Beej

Bijoy Venugopal

Beej, in some Indian languages, means ‘seed’. It’s a name his friends gave him for no fault or accomplishment.

Founder-editor of The Green Ogre, Beej began this blog as a solo writing project in 2006 while enduring being chained to a desk job. In April 2007, on a hike to Bedni Bugyal in the Garhwal Himalaya, a dim light that had always been glowing in his head flickered to incandescent brightness for a tick. Some may call it nirvana, others might call it kundalini. But Beej knew what it was — altitude sickness. The raison d’etre of this mortal coil suddenly came to light.

The rest in Beej’s words:

“I travel. I write. I write to be able to travel. And I travel to write. In the realm of photography, I am a diarist (I stick to my trusty Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ28 and have eternally cold feet about investing in an SLR). I rely on the trick of the light, unlike talented photographers who know how to trick the light into producing results.

I write this blog because I believe in the future of the earth, optimistically, despite the threats of climate change, environmental degradation, extinction of wildlife, dwindling water supplies, pollution, etc. Sometimes I wonder what there is to be optimistic about because, as a conservationist friend says, we are fighting a losing battle that we have to fight anyway (sort of like the Spartans in 300).”

A seasoned communications professional, birder and travel writer, Beej is the former editor of Yahoo! India travel (now defunct), besides having worn the hats of journalist, speaker, educator and cartoonist. He shoots with a LUMIX FZ-2500, and abhors DSLRs. He does not twitch.

Photo: Rajeev Rajagopal

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