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

Speaking of my journey in Mizoram after received the Earth Hero award ~ This is from RBS Earth Heroes Awards evening during October 2013 at Hyderabad ~ Many thanks to RBS and friends who have been a part of the journey ~

Highway 39 - Journeys Through a Fractured Land Sudeep Chakravarti 2012 Fourth Estate  Read a book that hit me hard - heart and mind - after long. It is raw and direct; neither has pretensions nor tries to be diplomatic.  A review (by me) may not have done justice to the sheer starkness of the issues the book hit me with. I share some 'unconnected snippets' that stayed with me long after I had read it; travelling in the very region it talks of.  Text in red is what the author has heard in conversations with locals while the blue colour brings out the author's voice.  A lot of money is also wasted in Nagaland because Nagaland isn’t permitted to do the planning, which has to be in conformity with what Delhi wants – and Nagaland can’t do the planning because Nagaland doesn’t have the resources. So it’s a waste for taxpayers in India. Their money is being wasted in Nagaland. And because we don’t pay tax here there is no transparency . . . th...

Woh shaam kuch ajeeb thi Yeh shaam bhi ajeeb hai Woh kal bhi paas paas thi Woh aaj bhi kareeb hai

This piece appeared in Deccan Herald on 9th October 2012. In case you are surprised with the title - must confess - it did come as a surprise to me too ! We were at Phura, a small village surrounded by wet-rice-fields in Saiha district of Mizoram.  I worked in Saiha for 3 years on  conservation education work with students and elders in the area.  As we visited our favourite tea-stall for the last time for the day we saw a tortoise on a bench. One of its legs was tied with a thin string to the bench After the initial confusion, we discovered that it was alive and one of us rushed to get our camera, pad and pen from the forest guest house where we stayed.  Mizoram is one of the 8 states that form the bio-diversity rich part of our country, commonly referred to as the north-east. Saiha is the southernmost tip of not only Mizoram but also north-east India and its amazing forests are a part of the vast wild landscape that stretches deep into Myanmar. A l...

Read an interesting piece on Conservation India  recently Also was party to interesting discussions on the species recently. G. Asked whether we would lose Amur falcons the Passenger Pigeon  way? – In that, given the big numbers, we would fail to realize the catastrophic decline till we are sadly left with too few. H. is studying the presence of infectious disease and avian influenza ( mutated H5N1 ) in migrant birds sold in the markets  ( of Nagaland ) and also the possibility of Amur falcons  being the reservoir of the avian influenza in Northeastern India. His take, which I agree with, was that the number of birds killed in Nagaland was around 2,500 per day during the days that they stay put in Nagaland. I. Hails from Nagaland and gave an interesting perspective. According to him the Doyang Reservoir brought in something that did not occur before the project and this helped people from areas around hunt these birds in crazy numbers – fishing n...

Recently put in interesting time meandering around Zunheboto and Mokokchung . . Share some images . . .  Entrance of a house at Yehemi . . The design and neatness were striking . .  Grains put out for drying at Sumi Settsu . . A weigh-scale at Longsa . . At another village we were told this was used for weighing pigs (besides else) . .  This very interestingly named eating place was unfortunately shut when we stopped at the Akuluto junction . . The Village Council Court at Surumi and The Emblem on board of the office of the Council Court at Phuye (Old) . .  These are from a Centre at Ungma . . Elders come together here - catch up - have tea and make these artifacts which are then sold. I found this to be an amazing step taken by the Village Council. .  I missed getting one during the trip. .  Indebted to the people at the places we moved to during the trip . .

Share images from a meeting; the setting was one of the more interesting ones I have been a part of in recent times . . Meeting is on its way at residence of one of the village council members . . This is at Longsa in Mokokchung district . . Tea ( not been to many meetings without tea!! ) gets ready . . Hearth in the Ao residences is located at the center of the room . . Smoke on its way up from the hearth also dries meat . . Walls were interesting, lively and had that warmth . . And the camera I was using got confused on whether it should focus on the 'hands' or the 'Ao shawl' . . I was the least confused : hands that have toiled on jhum have been by far the strongest I have come across . . Many thanks to the people of Longsa. 

Had some lovely Amur falcon sightings during the recent trip to Nagaland . After the trip during 2011 when I saw them being sold at the market was keen to know more of the bird. Observations: During one of the sightings we initially saw them in two’s and three’s - moving in one direction. A light drizzle as if suddenly altered the scenario. Drizzle could possibly have brought out termites or other insects and the Amur falcons altered their movement patterns to move in a circle. This circle kept on getting bigger as more of their brethren joined in. This went one for about fifteen minutes before they resumed their earlier movement pattern.  During this while the drizzling too came to a halt. I suspect I also spotted a few  Lesser kestrel in the midst of large number of  Amur falcons. During the entire week we never spotted Amur falcons before noon (12.00 pm). Their movement during the early noon appeared more playful and leisurely while the evening si...

I begin with my favourite image from a workshop on CCAs . .  Some spoke while some thought it better to listen . . .  Some attended sessions while some guarded them . . Some gave interviews while some got all the attention . .  Some found food more interesting than the food for thought . .  I wondered why the air-conditioners worked so hard and made us uncomfortable . . ( reminded me of a friend who said suits lead to climate-change! )

Pleased to have been a small part of a publication that was released on 17th October 2012 by Ms. Jayanthi Natarajan ( Minister : Environment and Forests ) during the COP 11 action at Hyderabad. At the very function the India Biodiversity Awards were also declared.  Editors Pramod Krishnan Rajesh Ramakrishnan Authors Pramod Krishnan Rajesh Ramakrishnan Sushil Saigal Shailesh Nagar S. Faizi H.S. Panwar Subrata Singh Nimesh Ved                                                             Citation Krishnan, P., Ramakrishnan, R., Saigal, S., Nagar, S., Faizi, S., Panwar, H.S., Singh, S. and Ved, N. (2012). Conservation Across Landscapes: India’s Approaches to Biodiversity Governance . United Nations Development Programme, New Delhi, India. More on the publication here . Many thanks to S...