Commemorating the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav with a brief tale of our peoples and environment from c. 1872–2022, spanning about 75 years before and after our tryst with destiny.
*************************
'Why was India lost?’ asked Mahatma Gandhi in his famous little book of philosophies, the Hind Swaraj, in 1909. Without any pun intended, he answered some lines later: ‘The English have not taken India; we have given it to them.’...
From privileges for a few to rights for all
There was a time, not so long ago, when the so-called ‘civilised’ world was divided into free humans and slaves. Free humans were those who had the right to own property while the slaves were those who were considered as property. Free humans had the privilege to make decisions not only for themselves but also for their slaves.
As we learnt from others who we thought were less civilised than us...
Well, Christmas is not much of a fairytail for the future, as it is faced with the consequences of climate change.
**********************************
This summer, I got a chance to visit Santa Claus--the real one—in the Arctic Circle. Growing up we’ve all heard stories about the spirit and wonders of Christmas, either in school or home, or through movies and TV.
A simple, lucid explainer on the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of wildlife corridors.
********************************************************************************
When I was little, my grandparents used to tell me stories about how they left their small village in Rajasthan to travel to the big city of Jaipur for better opportunities. Today, I have left Jaipur for the even bigger city of Delhi to try my luck. I am sure all of you know of family members and friends who have migrated for studies, jobs, or marriage. All of us witnessed the plight of lakhs of people who migrated back to their villages on foot during the lockdown imposed in response to COVID-19. . All these people had come to cities for livelihood and they all went back when their livelihood dried up...
An incredible list of some must-watch environment movies and series—a perfect visual treat for your summer vacations!
**********************************************
THE LORAX: In a treeless world, a 12-year-old boy is looking to impress a girl by searching for a tree. But, for that, he is required to know the story of Lorax, a charming creature.
OKJA: The fight of young Mija to rescue Okja, a massive animal and...
You know Jackie Chan, right? Or was he a superstar when I was growing up? Yes, you are right, you probably do not know Jackie Chan, the greatest martial artist to have ever walked the earth. The world changes fast these days. Heroes of my childhood are not the heroes of your childhood. Jackie Chan was a household name in urban India when I was growing up. He was an action hero who did all of his stunts himself. Yes, that’s right, no stunt double, no CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery), nothing, and he got hurt, really hurt, while performing his stunts, but he just went on and on like a trooper...
In 1887, 18 years before they divided Bengal into two, the British laid down a railway line through the Hoollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary, located on the south bank of the Brahmaputra river system in Jorhat district. While the railway line connected British tea plantations in Tinsukia with those in Jorhat and Dibrugarh, it divided the sanctuary into two unequal compartments—one roughly 150 hectares (370 acres), the rest roughly 1,950 hectares (4,820 acres)...
Have you ever wondered what wild-lifers do? What inspires them to go to work in the jungle? How they protect themselves in the jungle? How they count tigers? Dr Qamar Qureshi of the Wildlife Institute of India answers questions about tigers and the work he does with them.
A native Amazonian tribe, the Waorani, successfully defends its sacred homeland from destruction posed by an oil conglomerate.
The Amazon is the world’s largest and densest rainforest, truly priced as the ‘lungs of the world’. This jungle conquers over nine nationalities and houses a bewildering variety of plants and animal species seen nowhere else on the globe. All such detail might be already well-known to you along with the news about its constant destruction, which is also much lamented by everyone. However, off late, there has been some hustle within the woods.
A multi-billion dollar company had earmarked half a million acres of forestland for oil drilling in the Amazon. This would have required installation of some mining machinery and huge logging activities in turn. All of this would have fetched oil for the company but after causing humongous loss to the surrounding biodiversity, the cost of which is inestimable.
