Read all the posts listed in the Natural History category. Otherwise, you can check out my bird-watching life list.

I had spent my whole childhood in a place surrounded by forests and song of birds. Needless to say, it was difficult not to have fallen in love with nature. It was a small settlement carved out of forested area for the officers of Central Coalfields Limited. There was not much by the way of traffic, so mornings echoed with dawn chorus, on quite afternoons you could hear leaves rustle and in evenings cool wind from forest whispered in the windows. It is a mixed forest area – a beautiful composition of trees of Sal, Flame of the Forest, Arjun, Neem, Mahua, Fig, Mango etc. I particularly loved the autumn – in our case a momentary period of transition from Monsoon to Winter – which was a time to behold. The yellows, reds and browns blazed through the forest and carpeted the understory. And equally mesmerizing were the green tree-dotted hills throughout the rest of the year. The beautiful hills that were always visible from our balcony. No wonder I love trees so much. The memories of picnics are still fresh in my mind too when I used to go pebble collecting in the Damodar river. These things and more made me hungry to learn about nature and I used to read a lot of nature related books – copying illustrations and paragraphs in my nature journal. And, from one thing to another, my love for nature kept growing as I continued to learn about it. Every little thing of natural world excites me – to know about them, to learn something new. And, it also gives me immense peace to be around trees, birds, butterflies, flowers and such because they are a part of who I am and will always be.

My recent natural history writings

• Ocean LoveOctober 16, 2024
  I may not be able to dive deep into oceans and see gems gliding before my eyes because neither do I know swimming nor do I plan to. More importantly, I find the idea of getting under water claustrophobic. That’s a comfort zone I may not get out of to see fishes and other ocean wonders in reality but there […]
• A Book, An Art and Beauty of NatureSeptember 5, 2024
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• The Birds by Daphne du MaurierApril 12, 2023
  I had read about this story somewhere earlier and had kept a tab in my mind to read it later. Needless to say, the tab was lost and I forgot. Until yesterday – when I was reading a newspaper article about how this story had predicted future (our present) environmental crisis 70 years ago. So, I decided to give it […]
• A tree is my forestMarch 21, 2023
  On International Day of Forests, here is a little piece in praise of the tree that enlivens my day, every day… To the north side of my house, a window opens to the welcoming green branches of a tree. And just like that, I am transported from my mundane room to a magical sylvan aura. This single tree gives me […]
• Melon Full of SunshineFebruary 23, 2023
  I love almost all the fruits and vegetables belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family. My most favourites are sweet pumpkins, watermelons, muskmelon and such. They are not only juicy, fragrant, sweet delicacies but they come in a variety of beautiful shapes, colours and designs. I am always looking for different kinds of pumpkins and melons to try. And that’s how I […]
• The Mango TreeFebruary 13, 2023
  Originally written in the diary-cum-book by Ruskin Bond – Words from the Hills on 5th March, 2018. Every morning while preparing breakfast I stand in front of the kitchen window for a couple of minutes to look at the mango tree in our neighbour’s yard. Since I have come to live here, I had only seen dusty green leaves or […]