really enjoying the floating clouds of Kotagiri...

The Ten things I like about Keystone

- The 4+1 eco-buildings that are nice to look at and even better inside.
- The campus with some trees here and there with an isolated kudil and a forest at top.
- Th efact that Mukurthi is closeby - My personal heaven.
- The mgazine stand with all the fun.
- My desk - a territorial possession - and the view from it.
- The mist that surrounds you and makes you dream and makes you calm and makes you happy.
- The fact that I wrote a few of these books that kinda rocked.
- I can do things without prying eyes.
- I do not have too many people to talk to.
- I have had great four years here on the whole - My second Chandigarh.

The Last 30 Summers - First sixteen years

2011-03-29T12:10:00.005+05:30

30 summers and how did I spend it.

It is not a consequential question for many, but me, for as long as I remember, have had my father and bade-papa exclaiming that India is a very hot country, and as a result - have been very excited about the impending heat and on the ways to enjoy it.

The First sixteen years is a period that I remember for watching Chooti-Chooti on the Bengal Doordarshan, usually in the afternoons, playing early morning cricket and again in the late evenings. As the chooti-chooti serial would begin at 12 or was it at 1 pm, we would assemble in one of the homes and basically eat and sleep while watching that iconic serial.

Evenings would be cycling invariably. However, soon, I started going out more and more with myself - mostly because most of my friends had their parents transferring themselves out the wilderness called Girmint. Invariably, the summers becam self discovery months.

I wold be cycling to really dangerous areas - even for adults. Chat up with illegal mine workers, check out how they wash the coal or burn it to make charcoal.

Once, and I remember it vividly. The monsoons had burst at its seams and the whole area was under a dense cover of water. I knew the illegal miners were around as I had seen them last evening. Walking upto to those mines through some heavy rains, I reached the mines but everything was changed. More than 2-3 acres of land had vanished. My stomping grounds were missing. And as suddenly as I watching, I saw land going under. Subsidence is as they call it in our part of the world and it had begun right in front of me. I stepped back and more, and then more. Finally, I stood as the ground seemed harder and barely a couple of feet away, it ended. A big pond was being created right in front of my eyes, no illegal miner was killed and the ladies will have nice place to wash their clothes.. It was the dawn of a new pukur

Competing Claims

2011-03-03T16:36:00.003+05:30

Where do Competing claims take us....

It is a complex, complicated and confusing scenario.

All conflicts have claims on them. A good one or a bad one. Conflicts exist everywhere, they may be good or bad, but they exist.

The claims various stakeholders place on the resource is what makes it interesting to understand the various competing claims on these resources.

I am confused about how does one analyse the various competing claims. But nevertheless, the theory of competing claims is a better way to look at conflicts than traditional conflict management models.

Imagine a scenario - a forest is to be opened for exploitation where indigenous people live. They want to cut timber, someone else wants to mine coal, the community wants to harvest NTFPs, the oldies want to continue worshiping to the spirits, newer generation wants to open a little land for agriculture. So many claims on a piece of land.

What does one do....Bring them all together and draw a rich picture of the scenario.

Analyse who are the stakeholders. See how much stake they have.
See the power they exercise....

Take a look at the various rights of each of the stakeholders as well as the duties of each of them. Make a matrix crossing each others rights with respect to the duties they have to perform.

See what the institutions can do and how can they be developed.

Make an economic valuation of the various resources at stake....

Develop scenarios of future events and try to develop a strategy for dealing with favorable as well as unfavorable scenario and then move on to develop assumptions that defines our final strategy....

Maybe, then one day the claims will be met or atleast partly met of each of the stakeholders. Some will lose out, some will benefit....

The Forest is Still Tonight

2011-03-01T22:04:00.004+05:30

The Forest is still tonight, No sound can I hear,

The winds have died down,
the rivers flow silent,
Trees look morose and so do beings.

For silence spins yarns around wisdom,
Perhaps, the wise must speak.
Talk silently about our follies,
But do we hardly listen.

The wise forest speaks,
and yet we do not listen.

Warns us of the impending doom,
yet we do not listen.

Yes, I know. The forest is still tonight

Complexities

2011-02-28T18:03:00.004+05:30

For when the evening sun dips,
the tales come whispering hard.

What the boys are doing at random points,
Is but to announce their falling grace.

When are we left with no choice,
To join or let her go.

Confessing now to hold the evidence,
One must learn the hard way

When

2011-02-24T15:15:00.003+05:30

When I walk alone, I see a lot,

When I walk with one more, I appreciate better and feel joy,

When I walk with more, the games begin,

When I walk with a crowd, I become part of it,

When I walk with the lot, I form a revolution,

When I walk alone, I feel good today

Sights

2011-01-22T16:02:00.000+05:30

Leopards and tigers everday

Mr. Jairam Ramesh - I

2011-01-18T09:33:00.003+05:30

Jairam Ramesh is the Ultimate Strategic Maverick. He is a leftist on the right, says Mr. Lumumba. A respected leader from the same party that he belongs to - from Karnataka - said he is too uncertain in his decision making. Some say he is working and receiving his motives from the high command. There are those who say that he has a personal motive.

Since, I do not think much at all. I feel that he will be remembered long after he is gone. Long after the long hair is all but gone, after his health would have gone and so will be a lot of us. He is playing a small yet crucial part in determining India's future course and I still feel that it is his own thoughts that make him what he is and not at the behest of anyone else. Right or wrong - he is the charisma required.

Good times, Bad times

2011-01-02T15:03:00.000+05:30

Good times, bad times...
Figment of thy memory
Times last life like...
Not for the beauty of thy life,
Nor its sorrows.
Time beholds, listen ya carefully

Times behold

Good times, bad times,
last not so ever,
teaches one, not much,
teaches one to respect it.
For it passeth soon... for it stands never.

Times behold, time must go on.
Leaving in its wake,
not much but a dirty mud rake
Time beholds - for it moveth fast..

GOOD TIMES, BAD TIMES

Wildlife Week 2010

2010-10-08T13:01:00.007+05:30

It started with almost a sudden recall that the wildlife week is about to begin in a few days. At Kabini, as far as I remember we have never celebrated the week in any special way. So we had to take up the challenge and do something this year.

On the 30th of September, we were ready with a plan. And it was ambitious. The idea was to bring children from a particular school each day at 10 am. Thereafter, have a small session on understanding the forest, followed by the movie Nagarhole in Kannada. This was to be followed by a lunch and then a safari into the forest. The forest department wholeheartedly supported the idea and gave us permissions.

From the first till the completion of the week, we managed to bring an amazing 600 plus children, almost more than a hundred each day and have fun filled sessions. We covered the villages of Belthur, Karapura, Gundathur, Udboor, Magge and Mallali besides the tribal hadis in and around the camp.

It was a learning experience in an unique way. Besides the enthusiasm of the children which is apparent, it was quite clear that our staff had even greater fun. The gardeners volunteered, so did the naturalists, the electricians went for safaris with the kids and so did the housekeeping staff. It was fun and I am already looking forward to the next year, or maybe the next event where we can involve children again.

Review in the Sanctuary Magazine

2010-08-27T19:23:00.001+05:30

My ideas

2010-08-17T10:01:00.003+05:30

My ideas about life were vague, my thoughts and acts were frayed.
There is nothing I could do, except fall in love with you.

Seen life, but learnt nothing yet.
Felt it, but missed the queue. I am truly on a wild road now.

Ode to GKW

2010-08-15T10:32:00.004+05:30

I stood at the edge
Waiting to be engulfed
I waited for the moment to come,
When I could be nothing and yet be all done.

I felt the clouds pass by,
I felt the air rush.
I heard strangers all around me,
and heard God whisper by.

I heard the power of music,
I saw her laughing loud.
The Jogin was all there for me,
To touch my destiny.......

