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

This heritage resource is a mixed bag The review appears in the October 2019 issue of Teacher Plus. Thanks are due to the team at Teacher Plus and Parag. Series: Title: UNESCO World Heritage Sites of India Series Year of Publication: 2018 Publication: Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd. (Roshni Children’s Books) Number of pages: 32 (each book) Number of books: 5 (at this point) Price: Not mentioned on the books Series Editor: Narayani Gupta Series ISBN: 978-93-85360-47-3 Supported by: Parag, an initiative of Tata Trusts Editorial Board: Krishna Kumar , Girish Joshi, Swaha Sahoo, Sopan Joshi and Narayani Gupta. Overview: Natural and cultural sites of importance are indentified by UNESCO. India boasts of 8 natural (eg: Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area ) and 29 cultural (eg: Champaner – Pavagarh Archeological Park) sites of importance. This series – 5 books - talks of 5 of these 37 sites. It is pertinent that the younger generation takes...

The ‘festival’ and bird ‘season’ in our parts appears to overlap, as we get ready for both – place below list of species we have come across during our ‘bird walks’, Many a time I have slowed down my cycle on spotting a bird but then been unable to identify the ‘exact species’; these   moments too have been fun – especially in the drizzle,   Thanks are due to students and colleagues for joining on many of these walks, Binoculars for Charity for equipment and to Kumar Radhakrishnan for the images,  Ashy Prinia Asian Koel Bank Myna Barn Swallow Baya Weaver Black Drongo Black Kite Black Redstart Black-crowned Night Heron Black-eared Kite Black-headed Gull Black-winged Kite Black-winged Stilt Bluethroat Blyth's Reed Warbler Booted Eagle Brahminy Starling Brown Shrike Brown-headed Barbet Brown-headed Gull Cattle Egret Common Hawk Cuckoo Common Hoopoe Common Iora Common Myna Common Pigeon Common Quail Commo...

Musical offerings in Hanuman’s court Thanks are due to the team at Sruti . An edited version of this piece appears in their September 2019 issue. Ustad Moinuddin Khan, prior to his performance, shared, “ This is where I derive pleasure in playing ” while Vidushi Kaushiki Chatterjee conveyed respects of each of her family members to the deity. Her father too, like was the case with few other artists, had previously performed at the venue. Kankana Banerjee, the first lady to perform at Sankat Mochan, set up a record of sorts   by performing at the venue for the 41 st consecutive year. Shailaja Khanna in her article, An ode to the master musician, put it thus, “ the concert is regarded as on offering – a ‘hazari’ which literally translates to formal presence in the court of the ruler or divine ”. Banaras too has a role. Kathak maestro Shovana Narayanan had stated, during a performance at a temple nearby, “ at temples of Banaras we perform for God and ourselves, neither ...

From a teacher’s lens This piece finds place in the Hindu EDGE.  Thanks are due to the team at Hindu EDGE . Few days ago, over tea, a friend mentioned the challenges she, a teacher, faces at her school. These include provocative parents, all-knowing students, changing technology and pressure from management. ‘Provocative parents’ had me recall a discussion, at a workshop, on how parent’s interference, especially in high paying schools, is on the rise. In some cases it is they who set the school agenda. The conversation took me to the challenges at our school. While the friend works with a fee paying English medium school in a Metro I am associated with a free Hindi medium school located at the fringes of a much smaller town. Majority of our students belong to under privileged families. In the lines that follow, I share some of these challenges. Students. On the one hand in our quest for a ‘happy’ school and ‘overall development’ we devote a significant chun...

Title: Animalia Indica: The finest animal stories in Indian literature Edited by: Sumana Roy Illustrations by: Rohan Dahotre Published by: Aleph Book Company Year of publication: 2019 ISBN: 978-93-88292-57-3 Thanks are due to the team at First Post The piece on First Post here Some weeks ago a friend shared a poster bearing a poem and illustration of the elephant. The eight line ‘simple’ poem and the ‘evocatively’ done elephant in water colour touched me like few posters have done. It told me something about elephants, their actions and emotions and – in a way – enabled me to connect with the species. In this it did more than most, if not all, posters on the species that I have come across. Majority of the posters, for example, highlight the pachyderm’s weight, age, height and other statistics including difference between 2 species – African and Asian. The friend and I got on to discuss how good literature – stories and poems – can play a pivot...

Traffic jam in Tirthan valley Published in Deccan Herald's Spectrum here . The unedited version placed below.  Thanks are due to the team at Deccan Herald and Himalayan Ecotourism .  Image Credit: Himalayan Ecotourism Gushaini, in the lower Tirthan valley of Kullu district ( Himachal Pradesh ), is synonymous with the Great Himalayan National Park ( GHNP ). Till a few years ago broadly two categories of people used to visit the valley. Those seeking the peaks and valleys of GHNP – be it for treks, wildlife sightings, silences or else - and the anglers lured by trout in the Tirthan river! Their numbers were low; read manageable. Today, their numbers have been overtaken by the quintessential tourist. Those who come – with friends or family - looking for a good time, away from where s/he stays. These include people coming for weekends and those who add Gushaini to other destinations nearby or not so nearby. This summer I visited Gushaini after a gap of fe...