evolution… forever.

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

climbing fest

this 21st feb 2010, Sunday at turahalli…

more details here …

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

sorutihudu

sorutihudu maneya maaLigi
ajnaana’dinda …

they say 1411 are left now!
fancy a number!!

known many folks who wants to see it the wilderness. probably it all started with “i just want to see!”

anyways, let me join some facebook group, become fan of something, i might be able to save them all!

Friday, September 18th, 2009

Kas

or Kaas! This dreamy piece of land with its nick name ‘Valley of Flowers of South’ in all respects a treat to the poetic heart. Of course to the botanist heart too!

more pictures are here …

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

chittegaLu

Kishen Das has written this wonderful book about butterflies in Kannada, “chittegaLu – ondu vaijnanika oLanota”. A well studied, well written, well organised one.

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

elephant and orchid

what would an elephant know about an orchid? Forget the question if elephant thinks and thinks about itself as something!! Probably it would be that green thingy on top of that big green thingy. Again not sure if that green is green! May be it has its own way of calling things and its own way with them. Elephant would treat everything else same and would continue to live its “big” way all the time just as. Wonder if the planet is full of elephants and their number starts to increase and with their limited knowledge of “connectedness” which makes them think they know everything.. etc. Also Wonder if they would still see the connection.. theirs and everything to everything else around them.

Well, elephants or humans … story is the same!!

anyways here is a Vanda from Elephant land.

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

north-east

News that Kannan is not here any more, a short unfinished conversation about Life (its so easy to lose the tone and feel in these faceless voices), were good enough to shake up the thought process from the ‘unpleasant attachments’ of existence in an urban setting of so called life and head towards wilderness of the open air.

First time on the plains of Meghalaya, on mountains of North-East… It was a field trip to study the flora of the East Khasi hills in Meghalaya. And it was more than enough to lose one-self in the richness of the flora, esp orchids. and still asking for more…

probably somewhere in the back of mind had the picture of Sohra (Cherrapunji) as place where it rains always and place with thick woods and so on. It was a small surprise to see the place a bit different though. But loved the vast landscape of the plateau.

The clans there keep a belt of forest protected by all the foreign elements and their influence. Along with with protection come beliefs and rituals, making it all together a culture of the sacred groves. Absolutely delightful to see the forest so rich and protected. As compared to the uneasy feeling of noticing a Silver Oak sapling planted by the road side. No idea how (un)scientific it is!!

As the clans move around the hills changing their base every now and then, they leave behind the notice of their existence and passage by the way of the monoliths planted in orderly fashion. These little rock monuments tell the folks following that someone was there before. Donno how one reads who was there before!! May be they write something on those rocks!!

Another small piece of delightful land is the the botanical garden next to Bara Pani (Bara pani is the big water body which has a power generation unit on one side). Rhaba tells us that there they have 400 species of orchids collected from various places of north-eastern states. (NE has more than 700 native species though) He know every detail about the species by name and characteristics. There were many more species, but its tough to go beyond orchids And yes, another interesting plant is of course the pitcher plant.

one also becomes lazy and starts drifting away when things like stay, day-to-day travel, food are taken care of. At the same time it gives ample time to study too… That reminds the University! The North Eastern Hill University seems like best place to study too (or rather just to be in college!) And could have asked for more intensity, may not have been fair on others though.

the camera shy kids of Mawlynnong

times like these are all made of songs heart by heart, drift by drift !! sweet wind, tell me no more for we are here this moment who cares where is tomorrow !!

be it a long walk on the empty beach with ocean on one side and small hillocks with coco trees on the other,
or a walk on the high plateau in the evening with valleys and grass flowers around and orange sun at a distance
or a swim in the cold water of a waterfall in the thickets listening to birds … or …
well, one should know what to ask for !!!

Saturday, February 7th, 2009

Celebrating Turahalli

Celebrating Turahalli
for the place it has been,
for the playground it has been,
for the crag it has been,
for the green space it has been,

This feb 15th Sunday, there is Climbers Meet/Fest is happening at Turahalli. Read more here

… and feb 15th was a fun day to be at turahalli…

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

Marine Mammal Conservation

The Marine Mammal Conservation Network of India : Conserving Whales, Dolphins, Porpoise, Dugong in India.
Here is their website