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…]
“Older!” … “Not: Old!” 
Arctic sea ice shrinks to its second-lowest annual minimum extent ever 
Assange’s Eleventh Day at the Old Bailey: Suicide, Hallucinations and Psychological Torture 
The UAE-Israel deal’s historicity is in the fine print 
(Un)Civil War? 
Strange Celebrations of the UN 75th Anniversary 
“Manifest Destiny” and the Mexican-American War 
A peacock, divine providence and we 
Iran – US Sanctions – Unilateralism – Turning the Clock Back to Before the Nuclear Deal 
Another Reason to Change Our Species Name! 
André Vltchek – Remembered 
You Can Ask Me….But 
Before teaching in English medium, first improve the shoddy text books 
A Moral Debate 
The End of Reality? 
RSS As A Terrorist Outfit: Evidences From Its Archives 
RTI: High Court admonishes irresponsible PIOs 
Assange’s Tenth Day at the Old Bailey: Bolting Horses, Death Penalties and Plots of Eviction 
On the GST issue, the Centre holds the baton 
Resisting Linguistic Hegemony: The Legacy of Punjabi Language 
Cutting Back 
Changing Our Species Name 
Sri Lanka’s Boiling Tamils And Failing Tamil Political Leaders 
Can the Social Sciences choose to be Reflexive in times of Crisis? 
In Praise of the Lioness of Law: Ruth Bidder Ginsburg and her Jurisprudence 
A Letter To God From Kashmir 
Black Wave – Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry 
The Caged Bird and the Free Bird 
TV journalism in India: Crying for TRP or Truth 
The Truth Hurts 
Who Is President Trump? 
Lynching of democracy in India 
Apartheid Reaffirmed 
Something’s Rotten About The Republic Of Reaction 
A gypsy’s account of the times gone by 
Increasing Incidence of Violence Against Women Forest Dwellers in Uttarakhand 
Why is Bengal still Caste-less? 
Body, Nation and Resistance in the times of COVID-19 Protests re-erupts in Portland 
Farmers Bills: Are They, Boon or Bane? 
This article is based on the 25th Chandrashekar Memorial Lecture delivered on 20 September 2020. The original lecture was delivered in Hindi and the event was organized by Punashcha, the Indian People’s Theater Association (IPTA) and Koshish. Friends, comrades gathered here; I am very honoured to be invited to deliver the Chandrashekhar Memorial Lecture this year but I cannot say[Read More…]
