Blog
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...
Murraya: A Story of Friendship
Having trees as friends is not uncommon. They are extremely patient listeners, comforting and sometimes (you may not believe this) also respond! As a teenager with a lot of stories and gossip to share, in search of some privacy, I would sneak onto the balcony to...
Our Chikoo Tree
In 1975, my mother-in-law, Mrs Janaki Kurup, planted a chikoo (sapota) tree in the garden of the house that she had bought in South Bangalore two years earlier. When I came to the house as a bride in 1979, the chikoo tree was only the size of a large bush, but it...
Around Pune
Of the many plants I have photographed, the vast majority have been within a few metres of a road, or at least a trail or path of some sort. I am almost always close enough for traffic noise to come through. It is truly amazing how much diversity survives,...
জিওল ফলের গল্প
আন্দুল স্টেশন থেকে বাড়ি ফেরবার পথে গাছটা চোখে পড়লো। রাস্তার ধারে দাঁড়িয়ে আছে একটা গাছ; পাতা নেই, ফুল নেই – শুধু ফল। গাছ থেকে পাখির কিচমিচ কানে আসতেই দাঁড়িয়ে পড়লাম। গাছ ভর্তি থোকা থোকা আঙুরের মত লাল রঙের ফলের লোভে ঝাঁক ঝাঁক বুলবুলি, সিপাহী বুলবুলি মহা শোরগোল...
Unleashing Nature’s Secrets
Inspired by the beautiful journals of nature artist Sangeetha Kadur Ma'am, I started documenting memorable moments with nature in the form of a nature journal. Our school nestled in the forest of Bannerghatta National Park is a platter of flora and fauna for...
Twice the colour, once a year
Terminalia paniculata has been my favourite tree ever since I came to this campus (mainly because this was literally the only tree I could ever name, especially the scientific name). We would go birding very often, or I would notice a bird walk message in the...
As a Bird Would Perch
When one says the word tree, the trunk of a Neem tree darkened by rain comes to my mind. The canopy is so far above that I only see its shadow, and the air is filled with a mild but definitive aroma of its leaves. A significant memory of my days growing up is four...