Immersing Ganesha – An ode to broken things?
The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda may well have been talking of the immersion of Ganesha, thinks Sahastrarashmi as he presents a tableau of pictures from the beach at Pondicherry Let’s…
Category: Sahastra
All posts authored by Sahastra
On the Wing: Black-shouldered Kite
An attractive raptor even while perched, the Black-shouldered Kite is hard to forget once spotted hovering For a long time after I learned to identify this bird, also called the…
Wordless Wednesday – What’s inside the fig?
Photo: Sandeep Somasekharan See all Wordless Wednesday posts The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
Le Question: Did Indians do nothing but celebrate festivals?
A tree may be our primary connection with the universe — but it will take us all our lives to acknowledge it The Ficus virens that outgrew the shrine Shashwat:…
Book Review: Life’s Grandeur by Stephen Jay Gould
Eminently readable, Stephen Jay Gould’s Life’s Grandeur is a must for anyone who wants to understand Darwin better Stephen Jay Gould (Sep 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) is one…
An intimate encounter with the lovely Red Cassia
The brilliant brick reds, salmon-pink and yellow of Cassias light up avenues even as summer wears out its welcome. Sahastrarashmi presents an intimate encounter with the flowering tree as never…
Gaia and the Lovelock legacy
James Lovelock, whose birthday fell on July 26, proposed the compelling but controversial idea of Gaia. Sahastrarashmi offers an appreciation of the man and his work Gaia as metaphor; Gaia…
Encounter: The Rufous-tailed Shrike
Often, the stupidest questions elicit the most enlightening answers. Such was my initiation to the little featherball known as the Rufous-tailed Shrike
Encounter: Golden Frog
Our very own Golden Frog, a Western Ghats endemic, gave us the cherished privilege of a long and uninterrupted audience
Encounter: Bicoloured Frog
It’s tiny and blends in completely with the leaf litter but once you spot it, the Bicoloured Frog is unmistakable
Wordless Wednesday: The Orchid, the Slug and the Skipper
Those are pretty orchids, yes, but why are they crawling with slugs?
Encounter: Blue-eyed Bush Frog
On a dark, wet monsoon night in Agumbe we met the very kissable blue-eyed prince of frogs
The Cannonball Tree, an explosion of beauty
In flower the Cannonball Tree is lovely. But, by Toutatis, beware the skull-crushing quality of its menacing fruits
Encounter: Crimson Sunbird
A chance meeting with this charming sunbird kept our spirits high through the unpredictable Himalayan weather In September 2010, on our way to the shrine of Madhyamaheshwar, we spent a…
On the Wing: Indian Silverbills
Ever wondered why some birds never fly? And we are talking of little birds, not ostriches and emus… Flit: v. To move lightly and swiftly. I have always been amazed…