Blog
Khinni – Lone Warrior
Standing tall and alone on the edge of Tadoba Tiger Reserve, I'm Khinni. The place where I stand is not for the faint of heart for I see the most prolific changes in weather over a year. I stand on the edge of a lake adjoining farmlands. I'm the tallest of all and...
The Persian Lilac Tree
We shifted to a new house in Delhi, in March 2010, and there, right in front of the house was a beautiful Persian Lilac (Melia azedarach) tree in full bloom. Persian Lilac (Melia azedarach) The stem and branches with dark fissured bark bore small clusters of...
Respite religiosa
Between 2020 and 2022, amidst the 3 COVID-19 waves, I enrolled in a Master's program at a college in Pune. Most of my coursework was online, which meant I attended classes from home, in Bangalore. Whenever lockdowns eased, we were called for in-person classes, and...
One Tiny Odd Red Leaf!
After spending months in the forests of Bastar, Chhattisgarh, I have keenly observed the ever-evolving beauty of its forests. Every passing month brings about remarkable transformations, and these changes have captivated my senses in ways I never imagined. I...
Pava Tree and Its Mushroom Companion
Last year, around this time, I was in Kumbarwada, a place in Kali Tiger Reserve, Dandeli. I was working on my master’s thesis about how knowledge about tubers is passed down from older to younger people in the Kunbi community. The Kunbis are a forest community that...
The Legacy of a Small Fig Tree
With its glossy green foliage, the small fig tree in my house has nurtured many generations of birds. Its rounded canopy, set away from surrounding walls, is a popular spot among small birds looking for a site to nest. Here, one can witness the endless drama of...
The Crow’s Gift: A Lockdown Friendship Blooms
Nature has a unique way of grabbing our attention, often through subtle yet enchanting gestures that can transform our perception of the world around us. My story gives a different perspective on this, rooted in a personal experience during the COVID-19 lockdown....
Rain Tree Chronicles: Life beneath the Emerald Canopy
Rose-ringed Parakeet on the Rain Tree In the crowded city of Mumbai, the exotic Rain tree usually makes news for all the wrong reasons. Its branches are not known to be the strongest and are the first to fall during the city’s infamous monsoons. They are also...
African Tulip
It was my curiosity to watch birds, and flowers closer or rather wanting to be closer to them, I started to zoom them in with my camera. Slowly I started clicking pictures of birds, flowers, trees, and animals around me as a way to savor those milliseconds of time...
Homecoming
‘Amma, which tree is that sutta pazham/ sudatha pazham legend about?’ I, a non-religious person, asked my very pious mother about a mythological story 1 I had heard as a child. The detail of the tree species is beside the point of the story’s metaphor, but my...