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

As we walked around the Masjid building, a proverbial parikrama, two aunties over-took us – spring in their steps. Clad in burquas and holding bright coloured sports-shoes in hands; they left us surprised and with smiles. There was something about this sight which conveyed that the world around is neither constant nor boring, all we need is to keep our senses open.   At a corner another aunty we saw sitting on a bench with her two small hand-bags for company. With interest and peace levels that are not common at public spaces she was engaged with the bags. She reminded me of dadi and I kept watching as she got a bottle from one of the bags and sipped water. As we walked ahead two other aunties sat on the floor between the Masjid wall and its boundary wall as the children played in the shade. Was the Masjid’s compound too being encroached at some point of time, I wondered, like that of Khilwat. Such an unimaginative boundary – in either case - and a tad too small for the large, an...

All good things – they say – happen by chance. In the space of ten days I saw Deepti Naval on large screen and on the stage. How in the minimum screen time in Mirch Masala she conveyed the frustration and helplessness – despite being the village mukhiya’s wife    –  with her eyes; that feeling off oneness with the women held in captivity, through that one look from behind the window. That defiance when coming out of home and banging vessels or walking her daughter to school for the first time! Amidst the stellar cast of the movie she shone; she did not come out and hit you all of a sudden but she touched you and stayed with you. I was reminded of an article I had read some years ago that hers are the only eyes that can cry and laugh at the same time on screen. It has been her eyes – over the years – that have taken the audience to her ( on screen ) world then.  Be it Chasme Buddoor – which with a group of friends I recall enjoying more than few times – as...

I enjoy dabbling in conservation education and feel the need to work upon my faculties so as to improve, to perform better. In other words I tried to analyse and break-up what little I do into multiple areas. From these I narrowed down on what I was keen to work upon with the caveat that opportunities too would guide what I ended up pursuing. These included communication and facilitation. Two events, one each on back to back Saturday’s, provided interesting opportunities. These were organized at Lamakaan which meant that I ended up gorging on chai and samosas. J B Priestly author of the classic essay ‘On doing nothing’ and would have been very happy to come to Lamakaan . Besides a host of options ( plays, film-screenings, book-releases and else ) it also offers you the space to come and do nothing, just be. The importance of this can hardly be over-emphasized. I place below snippets from either event. First was an event on facilitation; ‘Introduction to Process Facilitation...

Pleased to share a piece by me in Hindu Sunday Magazine: Golf the Guzzler. Link to the edited version here . Few days ago, flipping the pages of a recent issue of Sanctuary Asia I read of how despite opposition the power brokers managed to turn the Salim Ali National Park into a Golf Course. Further reading brought forth that 4,000 odd trees were cut in what was once home to bears and hanguls, besides other species. We may never adequately understand the ecological and economic impacts of destroying not only a unique habitat for wildlife but also a catchment for Dal Lake. All this for a miniscule proportion of our population and that too when Gulmarg already had a Golf Course. Commons meant for use by many, destroyed so that few could indulge in what G K Chesterton referred to as ‘an expensive way to play marbles’. Intrigued, I delved deeper and realized that neither was the Golf Course in Jammu and Kashmir an exception nor was the issue a recent one. Besides, the Golf Cou...

Some images make you react Like this stunner by Dharmendra Khandal I launch off  – bringing in my love for trains – Rail banake mirchi chali apni pyaas bujane . . Nange pahad ki mitti khaake teekha pan bhagaane . . रेल बनाके मिर्ची चली अपनी प्यास बुजाने . . नंगे पहाड़ की मिट्टी ख़ाके तीखापन भगाने . . And promptly he gets back Mein hoon teekhi, mein hoon tej, mein hoon surkh Hasina, Kyon khaon main pahad ki mitti, jab main aai hoon sab ko dhool chatane, Mein pyasi hoon janam janam ki, mein hoon surkh Hasina, Main jaongi rail banke sab gaon gali chobare, aur bolongi aai hoon ‘sab ko dhool chatane’ Janam janam ki pyasi hoon mein, aur pyasa mujhe hai marna में हूँ तीखी , में हूँ तेज , में हूँ सुर्ख हसीना , क्यों खाऊं मैं पहाड़ की मिट्टी , जब मैं आई हूँ सब को धूल   चटाने , में प्यासी हूँ जनम जनम की , में हूँ सुर्ख हसीना , मैं जाऊंगी रेल बनके सब गाओं गली चॉबारे , और ...

This piece appears in the Assam Tribune on 16 th February 2016. Many thanks to Assam Tribune and Narayan Sharma. The wildlife human conflict occupied a significant chunk of time during a recent meeting called to put in place a conservation plan for a priority landscape. Agreements and disagreements over the topic spilled over from the sessions into tea-time and late evening discussions. While these deliberations did not provide answers they helped set off a stream of questions; most of which remained unanswered. The paragraphs that follow carry some of these discussions. Unanswered questions, as Colin Wright said, “ aren't threats; they're challenges and catalysts ”. One would like to begin with Dampa Tiger Reserve in Mizoram. The major issue today, in the landscape, is land-use change; jhum ( shifting cultivation ) is being replaced by cash crops like oil-palm. As a corollary conflict has turned from being primarily ‘seasonal’ into a ‘round the year’ phenomenon. I...

This piece finds place in the Deccan Herald on 16 th February 2016. Link to the edited version on Deccan Herald site here . Many thanks to Deccan Herald, Anitha and Dharmendra. Memories of days in Garo Hills ( Meghalaya ) came forth; learning of elephants, coming across elephant dung at places one never thought they could go to, of talking with people who lived amongst elephants and more. Meghalya is one of the 16 elephant bearing states and the Garo Hills population stands at approximately 1,700.  India today has approximately 30,000 elephants; and as we lose wildlife habitats the species move to newer lands. Elephant human conflict today is increasing both in intensity and spread. Every once in a few months news of elephants run over by a train or electrocuted remind us of this! I was at a 2 day meet on Asian Elephants, focusing on Assam and neighbouring states, to discuss the concerns and chalk out a way ahead. Deliberations helped raised multiple questions. ...