Author: Bijoy Venugopal

S Karthikeyan is well known among Bangaloreans who are even remotely interested in nature. A widely regarded wildlife researcher, birder and butterfly expert, he has also photographed and documented a user-friendly guide to the flowering trees of Bangalore. For a long time, it remained a post on his website, linked…

Over at Life Less Plastic, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the best non-plastic hair rinse options are some Indian recipes that have been used for centuries.  The common ingredients: shikakai (the fruit of Acacia concinna), amla (the fruit of Emblica officinalis, the Indian gooseberry), henna (made from the leaves of Lawsonia…

Over the three or so decades of my life, I have seen many Deepavalis come and go (true to my chauvinism, I prefer the South Indian ‘Deepavali’ to the globalised ‘Diwali’)*. The essence of our festival of lights, I have been variously informed, is to symbolise the victory of light…

Last week, I was in Palani, covering the destination for a travel publication. Shock and awe are the two words that can best describe how I felt. Add to that sub-tones of revulsion, derision and the urge to get away from there as fast as a Tata Indica with a…

The Green Ogre has been away being more green and less ogre, and thus his stomping grounds have been quiet. I have enjoyed the most immersive wildlife and nature experiences over the last few weeks at some exquisite biodiversity sites in southern India. October 9 through 12, my friends Sahastra,…

BR Hills Oct 9 – 12, 2008 Birders: Dr Prashanth, Sahastrarashmi, Sandeep, Bijoy Oct 9 – Nagavalli Tank, Chamarajnagar en route to BR Hills via K Gudi 1. Spotbill Duck 2. Gadwall 3. Black Ibis 4. Eurasian Spoonbill 5. Lesser Whistling Duck 6. Barn Swallow 7. Green Sandpiper 8. Red-wattled…

It’s not the tiger – I have never been lucky enough to see one in the wild and I have never gone to Ranthambhore looking for one. I believe my time will come and I shall wait for it. The creature I’m looking for is a rare little rodent (probably…

Over at Short Sharp Science (the New Scientist blog), I ran into a post that lists ten animal behaviours that are absolutely bizarre. Of these, prurient soul that I am, I selected just a few sensational behaviours related to their sex lives: Shark bites, love bites: The male White-tipped Reef…

A hybrid bike, a new brand of toilet paper, reusable tote bags and a water-powered clock are among seven eco-friendly products listed by Scientific American. The bike, manufactured by a Taiwanese company, is pegged at $2000. Who’s buying? The water-powered clock sounds cool – all you need to do is…

In a direct attack on Creationism and its ists, Gumby the Cat has written an Open Letter to Creationists. Very saucy, very snarky and very entertaining. And very venomous. It could have been better argued but that’s exactly what makes it pure light reading. But, it appears the writer has…

As humans, we have bestowed upon ourselves the power to engineer great catastrophe – fire and flood, of course. But would you have thought earthquakes? Yo, man, we have the power to shake it up. Among the top 5 ways to cause a man-made earthquake, as Wired blogged in June,…

There’s a good reason to keep humans out of forests: Trash! Some people stood here to enjoy the scenery, and left behind evidence of ample enjoyment At birdsofbombay, Sunjoy Monga posted about a cleanup drive in Sanjay Gandhi National Park. A tireless team comprising schoolchildren and other volunteers recovered a…

Disturbing news from the Guardian website on the killing of raptors in Malta and local hunters’ rage towards British conservationists. This is hatred of the Crown gone way too far. The excerpt says it all: Thirty British volunteers and a delegation of five staff from the RSPB have spent the…

Last night, over dinner, some friends and I worried about whether America will elect Sarah Palin for everything she is not. And then, I worried about being worried. And that made me worry some more. So I worried about that. Eventually, I thought, if the American people don’t know better,…