Cicada Summer
An edited version of this post appeared as ‘A summer of shrieking cicadas’ an article for ‘Rooting For Nature,’ my monthly column in Deccan Herald. The published column is linked here….
Keeper turns Trapper
This post originally appeared in ‘Rooting For Nature’, my monthly column in Deccan Herald. The published column is linked here. Most fields in Navilu Kaadu’s vicinity are rainfed and lie fallow…
A Tangy Harvest
This post appeared as ‘Tangy Tips from the Tamarind,’ an article for ‘Rooting For Nature,’ my monthly column in Deccan Herald. I am sharing it here with more images. The…
Fantastical Creatures on a Mango Plant
This post originally appeared as ‘Marauders on mango plants’, an article for ‘Rooting For Nature’, my monthly column in Deccan Herald. This version has a few more images. The published…
A Run-in with a Paper Wasp
A paper wasp delivers an indelible lesson in exerting caution, space and humility when in wild territory.
Finding Paradise
Slowly but surely, over annual harvests of sweet-sour tamarind, fragrant golden turmeric and plump yelakki baaLe, endless hassles with power supply and labour, many a gaffe and heartache, and eventful encounters with fellow-residents of the wild variety, Navilu Kaadu natural farm is morphing into our own little paradise.
A Tree Lost, A Tree Gained
Nearly two years after we set foot on Navilu Kaadu, we realized with much heartache that two full-grown banyan trees once adorned our land. Visiting farmhands described the trees they…
A conversation on finding one’s ikigai for Beyond 8
I discuss Navilu Kaadu and the magical journey of following one’s passions with dear friend Mihika Shankar for Beyond 8. Based in Chennai, Beyond 8 offers heutagogy or learner-determined approaches…
Tree Tales from Nagarahole
What is the link between Agatha Christie and Nagarahole? Can a tree start quarrels? Water from a tree trunk? An elephant’s favourite treat of a tree? The only tree that hosts the larvae of the leaf miner moth? A tree species with separate male and female trees?
Many of us perceive trees as insentient beings. Do you wonder then like I often do, as to how trees in their stillness and quiescence, radiate life, warmth, serenity, love, abundance and vibrancy all at once in mysterious ways that no other walking, trotting, slithering, running, hopping, talking, grunting or roaring being can?
A Graceful Life
My beloved grandmother passed away peacefully on the 10th of May 2020. This is the unedited version of my tribute to her, serendipitously published in Reader’s Digest on her eleventh day ceremony. Grateful for a beautiful childhood around her.
Link to the Reader’s Digest tribute here.