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

Title: A Flamingo in my Garden Author: Deepak Dalal Series: Feather Tales Illustrations: Lavanya Naidu Year: 2016 Publisher: Puffin Books – Penguin Random House India In his previous books like Ranthambore Adventure this author took the reads to forests while in this series he makes us aware to the species which share cities with us or rather whom we share cities with. Illustration of the Marine drive in the beginning carries warmth. There’s something about the leaves on the lower left corner that touches. As one moves on to other pages one realizes that landmarks of Bombay have been nicely depicted without getting into names. I was waiting for one on the forest and caves! The author has a way with drawing parallels . When one pauses on these lines one realizes that these contribute to create a ‘bird world’ and that most of these species too are those which share cities with human beings. Some of these below - More jarring than even a peacock choi...

A for Alternative, E for Education Both images are by Ian Lockwood. He is acknowledged for sharing them at a very short notice. Thanks are due to Divya, Vaishna and Dinesh at The Hindu. The Sholai school enabled this eye-opening week.  To the entire team there – a big THANK YOU.   Place below the longer version of the article which finds place in the Hindu Sunday Magazine - 23rd April, 2017. Article on The Hindu here . Image: Ian Lockwood “ Get off the bus at Perumal Malai and start walking downhill; we are just 6 km away ”. A welcome email that signified freshness, energy and fun. My week-long trip to the Sholai school turned out not very different. According to the website, “ Situated in a beautiful valley close to Kodaikanal in the Palani Hills of Tamil Nadu the Sholai school follows an alternative approach to Education, inspired by the teachings of J. Krishnamurti. This involves a focus on creating an atmosphere in which children are encou...

Jashn E Deccan: beautifully unconventional Sruti  published this piece in its April 2017 issue. Thanks are due to the team at Sruti.  Link to the unedited version  here . My mother asked me if the music festival organized in December 2015 on the outskirts of the town would be organized this winter too. Some days later came the flier for the second edition of the Jashn E Deccan festival in Hyderabad. Jashn E Deccan is an annual festival celebrating the rich traditions of various Indian music and dance forms under the aegis of the KMR Foundation – a trust started by the children of K. Mahipathi Rao, in June 2008, to honour his memory and the ideals he valued. It is their endeavour to create a vibrant and inclusive space in the realm of music and dance. The festival is meant to ignite interest, create curiosity and enthuse people to make the experiential journey of listening to and watching some great exponents of Indian music and dance. The events are...

How serious are we about the earth? This piece is published at The Citizen on 5 th April here . Thanks are due to the team at The Citizen. ‘W e are a nation that talks of salads and eats samosas ’, Sanjeev Kapoor, the well-know chef, had stated in an interview. He may well have been referring to our attitude towards our planet , albeit in metaphorical terms. Two events bring this out starkly. Images from Cold Play concert at Mumbai, November 2016, depicted trash lying scattered after the event. More than seventy thousand people had attended the mega-event; many of whom had contributed to the litter. During the event they had pledged to the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs; their pledges and actions turned out to be anti-thetical to each other. This is how the media covered it: ‘ Nobody could be bothered with civic sense or niceties such as recycling for a sustainable living ’ ~ huffingtonpost.in ‘ It was an event designed to raise awareness but lik...

Teacher Plus carries this book-review in its April 2017 issue. Thanks are due to Deepak Dalal and the team at Teacher Plus. Let us do away with cages Title: Talon the falcon Author: Deepak Dalal Illustrations: Lavanya Naidu Series: Feather tales Year: 2016 ISBN: 9780143427902 Publisher: Puffin Books - Penguin Random House India Author. I first came to know of Deepak Dalal about a decade ago when I was looking for information on the Moghiyas. Moghiyas are a gatherer-hunter community. He was quick to reply to my request as also send me a copy of his book –  The Ranthambore Adventure . Not only did I enjoy reading the book, it also made me aware of two aspects about the author. One that he happily got into the depths for his books; there was then very little available on the community despite ample work on wild life conservation taking place in and around the landscape, and the other that he knew his words well. Book. As I was wonder...