I waited, waited for a chance,
A chance today to die.
But suddenly the winds died,
ANd said, Lead a New Life.....

Vegetables at Kabini

2010-07-21T15:07:00.002+05:30

Soon guests coming to Kabini will be offered organic vegetables as part of the normal menu. We have started or own vegetable garden and have laid forty plots initially. These plots by themselves, have the capacity to reduce our dependency on long distance purchases that we are forced to do.

Am awaiting the first crop

One more sad day, but who cares

2010-06-28T13:20:00.002+05:30

Another elephant captured at Dubare last year has died this morning. Lambodra, poor fellow never knew what he got into when he was captured grazing last year. He got into the company of men who took so-called care of him and left him to his death.

Sad day, but who cares. Three of them have already died and they were all captured in the prime of their lives. Wastage of Life, which courts should man approach to address these issues.

We are just too complacent now. All of us...

Every............

2010-06-22T22:22:00.001+05:30

Every decision you make -- every decision that you make every second -- is not a decision about what to do, it is a decision about who you are. Every act is an act of self-definition. --Neale Donald Walsch

A review of Wild Vistas

2010-06-21T13:18:00.006+05:30

http://beta.thehindu.com/arts/books/article450940.ece

Wild Vistas was reviewed recently for the Hindu. Check it out here......

Poachers and Tourism

2010-06-16T20:49:00.003+05:30

I found out today that somewhere tourism does have its super effects on conservation.

When poachers are cutting apart a gaur, packing it neatly into packets, separating the leg pieces and carefully skinning it as well, how does tourism come into place.

Tourism scares these poachers away and ethically informs the authorities who take prompt action, ensuring that something good comes out of that innocent gaur.

Tourism keeps illegal fishermen at bay, forcing them to stay away from forest regions as they are scared of information given to the officials.

Today, I witnessed tourism actively protecting my beloved Nagarhole.

Warren Anderson and Us

2010-06-14T14:02:00.000+05:30

Both suck

Without numbers for sometime

2010-06-02T15:30:00.002+05:30

With my cell phone blacked out and me having lost all the assorted numbers, some of which had needlessly occupied space in my phone anyways, it sure is special.

The experiment, if it were to be called so, confirms that one does not need too many numbers and I have got along well since that day, more than three weeks ago.

Neither is the absence of membership to an assorted list of organisations and social networking sites done any harm to my breathing pattern and best of all, the removal of the number of visitors tab from the blog is a social walking past the tense moments one would have upon clicking on that tab.

A Lousy feel for an afternoon

2010-06-02T12:46:00.000+05:30

Forests for whom?

2010-05-15T17:17:00.000+05:30

Forests mean many things to many people. It is a source for food for some, a supply of medicinal plants for others and a valuable economic source of timber for many. All these are traditional demands that have been met by the forest since life began on earth. There were infact few forests that did not usher benefits to either man or animal. This role of the forest as a mutual agent of assistance is acknowledged by millions. For them, forests are the omnipresent philanthropist.

However, over the past decades, the importance of the forests has been acknowledged by people who receive remote benefits from them. The person sitting in a large urban town is now forced to pay higher amounts for that piece of furniture that was a fraction of the price some years back as compared to the present. He, now realises that forests need to be conserved, for whom is the question. Is it to be conserved for the benfit of him and many like him in distant markets or is it to be conserved for the people who live adjacent and subsist on them, or is to be conserved to protect the invaluable wild flora and fauna that are critical for the health of the ecosystem.

These issues are related to the ownership, use and management of the forests. How will the resources be utilized and by whom, for whom. The state representing many interests including that of the demand of the distant consumer has larger concerns in mind and often brings about changes in forest to meet its goal. Dams, logging, mining and large projects are undertaken to meet larger goals, goals that permenantly alter these areas and their ecology. However, it is difficult to ignore the communities who have traditionally lived by the forests and accessed it for their livelihood. Can they be made partners in forest management and continue to protect its resources, undertaking the least damaging activity of NTFP collection, rather than large scale mutilation of forest regions.

Recent advocates of conservation promote exclusion of forest dependent people from their homes for the large interest of the society as opposed to groups who actively promote encroachment of displaced groups claiming that these forests are their own.

There is a mind numbing variety of choices, people have made to themselves, forgetting that the forest inherently comprises of three elements – flora or trees and shrubs, fauna or animals and man. These three are intrinsic to the very identity of the forest. But in the ideological divide between so many interest groups, it is always easy to focus on the importance of either these three components, though always in conjunction with the needs of the consumer dependent upon the forest for its timber. Lost in the noise is the increasingly less importance being paid to the original concept of the forest that comprise flora, fauna and people. Through an isolated window, focus on either of the three is likely to lead to an immediate collapse of the forest ecosystem, forest will then cease to exist as it does now and remain but a mere plantation or a forest village or a zoo or a research station.

Letting Go

2010-05-14T17:08:00.002+05:30

We must let go of the life we have planned, so that we may take in the surprises that it has to offer. Read this quote in a very good website that sends in daily quotes, one of the many internet based entrepreneurs who work hard to make this earth a better place. And though they are subject to abuse often as spammers and junkers, it all depends upon his perspective and not mine. He feels good sharing, so be it. Why should I be the one to debunk someone's well thought out effort.

But letting go is so much the more difficult thing to do for all of us, we hardly find many who do that. We infact live so much by choice and by planning that living ceases to breathe as it was conceived to be. Even the fact that often, we let go as per a plan. The world thinks that we have indeed let go and are now random elements, but so many of us do that in a planned manner. Leaving a cushy job and joining a meaningful one, so very sacrificial - yet so often planned.

Real let-go people are few and far between. There hardly would be a handful in a packed hall. But then there are so many of us who try hard to get to a state where letting go becomes a pleasure and not a deathly venture, lets see how we start our letting go.

Lost all contacts on my phone...... Clean and Empty my sim.......

2010-04-30T18:53:00.001+05:30

Papa John and his memory lives

2010-04-26T15:41:00.003+05:30

Six hours after Papa John passed away, I for one, have just been witness to a sea of humanity who have come to pay their last respects to a man who touched their lives in many ways. Villagers, policemen, politicians, officers, guests, friends - all are coming in.

I have been blessed in the small way that he ensured that he only gave and never took.

Papa John, Love You

Life and Times of Col. John Felix Wakefield

2010-04-23T07:49:00.003+05:30

It is not very often that we come across
people who have seen the world through a myriad
window with experiences that transcend time.
Colonel John Felix Wakefield who is now
ninety five year old has done all this over his
long and chequered career. He has been a hunter
and a soldier, also being a diplomat and working
in a corporate venture for some time.
But what makes him so special in the
conservation history of India is that he has been
passionately involved in ecotourism based
conservation over the past 30 years. For the past
twenty five years, he has been on the board of
JLR. He is the Brand Ambassador of JLR, still
hard at work in his second home Kabini.
While sitting over an evening drink with
Colonel Wakefield, one is struck by the vast
amount of historical wealth he possesses.
His modest living room in the Viceroy Lodge at the
Kabini River Lodge is stacked with books of all
sorts – from wildlife to travels to cookery show
tips. He also has an assortment of knick-knacks,
ranging from a singing fish to a highly rusted
Swiss army knife. Above all, he has an envious
array of liquor, found nowhere else but in his
den.
He needs it all for his guests ranging from
Hollywood legends to high profile businessmen.
Amazingly, he disappoints no one and even an
unknown visitor is treated to his warmth and
welcoming attitude to which there is no parallel.
At his age, he oversees that state of affairs
of the largest property of JLR and does it with
élan. Every evening, the office boy comes over
with the guest list for the next day. After each
safari, the naturalists describe in detail the
sightings of the evening. The manager constantly
takes guidance from him. The Colonel is the axle
around which the professional ethic of Kabini
revolves.
Papa John as the world calls him is a living
encyclopedia who shares his wide experience
with all.

