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

Treks in GHNP are to be undertaken to be believed. Absence of roads (and even khachhars) makes it, well uncommon. Sheer Himalayas, if one has to be succinct. This list has been put in place over 2 trips and a lot of fun. Image Credit: Nirlep Dhutwalia Alpine Chough Ashy Drongo Ashy-throated Warbler Bar-tailed Treecreeper Bearded Vulture Black Bulbul Black-chinned Babbler Black-lored Tit Blue Whistling Thrush Booted Eagle Brown Dipper Chestnut Thrush Chestnut-crowned Laughingthrush Chestnut-eared Bunting Citrine Wagtail Coal Tit Common Hoopoe Common Kestrel Common Myna Common Pigeon Crested Kingfisher Previous Pieces Sanctuary Asia Deccan Herald Dark-sided Flycatcher Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker Grandala Great Barbet Great Cormorant Great Tit Green Bee-eater Green-backed Tit Grey Bushchat Grey Treepie Grey Wagtail Grey-backed Shrike Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher Grey-hooded W...

Walking up and down in Dampa Tiger Reserve is rewarding for sure ~ This list is compiled over multiple trips, long chats, sessions at tea-stalls, rides in pick-ups and many kua’s including few times with the nut of the oil palm! Image Credit: Pu Zakhuma Ashy Bulbul Ashy Drongo Ashy headed Green Pigeon Ashy Woodswallow Asian Barred Owlet Asian Fairy Bluebird Asian Koel Asian Paradise-flycatcher Barred Cuckoo Dove Black Bulbul Black Drongo Black Eagle Black Kite Black Shouldered Kite Black-backed Forktail Black-crested Bulbul Black-hooded Oriole Black-naped Monarch Black-rumped Flameback Black-winged Cuckooshrike Blue Rock Thrush Blue Whistling Thrush Blue-bearded Bee-eater Blue-eared Barbet Blue-throated Barbet Blue-winged Leafbird Bronzed Drongo Brown Shrike Brown-throated Treecreeper Previous pieces on Dampa Frontier Despatch National Geographic Traveller Sanctuary Asia Cattle Egre...

Museums as learning spaces This piece is published in the November 2017 issue of Teacher Plus here . Thanks are due to the team at Teacher Plus and the museums all over for allowing my love for history to not only stay alive but flourish.  ‘ She is not interested in museums ’, a friend said, of his daughter. He left me wondering. The history lover in me was not very happy. I frequent museums and try to savour those at places I visit. Here I speak not just of large and exquisite collections like the ones  at the Prince of Wales Museum in Bombay o r the National Museum in New Delhi. I have learnt of Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland from museums in their capitals. They have taught me about the homes and festivals of people there, the clothes they once wove and wore, their fishing and cultivation practices and more. Today we also have a range of private museums. Some of these like the textile  and vessel museums  at Ahmedabad boast of very focused and nove...

Published at The Citizen here . Thanks are due to Aishwarya Adhikari and Gayeti Singh at The Citizen and  Priya Singh for comments on the draft. The unedited version below. ‘ Only 10% of 31 lakh NGOs in the country submitted mandatory reports to the authorities ’ and ‘ The Central Government has cancelled foreign funding registration of select NGOs for alleged violation of law ’. On the one hand press has highlighted these issues pertaining to not-for-profits and on the other they are today being questioned and critiqued, like seldom before. It is not uncommon to come across references like ‘ are getting less dynamic and more bureaucratic’ and ‘ have lost the plot ’ for not-for-profits; sub-optimal output or not delivering as promised too is an oft-heard complaint. For this discussion I look beyond both these issues – state and mediocrity. Mediocrity , ‘ our greatest bane ’ , is as much an issue here as it elsewhere in our society while state’s interaction ...

The joy of doing absolutely nothing is simply priceless. Published at The Quint here . Thanks are due to the team at The Quint.  The unedited version below. “ Mere paas bahut khali samay hai, bahut doopherein aur shamein maine nitant akelepan me guzari hain ”. I have a lot of free time, many afternoons and evenings I have enjoyed being alone, absolutely alone. This line, by Manav Kaul during a session at Jaipur Literature Festival - 2017, Kitna Kuch Jeevan , hit hard. When last did one hear friends, forget celebrities, say that s/he has lot of time or is free? Of the taboo lines today’s society has – this one is right up the list. This - I do not have time – line has always had me perplexed. All of us have the same time – 24 hours – so is it not then about priorities? About the option or options we choose? Life, after all, is a series of trade-offs. So, if our priority is go to place X we act accordingly. It does not indicate that we do not have the time to go...

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...