Dusk makes one resign to the ways of the world, in a way that is not despondent with life but appreciates its fragility and transience… musings on dusk…
Dusk and its lingers…
of a cemetery…
Musings on an old Parsi cemetery, Ranikhet, Uttarakhand
Holipura and its melancholic heritage…
Holipura Heritage Village, a small (and save for the glossy paint, largely non-descript) board on the road from Agra to Bah announces a potential excursion to those meandering in the ravines of Chambal… that ‘tis a short detour swings the decision in its favour as one turns the car down a narrow bumpy road for …
Falcons and their fecundity…
Falcons are little assassins that operate rather discreetly as the larger birds of prey hog the (higher perches and the) limelight… eagles and their kin carry an air of regalia, hunting with a pomp that comes with a bulky, imposing gait… hawks prefer to lay an ambush, letting the prey do a bit of the …
Spring in the backyard…
Spring in the mountains, a time when the sun is finally emboldened enough to begin scrubbing away the vestiges of winter, the cold begins to lose its bite and the canopy starts humming to the wind… the brooding dark winter is a time to contemplate, whilst on the other side of the vernal equinox, ‘tis …
hawks and their winter haunts…
Musings on a Pallid Harrier and Eurasian sparrowhawk, Tal Chappar Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajasthan, India
eagles – on lazy migrants and sly natives…
Musings on the the similarities and differences between Steppe & Tawny eagles, Tal Chhapar wildlife sanctuary, Rajasthan
cat and its lair…
the cat is a contradictory phenomenon, a pet you don’t really own, an existence that baffles Schrödinger, symbolic of witches or exuding the air of a wiseman… if the canine is warmth of attachment, the feline is cold of detachment… bereft of anxiety, it basks in the aloofness that comes with predatory instincts… the cat, …
on pensive birds…
pensive are the avifauna that predate… especially at dawn or dusk, when not hunting for food, there’s an expression on their face that is enlightened yet forlorn at the same time… once saturated with crocs, we started scouting the banks of Chambal, and ruminated on a grey heron and an Egyptian vulture that were relatively …
Birds and running – musings on thandi sadak, Ranikhet…
Birds are one in the faunal realm that share the joie de vivre of running, meandering (out of breath) just for the sake of it (and some foraging, maybe), a seeming purposelessness that is whimsical and resolute at the same time… while other animals chase you, or recede into the thicket at the sound of …