Sahyadrica

Birds of a Fig: a pair of Great Hornbills and a friend, Yellow-footed Green Pigeon on chilubor gos. It is a spectacle of nature Come summer monsoon winter Naturalists flocking together: Birds of a feather. A tree and a tree make not a forest A bird without bough nests not A deer without shade has no rest Mere eyes cannot express the lost. And if there are no forests standing The birds songless flying The deer kinless wandering What is man but a soulless being It is the essence of nature To express what we feel see hear A naturalist without pen and paper: A bird without feather. Whenever opportunity arises, I explore nature in ways I did not earlier: by letting go of things I wish to see and seeing what others see. It takes some resolve to let go of the urge to see what one intends to see. To reach here, I am just beginning to see things as they present themselves, abstaining from treasure-hunting, the way of the hunter, to living in the moment, the...

Hemanta is one of the six seasons of India. It is the time of the year starting November and lasting until January. It was first described intricately in Ritusamraha – one of India’s most beautiful epic poems written by Kalidasa, commingling in words nature’s virtues in the six seasons with a tale of two lovers. Ruddy Shelduck returning to the wintering grounds The season is marked by a significant drop in temperatures, the returning of the migrant birds and departure of migrant butterflies. Along the coasts, they hover over comfortable numbers between twenty to twenty-five degrees during morning and twilight hours. Humidity drops and dryness lingers. Hemanta, or Hemant, is therefore generally said to be a pleasant season followed by Shishir (January to March), a season of transition. “Pleasant with many an attribute, stealer of the hearts of women, and at which time the confines of villages are overspread with many an abundant rice-crop on earth, and overlaid is the sky wi...