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

Last week a friend offered us 'packaged' Lassi ( when we declined aerated drinks ) and my immediate response was - surely we are not having those in Banaras, People coming to the town are guided by its God places, we have been guided by its Food places, much like birds and mammals our movements are guided by availability of food, though unlike them it is for reasons other than survival,  Lassi is one 'food' which gives immense pleasure and we have often been spotted pedaling around town to partake some during varying times of the day, and seldom has the ratio of people to kullads been 1 : 1, Like a lot else in life Banarasis take their Lassi seriously, debates on the best places in town to savour Lassi are not uncommon, one often encounters angry- loud responses, Stories abound of how - during the past - the sellers used to be strict of their Lassi not being wasted and used to - not very politely - tell customers to drink water in the kullad ( after th...

Nature education in schools: Where do we stand?   Thanks are due to the team at Teacher Plus and the hosts and co-participants of the event for this piece published in August issue of Teacher Plus. At a recent gathering on nature education, participating school teachers raised pertinent questions, some of which I discuss briefly below. A majority of teachers were part of schools that have ‘nature’ higher on the list of values they ascribe to than ‘competition’ and boast of campuses which other ( read regular ) schools can at best dream of. Outdoors.   Most of us agree that the ‘outdoors’ present a far more conducive setting for nature education than the ‘indoors’. However, the ‘outdoors’ also warrant a different and seemingly more difficult set of skills. Walking around and recognizing, touching, smelling, tasting leaves and learning of their usage from people whose lives they are an intricate part of – all the while keeping the students hooked - is diffe...

" In pursuing an understanding of the human-fungus connection, I realized that one of my favorite ancient cultures treasured mushrooms just about as much as I do. This little synergy delights me to no end, especially because the Romans approached mushrooms with all the flashy, semi-glorious and semi-reprehensible behavior that was a major hallmark of their culture. " Mushroom Anna More on her blog here ~  Rains have the mushrooms do what they are good at, mushrooming ~  Earlier memories pertain to the local names providing humour : બિલાડીની ટોપ, कुकुरमुत्ता ~ During days in Meghalaya and Mizoram stories of hunters losing lives on account of eating 'wrong' mushroom species were not rare ~  Then, of course, the debate of whether consuming them made one 'non-vegeterian' ~  As of now, some of us find them cute ~  And they appear to appreciate our efforts at mulching ~ 

~ Fallen beauties ~ More than a few trees we have  Be it numbers or species diversity Biased towards some we are  Like the Pakhads near the dairy But there is one tree which stands out  Near the school we see it stand tall  Its flowers say it all  How I wish I could climb the tree And see them up there  Or lie with them  As they elegantly caress the ground  Fallen beauties these  Graceful even after the tree lets them go

Title: Steed of the Jungle God – Thrilling Experiences in the Wild Author: Raza Tehsin with Arefa Tehsin Illustrations: Sumit Sakuja and Sonal Goyal Publisher: National Book Trust, India First Edition: 2018 Price: 575/- ISBN: 978–8 –237–8145–7 Pages: 142 Number of stories: 20 This Review was published by First Post on 29 th June, 2018 here . Thanks are due to the team at First Post. Steed of the Jungle God: Thrilling experiences in the Wild contains stories of the forests written by someone has put in lot of time in and around them. The author Raza Tehsin is well versed in natural history, loves jungles and like many before him who have done so, retains his humility. These stories, spanning more than half a century, tell us how the natural world around us has changed during the period. The author points out how the scenario prior to Independence was very different; most of the lakes in Mewar were almost full throughout the year, many rivers and nullahs...

As Varanasi's ghats come alive with music, the city could stake its claim to being India's cultural capital This piece was published on FirstPost on 27 th June, 2018. Thanks are due to the team at FirstPost. Bathing to purify oneself of sins, the final rituals of the dead, boating, evening  aartis ,  sadhus , and hippies are among the things that come to mind when one thinks about the  ghats  at Varanasi. Seldom, however, does music find a place. This, when the town could well boast of yet another tag — that of being the musical capital of the country. Raj Ghat is at one end of the eight-kilometre stretch of  ghats  along the Ganga, and Assi Ghat stands at the other end. Each of these  ghats  is on the side of the Ganga that touches the town. These famed  ghats  play host to a majority of events, some which are relatively new, such as the Kabir Festival which had its second edition during November last...

Sparks from a conversation This piece finds place in The Hindu, Edge on 25 th June 2018. The Conference was organized by Vidya Vanam. Warm thanks are due to the team at Vidya Vanam .  Thanks are also due to The Hindu and Shalini. On a journey to find peace amongst ourselves, we must first trace the root of the problem. A two-day gathering focusing on peace education explored the subject. Diversity of the panel members and audience ensured that quality questions were raised. The issues Any form of exclusion is violence, stated a panellist. The idea, at school, is to enable a sense of belonging, to blur the line between ‘us’ and ‘them’ said another.   To what extent is this possible, one wonders, especially given that there is so much of ‘us’ and ‘them’ the society incessantly bombards a child with. The ‘us’ and ‘them’ of religion, of caste, of status, of nationality and more. A child has no role in any of these and the adults too have little clarity...

Day Nine is some exciting sightings and a dramatic stopping of a hunting party ~ Morning starts to a chatter which is by now both friendly and familiar. I have half a dozen éclairs today before food. If I was in a city these would have been avoided as fakes. Here they are a luxury. Relativity at work. Some walk over trunks ~   We start at 10.30 with a new addition to our post putting team. He is the MTP president from Lomasu and for some reason is referred to as president and not by his name. We reach post 17 that we had put up last evening and being to walk ahead. After a while we stop at NT’s suggestion to discuss our route. We discuss for a while but somewhere in our hearts we know that none of us has a clear picture of the route! I understand this is one of the not many locations in our country that offer this luxury and feel privileged. And what a walk! While we have been tracking the Kumai river over last 3 days (a la Mark Shands over Brahmaputra )! Today...