Day 95: A growing thought

Farm. June 2020 27/06/2020 Day 95 The day began with a reminder of my stupidity. It had rained through the night yesterday. This morning after driving to the farm, I rode down to the waterline of the reservoir shooting down a muddy trail across the road. Over a water soaked bump on the narrow off-trail, … Continue reading Day 95: A growing thought →

Day 89: On Connectedness

Sevagram. June 2020 21/06/2020 Day 89 Today was a solar eclipse which began around nine in the morning and continued until two in the afternoon. As a religious practice, it is recommended to not eat or drink water during the eclipse hours. Being at home, it was to be complied. Not eating food was easy. … Continue reading Day 89: On Connectedness →

Day 82: One Straw Revolution in these times

Ajangaon, June 2020 14/06/2020 Day 82 Started early for the farm today. A tractor was arranged to do pre-sowing weed removal from both the plots. After the land is ploughed and made ready for sowing, a few brief spells of rain can lead to a burst of all sorts of weeds. In a near miraculous … Continue reading Day 82: One Straw Revolution in these times →

Day 50: Return to farms

13/05/2020 Day 50 ‘The primary motive for good care and good use is always going to be affection, because affect involves us entirely’, wrote Wendell Berry in an essay. He cites Aldo Leopold's example when in 1935 he bought an exhausted Wisconsin farm and began restoring it. Leopold was an ecologist. One imagines that he … Continue reading Day 50: Return to farms →

The Middle Path to Development: Lessons from Bhutan’s environment policy

If there is a place which can make a traveler feel intimate with it in the shortest time since her arrival, Paro would be it. A gushing river of clear water and a fort marks the entrance to the town. The air is an invitation to inhale deep and a reminder that this is not … Continue reading The Middle Path to Development: Lessons from Bhutan’s environment policy →

Holy cow, armchair anthropology & attraction of the ‘exotic’

A paper I recently read and which I had never known about (although some argue that it has been one of the most well known papers on culture & ecology) amazes me in its method and for the art of stating the obvious. Marvin Harris' paper The Cultural Ecology of India's Sacred Cattle 'attempts' to talks of … Continue reading Holy cow, armchair anthropology & attraction of the ‘exotic’ →

Flight Plan: Lessons from Insects , Cafe Scientifique Bangalore, Talk-2

Cafe Scientifique Bangalore is a new venture by a group of researchers in the city. This evening, I attended the second talk since its beginning. It aims to be a hub bridging science and public perception in its own small way of facilitating public lectures and discussions by scientists/researchers from a wide range of disciplines. … Continue reading Flight Plan: Lessons from Insects , Cafe Scientifique Bangalore, Talk-2 →

Ecological context & identifying it

This post examines the ecological context of a field study conducted in Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh. I have written about it on the field notes page. In a preface to his booklet “Economy of Permanence” published in August 1945, J.C. Kumarappa refers to his work as a ‘positive outlook that will suit the genius of the … Continue reading Ecological context & identifying it →