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(January 19, 2022) Interview by Sourabha Rao Recently, we had the pleasure of talking to Alisha Dutt Islam, an environmental artist, botanical illustrator, information designer and educator. Her body of work, in her own words, ‘focuses on helping my audience process data in an easy and enjoyable manner with primary focus on the environment.’ Listening to her ideas about art and its power to set in motion positive change was refreshing. We hope you enjoy this exchange of thoughts as well!  ...

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(January 17, 2022) Written by Sourabha Rao An article Dr. Nigel Collar wrote about the urgency of a lesser florican conservation programme, in January this year, began with this assertion: “I am terrified over the future of the lesser florican.” The italicised emphasis on the word that conveys his concern remains justified, for he asserts that if we do nothing now, the ‘critically endangered’ lesser florican will be completely gone in about twenty years. Illustration: Aditi Rajan ...

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(January 13, 2022) Here’s the sixth part of our ‘Birds of Chopta’ series – with the following seven birds and poems dedicated to each one of them. We hope you enjoy it. Poems by Sourabha Rao. Photo courtesy shared below each image. 1. Black-and-yellow grosbeak © Akbar Ali Asif a new space within, swollen with rapture the earth holds so much and your responses rest within you – dense, vivid, your own forming you as you participate in this great dialogue the world...

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(January 05, 2022) (ಭಯ, ಕುತೂಹಲ, ಹಾಸ್ಯ) ಲೇಖಕರು: ಸತೀಶ ಗಣೇಶ ನಾಗಠಾಣ ಅಬ್ಬಬ್ಬ... ವಾಹ್! ಅದ್ಭುತ ಸೌಂದರ್ಯಯದ ಕೌತುಕ ಖಜಾನೆಯನ್ನ ತನ್ನೊಳಗೆ ಭದ್ರವಾಗಿ ಅಡಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿರುವ ದಟ್ಟಮರಗಳ ದಂಡಕಾರಣ್ಯದ ಸುತ್ತ ಒಂದು ಮಣ್ಣಿನ ರಸ್ತೆಯ ಮಧ್ಯೆ‌ ಸಲೀಸಾಗಿ ಜೀಪನ್ನ ಚಲಾಯಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಸಾಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆವು. ಆಹಾ! ಇಂತಹ ದೃಶ್ಯವನ್ನ ನಾನೆಲ್ಲೂ ಕಂಡೇ ಇಲ್ಲ. ವಿಸ್ಮಯ ಜಗತ್ತಿನ ಪರಕಾಯ ಪ್ರವೇಶವೆಂದರೆ ಇದೇ ಎಂದೆನಿಸುತ್ತಿತ್ತು.   ನೋಡನೋಡುತ್ತ ಕಾನನ ಲೋಕದ ಪ್ರಪಂಚದ ಕೋಟೆಯೊಳಗೆ ಸಾಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆವು. ಮೈಮನ ರೋಮಾಂಚನಗೊಳಿಸುವಂತಹ ಜಾಗವಿದು. ‘ಭಲೇ ಭಲೇ ಚಾಂಗಭಲೇ’ ಎಂದು ಉದ್ಗರಿಸುತ್ತಿರಬೇಕಾದ್ರೆ ಪಕ್ಕದಲ್ಲಿ...

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(November 29, 2021) Here’s the fifth part of our ‘Birds of Chopta’ series – with the following seven birds and poems dedicated to each one of them. We hope you enjoy it. Poems by Sourabha Rao. Photo courtesy shared below each image. 1. Green-tailed sunbird © Pradeep so many colours on such a small being we unknowingly learn to love inconsistencies this unsuspecting teacher has taught his lesson and is about to fly away how is it, then, we also learn to love that which...

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(November 24, 2021) Written by Sourabha Rao There is an effortless grace some beings embody, like it were that simple, in the way they stand, walk, and just are. One such rare, immense being is the great Indian bustard (GIB). Walking as if it never flinches away from being gallant, the crown of its head is a distinct black, starkly contrasting with its head and long neck. With a brown body, long and bare legs, this bustard can stand up to one-metre tallness. One of the heaviest flying avian species in the wor...

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(October 08, 2021) When an entire week is observed as Wildlife Week, there are infinite possibilities to celebrate it. First observed in 1957, the week is celebrated with the vision of preserving the flora and fauna of our country. For this year's Wildlife Week, we bring you those national parks and biosphere reserves that are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. While every inch of the planet and all its areas of pristine wilderness need to be revered and conserved, we illustrate these heritage sites as their symboli...

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(October 06, 2021) Photostory by Sourabha Rao The sickle moon is a soft scatter behind the dark, rootless clouds that float above the jagged mountainline. On a stream here, moonlight spills generously but shatters and splinters incessantly without making a sound, stirring the waters with practised silence. The cold, numbed sense of monotony that had lurked back in the city is slowly unfreezing and it’s exalted interruption for the mind. But not everything about being in the mountains of the Himalayas ...

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(September 21, 2021) Photo story by Sourabha Rao There is the sentient forest with all its visible and elusive beings. There is all the resonance one is filled with, of non-human intelligences and awarenesses as one ventures into the verdant depths of it. There is an awakening that makes one realise how we are only a part of this glorious web of life although we tend to believe we dominate it. There is humility in this, then there is joy. And then there is plastic. The largest tiger reserve of India, Na...

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(September 15, 2021) Article by Sourabha RaoSometimes, all it takes for one to orient oneself to the direction of a fulfilling life is a gentle prod. And that is exactly what our Livelihood Support programme did to Vinod Kumar, a beneficiary who has now molded his life as a well-known building contractor.Vinod Kumar (one on the right)  in a building being constructed under his supervision.In the bucolic Madenuru Haadi, Vinod was born to a tribal family that knew the travails of living in a forest. He finished h...

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