He is not well today and has just returned from a long stay at a hospital.

Though the best thing is that inspite of whatever ailments that might have affected him, he is still very healthy up in his head. These next few days should see him getting better.

Off

2010-04-21T19:11:00.003+05:30

Off orkut for now and ever... And also logging off chat....... The buzz thing also disabled...... Never was on facebook or twitter, neither on all the rest of these great tech sites..

Wonder what will happen now.......... Was feeling that they take off a lot of us, maybe not financially but make me almost dependent... Just have the gmail account and my blog which is also the matter of much deliberations......

Less written, the better

2010-04-08T13:00:00.002+05:30

Too late to comment on this perhaps - but the tale of tweeting and now buzzing and several more innovations on the net have changed the communication happens.

Or Have They...

Have they not just picked up the need of us to constantly communicate, to gratify the self and to let the world know. After all, even the biggest boss feels good when he sees his name on the print.

Tweeting, though I haven't had an account on it and in all likelihood would prefer buzz over it, caught on this concept pretty well. And also perhaps, on the fact that people are seriously allergic to writing...most including writers don't do it easy. So what better than to just provide an option that makes us happy and communicate with a few lines.

It is a fad for sure, how long it thrives, I do not know, but will be a valuable data for mankind till we find the next killer app.

Only my blog suffers

2010-03-10T07:18:00.002+05:30

I did have a lot of work these past few months.

Yet, that cannot be an excuse.

The day writing becomes a task, I should give up blogging....

The book is scheduled to go into print from Monday the 15th of March. By 24th, we should have atleast 500 copies in our hand.

Am off to (for now) Chandigarh, Amritsar,Dharamsala, Mathura, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Nagpur.

Loads of interesting things about to happen

Book talks

2010-01-26T08:08:00.001+05:30

WILD VISTAS
- JOURNEYS WITH JUNGLE LODGES AND RESORTS..

is the almost pucca title of the book...... Last two days of suggestions baki

I want to see 3 idiots again

2010-01-11T19:32:00.002+05:30

Seriously, Hirani may be smart, VVC may be savvy, Aamir may be perceptive, Madhavan may be wise, Joshi may be a talent, Kareena may have matured, the music may be simple, the conclusion may in Pangong Tso at 5000 metres, the baby scene may have been superbly executed without being gross, the principal may be not as perfect as the doc in Munnabhai as we have already seen the tall man in a seminal role, zoobi doobi may be too romantic for the grown up generation of ours, Chethan may be equally good and as much hurt - - - - - - - - - - -Down there - this movie is phenomenal, one of the very rare ones that will pull most of us back to the hall again.

My book breathed fresh that evening as I saw 3 idiots along with Sadiq.

Dubare - FINAL DRAFT FOR BOOK - ANY COMMENTS

2010-01-09T15:46:00.004+05:30

As design and publishing for the book starts, I am putting excerpts from the book. Please suggest what needs to be done wherever cracks appear. Also, please remember that there are a lot of photos revolving around the text - 15 photos at least for each section

THIS ONE IS ON DUBARE ELEPHANT CAMP

The entrance to the camp is dramatic and moreso in dusk. Wearing life jackets and positioned cautiously on a boat that can accommodate not more than a dozen people - that is all that stands between them and an imminent dip in the Cauvery, one looks out into the river. The boatman pushed the boat away using a bamboo pole and soon the scene changes as large trees loom in the distance. The boisterous crowd is left behind as silence takes over and you are at the middle of the river looking at the Dubare Elephant Camp. The forest stands tall as you disembark from the boat and strain your neck to look what’s in the ahead. Giant trees, the likes of which is seen usually in television shows in faraway lands stretch upwards, kissing the skies almost. Rosewood, lagerstroemia, teak, flame of the forest, wild mangoes and many more species is all that stands in front of you and an enviable holiday that has few parallels.

For in Dubare reserve forest, just north of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, in the Coorg district, lies several hidden gems that truly invoke the beauty of the forest in the eye of the viewer. Yes, more than the famed tiger or the elusive leopard or the giant that is the elephant, it is the forest that takes centre stage by its diversity and sheer beauty and holds its ground at Dubare. That and the fact that a person can touch and be one with the elephants in a natural setting without fear of being trampled over by some unruly giant is perhaps the singular thrill of this unique experiment of the Forest Department of Karnataka and Jungle Lodges and Resorts.

Receptive to new ideas

The forest department of Karnataka maintains elephant camps across the state for a variety of purpose. Elephants were traditionally an instrumental part of the logging business and camps were set in various parts of the state to enable smooth operations of these activities. Usually, located deep inside forests, these camps provided livelihood to indigenous communities, besides engaging in timber logging. However, with the stoppage of these logging activities across the state, there were few options for these elephants. It became increasingly difficult to offer work to the pachyderms.

The forest department and Jungle Lodges and Resorts decided to cooperate in a unique project towards a tourism based management of the Dubare Elephant Camp. The genesis of the resort was in a simple suggestion that the existing elephant training camp be put to some better use as their utility for timber cutting and logging was not practical in the current regime and most of them had no work. It was suggested to transform their activities and present it as a tourism activity. This would help generate income from tourism and also keep the elephants busy. The camp was located close to the tourist hub of Madikeri within the district of Coorg and this favourable location made it ideal for such an initiative as there was a captive tourist who already visited Coorg as part of his holidays and would love to include Dubare in his or her itinerary.

Thus, Dubare became a prime location for this experiment and soon, activities were designed around the elephant interaction programme. There were many elephants who have been either kept in captivity or domesticated over the years. There are some who have begun their natural lives at the camp and many who were captured at a relatively young age, all being trained by the mahouts. It provided a rare opportunity for the common man to feel and touch the elephants at a close quarter. This camp thus served the purpose of promoting elephant based tourism, educating tourists on elephant management and also promote the message of the need for a peaceful coexistence between man and animal. It is spread over a vast area for free roaming with the Dubare reserve forest behind the camp.

About Dubare

Dubare is situated in the district of Coorg. Coorg is a vast mountainous region with three distinct taluks, Somwarpet, Madikeri and Virajpet, covering an area of more than four thousand square kilometers with about five and half lakh people. Density of just 191 people per square kilometer makes it one of the most sparsely populated regions in South India, with few urban concentrations and the sweet aroma of coffee and spices pervading the senses everywhere.

Dubare lies on the banks of the Cauvery, about eighty kilometers from her source at Talacauvery. Located aptly so, as the Cauvery is the singular presence that occupies the landscape in the district of Coorg. The entire hilly country of Coorg is devoted to the river for the bounty she provides and much of the popular lore in Coorg is usually associated with the great river Cauvery. Besides, coffee also defines Coorg along with the fragrance of pepper, rubber and other spices also grown alongside the major crop of coffee. People who visit Dubare get an opportunity to see the flourishing agricultural practices of the people who grow a diverse variety of rice on the valley floors and plantation crops in the hills, some of the bounties of the river and her tributaries.

A beautiful water-locked forest, Dubare is located at the eastern end of the district at an average altitude of around 900 metres. As we drive from Dubare to the west, the altitude rises sharply with the Tadiandamol peaking at 1750 metres and Madikeri lying at an average altitude of more than 1400 metres above sea level. The Western Ghats is at its prettiest here and the rains exceed in its more than 4000 mm at various places, much of the water drains into the Cauvery providing Dubare with an intensely lush riverside vegetation and the sight of the river at its brim several times a year.

