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

Across the Chicken Neck – Travels in Northeast India Nandita Haksar Rainlight RUPA 2013 Share some snippets from different parts she moved along – some on account of their pertinent questions and some my bias towards forests. Some words that describe the book Pluses Well-researched, gives a feel of the region, puts forth facts without fear ~ Minuses Amateurish at points, too much of 'I' factor, can do with editing ~ Nagaland Around me I see many tourists, Indian and Western, furiously taking photographs of the cultural troupes. What strikes a discordant note is that all the hundreds of photographers and tourists, not a single one bothers to pause and speak to any of the dancers. No one seems to want to hear their stories, to share their concerns, or to understand the difficulty of keeping alive a culture which has lost much of its meaning under the onslaught of organized religion. I am also disgusted by how the officers of the Indian s...

The Rivered Earth Vikram Seth Hamish Hamilton an imprint of PENGUIN BOOKS 2011 Reviews in HINDU and World Literature Today Poem reading by Vikram Seth A book which, to me, brings out the essence of 'passion' and 'talent' ~ Two poems I loved - more - from ‘Songs in Time of War’ Thoughts while travelling at Night Light breeze on the fine grass. I stand alone at the mast. Stars lean on the vast wild plain. Moon bobs in the Great River’s spate. Letters have brought no fame. Office? Too old to obtain. Drifting, what am I like? A gull between earth and sky. Spring in the Time of War The state lies ruined; hills and streams survive. Spring in the city; grass and leaves now thrive. Moved by the times the flowers shed their dew. The birds seem startled; the hate parting too. The steady beacon fires are three months old. A word from home is worth a ton of gold. I scratch my white hair, which has grown so...

The Mammals of North East India Text, line drawings and maps by Anwaruddin Choudhury Gibbon Books and The Rhino Foundation for Nature in NE India Supported by Forestry Bureau, COA, 2013 Book launch Getting the book Snippets Pieces (neither connected nor complete) from each of the 3 sections (Introduction, Systematic list and Taxonomic descriptions and Species likely to occur) are shared below to give a glimpse of the spectacular diversity of the region that is brought out by the publication.  Attempt is made to eek dollops from multiple species in the section (Systematic list and Taxonomic descriptions) to bring out the wide array of aspects covered. Introduction Review of Literature In the 1940s and 1950s literature continued to be scanty. Some of the works on mammals holding good information on NE India were Pocock (1940), Parsons (1941), Prater (1948), Ellerman & Morrison-Scott (1951), Shebbeare (1953), Gee (1956), Khajuria (1956) a...

Kestrel On 20/10/2013 I saw 1 Common kestrel ( Falco tinnunculus ) from my room at Ritz Hotel in Aizawl. I saw it for about 20 minutes, as if protecting itself from rain. It sat in a ledge on the top floor, yellow claws and the black tips of the claws were clearly visible as was the yellow on the beak. Its posture was slightly different from what I have seen on the telephone towers at Saiha ; possibly because of the location. I noticed that the tail was not long (this came out since 2 wagtails came and perched about 10 – 15 feet away from it – albeit little higher – and helped comparison). It was not affected by the wagtails and their calling, only once in 20 minutes I understand it called, initially it was positioned perpendicular to me i.e. I faced its side with its head to my right and it twisted its neck with ease to as if look at me without being perturbed by my presence, the manner in which it moved its neck reminded me of the Spotted Owlet  ( Athene brama ) owl I...

NEPED and FES ’ joint actions to build on the existing Community Initiatives on Conservation across the state had us at Benrue ( Peren, Nagaland ). Primary objective of the week was to interact on mapping of Community Conserved Areas(CCA) boundaries . Benrue, however, as the directory of Important Bird Areas (IBA) and experience of friends who had visited earlier suggested was a very special dot on the ornithological map of not only the state but also the region. But the time our week-long trip came to an end we had come across species ranging from the tiny Naga Wren Babbler ( Spelaeornis chocolatinus ) to the Grey Sibia ( Heterophasia gracilis ) ( the numbers in which we saw it made us wonder on its being rare and a trigger species for the IBA ); Black Eagle ( Ictinaetus malayensis ) looked down upon us as we walked the boundary while the Himalayan Griffon Vulture ( Gyps himalayensis ) came to have a closer look as we had tea and I understand I also saw the Yellow-t...