Published in the WII Newsletter in 1993 or early 1994 (Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun) “We at W. I. I.” I curse, “are nothing but a bunch of overgrown children playing at Cowboys and Indians. I mean, is this any place to be? The temperatures are so low, I am sure any decent thermometer would […]

If this is a vision of dying, it is a reassuringly rowdy affair, more bar-room brawl than somber wake.  The corpse lies all around, its skeleton slowly decaying and it is difficult to reanimate her in your imagination from the scattered ribs that remain.  Rowdy rabbles swarm around, and every so often, soundless scuffles break […]

Chowra is slow to show its welcome, but soon, behind the stoic, rarely smiling faces, you see a shy curiosity, a matter-of-fact hospitality, and even a kind of warmth.  I was supposed to have left today for Karmota to catch the ship to Port Blair, but the fickleness of vessel schedules dictates that I will […]

My pen feels strange to my fingers.  I have to relearn gently the act of writing.  The QWERTY keyboard has taken over my fingertips, and reduced my writing to emails excusing myself for mails unresponded to.  Perhaps I have to retreat to remote islands such as these if I have to rediscover the nib and […]