yet again ... getting lost ... then enjoying self-discovery ...

This piece finds place in September issue of SAEVUS . Local names of species in different languages and dialects gives us a glimpse of the knowledge and beliefs of the people who share the landscape with them. And in some cases, it reveals stories about species that these landscapes have unfortunately lost! At Mokokchung in Nagaland, 2 villages, which not only lie adjacent to each other but also belong to the same tribe (Ao) used identical names for some species and different ones for others. The Asiatic Black Bear, for example, was sheom at Ungma and shirem at Longsa. I was surprised when the Lesser Bandicoot-rat had a local name - por while the Himalayan rat was called chuha. I was told that Asian Elephants -  shoti  went locally extinct about five centuries ago. During a recent trip to Zunheboto the Semas in Awatsakilimi shared of their village having got its name from the Brown Hornbill while a local stream was named after the Barred Cuckoo Dove ( ...

This piece finds place in TERRASCAPE , September 2013 issue. Which are the interesting places to visit in north-east India? What is the best time to visit them? Does wildlife occur in forests there? Are people there friendly? These were amongst the questions I have faced more than once. My first response has, on most occasions, been that there is nothing like north-east India. In other words it is incorrect to paint the entire region with the same brush; more so, when it has been long acknowledged to culturally and linguistically among the richest and most diverse regions in Asia.  I feel lucky to have enjoyed life at two amazing places in the region over a period of eight years. This is more on account of its amazing people than its abundant natural resource wealth. These two places, Baghmara (Meghalaya) and Saiha (Mizoram), I share with the readers ahead. Baghmara gets its name from a leader having slain a tiger ( bagh ) long time ago, while Saiha in Mizo language means...