The cabins are located close to the elephant camp, next to the flowing Cauvery and are simple in nature, snugly fitting into the surroundings. Woodwork done to taste ensures that one feels part of nature while gazing at the setting sun over the Cauvery. A wonderful idyllic location, the Dubare Elephant camp is much loved by nature lovers throughout the country. Although, it was set up relatively recently, it has acquired a special status as an unexpectedly unique holiday.

Home to Giants

The giants have a place of pride at Dubare. Giant trees, a larger than life riverine landscape and above all the gigantic elephants. Fuelled by a high rainfall regime, the river often brims over and the trees grow to a height uncommon to large parts of India. The elephants here too form an integral part of the forest. This is the land where the giant beast roams with abandon, where the smell of coffee pervades all senses and where an unique experiment of introducing the general population to the experience of handling real elephants has worked wonders and brought thousands closer to nature and at the same time aided in conservation by imbibing valuable education to the common man.

Elephants were once the prime free ranging animals of the Indian forests and the giants at Dubare used to roam as far as Mudumalai in Tamil Nadu and till Hassan and northwards in Karnataka. Man would be perhaps living close to where the giants ranged but were adept on dealing with the issues that arose with having such giant neighbours. But they had taken smartly to the presence of these giants, cultivating unattractive crops in the foraging area and thus discouraging them from ravaging the crops. Times have changed since then and the elephants have been subjected to a much lesser natural roaming area, making it difficult for them to maintain their high intake of diet and causing distress to farmers who find it convenient to protect crops by artificial methods rather than cultivating lesser attractive crops for the elephants.

Dubare being located in a prime forest belt was home to one of the many camps and is an important refuge for the elephants as the river forms a natural barrier and protects the elephant from the pangs of development. Crossing the river, one is witness to the deeply eroded water front, as a result of the daily passage of the elephants for their vigorous bath. This eroded river front is also commonly seen in natural forests as elephants usually have a few strategic points where they come to quench their thirst, resulting in eroding the front. This assists other smaller animals as well and soon becomes a highway in the forest. It is here at the Dubare Elephant Camp, where JLR and the Forest Department of Karnataka together conduct the Interaction Programme.

The programme which begins early each day is open to casual visitors and guests staying at the nearby wilderness resort managed by JLR. As in other JLR camps, naturalists interact with guests, especially trained to talk about elephant behavior, and take them around the facility.

The programme begins with vigorous bathing of the giants. The naturalist takes the guest to the bathing area and along with the mahout, guides guests to start the bathing. It is a sight, watching the mahout ambling down the steep slope on the elephant, a slope that most humans can’t maneuver. The mahout, in a time tested sequence stops near the water and gently coaxes the elephant inside the river. The elephant, perhaps tired after a long night foraging in the forest drinks the water to his heart’s content. An apparently nonchalant mahout meanwhile rolls a pack of tobacco and deftly places the roll in a corner of his mouth. Just as suddenly as we all are watching the proceedings; the mahout barks a harsh order. The elephant agitated knows what to do next, yet it resists. The mahout shouts at him, the crowd waits in expectancy, the elephant trumpets loud, some guests slip in the confusion as they try to move further away from the giant and then as suddenly as the commotion started, it stops. The elephant decides that it is time and with a slow motion inspired move from the movies, gently rolls into the water, setting a mini tsunami in its wake, drenching unwary guests standing at one corner. The mahout chuckles at this and decides to go about his business with an air of someone who knows his business well. Perhaps, there is none in the world who performs his work with as much craft as these mahouts, engaged in similar work for the past few centuries, perhaps.

A rough stone in his hand, the mahout vigorously rubs the elephant who is content and placid for now. Once in a while, the mahout looks up and invites the reluctant guests to try and bathe the giant. Guests, several of them unacquainted to the giant and perhaps so close to an elephant for the first time in their lives, gingerly places his hand on the giant’s vast backside and immediately recoils. A brief grin and he exclaims with wonder that the skin is so rough and immediately starts back at the elephant and rubs hard. The hairs on the elephant’s body are on alert and it is never easy to bathe the elephant as the prickly nature of the hair makes the soft hands of us humans seem fragile in comparison. But the guest keeps on trying and after a few seconds, perhaps tired, asks his young children. Apprehensive and eager at once, the children walk up to the elephant and then in a frolic abandon rub the giant, who has perhaps been sleeping through all the commotion. Now, as a few minutes have passed, all the other bystanders, egged on by their respective mothers and wives and brothers and husbands join in the bathing procedure. By nine a.m., all guests are totally drenched, slightly muddy and immensely happy - a smile in all the faces. Tourism perhaps at its best.

In another few minutes, as the other elephants join the first batch, the naturalists take the guest to the next site , a feeding place. But a final surprise awaits the guests as the scrubbed up elephant, struggles and gets up causing another tsunami and drenching a few more people. As the mahout calls all the guests to be blessed, in a secret signal called dalle, the elephant raises his trumpet, drenches everyone and majestically moves for his food.

An old building that is the kitchen for the elephants is located at one corner of the camp, where mahouts prepare breakfast using a mixture of ragi, jaggery, horse gram and salt. As there are more than twenty two elephants at any given time, it is but confirmed that breakfast takes a long time. Horse gram is boiled for up to five hours and then made into a paste. On the other hand, ragi powder is mixed with water and a little salt and cooked. Finally, the gram and ragi is mixed and made into a ball of about two kilogrammes each and fed to the elephants. The preparation is cooled and then rolled into a ball which can be easily put into the giant’s mouth. The naturalist explains details of an elephant’s daily requirement and invites a few guests to try feeding the elephant. It is an exhilarating experience dropping the huge ball into his mouth and watching him gulp up the content in the blink of an eye.

Feeding done, the guide takes the guest for a brief session about elephant ecology and behavior. He speaks of the role of the mahout in ensuring that the elephant is kept in a good state. He also speaks of the various elephant commands and opens up the fascinating world of these giants to guests from all across the world.

Management of the camp is a serious task and the forest department ensures that the elephants are well taken care off. A roster is maintained for all the elephants with full details such as name, lineage, sex, age and so mentioned in it. This information is frequently shared with the guests for their education. Besides, special care is provided for the mahouts who belong to the Jenu Kuruba group. These mahouts and their helpers, also known as kavadis, spend their entire life with an elephant and are known to consider the elephants as their family members and not just any animal. Experts at the art of managing the elephants, they are trained in this form by their fathers and soon they pass it to their children. It is a sight to behold, when you see the mahout talking to his son in the camp, and both the father and the son whispering messages into the giant ears and lovingly watch the elephant trumpet loud. This is the world of the elephant and the mahouts of Dubare

More than Elephants

A friend once said that if all the camps of JLR were to be compared, Dubare would stand out, not for something very singular in its appeal but for the aggregate of experiences that the camp provides. A serene location, lots of elephants to interact with at close quarters, some beautiful patches of ancient bamboo forests and a small quaint village of tribals or indigenous people who make these forests their home. Dubare thus, whilst set up as an elephant camp is a wonderful location matched perhaps by the very best nature camps in the world.

It is small with several pleasurable surprises. While walking silently one evening, we were amazed to see some shadows on a tree in the distance. Is it an extra surprise that Dubare is going to throw at us. We walked closer and Uday the guide told us to keep quiet. Silently, we sat on the banks of the Cauvery and were witness to a unique incident that shall remain etched forever on our memory. A number of painted storks were appearing in view. Some storks had perched on a tree while others were circling in the sky. One by one as if on cue, a bird would appear on the horizon and start circling the lone tree, circumventing the entire breadth of the river in a single swoop. The circles would reduce in size and slowly, the bird would swoop next to where we were sitting and almost as if inviting us to its abode, would in a single soundless swoop, perch on its next. The giant circle it made in the sky made us recollect the endless circles we saw at the camp. The circles that we saw in the forest today were no ordinary circles. Engraved on soft mud, they were a reminder of the precious wealth that is being lost in the nation now, even as we breathe. These precious circles in the forest, that was once a common sight is reducing by the day. These circles made by those giant pachyderms who roamed free once, their giant legs, ungainly in sight but soft and soundless as if they walk on sand. These are the circles made by our venerable elephants, circles that reduce in numbers even as we breathe in the air that is ours.

