Sahyadrica

“Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush” - Doug Larson Slushy snow covering the woods at Medway Creek After four months of waiting and facing the last snowstorm, the weather changed its course within two days. The temperatures rose to above 10C after a long, long time and the snow started to melt. Today there’s hardly any snow around. In the meanwhile, the snowmelt and rain gave Thames River and its tributaries a fearsome flow. The water levels increased dramatically – a makeover to the slow, clear water that flowed calmly all winter. Spring is technically here, but the trees are yet to reincarnate themselves in shades of greens. However, the warmer temperatures did attract some creatures that I’d like to call the harbingers of spring. Spring is not only a climatic change, but many biological changes take place as well. Life blooms. It is a peak season to see migratory birds, when reptiles and mammals come out of hibernation, insects metamorphose and p

“The earth is shaking as the tree falls with a great thud.” – Boa Sr, Songs from the Great Andamanese 6,808,300,000 – The number of people living on this planet. 3,000,000,000 – The number of people living in poverty. Over thousand tribes exist on this planet, but no one knows how many tribal people live or how many die.  It is disheartening to hear of someone you know pass away, but it is different to hear of someone, who is the last person of a tribe, to pass. The difference lies not just in knowing that a person – whom you never met or thought of – passed away, but in the very thought that the person was the last one to die. Something that makes my mind twitch. Survival and other media reported the passing away of the last member of a tribe from Andaman Island  on January 26. “ Boa Sr , who died last week aged around 85, was the last speaker of ‘ Bo ’, one of the ten Great Andamanese languages ”, quoted the article Extinct: Andaman tribe’s extermination comple

"If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" - Percy Bysshe Shelley Medway Creek On 21st February, the clouds unveiled a deep blue sky and let the temperature rise above 0 degrees – after almost a month. The sun shone brightly, melting snow away. The air felt warm for once. I went to explore Medway Creek again , which always amuses me and I like being in that little habitat by the bridge at the little creek, amidst trees and snow. This fairytale lookalike fragmented woodland is so small, I thought I had explored most of its winter avatar, but I was wrong. On this warm winter day, I decided to leave behind all the worries and deadlines, and wandered into the wilderness for two hours of exploring – where I stumbled upon more than what the previous two walks at Medway Creek had to offer. Above picture taken on 21st February 2010. Above picture taken on 17th October 2009 of the same location. First thing to strike me was the complete transformation of the lush green woodla