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…]
Farmers in protest: Learning from the past and creating history with a real definition of nationalism 
Raskolnikov’s Dream Come True 
Mother of a Martyr 
In a secular democracy, media turns a zealous fundraiser for Ram Temple 
Why India’s farm laws will never be rolled back 
A Momentous Republic Day: Have farmers gained the initiative? 
Too Much Democracy, Mr. Kant, Or Too Little ? 
Why Albert Einstein Went to Meet Mahatma Gandhi in Heaven? 
Pluralism Does Not Justify The Violation Of Human Rights – India Are You Listening? 
Condemn the arrest and custodial sexual violence faced by Nodeep Kaur! 
King, “Americans Betrayed Their Country In Vietnam!” Now in Yemen, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan 
Illogical Thinking Leading to Illogical Actions 
Mr. MAGA Undone 
Trigger Finger for Armageddon: Trump and the Thermonuclear Monarchy 
Trump may be on trial, but the system that produced him will be acquitted 
Linguistic Deception Used Against People and Environment 
Farm Acts emasculate protective laws 
South Asian activists burn copies of unjust Indian laws on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday 
Violation of the human rights of an innocent family in Assam 
Premature Death 
Indian Farmers on the Frontline Against Global Capitalism 
The Captive Media in the USA 
The Light That Fell On The Finger 
The pandemic: Global death toll tops 2M 
Lessons from the Beer Belly Putsch 
Admiral Ramdas Appeals The Government To Repeal The Farm Laws For Farmers’ Movement, This Time is Ripe for Consolidation, Not Confrontation 
Data Privacy And Tech Giants 
Mahatma Gandhi Meets Shahid Bhagat Singh in Heaven 
Death by lethal injection: An inhumane way to die 
Encroaching Identity 
Yearnings for Alternative Food and Farming Systems 
Preview signals Biden’s foreign policy shifts 
Encircling China and Praising India: The US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific 
Will the U.S. Senate Confirm Coup Plotter Nuland? 
Two Principles of Racial Equity that Outrage US Liberals Hold On To That Fear 
Can the U.S. and China Cooperate on a Failing Planet? 
In Conversation with Prof K S Chalam 
We Need Multi-Disciplinary Approach For Better Understanding of Crucial Issues 
For nearly two decades now Countercurrents has provided millions of readers around the world with deep insights and analysis of news, events, trends that are usually ignored by mainstream media. A key quality of this unique information platform has been its eclectic and open minded choice of themes, ranging from caste, gender and communalism to issues related to ecology, rapidly[Read More…]
