Unabridged Tamil version (Translated by P. Jeganathan) of “The long road to growth” by T. R. Shankar Raman that appeared in The Hindu on 19th March 2015. Abridged version of this article appeared in The Hindu Tamil on 18th April 2015 (see here). கடந்த ஆகஸ்டு 2014 மற்றும் ஜனவரி 2015 நடந்த இரண்டே தேசிய காட்டுயிர் வாரியக் (National […]
Tag: roads
Of tamarind and tolerance
An edited and shorter version of this article appeared in The Hindu Sunday Magazine on 17 June 2012. For centuries, long rows of grand tamarind trees have marked our roadsides, particularly in southern India. The wide, old roads radiating from Coimbatore city, in particular, had long rows of grand tamarind trees on either side. One […]
Islands in peril
It is not often that our national newspapers carry informed and thoughtful articles about ecology and conservation, especially concerning our islands and coasts. The Hindu, taking a lead on this, has published a series of six articles in the Sunday Magazine spanning concerns in ecology and society in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The articles […]
இடைவெளியும் இடையூறும்
அண்ணாந்து பார்த்துக் கிடந்தது அந்த அணில், சாலையின் நடுவில். அது சாதாரண அணில் அல்ல, மேற்குத்தொடர்ச்சி மலைத் தொடரில் வாழும் மலையணில். வண்டியை விட்டு இறங்கி அருகில் சென்று பார்த்தபோது அதன் முகத்திலிருந்து இன்னமும் இரத்தம் வடிந்து கொண்டிருந்தது, வயிற்றின் உள்ளிருந்து குடல் பகுதி வெளியே வந்து கிடந்தது. சாலையைக் கடக்கும் போது ஏதோ ஒரு வாகனத்தில் அடிபட்டு பரிதாபமாக இறந்து போய், அதன் வெண்மஞ்சளான அடிப்பாகம் தெரிய வானத்தைப் பார்த்து அண்ணாந்து கிடந்தது அந்த மலையணில். […]
Forest of the aliens
Like the proboscis of a malarial mosquito the Andaman Trunk Road pierces the Jarawa forest. The road carries a steady stream of vehicles, bunched into convoys with guards. By the road are heaps of stones and the claw marks of heavy machinery: the road will soon be wider. Just beyond, on either side, stretches the […]
The great rift
Like a deep gash from shoulder to chest, the Great Rift Valley plunges into the heart of Africa. In the landscape to the west, below a clouded sky, a Marabou soars above everything—vast plateaux with weaving rivers, steep-sided valleys spotted with shimmering soda lakes, and a landscape peppered with cities and settlements, farms and savanna. […]
Rights of passage: highways and wildlife conservation
by Pavithra Sankaran & M. D. Madhusudan The gaur have been trying to cross the highway for a while now. They stand in an alert huddle, their dark coats gleaming in the headlights of trucks and cars passing through Bandipur Tiger Reserve. This stream of traffic between Ooty and Bangalore seems unending and the speed […]
Death on the highway
This article was published in The Hindu Survey of the Environment 2009 (pages 113 – 118) without the supporting footnotes. The original article with footnotes and photographs is reproduced here. Crunch! Splat! Thud! A daily massacre is occurring under the wheels of our vehicles. Thousands of lives are snuffed out tragically, instantaneously, and yet, we hardly […]
The butchery of the banyans
How difficult is it, in the depths of the human spirit, to find an ounce of compassion, an iota of sensitivity, to Nature? This is a question we are forced to ask, after a few journeys along the roads from Mysore. The roads from Mysore, leading west into Kodagu, and south towards the Biligirirangan Hills, […]
Earth-scar evening
The road winds through a disfigured landscape of tea plantations. It skims the contours over the open reservoir with its sloping banks of naked red earth. It passes the checkpost with the inevitable tea stall, and only then does it plunge down. Down towards the rainforest, our destination for the evening. The Nilgiri langurs, on […]