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

  Few months with your creations Thank you for teaching me Hindi over these past months. Many evenings I recite your poems aloud – for mumi and I – after, of course, reading them multiple times. Despite your poems conveying so much they contained few words that I had to seek the dictionary for. This despite my abysmal levels of awareness in Hindi. You helped remove my fear of the language. Emboldened me to go deeper. This way you enabled me to take up another journey with Hindi. A language I love to converse in but for long time have been wary of the written form. As I write I recall going for Gujarati instead of Hindi during school days as well. You made me realise that poetry could be simply written. That poetry can be close to life, life around us, and not just an intellectual pursuit. Poetry was not only about love, epics, flowers, loss but also about day to day lives. Lives of people around us, trees, and others. Lives perhaps not much talked about. This simplicity made...

The endearing presence of Pakhad trees A slightly edited version of this piece finds place in Spectrum here . Thanks are due to the team at Deccan Herald. Dheeraj Rathore, Kiran Keswani and Swati shared of the species over emails. Scindhia and Shatrughan heard me on the species on multiple occasions and at strange times.   Don’t you tire talking about them? Asked a colleague as I expressed my awe and love – yet again - for the Pakhad trees. No, I responded. For, when around them I become a child and they my super heroes. The friend and I continued our late evening walk.   These Pakhad trees at the campus I stay on – Banaras, Uttar Pradesh – are a delight to the senses. Their size coupled with graceful presence often reminds me of elephants. The branches spread out like open arms – like godess Durga – only these are more. Branches, large yet gentle, and wrapped with leaves.   These trees were planted few decades ago, by someone wiser, to provide shade for...

Why do we assume that the other person knows less? Two lines that I came across during a recent election have stayed with me since. A newspaper article which reported that ‘ intellectuals have asked people to vote for the betterment of society and vote for a particular party ’ and a friend who commented, after listening to couple of crowd pulling netas, ‘ Six year olds; that is what our political leaders take us to be ’. Both the scenarios highlight that a few (politicians, intellectuals) thought they were more intelligent than many. They knew; the others did not. What is it that has many of us believe that the other person knows less? That we know more. Many of us also have a tendency to explain, proffer clarifications in scenarios where the receiver is rather better off without them. Wonder what drives these – the opportunity to feel more intelligent and smart than others? This is a domain where otherwise lax individuals turn out to be overzealous human beings. Texts which accompany...

  Reassembling the Assembly   This piece appears in the Teacher Plus, August 2021 here .  Thanks are due to colleagues at the school and the team at Teacher Plus.   The past few months have seen only the teachers grace our school premises. This uninterrupted time, structured or otherwise, that teachers have had as a team, has presented a basket of opportunities and raised a host of questions.   One of these questions pertains to the morning assembly. Teachers,   not unlike students, were keen to move on from the ‘regular’ assembly -   singing from a prescribed set of songs.   The morning assembly had – during recent past - raised multiple questions with students as well. After deliberations, the school put in place a fresh schedule for the day’s initial interactions. It tried to make the mornings more fun and inclusive by bringing in activities like story-telling, book-reading, sharing experiences and exercises. Students welcomed t...

Tracing Roots: Stories about Trees Text: Mallika Ravikumar Illustrations: Swati Kharbanda Publishers: Karadi Tales First Print: December, 2020 ISBN: 978-81-9440-714-0 Number of pages: 80 Price: 499/-   Sometime ago keen to read more on the Peepal I had tried searching the web. My time with Google showed me how Peepal grew on walls and terraces and informed me of the myriad ways in which one could get rid of the species. This was not only strange but also sad. On the other hand were web pages that listed benefits of the Peepal. I ended up wondering why do we not look at trees ( nature ) beyond the perceived threats and purported uses?   This book does that. With its stories it also took me to the days when Amar Chitra Katha and Chandamama were an integral part of my life.   The illustrations here have an old time feel to them. A feel that is special - not jaded. They sync well with the text. They also gel with each other and do not try too hard t...