Book talks

2010-01-02T07:25:00.000+05:30

Not looking good.... with cranky advisors and crowded duty hours.......

Book talks

2009-12-24T10:01:00.002+05:30

The quotation for the book on tourism through JLRs eyes has been agreed and the dates for the launch are on the 11th of February or the next two days.

That means that this is one of the rare projects in India which has actually been preponed and that by 4-5 months. This also means that in the hurry to complete the entire 224 pages of texts and photos, one dosen't screw up this effort.

So while scares are there, light shines as well.

11 February by 10 am with most text and photos in places and design on as I write this.... hope abounds

Book talks

2009-12-17T11:31:00.002+05:30

As you know, we are doing a book about tourism and JLRs role in promoting ectourism. I am working like anything to ensure that the book comes out by the 11 of February, on the occasion of a conference being planned by us.

I have titled the book, ' INTO THE WILD' but as we know, there is already a movie by that name. It is not clear if we can use this title.

I would be deeply grateful if a suggestion come from you for the title of the book....

Can you think of something??????

Some of the Text Contributions for the Book

2009-12-06T18:45:00.002+05:30

It is expected that a few people will contribute to the book by way of text

- Geetha Nayak: ecological interactions
- Hugh G. - About Colonel
- Coleen G. - About growth of tourism
- B. Sahgal - Tourism and Conservation
- R. Srinivasan - Conservation Photography and Sustainable Tourism
- K. Srinivasan - Education
- A. Varsha - About Bandipur
- G. Cavale - About K Gudi
- Sachin B - Policy of Ecotourism

Photographers for the Book - Count is on

2009-12-05T07:58:00.004+05:30

The following people have agreed to finally contribute for the book with their photos, while some are yet to send in confirmations -

- Giri Cavale
- Vijay Mohan Raj
- Mr. Jayakumar
- Amoghavarsha
- Vinay S K
- Vishwanath
- Sudheer
- Chethan Rangaraj
- Sachin Patil
- Afsar
- S Girish
- Vivek Dhage

Those who are likely to give include -

- Ramki
- Karthikeyan
- Nagendra
- Jayanth Sharma
- Vijay Ranjan Sir
- Bhoj Raj
- S Baswaraju
- S Shivaram
- Ashish
- Avinash
- Sunil Maya

While there are others, who may or may not give.... the list is long but the real test will be when the final draft is ready and we are missing a photo and where to source it then....

Article in Deccan herald

2009-12-01T08:08:00.001+05:30

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/38671/a-walk-nilgiris.html

Extremely busy with the book that we are doing at JLR. It is a coffee table on our 30 years and the deadline is nearing.... Please contribute ideas

2009-11-29T09:11:00.003+05:30

My own roots

2009-11-11T11:21:00.001+05:30

Left wondering at an issue of Outlook, I began thinking abut my own roots, as modest as they may be. And I have been left in a state of confusion about my origins. I was born in Bengal to Punjabi parents who all the while that I was growing up have kept their Punjabi nuances high but are unmistakeably Bengali in several of their actions. I have lived in Bengal, Delhi, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Kotagiri, Dubare and many more places that have had a considerable impact on my present. They could have been those memorable days in Dharamsala with Vaibhav and his mother or Vagator when life was supercool and we were the champions of the world.

So where is my home and what constitutes what I call as my home. Okay, when I close my eyes like in the movies, I see Bengal.... but Bengal of my limited childhood vision... those games at the river, cycling and that search for the unknown that must have led so many young lives to their deaths across the globe. That is the Bengal that I remember. I grew up there at least till I was sixteen years old and fervently believe that what I am now is because of those days. But my Bengal was different from the Bengal that outsiders know. We were faraway from the hustle and bustle of city life, from the intellectual capital that is Calcutta, even a small town was big, living as we were in the wild, in the coalfields of the Asansol belt. That was my Bengal and it was a cocoon that we stayed in. And that is what I return to each year. Perhaps, it is the reason for me persuading my parents not to avail their house allowance and shift to their apartment in Asansol but continue staying in the company house that the family has been living in for several decades now. That is what stays behind, those forays here and there without fear of policing, the fact that friends were all several hours away and walking back home each day. These are what my thoughts about Bengal is and this what I call my home.

Delhi was never my home and cannot be so in future. Infact, I dread the day that I will work in Delhi and dread my memories there. But Punjab has always been my home. Like an NRI returning to India, I was glad when I went to college in Chandigarh. It was a personal homecoming and I took to it like I never stayed anywhere else before. The three years in Chandigarh compels me to acknowledge that Chandigarh and again not Punjab is my true home. But will I ever stay there, in the city. Difficult question but yes at the end of the day, I might return to Bengal to live out those days when looking out of the balcony will be my serious preoccupation.

That brings my thoughts to Kotagiri.... Kotagiri where ???? is what most friends still ask me. But Kotagiri is where my heart settled and my body aspires to stay. I have internalized the place to such an extent that presently when people ask me about my roots, my first answer says Kotagiri.... you know Kotagiri near Ooty, then my mouth blurts out that I am a Punjabi and not a Tamil, so actually I am from Punjab. Finally, it is with a grudging nod that I mention that my actual home is Bengal.

So where am I from, from the hills where I have stayed for the first four years of my professional life, from the humid plains of Asansol where I learned what home was or from the picturesque foothills of Chandigarh where I had the time of my life.....

I cannot really answer this perplexing question but the more I see the world around me and the more I rote the phrase that when in Rome, be a Roman....... I realize that home is all that, it is in fact when all all three places are put in a mixer and the resultant is what home is..... Roots are supposed to spread wide, isn't it...

Of Great Lakes in Big Cities and small Towns

2009-11-10T10:04:00.000+05:30

Of the wide expanse of land of what we call India, there exist several pearls lying strewn about. Small ponds, big lakes, huge wetlands and many more. They are found everywhere and in a bygone era, must have covered the length of the country. They are found in dry deserts and moist latitudes and in a sense convey the spirit of diversity that marks out India.

There are the millions of pukurs in Bengal, as important an identity to the Bengali ethos as its rasgulla. These pukurs are small ponds that serve as the lifeline of the Bengali village. Bathing, washing utensils, a playground for children and ducks alike – pukurs are there during the year. How they manage to be so full of water during the entire year is possibly due to the high water table of the state.

As we travel westwards from Bengal, pukurs change in character. Where there were several as the eye met, the numbers decrease and the size starts increasing and by the time, we reach the capital, these ponds become all too infrequent and mostly dry during the year. The character changes but traditional societies always have had the lakes that they call their own in their villages.

Then there are the giants amongst lakes, Chilika in Orissa, Tso Moriri in Ladakh, Bada talab in Bhopal and Sukhna amongst others. These are society creators and you find cultures developing from within them. Chilika supports hundreds of thousands of artisans, farmers, fishermen and tourism activities while also performing her duties as that of a normal lake’s roles and responsibilities. Tso Moriri is a giant lake on the Changtang plateau of Ladakh and houses a diversity of animals that make the lake their breeding grounds. Bada talab is a unique wonder that was created several centuries ago by a strong willed ruler and changed the face of Bhopal forever. For any person who visits the town, the overbearing legacy of the gas tragedy fades away with a view of the lake and one sees Bhopal in all its majesty. That is what the lake does to you and a visit to Bhopal is worth a mention, if only you have to travel to have a glimpse of the lake. Sukhna in Chandigarh has a unique identity in the town of Chandigarh. It is popular as a picnic place, as a jogging track but also for many as an unique location that is at the foothills of the Shivaliks and provides an awe inspiring view of the Kasauli hills. There is a popular legend in the Sukhna region. During some evenings of the year, the rising moon looks like a forest fire and alternatively as a fading sun. His illusion can go for several minutes and unless encouraged by your friend to look carefully, you can leave for home assuming that it was indeed the sun at seven thirty in the evening. Sukhna exudes a carefully manicured magic that though man made yet, is identified with the soul of Chandigarh, itself a man made wonder.

