Of People and Places

Agumbe in the rains is a sight to behold. It is in fact one of the wettest places on earth. I was lucky to be a part of a volunteer group from Bangalore to participate in their Rainforest restoration project at Agumbe Rainforest Research Station.  We had to plod through wet mud and leeches were only too happy to cling to us. As we neared the ARRS visiting center, we spotted him - A beautiful vine snake( Ahaetulla Nasuta) stretching his slender neck - ramrod straight ( full marks for good posture!) looking inquisitively into the distance while we gaped, and oohed and aahed and took pictures.  Unless you take a closer look, the vine snake looks exactly like foliage - a slender tendril of a creeper perhaps. To top it all, he has a cute snout, and an almost swan like appearance when he stretches his head to look at us. His eyes look half-closed like some yogis'.He is very elegant and delicately constructed. And quite unforgettable :) The Common vine snake is endemic ...

The Women who bring rice to our plates Paddy transplanting is done exclusively by women in India. And I was interested to find that in Japan, before mechanization, transplanting by hand was exclusively done by women too while the men supervised them. There was an interesting scene in ' Shichinin no samurai'  (Seven Samurai)   by Akira Kurosawa where women stoop in the fields to plant rice in neat rows by hand, while the men sing and draw water for the fields. In Harlimath too, it is a similar scene and men prepare the land and drive the bullocks to get the field ready for the next batch of seedlings. The hired women workers assemble in brightly clad clothes with raincoats and polythene covers, neatly tied scarves topped by a Hale toppi ( A cap fashioned out of Areca leaf), and a collared shirt buttoned up over all this. They look snug and warm. They are probably going to need it because they will wade knee deep in the cold slush of the fields for most of the day wh...

On the road to Thirthahalli from Shimoga, the beautiful Tunga river meanders along, its green water rippling gently in the stillness. We stop a little way further from the Sakkarebayalu elephant camp to get a closer look at the trees that float in the calm waters.   On the other side are dark woods that tower over us – true children of the rainforests around Agumbe. There is a  path among these woods I want to explore, but we are short of time. It is dusk and all colors are merging into shades of violet, umber and grey.   There is a little light reflected in the small clearing at the end of the path and the dense trees that surround it make it look like a halo. And from this clearing comes a man in a bicycle. It is a charming picture and one I hope to be able to put down on paper some day. The tangle of roots from the swamp makes for interesting shapes. There is one that looks like it is raising its arms to the sky.   They may look spooky in the night. A...