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

A year since the fun time at Manas with friends and rains share of the planning workshop.  The paper presented at CEE Amdavad -  here .  Education for change - online version - here  and  print version - here .  The text here talks of the same event albeit using a different tone and lens.  Thanks are due to all the participants and Aaranyak.  Should we, should we not, we discussed, and then suddenly, one by one, in a file, most of the participants walked out. Out towards the gushing river, amidst the deafening rains, with water all around us, including in the paddy fields. Later during the evening they would return to the paddy fields to listen to the symphony played by frogs. Earlier during the day the participants had gone spotting birds and the list included the Bengal Florican! They had come together to deliberate on a plausible and realistic plan for conservation education (CE) in the Manas Landscape, Assam. A long-term pl...

Exploring Green Patches in Urban Areas. Published in Spectrum – Deccan Herald on 4th July, 2017. Thanks are due to the team at Decccan Herald. The piece on their website here . Unedited text below. I listened to the sound of tyres caressing sand. The music as if changed tunes with the strength I put into my pedaling and thickness of the sand layer. In the silence of a winter afternoon these tunes went in sync with the gentle slopes the cycle manoeuvred and every once in a while, as the tyres hit a stone or a fallen branch, got happily disrupted. As I paused near a bend in the path I listen to undesigned and welcome sounds, of bamboo bending to touch another bamboo and a squirrel moving over leaves resting on ground. I was in the heart of one of our metros and savouring one of our larger University campuses. My exposure to the campus began with walks along the black roads and over the weeks I moved along the brown paths as well. Trees touched these roads and pat...

A book review published at goodbooks  on 22nd June, 2017. Book   Title: Eighteen tides and a tiger Author: Anjana Basu Details   Language: English Pages: 140 Price: Rs 250/- ISBN: 978-81 - 7993 - 649 - 8 Publisher: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), 2017 The text on Goodbooks here . Thanks are due to the team at goodbooks.  Review Text   Sunderbans is today one of the few tiger reserves, if not the only, which retains an air of mystery. This is not only on account of its landscape – ecologically distinct from other tiger reserves in the country – but also on account of absence of the intensive jeep safaris (tourism) and extensive camera-trapping (research) that one has begun to associate tiger reserves with. Historically too it appears not to have been a hunting ground unlike some of its well-known counterparts. April 2017 brought the news of Indian Wolf having been photographed here for the first time! On the...

Environment Day: Of tokenism and ironies Published at The Citizen on 5th June 2017 here . Thanks are due to the team at The Citizen Suddenly everyone around seemed to have reignited their love for their mothers, realized that their mothers were the best ( whatever it means ) and rekindled their memories of pleasant incidents with mothers. Preceding the Mother’s Day was Women’s Day , a day to celebrate women, as if half the population on planet does not exist otherwise. After a point even the mainstream media had had enough. A Hindustan Times ’ article stated “ While I do appreciate the free manicures, drinks and air miles this Women’s Day, let’s aim to stop the tokenism. It means nothing. Instead, let’s aim for deeper, long-lasting and more substantial solutions ”. While an editorial in The Hindu said “ What have we reduced International Women’s Day to? It’s nothing short of a jamboree. Events aplenty are organised around March 8 to demonstrate our admiration for ‘woma...

Plastic is there to stay and the onus is on us to change our lifestyles and protect the environment. Published on First Post on 6 th June 2017 here .  Thanks are due to the team at First Post. An unedited version below. Images of turtles, albatrosses and other marine species dying on account of plastic in our oceans have been doing rounds in recent years. Many of us have been pained but most of us seem to have done little. Two shocking incidents this year not only underscored this but also gave us a final warning. A warning to act now or to face a future not very different from that of these species . The first is a whale on the Norwegian shore which was so sick it had to be euthanized; 30 plastic bags (besides other garbage) were found in its stomach. The second is the publication of a report on Henderson Island. More than 37 million pieces of waste plastic were found on an uninhabited island recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its ecology! Plastic ...

This post carries a piece published in Deccan Herald on 6 th  June, 2017 - In the lap of nature, high on the mountains.  Thanks are due to Sanju (and colleagues) for being with us throughout and the fun we had. Himalayan Ecotourism, Stephan Marchal and Sanjeeva Pandey helped with planning. Arpan forms the other half of the ‘we’ here. All images in this post including that on the Deccan Herald website are taking during the trek by Nirlep Dhutwalia. A warm thank you for sharing your experiences then and images later. The article on Deccan Herald here . Unedited text placed below. With the bus engine roaring our second trip, within 12 months, to trek in the Great Himalayan National Park ( GHNP ), had just begun. People fall in love with other people - we had trekked up and down its mountains to fall in love with GHNP . I sat besides the large window, staring out into the roads which looked unreal – quiet, empty and lights falling on them - as 9 th June met th...

This piece finds place on Vikalp Sangam here . Thanks are due to Swaraj University and Vikalp Sangam.  Originality, quality and fun were reasons enough to appreciate the efforts of the khojis . I also enjoyed the spirit of the journey being as much, if not more, important as the destination. What blew me away, however, was the sheer honestly and simplicity with which with they shared their experiences. I was glad to have experienced the presentations by khojis at Swaraj University. This sharing was a part of their first year activities. Image Credit: Swaraj University Facebook Page The learning program at Swaraj University is a two year journey. The aim of the first year, to quote the website is , “to unlearn the dependence on external sources of knowledge and to engage in co-creating their self-directed learning path. There are various explorations and experiments to understand the meaning of Swaraj, and the core principles related to it, which a...