Then there are the dams. Several of these temples of modern India may not have served their original purpose and infact have contributed to wide scale destruction of habitat and natural flora and fauna. However, over several years, the regions adjoining these large dams in Kabini, Bhavani, Totladoh, Periyar, Tungabhadra, Hirakud, Supa, Stanley, Harangi, Bommanhalli, Linganmakki, Nagarjunasagar have recovered to a large extent and have become perennial source of water to animals ad birds. These lakes, if they can be called so, form beautiful landscapes and many are now being used as popular tourism sites. These lakes have a charm that is theirs. Still waters and plenty and old tree stumps exist in abundance providing a nesting pot for many a bird. Cormorants and storks compete for space with darters and terns, creating a vivid society that is ever busy in their zeal for food and space. These dam lakes, if the initial destruction is to be overlooked, are modern temples of wildlife and efforts should be taken to prevent any new developments in these sites.

Then, the wondrous wetlands. Small and big, damned or free flowing, deep and shallow are ancient natural systems for storing and releasing water, much before engineers came in with their degrees and decided something must be done with these wildernesses and began the process of over development.

Walking on the Beach - Two smart men

2009-11-04T16:32:00.001+05:30

About Kabini in the Hindu

2009-10-29T16:22:00.000+05:30

http://www.hindu.com/mp/2009/10/24/stories/2009102450520600.htm

Sid - Two months and eleven days old

2009-10-26T12:08:00.000+05:30

My writing on the blog is going to reduce for a while

2009-10-12T19:44:00.000+05:30

When your computer crashes

2009-10-03T16:33:00.003+05:30

It always is the same story. We assume that the deluge won't hit us, nor the next war, nor the plane, nor the virus.

Well, my machine has been hit by a virus that has all but wiped away each living file in my machine.

Wonder what will happen now. A person is sitting in front of me now and trying to make sense of the laptop. All that he says is that it can be done and it can be repaired and it is fine. But I am a little worried.

Two lessons - Back up your data, either on the net or through a hard drive
- Update your antiviruses...

The 50 Most Inspiring Travel Quotes Of All Time

2009-09-28T15:22:00.002+05:30

1.“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain

2.“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”–St. Augustine

3.“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.”–Robert Louis Stevenson

4. “The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” –Samuel Johnson

5. “All the pathos and irony of leaving one’s youth behind is thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel: one knows that the first joy can never be recovered, and the wise traveler learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time.” –Paul Fussell

6. “Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” –Jack Kerouac

7. “He who does not travel does not know the value of men.” – Moorish proverb

8. “People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.” – Dagobert D. Runes

9. “A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” –John Steinbeck

10. “No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” –Lin Yutang

11. “Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty-his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.” –Aldous Huxley

12. “All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.” –Samuel Johnson

13. “For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” –Robert Louis Stevenson

14. “Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” –Cesare Pavese

15. “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” –Miller

16″A traveler without observation is a bird without wings.” –Moslih Eddin Saadi

17. “When we get out of the glass bottle of our ego and when we escape like the squirrels in the cage of our personality and get into the forest again, we shall shiver with cold and fright. But things will happen to us so that we don’t know ourselves. Cool, unlying life will rush in.” – D. H. Lawrence

18. “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” – Freya Stark

19. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Twain

20. “Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard

[19] 21. “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber

22. “We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – [20] Jawaharial Nehru

23. “Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” – [21] Paul Theroux

24. “To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – [22] Bill Bryson

25. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” – [23] Ralph Waldo Emerson

26. “Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by.” – [24] Robert Frost

27. “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – [25] Lao Tzu

28. “There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.” – [26] Charles Dudley Warner

29. “A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” – [25] Lao Tzu

30. “If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” – [27] James Michener

31. “The journey not the arrival matters.” – [28] T. S. Eliot

32. “A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – [29] Tim Cahill

33. “I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” – Mark Twain

34. “Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quiestest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” – [31] Pat Conroy

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
35. “Not all those who wander are lost.” – [32] J. R. R. Tolkien

36. “Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” – [33] Benjamin Disraeli

37. “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” – [34] Maya Angelou

38. “Too often travel, instead of broadening the mind, merely lengthens the conversation.” – [35] Elizabeth Drew

39. “Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe”……[36] Anatole France

40. “Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” – [37] Seneca

41. “What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do – especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.” – [38] William Least Heat Moon

42. “I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.” – [39] Lillian Smith

43. “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” – [10] Aldous Huxley

44. “Travel does what good novelists also do to the life of everyday, placing it like a picture in a frame or a gem in its setting, so that the intrinsic qualities are made more clear. Travel does this with the very stuff that everyday life is made of, giving to it the sharp contour and meaning of art.” – [40] Freya Stark

45. “The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” – [41] Rudyard Kipling

46. “Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.” – [21] Paul Theroux

47. “The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – [42] G. K. Chesterton

48. “When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” – [43] Clifton Fadiman

49. “A wise traveler never despises his own country.” – [44] Carlo Goldoni

50. “Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” – Mark Jenkins

My kids' arrived

2009-09-25T12:04:00.007+05:30

Born on 15th of August, 09, the kid is having a good time at his home in Kabini. His first few days have been quite a lesson for me, as he feels that the world is his loo and makes no qualms about it.

The goat was persistent!!!!!

2009-09-12T16:42:00.003+05:30

I often hear of goats and cows getting into a duel with humans, having had little or no provocation. And it has happened with me too, a few times. Especially the time, our cow had kicked me in the backside and I had sat scared on the parapet for an hour till mummy had come to rescue me. And then, I always did wonder why the cow did nothing to attack her or anyone else. Why was it always me.

Then there was this other time, when my sister had come teaching me how to cycle in the large ground. A monsoon afternoon with absolutely nobody in the vicinity encouraged me to take up cycling without fear of embarrassment. Little did I know that there was a greater danger, more than the cow that lurked?

There was a giant hanuman langur, I know the name now but in those days there was no differentiation between a langur and a macaque, they were all hanuman ji's avatars. So this fellow, was somewhere in the distance and didi was far away too. Then it happened, it charged and came running and to my eternal memory, I remember it coming straight at me and realising that what is happening ‘O god’. Didi by then, realised that something was wrong and she shouted too and some aunties also were sitting on a parapet who began shouting. But I was in the centre and everyone assumed that the monkey would bolt at the commotion but it came straight at me and hit me smack in the middle of my back, just below the neck on the spinal cord. Phew, I was flat in the ground and the money realising that I was down and out, just bolted. That was then, this is now. I was in 6000 feet above the sea, at the edge of the Nilgiris. There were very few people around for the men had gone for labour and the women in the village had gone to the forest for collection. There were two kids and some grandmas. I sauntered off to the edge of the village and found myself gaping at one of the wonders of nature, a sheer fall into Kerala, beautiful to say the least. mesmerized, I sat for almost two hours till it was time for the men to come back. It was also time for the cows and goats to come back and many of them were coming straight at me, from the forests below. There was mist all around and the animals were passing one by one. 15 minutes passed and I noticed a goat that was climbing about 50 metres from where I was, I noticed that it was looking at me and then it came towards me. Ohh, I remembered the monkey of my childhood and decided that I can handle this goat. And that is what happened. It came right next to me wile I was immobile and then all of a sudden, raising on its hind foot tried to dive bomb me with its horns. I evaded and laughed. The other goats stopped and watched. This one again came. I held it in mid-action, having caught its horns. It started agitating. It charged again and again, till unbelievingly my hands started aching with the solidness of the horns. Luckily, not once did it manage t hit me, but it went on and on. I grew tired, the goat too and it grew dark, when finally Bala came calling for me. I got up and walked away and saw the goat standing and watching. And then it charged again, but stopped in its tracks. Late night, we slept at Siva's house and the goat slept in the same room, for that is how they slept. I slept under its gaze and nothing much happened to me. Next morning, I left, saying bye more to the goat than to the tribals - they must have wondered what’s it in me with the goat than with them.

