Deepavali at Rishi Valley

15 of us MNSites set out for the Rishi Valley School, which was our base camp. I was jerked awake and zombied my way to the car, which would carry me, my mother, Pritam uncle, Vijay uncle, Tara aunty and Shashank to Madanapalle. Amid discussions of where the Pitta had been spotted in Chennai, I zoned out to the sound of Iron Maiden.

More

Exploring Pandyan lands

There is an interesting group of people in Madras called the Hayagriva Study Circle, put together by Dr Gita Vasudevan. They come from all walks of life and are curious about filling in the gaps on subjects that interest them. I have attended lecture series on ayurveda, history and art with them, and its history that I've gone back for again and again.

We went on a short tour of the countryside around Madurai, to explore Pandyan history. I came back from this tour with a better understanding of a strand of history that I knew so little of - the Jain influence in Tamil Nadu. I have written about various highlights over a few blog posts, that I have summarised here.

We visited Thenparankundram and Thirupurakunram, rock cut Jain caves from the 7th and 8th century AD.

Then there was the Vettuvan kovil - the most beautiful rock-cut temple I have ever seen.


Did you know there are some hundred Jaina sites in Pandya country? Kazhugumalai was one such. It was a seat of Jain learning in centuries past, and the Jain bas reliefs we saw date to around 800 AD.

After some off-road driving we arrived at Arittapatti village, in Melur taluk. Once again there was the side-by-side existence of old Hindu relics and vestiges of Jainism. Arittapatti has one of the earliest known Tamil Brahmi inscriptions.

The Jacana Junkies at the Bird Race

There were 4 birders from Madras
who had not birded for a while, alas!
So they decided to change their ways
And take part in the Chennai Bird Race.

More

A belated salute to the vulture

http://www.ivad09.org/wp/

Sept 5th was Vulture Awareness Day, worldwide. I missed that date, but better late than never.

Continue

"A rose-red city half as old as time"

Al Khazneh, as you emerge from the Siq

We soon left the hills of Amman behind and found ourselves surrounded by largely featureless desert. Some hills dotted the distance, there was little vegetation and only the tall, wind blown swirls of sand broke the monotony. I had half hoped for some pale imitation of Wadi Rum, but no luck: the desert was not giving up its jewels to casual passers by. Featureless settlements had come up around the few crossroads, each with an oil-stained garage, a shop or two, a very basic restaurant and some windowed concrete blocks that served as houses.

Continue...

Neem ka Thana memories

The Taregna eclipse was not a patch on the fun we had during the 1995 October eclipse. It was Doordarshan's first live coverage of a total solar eclipse, and the centre of action was the little Rajasthani town of Neem ka Thana.

The moon's shadow bypassed Madras, so we decided to follow it on the telly. Prof Yash Pal of the UGC was anchoring the show from the studios in Delhi, and they had a remote unit at Neem ka thana. We were very impressed with the set up and excited as well.

Little did we know, what unintended entertainment was to follow.... More

Encounters with Voldemort

Its Harry Potter season again. The Half Blood Prince is in the theatres, and I'm sure that I shall see it sooner than later.

Brought back memories of my coming face-to-face with Voldemort and his death eaters, last summer.

Juna Mahal - a hidden gem

High up on the hill behind the Udai Bilas Palace is the original Dungarpur palace, Juna Mahal, which dates to the 13th century, and was occupied until probably the late 19th century when the new lake-side palace was built.

It was a strange and interesting visit to the Juna Mahal.

Mysore's Little Jewel

This time, I discovered a little jewel, though, just around the corner from the Ginger hotel where we stayed. An added bonus. More

The Black Winged Stilts at Pallikaranai

They take off as a flock, frightened by a marauding marsh harrier, and then land at a safe distance, their long red legs and black wings making them look better in flight than when they are wading in the waters...more

An Encounter at Vedanthangal

The bird was looking intently at the crevices formed between the stones studding the waterside of the bund. Suddenly it made a sharp dive towards the bund, caught a wriggling animal and flew back to its perch...More

Russel Viper or Krait?

Now, please read the article below, and tell me which snake do you think that is...More

Suraj Mal and the 2000 Fountains

The roads were good and our driver was safe, and (thankfully) there are no hair-raising road stories in this account. More camels, several unlicensed, made-up people carriers on a tractor chassis...More

Mongolian visitor sighted at Tirunelveli

Arun of MNS "saw(and photographed) this female Barheaded Goose ( 2nd March, 2009
5.40 pm), in Koondhakulam (flock of about 120 birds). Contacted the concerned people and found out that -- it had been banded in Darkhad Valley of Northern Mongolia on 17th July 2008 by the Wildlife Conservation Society of Mongolia.... 5000 km journey"

Tree tales from Guindy National Park

March 15th, 2009 7:30 am, and a dozen of us awaited another walk through GNP with Bhanu.of MNS. No, not the Children's Park or the Snake Park, but the actual GNP, as we call it. Lung of the city, arguably the largest urban sanctuary in Asia.

My favourite was this flowering Siris tree - looks like a white-flowered rain tree does it not? Albizia lebbeck, if you want to read up about it. Its got these pods that rattle in the wind, reportedly - we didn't hear them - it was not windy!

Read more.

Miseries of Being an Owl

It all started with an excited email from one of the MNS members sharing a photo of the owl at Nanmangalam, and how there were two new chicks. Oh wow, I thought, thats so good, to know they are progressing nicely in our very own reserve forest...More

Magpie-Robin Menezes

With due apologies to Ranjit Lal, who in his delightful "Crow Chronicles", named the soulful singer of Bharatpur thus. I was given the book by Chitra before departing for Bharatpur, but my son wanted first dibs, and so I read it (actually am still enjoying it) on my return.

Read about the magpie-robins here.

The Uncommon Incident of the Common Crane

Anyway, common cranes they were, and a lovely family of four, mum, dad and two teenagers? Now they were actually more than 600m away, (atleast I think so), and our binocs were at the limit of their capabilities...More

Spot that Bird

Above us a Montagu’s harrier hovered in the air trying to find prey in the dense scrub jungle below. We spotted the yellow wattled lapwing, which made our day!...More

The bird that craved for a ramp

They adorned the trees all over, catching the sun to dry their wings. Everybody got great shots of these birds, and as I wondered about their vanity, Mr Chari gently mentioned that they were drying their wings because unlike water off a duck's back, the Darter's feathers do get wet, as they dive into the water in search of fish. .. .More. . .