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

* People, silences, openness and more is what I recall Mizoram for, and never stars, Recent trip was special, starry nights with a few shooting stars, * Taare * Kaee saal baad kal tare dekhe Aur gine Kaafi maaza aayee * Aise timtimaate hain who Jaise koi kywab ya khayal Vahin hain phir bhi nahin hain Door hain lekin pyare hain * Taare ~ hain lekin kabhi kabhi dikhte nahin Aur kaabhi mano jagah badal lete hain Jaise sach ~ ek se jyada bhi ho sakte hai Aur samay ke saath badal bhi jaata hai * Har tare ki agar ek pehchaan hoti Agar tare humse batein karte, humko kahaaniyaan sunaate To shayad humare gharon me chatein nahin hoti * Recalled some star full and some star less nights in Rajasthan Nadi kinare li gayee is tasveer me jaise akela sa chaand taaron ko dhoondh raha hai * And a lovely song ( Anand Bakshi wrote ) Nagmein hain Shikve hain Kisse hain Baat...

Trips from Saiha to Aizawl used to be in Tata Sumos with 10 passengers besides the driver - on the road for the entire day. In the initial days I used to look forward to journeys with fewer co-passengers but then realized that a full Sumo was good for all of us in that it worked against the jerks and during winter trips it only got better during winters, when all of us were clad in multiple layers! At times we would leave at 6 am as planned and on occasions we got late by an hour and I recall getting irritated with late comers. On a couple of instances though the Sumo came to pick me up at around 5.20 am! The initial part of the journey was invested in adjusting ourselves and luggage, prayer, introductions, putting on music, picking up someone staying on the way, collecting stuff to be delivered at Aizawl and many a time the clouds gave company! We would then cross the Kaladan / Kolodyne river and move into the neighbouring district of Lawngtlai. Large and leafy ba...

This piece finds place in the February 2015 issue of Teacher Plus.  Walk in a village – a story During a visit to Rishi Valley School ( Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh ) the teachers there asked me if I was interested in addressing the junior school assembly. When I happily agreed, they warned me that the students were the most difficult bunch in the school and would not stop asking questions! I then asked the teachers what I could talk about that would be of interest to them. They suggested that I talk about life in the villages of Mizoram ( as I had spent time there ) and illustrate my talk with images, as this would be interesting to them.  I pondered a bit and thought of talking about my experiences in Nagaland, where I had during trips in the past couple of years enjoyed many a happy moment. Also I had good photographs of the place to support my talk. As I began preparing for the talk, sorting images, and jotting points I realized that the structure of my talk was...

This note finds place in JBNHS 111(1), Jan - Apr 2014.   FERRET-BADGER RECORDS FROM MIZORAM, MEGHALAYA AND NAGALAND, INDIA Nimesh Ved 1 and Laltlanhlua Zathang 2 1 Srinivas Nagar, Padmarao Nagar, Secunderabad , Telangana, 500 061, India. Email: Nimesh.ved@gmail.com 2 Tuikal South, Aizawl, Mizoram 796 001, India. Email: Tlana_z@yahoo.com   Introduction In India ferret-badgers are restricted to the tropical and subtropical forests and grasslands of northeast India (Datta 2008). This region, comprising the states of Assam, Aru­nachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Tripura, forms a part of the biodiversity “hotspots” of the world (My­ers et al. 2000; Ved and Lalramnuna 2008). Ferret-badgers are nocturnal, usually active at dusk. Like most badgers they live in holes dug by themselves or in burrows of other animals, and in rock crevices. They are good climbers and often sleep on the branches of trees. They are omnivorous and known ...

The Flame Trees of Thika Memories of an African Childhood Elspeth Huxley VINTAGE CLASSICS London Some books are like friends; one wants to continue reading them and also leave some pages for later. One is interrupted only by some stunner of a line that bowls one over. Thoughts would cross one’s mind as one read, accompanied with the dilemma of whether one should dwell on these or flip the page and experience more of ‘that’ world. With friends, as one meets after a while, one wants to chat and chat; the only likeable interruption in a long conversation is possibly that of another experience ( one has just remembered ) to share. Also one wishes for the talks to go on for a long time. I missed this book the morning after it was over, in the manner one misses friends. What a life the author had? What an arena to learn of life? A ‘ free ’ childhood amidst nature, of learning beyond books, of interactions with people culturally distant, of listening to numerous ...