Now for some bad news

2009-09-10T17:05:00.002+05:30

Long time since bad news came the blog's way, but this one really sucks.

The whole of Nilgiris is being systematically pillaged and the rate of frequency has increased dramatically this last one year. And I am saying this based just on the visual impact the recent journey had on me.

The wildly swaying road that leads out of Ooty to Kotagiri and then to Coimbatore is being expanded and in the process, the only way out for our planners is to cut the hill side. Rampant removal of soil hurts like hell but what is worse that some old trees, possibly planted when the British arrived are being sent to the heavens to lay at rest with those very britishers who planted them. Huge ones, with thickness and girth unattainable in this world, beautifully designed have all been cut ruthlessly. It is too painful to express in mere words.

And all this has happened in under a year. Imagine what would happen in another two years. And why do the gods not punish these #$@#$@ offenders of nature, who care not a eyelid before ravaging her. The rampant tree cutting in Mysore plateau and this one in the Nilgiris makes me want to go back and start living in the isolation of M G road, where trees don't exist anymore.

The thrill of the Leopards

2009-09-04T16:08:00.011+05:30

A new life, new places and the memory of past

2009-09-04T12:49:00.005+05:30

Sitting after more than a year, it seems plausible that the way things contrive to happen tend to do so with a meaning to it. I worked for the first few years of working life at Keystone in the Nilgiris. Reaching Keystone was a momentous decision on its own, for I traveled far to reach here, with no sure grasp on what is likely to happen in the future. I landed here and it sure was a great experience.

I lived in the hills, way above the rest, frequently went to Mukurthi which is the abode of the gods, worked like mad - really hard at times, procastinating at times, but working nevertheless and then enjoying it to the brink. It was an experiential learning, the kind few others have in comparison and what I learnt most was from the place. The hills, forests, the people who live in these hills and forests. Traveling across these landscapes and sometimes to other countries as well, it was a lifetime of learning.

But learning teaches us to prepare ourselves for the next step in life, next step is not necessary an upward step.... but more than that.... it is a forward step... Stepping forward, I left eystone and those times behind. Often, when I am in doubt or in two minds, I look back and see how would I have responded. How would I have taken that step or not taken it. The bad decisions that I made, teach me to not repeat them or even if I do, refine the mistake and make it in a higher scale. This is what life teaches us. And this what my time in Keystone taught me.

Now, after a year or more, I am back in Kotagiri. I feel good at being here, it does feel like home, a home that was mine for four long years.... and from where I moved on.. to the backwaters of Kabini and the natural world of Jungle Lodges...... It would have been lovely to stay at Kotagiri till the end of this life but it is even lovelier that I am seeing new places, and in the hope that Keystone flourishes as it does. And I soak in the world. Kotagiri is now a memory of my past, as smooth as Chandigarh was, as sour as Delhi was and as exciting as Dubare was.

A passing thought

2009-08-30T22:19:00.004+05:30

Everybody loves culture

........................ but no one's interested in it

Will remain a topic to discuss,

........................ but rarely to work towards its gain

Culture remains this generation's emotional punching bag.

Ladakh Fluidity

2009-08-24T12:02:00.008+05:30

Walking in Ladakh, almost a year back, it was perhaps one of the most memorable visits, primarily as I had always wanted to go to Ladakh and when the opportunity came, it was god sent.

There were so many things for us to do, Karthik sir and me that we barely had time to rest. travelling from Hemis gompa one day to the Tso Moriri lake the other and then to Tso kar and Pangong Lake, it was an eventful 1o days. If there was a high point in the already memorable trip, it was surely the visit to Rumbak village, where we trekked up and met some fascinating Ladakhi people, had some great food and then trekked back with sudden energy. We visited a few other regions in the vicinity of the Hemis National Park and much of the ladakh was ours for the taking those few days.

Ganesh Puja

2009-08-23T13:18:00.002+05:30

It is infrequent to uplift a previous days' feeling of reluctance easily. Usually, thoughts linger and create an essence of doubt in a man's mind till the mind wavers and makes life tough for itself and the body.

However, almost suddenly, as if on cue, I was a part of one of the most memorable Ganesh Pujas, over the past many years. I was called upon by my staff to be a part of the puja proceedings this morning. Surprisingly, I was made the main devotee of the god and all pujas were done by me. Avoiding these pujas, not out of any other feeling other than letting someone take the honours, this was the first time that I sat through the entire puja... with the intent staff making sure that I lead the pujas.

And an amazing feeling it was. Honouring the god with a sequence of offerings ranging from milk, curd, coconuts, twigs of wild mango, ghee, rice, cashewnut and a sundry assortment of other items, interspersed with continuing puja all the while enlivened me. After the puja, the god and gowriamma were brought by us and installed in the main puja room.

Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, is worshipped as the supreme god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune. e is Ajam (unborn), he is Niraakaar (formless) and he is Nirvikalpa (attributeless). Ganeshji symbolises the consciousness which is omnipresent. Ganeshji is the lord of all the good qualities in us. So when we worship him, all the good qualities will blossom in us. He is also the lord of knowledge and wisdom.

It was with a delicate and subtle touch that the men decorated the god. Careful as if not to offend him, it was mesmerizing to say the least and the fact that I was standing and watching it all happen in front of me after years, years perhaps since leaving home and not being a regular of these pujas made me change my outlook today. An otherwise depressing day has just become a pleasant one, thanks to the devotion shown to the gods by our men here and men from all religions who were standing patiently till the obeisance got over.

Some Endemic Flora from my collections

2009-08-19T17:23:00.005+05:30

Leopard on the Tree

2009-08-19T15:25:00.001+05:30

Take Untake - H1N1

2009-08-17T13:50:00.004+05:30

Swine flu has done what few can. It has brought the country together again. As if the nation needs occasions to unite once in a while. The number of incidents that happen across the nation through the year, year in and year out, do manage to somehow aid the sapling of nationalism within us. Those frequent attacks by those clean shaven terrorists and the other tragedies - the list perhaps goes on as we can make it go.

Now, in this season of low rains and dramatic floods, of failing crops and rising prices, much of India is hooked to the scourge of Swine flu. And as there is no definitive way out of this virus, all reassurances by the so called well meaning TV channels seem to compound the threat of this particular disease.

How far the response system be able to counter the menace is there to be seen. At Kabini, where I live - there has been no visible fear of contagion but perhaps the village folks do not watch TV as much or perhaps they are stoic when it comes to crisis in their lives.

Illusions

2009-08-16T15:42:00.005+05:30

Aha, I waited for her a long time. Years passed perhaps, perhaps several years.

I could have waited a little more and still have loved her as much. But the longing was too hard to resist and I had to give in. To meet her and see how she looks. The longing was there.

Much of Melghat was a lost illusion, was an experience I felt would be there, but it wasn't to be.

And she watched him go ahead .....

2009-08-16T14:05:00.001+05:30

Strangely though, she seemed curious. Curious enough for her state of mind.

