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Showing posts from July, 2015

Tiger Tales from Ranthambore || Ustad (T-24) - The Tragic Hero

We visited Ranthambore in May 2014. Back then T-24, or Ustad, still roamed the jungle. Forest authorities were fiercely protective of the tiger even though he had already been blamed for the death of three people by then. "He is NOT a man-eater!" countered Mr. Yogendra Kumar Sahu (the Conservator of Forest & Field Director), when one of our fellow bloggers referred to T-24 as one. And from what we had heard from the people who work in the jungle, the safari guides and forest officers, everyone was in awe of this magnificent beast. "I saw T-24 today," someone who had chanced upon the tiger would proudly proclaim. The tone was that of pride and respect. There was no sign of any hatred or indifference anywhere. We felt reassured that tigers, including the ones that are more tigerly than the others, were safe in Ranthambore. During our entire trip, though we weren't fortunate enough to sight T-24, its presence loomed large on our breakfast discussions, our s

Step back and make way. They are equal citizens of Earth.

"These creatures require our absence to survive, not our help. And if we could only step aside and trust in nature, life will find a way," says John Hammond, in The Lost World .  He was talking about the dinosaurs, but this is sane advice for almost all conservation efforts today. Last week, I had my friend Kathi over for lunch and we ended up talking about her house in Colorado. On her last visit, she was sitting by the window, writing. She looks up and sees a black bear looking at her through the window. Perhaps the bear was hungry or just curious. Kathi didn't have the opportunity to find out. She stood very still and the bear eventually just strolled away. None of them bothered the other. There was mutual respect, or so I would like to believe. It was a thrilling episode, scary but one that she will remember for the rest of her life. I want to have such encounters too (but only the ones that do not end in me being eaten), while staying in the city. And conside

Book Review: Yashodhara Lal's "There's Something About You"

There's Something About You is Yashodhara Lal's third book after Just Married, Please Excuse and Sorting Out Sid , and what we can definitely say about the author is that it is very difficult to typecast her work. In each book she's tried something new. While the first book is inspired by her own experiences of her marriage, the second book sets out on a different tangent altogether - Sorting Out Sid is told from the point of view of a male character and is essentially his coming-of-age story. This third book is again something she has never attempted before - it is a story of a woman in her late twenties with familiar concerns such as career, marriage, a negative body image, and such. Though There's Something About You is positioned as a romance novel, the male lead does not even make an entry for the first 9 chapters. And I find this very interesting because the author is able to draw us in so well that we almost don't miss the hero.  In the very first ch