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

An encounter with the elusive Gangetic dolphin in northern India A slightly edited version of this piece appears at The Third Pole . Acknowledge and appreciate the time taken out by Samir Sinha, Nachiket Kelkar, Venkatesh Dutta, Zak Klausner and of course the team at The Third Pole for enriching this piece. Dhakwa In summer 2020, I caught glimpses of a creature I had never seen before, at the point where the Varuna and Ganga rivers meet in the holy city of Banaras. It was early evening, and I was looking at the monsoon flood waters. I have had many memorable birding experiences at this confluence. Banaras, in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, is famous for its ghats (series of steps leading down to a river), and I often go to Aadi Keshav Ghat, the site of the ancient Aadi Keshav temple. Brown- and black-headed gulls migrate here in large numbers. On some occasions smaller flocks look like paper boats swaying on the water; on others larger gatherings are like a wall arising from ...

Phoolsunghi Author: Pandey Kapil  Translator: Gautam Choubey  Publisher: Penguin – An imprint of Penguin Random House  Year of publication: 2020  ISBN: 9780670095193  Pages: 162  Price: 399/-  At the onset I confess that neither have I read Phoolsunghi in its original form nor have I read any other book in Bhojpuri. However, the current place of my stay – also my birth place – allows me to be amidst Bhojpuri. Listening to it flow at one level and discussing it at another. Dr Ganesh Devy’s statement on Bhojpuri, also mentioned in the introduction, also struck. ‘Bhojpuri has not only stayed alive . . in the whole world, Bhojpuri is the most rapidly developing language’.  Few months ago a colleague had pointed out how Maithili – as a language – has been accorded the status and respect which Bhojpuri, though more than deserving, continues to be deprived of. Reading further about the author and the characters had me wonder on this. During a brief con...

Some books take you on a journey, Some remind you of the journeys you have already taken, This book does both. Title: Into the Heart of the Himalayas Author: Jono Lineen Publisher: Speaking Tiger Books 2020 (India edition) First published as Walking the Earth’s Spine in Canada by Pottersfield Press 2012. Also published in Australia by Melbourne University Press 2014. ISBN: 978-81-944468-2-8 Price: 499/- More on the book at The New Indian Express and Mumbai Mirror . Some lines - from the book - I read and re-read. After the silence of the plateau the water’s constant roar was intrusive. Slowly, over a day of walking beside it, the river’s hum absorbed me. Everything else became peripheral. I lost track of time; the sun moved overhead. I focused on the single footstep ahead of me and gradually, from behind the rush, a rhythm evolved. It was not water or wind; it was a thumping pulse. ^^ I was alone. I had walked for 8 hours that day. I had been walking for 3 month...

Notes from under the peepal   An edited version of the piece finds places in The Sunday Magazine. Thanks are due to the team at The Hindu . Acknowledge Dharmendra Khandal and Shakti Kumar for suggestions on the draft. “ पीपर पात सरिस मनु डोला ”, is what Tulsidas wrote in the Ramcharitmanas about their poetic movement, said a friend, as I stared at the Peepal leaves. I sat, silent and smitten, amazed yet again, at this swaying of Peepal leaves. The poet, in the epic’s Ayodhya Khand, had allured to a wavering mind, the friend added.     From distance these swaying leaves appear like happy children playing while a closer view makes me wonder if this is how wind chimes at the Pearly Gates look like! They, when caressed by the wind, indeed play a joyous note. It is a special feel to rest my back against its trunk and look at the sky - netted by its dangling leaves. With the Peepal it is more of sitting with the tree rather than sitting under the tree.   Int...