And though the tree was her able support, she could not thank the tree enough.

Perhaps, in a spurt of gratitude, she hugged the tree hard.

The itch stopped, but the elephant just destroyed an ancient palash. All for the sake of her scratch

People's participation as a way Forward

2009-08-16T11:25:00.005+05:30

An evening with the prince dhole

2009-08-14T16:44:00.008+05:30

The morning was warm. Warmer than the preceding days and we were nearing the end of our safari, when we came upon this friendly group of wild dogs - perhaps one of the most ferocious groups of predators that has set foot on earth.
They were in a friendly mood though, not friendly perhaps but nonchalant to our presence.

For almost an hour, we were held spellbound by this beautiful living being and especially the sentry at the head of the pack who was keen to showcase his best foot to us, sometimes coming really close to us. We left when we had to. But that morning when the dholes were not keen on hunting, but more on finding themselves a place to rest will find place in some corner of my memory of Kabini.

Adieu Dubare

2009-07-31T17:44:00.006+05:30

Dubare Jungle Lodges is perhaps one of the most unique places that I have been too in the last few years. Away from the crowd with the Cauvery river in its pristine best, it was my home for more than a year. A year that just went past, embedding rich memories into my conscious, likely perhaps to stay on till the body breathes hard.

Quaint as it is, the camp is full of surprises, for often the cobra comes into view and decides to strike up a conversation with a mortified guest. The wild elephants grazing peacefully might wish to spar with the jeep driver leaving the rest of us exhausted with its energetic charge. The kingfishers, of whom there are many, some residing next to the boat point, dive deep and pop up soon enough with usually not much in their beak and sing their rather pleasant song. There are also some very interesting painted storks, could be more than 20 individuals at the least, who stay faraway each day. But as dusk starts its advance,, these majestic birds come circling down the Cauvery and settle into that very favourite tree of theirs. ( Wish I could ever know why)

The occasional domestic elephants, especially Ekadanta has a habit of intruding unannounced into the camp with no specific interest, other than to damage some tree guards or bend the solar fence. Once, though, he did give me a whack when I went too near for comfort.

I have shifted recently to a new place and Dubare lingers on in my memory. It was a reminder of some very good times I had and some very good people that I met. Those very personal sittings on the river bank, almost each day of my life here was a memorable time. A time when I would not hear or see anything else and be lost in rather uncomplicated thoughts, maybe have a ginger tea also. It is always going to linger, this memory.

The safari was decent, especially when it rained a lot and the road became all slushy. The jeep would slide and skid and behave drunkenly. It would go on and on till the jeep stopped at the Amlakere temple and one would get down to pay obeisance to the devi and the lord. Driving in two feet of water is always a fun filled activity, perhaps.

The evenings, alone and silent, never dull for a moment, was what was looked forward too each day, day after day. Often, guests who would become friends would talk late into night and sometimes, it would be just me and nothing else, maybe a walk or two and some silence to fill the gaps.

One year is sufficient to build a relation with a place and long after times have passed, all that will remain of the place is th happy face of Harsha, Sattar, Srinivas, Shivanna, the frequent walks into the forest, the riverside, the unfinished buildings of N. Raju and the boat rides during the floods of July 10-18th 2009 when we rolled like a can in some turbulent sea.

In Kabini Now

2009-07-24T12:46:00.002+05:30

So, I have after more than a year at Dubare, left for Kabini River Lodge, the best and the biggest of all our jungle lodges. Feels rather different comparing Dubare and Kabini at the same time... though differences are obvious and huge....

Hoping to have a good time and put up a series of experiences that Kabini is likely to throw at me....

To Dubare

The River's Voice

2009-07-17T14:25:00.003+05:30

A thundery beat tugs hard,
It feels like million hearts beating fast,
When I look out, I see lava flow,
insistent, smooth and a beauty to behold,

This river of Joy, I sit a few feet away from,
has made me wonder the bounty the gods have bestowed,
No view ever has been better and smoother and as silky as now,
I truly know that I have frozen this moment and how.

The sound as I make it out,
is that of continuous roar, a majestic swishhhhhhhhh,
relentless through day and night, the river poetically shouts,
This is an honour, sitting today..... I salute thee o great nature again..

P.S. - The river rose by another feet during the night and we are still technically marooned. A majestic event, yet there is no abrupt flooding, as if nature mocks man by saying that if she let alone, she wouldn't cause misery as has been recently seen across the nation and the world.

This sound if ever I could document it is like some primeval dance on and on, day and night, probably lord Shiva is in his elements today - dancing across Kodagu....

We are Marooned

2009-07-16T18:44:00.005+05:30

At Dubare, cut off from the world... a first..... The rain which arrived in torrents just continued to increase for the past few days and moreso in the past 72 hours. As a result, me, Samita and several of my staff are virtually cutoff from the rest of the world.

The Cauvery has risen by about 12-14 feet, an event locals say they have seen after many years....

I cannot even begin to write of the majestic Cauvery now, having received more than 1500 mm in the upper reaches, the waters see so poignant- so utterly romantic.... I cannot even attempt to write.

This flooding or rise of the water whatever it may be called means that we are officially cutoff till atleast Sunday... thankfully the net works a bit, but not the electricity so much....

Wish that the world freezes in this motion and the sound that I hear now - that smooth, silky flow of water never ends.

In the Forest of the Night

Magic of Thunder in the rolling forests

You

You

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.- Kahlil Gibran -

You

You cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with.- Wayne Dyer -

Me, seven languages and a train to Delhi

In this country - Homogeneity VS heterogeneity

kya kahoon

A Day of Solitude by the forest

Yes, Politics is killing the big Cats

THIS IS HOW THE ECLIPSE LOOKED FROM WHERE I LIVE - KABINI

To be Noted

A poem should not mean. But be.- Archibald MacLeish -

Rockstar

30.11.2011

Come to think of it...

Cauvery - A Splendid Journey

This Year and My Monsoon Run

The Kabini Manifesto on Waste/Life Management

Sachin as Actor

Life and times at Pillur

WWWWWWWWW

Thinking...

Look

Can we go the extent of stopping the monsoons for our own benefit one day

I suffer from ........ and I do not know what to do about it

Mukurthi Again

The Wyanad Tale - Young Men on the Move

Today is long gone

The heaven that is Mukurthi

Change

Wyanad in the night

How to Park in Kerala

Warm...

Plants on Yesterdays's walk

10 things I like about Keystone ( While I was there)

The Last 30 Summers - First sixteen years

Competing Claims

The Forest is Still Tonight

Complexities

When

Sights

Mr. Jairam Ramesh - I

Good times, Bad times

Wildlife Week 2010

Review in the Sanctuary Magazine

My ideas

Ode to GKW

Vegetables at Kabini

One more sad day, but who cares

Every............

A review of Wild Vistas

Poachers and Tourism

Warren Anderson and Us

Without numbers for sometime

A Lousy feel for an afternoon

Forests for whom?

Letting Go

Lost all contacts on my phone...... Clean and Empty my sim.......

Papa John and his memory lives

Life and Times of Col. John Felix Wakefield

Off

Less written, the better

Only my blog suffers

Book talks

I want to see 3 idiots again

Dubare - FINAL DRAFT FOR BOOK - ANY COMMENTS

Book talks

Book talks

Book talks

Some of the Text Contributions for the Book

Photographers for the Book - Count is on

Article in Deccan herald

Extremely busy with the book that we are doing at JLR. It is a coffee table on our 30 years and the deadline is nearing.... Please contribute ideas

My own roots

Of Great Lakes in Big Cities and small Towns

Walking on the Beach - Two smart men

About Kabini in the Hindu

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

- Kahlil Gibran -

You cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with.

- Wayne Dyer -

A poem should not mean. But be.

- Archibald MacLeish -