A few years ago, I typed three words in the Google Alerts search box, and pressed ‘Create Alert’. The words were: leopard, road, and killed. Since then, I have been getting email alerts almost every 4 days. While all news … Read More
I could smell the salty sea in her heavy breath, filled with exhaustion and the quiet pain of giving up. A full-grown Olive Ridley sea turtle, she was washed ashore a beach in Dahanu, a seaside town over a hundred … Read More
On the bank of a gushing river in the forests of India’s Western Ghats, under the black velvet dome shimmering with countless stars, a tree lights up with flashes of neon, and goes dark again. On the opposite bank, another … Read More
A lone male sparrow, perched on a television cable that runs past my window, calls every morning. He is raising a family in a ceiling nook of a store room on the opposite terrace. He’s a neighbor I have been … Read More
How our under-equipped forest staff fights fires Dnyaneshwar Shinde stopped at a pool of water by the foot of a mighty banyan on a drying streambed, dipped his cupped hands in the water, and splashed some on his face. He … Read More
“Bambb! Bambb! Bambb!” The alliterative sound blares from a trumpet-shaped loudspeaker tied to a bicycle, and fills the evening air around the 400 household Lohara village in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. As twilight falls, men assemble at the office … Read More
From the confines and safety of our homes, as we express gratitude to medical staff, police, and other essential service providers, let’s not forget our forest guards. These earth protectors, who work tirelessly to safeguard our forests and wildlife, are … Read More
The wounds reappear every winter,” said Sabulal Kasdekar, and pulled up his pants to his thighs. His legs, discoloured by burn scars, were painful to look at. The story behind the scars was equally painful. Kasdekar lived in the Mangia … Read More
The web of an orb-weaver spider is a giant sensory organ, a deadly trap, an architectural wonder, and a spectacle of elegance. Members of this group build large, intricate, concentric webs using a toolkit of different special-purpose threads produced from … Read More
Satish Shendre heard gunshots in the middle of the night. It was one of his first nights at the camp. A forest guard with Maharashtra’s Special Tiger Protection Force posted at the Pench Tiger Reserve, he was recently assigned additional … Read More