Tryst with a Tarantula
The old telephone rang. (Yes…back then, it was the real thing and the only thing! Today it is one of the many ring tones to choose from on the mobile phones and goes by the name Old Telephone.) I picked…
Housekeeping… naturally!
It was mid 1980s. My parents had decided to travel for a good three months, leaving me to fend for myself. This meant cooking and housekeeping (sweeping, swabbing, dusting, etc.). Soon I was home alone with not much experience in…
An armour for a tail
As I walked out of the premises of the bus stand of a small sleepy town in Karnataka, my attention was drawn to a loose congregation of about a dozen people on the side of a narrow road that normally…
The flying Carpenter
Buzzzz, kerrr, buzzzz…. I was woken up from my midnight slumber after a difficult day of field work by a buzzzz followed by kerrr… I jumped out of my bed, picked up my torch and shone about the room –…
‘High-rise’ birds
“I am hearing many bird calls, particularly barbets and koels these (read – lockdown) days. I had never heard so many bird sounds earlier.” This observation from a friend that came up during a casual conversation set me thinking. My…