  The Book Title: A To Z of Indian Cities - Ahmedabad to Zunheboto Author: Rati Malaiya Illustrations: Bechain Nagri Studios Publishing: Harper Collins Children’s Books ISBN: 978-93-5422-003-6 Year of publication: 2021   Pluses Illustrations, lay-out and the colours captivate. The book size is appropriate. All of these gel wonderfully too. The theme is appealing. I believe that making younger people aware and sensitive to the diversity of our country is crucial and the book had me excited.       Minuses Books for younger ones have taken lofty steps during recent years. The text here appears to have missed the bus. It is high on clichés but could have done with more quality research, sensitivity, nuanced detailing and respect for reader’s intelligence. The book appears to cater primarily to the urban rich. There is also a strange fascination with wealth. A map depicting locations of these 26 places would have helped.

Of trees Rains led to a few trees falling As I walked around I saw and touched them. As I walked away from each tree I felt somewhat empty Somewhat less of me Were these only trees falling? Falling Select lines from poems suddenly came to mind Of poets I had read and re-read during recent months. Poetry has been a close friend, A friend, who has many a time, Saved me from falling. Naresh Saxena   चीज़ों के गिरने के नियम होते हैं मनुष्यों के गिरने के कोई नियम नहीं होते लेकिन चीज़ें कुछ भी तय नहीं कर सकतीं अपने गिरने के बारे में मनुष्य कर सकते हैं     Kunwar Narain   पत्तों पर पानी गिरने का अर्थ पानी पर पत्ते गिरने के अर्थ से भिन्न है जीवन को पूरी तरह पाने और पूरी तरह दे जाने के बीच एक पूरा मृत्यु-चिह्न है     Harivansh Rai Bachchan मदिरालय का आँगन देखो कितने प्याले हिल जाते हैं गिर मिट्टी में मिल जाते हैं जो गिरते हैं कब उठतें हैं पर बोलो टूटे प्यालों पर कब मदिरालय पछताता है   Kedar Nath Singh   मेरे बेटे ब...

Into the Wild  Big Cat Tales: Vintage Encounters and Stories Jim Corbett, J H Patterson, Mrs W W Baillie, Saki and Others Compiled and edited by: The Civil Junglees Collective Illustrations: Devashish Verma Publisher: Speaking Tiger Books Pages: 352 Price: 399/- Published at The Hindu .  Thanks are due to the team at The Hindu and Speaking Tiger Books. 22 ‘encounters’ and 6 ‘stories’ make up this anthology. The likes of F W Champion and EHA contribute to the ‘encounters’ while the line-up of the authors of the ‘stories’ include Saki and Alice Perrin. Majority of these writings are based in the Indian sub-continent; they talk of tigers and leopards. However, lions and the African wilderness also find space in few writings. The ‘Compilers and Editors’ have put in laudable efforts to bring this high quality natural history writing to the readers. They succinctly talk about the book – in the introduction – thus, “Our attempt in the collection has been to find humanity in a context...

Two trips to Jaunpur, during the recent months, opened up new worlds.  Of the architectural marvels, the grandeur of Jaunpur - once upon a time, the place today, imartis and more.  Some images from these trips.  Signages from an earlier era,  When milestones were up in the air, in metal and talked in miles.  We humans stuck bricks from different ages together,  Plants brought in the warmth.  An old wall and an old tree together guard a grave,  A grave where someone had recently paid respects.  Less grand than its counterparts in Jaunpur,  But in the fort and elegant.  On top of each other, at the fort gate,  The jharokhas in Jaunpur are mind blowing.  Did friends stand in each of these and talk?  What would the poets - i am fan of - have thought of these?  Is this a result of work or devotion?  What motivated this art? this brilliance?  A reason for many to visit Jaunpur,  A reason sweet enough....

Mundeshvari temple: History in every stone An edited version of this piece has been published in the Friday Review .  Many thanks to colleagues and friends together on this trip, Fiona Buckee for sharing her paper and the team at The Hindu. Mundeshvari Temple is considered the oldest functional temple in the country - I came across this clichéd sounding line multiple times. And questions arose. How old is it then? Is it older than Banaras and its temples? Banaras with all its history, mythology and umpteen temples. Few more questions arose and then I forgot all of them. Mundeshvari is located in Bhabua - 100 kms from Banaras. I then landed upon the temple again in Saba Dewan’s classic Tawaifnama where she writes: ‘Some recent scholars are of the opinion that the goddess installed in the Mundesvari temple might well have been a deity worshipped originally by the aboriginal population described in the Vedic and post-Vedic texts as asura and daitya. In the long-drawn-out struggles ...