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

Bird by Bird ( With respects to Anne Lamott ) Published in the April 2018 issue of Palash.  Thanks are due to the Editorial Team of Palash. We are also indebted to Binoculars for Charity for the support with equipment. The location of the Rajghat campus and the vegetation it boasts of made the decision to take up bird watching very easy. The crux lay in moving around and enjoying with the birds; there was little to plan. We began with 1 pair of binoculars and 6 species on the first day. Design was to discuss birds, talk about their colours, size, actions and else, and not bestow inordinate attention on names and lists. 7 sisters or noisy birds after a while became babblers and some weeks later we were in a position to determine whether they were the Large Grey Babblers or the Jungle Babblers; 2 babbler species occur on campus. Time put in with the bird book ( or the field guide ) to figure out what they saw also allowed the group to get familiar with sp...

Varanasi's Sankat Mochan Sangeet Samaroh celebrates the city, and the Indian classical music tradition Published by First Post on 16th April here .  Thanks are due to friends and colleagues for the ( almost ) daily trips to Sankat Mochan during the event, sharing music, sweets and else;  First Post and Rohini. Ghulam Mustafa Khan, mesmerising at 88 and a recent recipient of the Padma Vibhushan, sang a bhajan in Bhairvi. Nizami Brothers, of the Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah fame, sang Amir Khusrau’s Chaap Tilap, one of the few songs that elicited requests for an encore. Rashid Khan had the audience requesting specific songs and when he got up after his allotted time successfully urge him to take the stage again for yet another rendition.    Moinuddin Khan was also among the performers. Artists of this stature may often be a part of an event’s line up so why it is worth writing about? Well, because the event was held in a temple – the Sankat Mochan Temp...

Title: Why should I save water? ( A Smart kid’s guide to a green world ) Author: Shweta Sinha Publisher: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) Year: 2016   Price: 250/- ISBN: 978 - 81-7993 -369 – 5     Shekar Kapur, the film director, during his TED Talk, narrated an incident around water. He had gone to meet a friend at an upscale Bombay locality. The friend kept on enjoying his shower for more than 20 minutes and Kapur left without meeting him. On his way back, not far from his friends place, he crossed a slum where people stood in queues, for multiple hours, to fetch water! This incident I recall even a few years after listening to the talk. A similar connect with this book I am unsure of; for one the book steers clear of the social and economic issues touching water. The book does touch upon issues critical in our urban areas today ; issues which question our consumption patterns and those we can take up action on in ou...

Goa . . Rains . . Cycle . .   Where are you off to , an uncle asked, as I carelessly drifted, like the drizzle, along the gently sloping roads. Roaming around, not going exactly anywhere , I replied. The smile on his face in response had me happily pedal ahead. This moment, for me, defined the trip. A first Travelling alone, like some other experiences, when taken up first time, leaves you far more satisfied than you had bargained for. A physical action for the first time, entirely on your own, for the first time, engulfs you with that special feeling of the first bike ride or the first swim. This trip to Goa, without either company or plans, I enjoyed being with self and enjoying the rains. To add icing on the proverbial cake I also stayed at a hostel for the first time. The hostel offered bunk beds with rooms for 4, 6 or 8 people. It also had a common kitchen and common resting area with wifi, books which included guides on moving around in Goa. It was managed b...

Mumi's article in Janmabhoomi Pravisi 25th March 2018 આઇઝોલ - એક યાદગાર સફર આ વરસે વર્ષાઋતુમાં  જાણે વાદળાંની સાથે જ સફરની શરુઆત થઈ. હૈદ્રાબાદથી કલકત્તા અને કલકત્તાથી  મિઝોરમમાં   આવેલા   તેના   રાજધાનીના નગર  આઈઝોલ  (Aizawl) . આ વિમાની સફરમાં વાદળાંના કેટલાય અવનવા રૂપ દેખાયાં. ક્યાંક બરફના ગોળાનો  -  છીણેલા બરફનો ગોળો તો ક્યાંક સાબુના પાણીમાં ફીણના ગોટેગોટા થાય   અને એમાં વચ્ચે થોડુંક ભૂરૂં પાણી દેખાય તેમ ફીણ જેવા વાદળાંઓની વચ્ચે ક્યાંક ક્યાંક ભૂરૂં આકાશ ડોકાઈ રહ્યું હતું તો ક્યાંક કાળા કાળા વાદળા ધૂમાડાના ગોટેગોટા જતા હોય એવા વાદળાં   દેખાતા હતા. કલકત્તાથી આઈઝોલનું વાતવરણ ખુશનુમા હતું. આકાશમાં વાદળા ધોળાધોળા રૂ ના ઢગલા જેવા દેખાતા હતા. આઈઝોલ ઊતર્યા ત્યારે હવામાન પલટાઈ ગયું હતું. રીમઝીમ મેઘ સ્વાગત માટે તૈયાર. આઈઝોલ પહાડ ઉપર ,  પહાડોની વચ્ચે વસેલું શહેર છે. એરપોર્ટથી શહેરનું અંતર લગભગ ૩૦ કી.મી. છે. ટુરિસ્ટ લોજ પહોંચવા ટેક્ષીની સફર શરુ થઈ. એક તરફ ઊંચા ઊંચા પહાડ તો બીજી તરફ લીલોતરીથી છવાએલી ખીણ, ઊંચા-નીચા સર...

Lessons in the outdoor This piece finds space in The Hindu – EDGE here . Acknowledgement are due to Santharam and Prashant for sharing their vast experiences, THE HINDU and Shalini for publishing and Satya for the enabling the trip and being there. Why are school trips undervalued when it comes to their potential for learning The week-long trip with class VIII students, a couple of months earlier, was a lot of fun - from being together in the rail coach to sharing tents, from running up and down the hills to swimming in stunning lakes, from visiting a butterfly museum to early morning bird walks and more. The immense potential these trips harbour as learning spaces was underscored - learning from new environments, fresh experiences, and away from the ‘regular’ schedule. Why this learning is treated secondary to class-room teaching continues to remain a mystery! Amidst the excitement, however, some elements stuck out and raised questions. On the one hand...