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

Memories from the past  Share fun and energy of Bal Mela we organized during 2004 at. This was at Samrakshan's Agraa field base  in Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh.  Bal Mela : February 2004  Once the date for the Bal Mela was finalized, during the month of January things started falling into place and everyone in the team began chipping in with their efforts, individually as well as through weekly meetings. The way we perceived it, the Bal Mela this year was to be a litmus test for the dictum "how we do a task is more important that what result we bring out from it". To put this belief into practice, we tried to ensure that a large part of the arrangements for the event were taken care of by the teachers and the village level workers. The  role of the Samrakshan coordinators was  limited to tying the loose ends and overall coordination. It was really invigorating to see the village level workers and teachers allocate responsibilities among them...

This piece appears in SanctuaryAsia February 2012 issue.  What ever confusion I had distinguishing the small Indian mongoose Herpestes javanicus from the larger grey mongoose Herpestes edwardsii disappeared as we saw them, one after another, within a gap of five minutes. The smaller of the two was a frequent visitor at our campus near the kotra ( boundary wall ) . While both are slender with long, bushy, tapering tails, short legs, long and pointed snouts and rounded ears, the grey mongoose has long, seemingly coarser fur, with a more reddish than yellowish tinge. It was a special moment to see both, this early in the morning and I was thrilled. Perhaps it was the early morning breakfast that Ummed Kushwah had made -- my favourite Agraa breakfast ( read alu subzi – paratha) that had set the lucky tone of the day. I have always loved the laid-back, rustic landscape of the area. Agraa, a nucleus for the villages relocated from the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, is less th...