The streets of Jayanagar, a residential area in Bengaluru are strewn with spring flowers. Yellow copper pods, lilac crape myrtles, pink-and-white honges and orange gulmohurs blaze overhead and underfoot; vitality and senescence mirroring each other. The normally hard surfaces – kerb, pavement, road and concrete – are softened by fallen petals and the duff of stamens from rain trees. Every[Read More…]
I am witness to the murder of forests. To be silent in the face of this is unconscionable. I am witness to the birth of forests. To be silent in the face of this is unconscionable. I am witness to… nay… I’m beholden to…. nay…. I’m alive and breathing and who I am because of the work of forests. To be silent in the face[Read More…]
To survive the holocaust of planetary proportions that is upon us, one must defend her or get out of the way. I live across a small stream from an ancient rainforest in Wayanad, Kerala. It has a constancy that’s baffling, appearing more or less the same to me, for all the years I’ve been here. The forest sustains. As do[Read More…]
Lit by chlorophyll and the conjurations of trees, there’s a trail through a forest along the Stone River where the light never repeats. Slender and winding, this is a generous trail; always bearing gifts. Some days it offers melodies; other days, stories. Often it offers ideas and memories. It does this, I’ve now come to understand, through streams of sensory ticklings. Paintings:[Read More…]
The world in which each of us lives does not necessarily yield the world in which we all live together. Where does your world end and mine begin? I live in a world grown from tall trees, tiny tender plants and a scintillating diversity of creatures, which is covered in cloud and drenched in rain for a greater part of[Read More…]
It was a bright morning in late October, with a light breeze and no mist. Crinkled woody seeds of todayan, a beautiful tree with upturned leaves, cracked open underfoot as I walked through a rainforest at the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary in Wayanad district, Kerala, where I live and work. Balsam capsules sprung open on touch. In the course of a few minutes,[Read More…]
Field notes from a botanical sanctuary: changing weather patterns are causing havoc to plants. I love being at home, in Wayanad, when the south-west monsoon arrives. This hilly district of northern Kerala is still full of tall trees and myriad creatures, and drenched in rain for several months in a year. From my window, I see Banasuramala, a beautiful mountain[Read More…]
First published through EarthLines Magazine, Issue 16 I sing to elephants. It’s what I do. I sing because I like to, and because I believe my elephant neighbours are comfortable in my singing presence. I sing all the time, and it’s when I sing that I know more precisely how I feel. My own speech never does justice to my[Read More…]
Let us begin with theettam. Or if you prefer, with Leelamma’s kitchen, where thee (fire) burns. Between the wood-burning stove and the community pit-loo, an ecological picaresque unfolds. Perhaps this is why, in Malayalam, theettam (excretum) and thee’tta (food) are near-homonyms.Newcomers to the language, whose ears (and tongues) cannot distinguish between ‘tt and tt (slight upward flick of[Read More…]
George Floyd is strangled in India too 
Elephant Killing in Kerala has nothing to do with Malappuram Muslims 
Army Attack on Golden Temple Turned India into Unitary Rule 
America’s Pandemic Racism Is As Heart-Wrenching As It Is Sickening 
Statement From Feminists in India Against The Police Violence That Killed George Floyd 
In US, While Leadership Falters, COVID-19 Wins: Trumps Pathetic Treatment Of The Pandemic 
Lack of Identity of Migrant Workers 
World Environment Day – A Message 
My Wretched Country 
Onset of Mental Health Crisis: Changing the Conversation in Pandemic times 
Understanding Education in the age of Digital Divide 
On mobs, monkeys and migrants 
People across the country demand accountability for the loss of life and livelihood due to the lockdown 
Manifesto for mass movements for the future and survival of India 
We don’t need Tyranny of anyone in democracy: Elected or ‘Un-elected’ 
As US protests show, the challenge is how to rise above the violence inherent in state power 
Taking The Knee 
Remembering Tiananmen Square And The Pro-Democracy Protests 
India’s Unsustainable Villages 
Lockdown, Culture And Identity 
The pandemic may knock out small newspapers in the Indian regional language news market 
“You Can’t Fix Stupid”: A Review of Robert Reich’s The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It 
The game of Corona 
A New Economy after Corona Virus 
Demanding food, water and health care, several political groups conduct Padayatra 
Benefits of Equality 
Uninterrupted And Continuous Human Rights Violations Against The Tamils In Sri Lanka 
Food and Agroecology: Coping with Future Shocks 
The Killing Of George Floyd And The Long History Of Police Brutality In The US 
What waits for Rohingyas? 
Public Display of Faith Can Wait, Humanity Cannot 
Persistent and Unabated Efforts by US to Grip and Destabilize Nepal as Part of Indo-Pacific Strategy 
Preparing For Natural Disasters Within A Pandemic 
Corona And Environment: A Lesson To Learn 
Challenges in Seeking Health Care amidst COVID 19 Pandemic: Experiences of Cancer Patients 
Jaganmohan Reddy’s Fight To Impart English Education In Government Schools Met With Resistance 
Understanding Pandemics Through a Climate-Perspective 
A Superpower In Chaos 
Welcoming Reader’s Participation In Preparing A “People’s Manifesto for India’s Future” The Government’s Mishandling Of The Coronavirus Pandemic Must Have Consequences For Those In Its Highest Offices 
Today, the Republic of India faces its gravest moment since it was born seventy years ago. What has hit the second most populous nation in the world – just in the last few months itself – is nothing short of a crisis of Biblical proportions. An untreatable viral epidemic, a debilitating lockdown, a collapsed economy, hunger stalking every corner of[Read More…]
