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David Livingston: The First European to Set Foot in Central Africa
A legendary explorer of Africa, the man who discovered the majestic Victoria waterfalls, a Scottish missionary who took Christianity to the African tribes, and an adventurer who set out to find the origin of the river Nile, David Livingston lived many lives in one lifetime.
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Potato: The Food that Changed History
Potato is the world’s number one food product that is not a grain. In 2021, the world produced 53.69 million metric tons of potatoes. This is a food that changed the world literally.
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In Praise of The Indian Pariah Dog
Indian Pye dog often called the Pariah dog is a breed indigenous to Asia, comprising the free-ranging dogs that roam in the streets and public spaces of South Asia.
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Pangolins and Covid 19: Some Emerging Facts
Rarely sighted, feared as a mythical creature, and eaten as a rare gastronomic treat, the only thing the Pangolins have for their protection from us is the full-armoured body and the ability to exist as a rolling stone. Covid 19 has brought this oblivious animal into the limelight.
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Stephen Crohn, the HIV Resistant Who Helped Develop a Miracle Drug
In any scenario where an infectious disease infects many, there happen to be a few humans who are resilient to the disease. Stephen Crohn was one such individual whose resilience to HIV helped the scientists develop the revolutionary anti-retroviral drug.
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Pagoda and Hill Glory: Tropical Cousins of Vervain
The orange tower or the Pagoda plant and the Hill Glory are two attractive flowering plants that belong to the same family as Vervain. Both these plants and their pagoda-shaped terminal inflorescences are also viewed as having magical properties in Asian cultures.
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Queen Elizabeth II: The Monarch Who Ruled 70 Years
Queen Elizabeth II has stayed on the throne for 70 years and is celebrating the platinum jubilee of her rule. She is 96 years old and the longest-reigning monarch the world has ever seen.
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Lotus Silk: The Spiritual Silk
Only Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and the state of Manipur in India produce lotus silk and even in these places, only a few expert craftspeople know how to extract fibre from the lotus stem and create one of the most delicate clothing materials in the world.
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How to Befriend a Stray Dog?
Stray dogs are so obviously in need of some love as we often encounter the docile ones showering us with frantic tail-wagging gratitude at the first instance when we touch them or feed them.
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55 Recommendations for a Good Life
When I decided to write down these recommendations, it was for me as it is for others. I wanted to consolidate the idea of a good life that I have had scattered inside my mind for a long time. I also thought this would help at least a few.
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Don’t Be A Climate Doomer
Climate Doomism is the belief that the earth and humans have lost the climate battle and the future is all doom and gloom. Climate Doomers believe that there is nothing to be done now to reverse climate change and save the life on earth.
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The Story of Sunday
How did the pagan Mithraic Sunday get adopted by Christianity and become Christian Sunday?
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Foraging: A Guide and Some Cool Facts
Foraging can be defined as wandering mindfully and looking for edible fungi and flora because you have decided to be closer to nature, explore it, and find back the nostalgic tastes that disappeared from our plates as we progressed.
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Domestication of Cats
Nine thousand years of association and still not viewed as a trusted friend? Yes, this is about cats who have never replaced dogs as the best friends of humans. Why?
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Vervain: The Plant, History, and Facts
Verbena Officinalis aka Vervain is a plant that owns a mysterious place in history. Many different and disconnected ancient cultures across the globe somehow attributed the same spiritual and medical significance to it.
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Goats: All You Need to Know
Goats are often hailed as the poor man’s cow. They are smaller than cows, easier to handle, easier to tame, and less expensive to feed and they reproduce more frequently, assuring the farmer a steady income from selling the progenies, meat and milk.
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Pythia: The Oracle of Delphi
Pythia was the oracle of Delphi, much revered even by those as great as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. The oracle of Delphi was a sisterhood of women who commanded awe and respect from an otherwise misogynistic society.
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Hypnagogia: A Window to Creative Dreaming
While reading a book, or watching a movie, everyone would have experienced a moment when one slips into a state of semi-sleep. This is the state of half wakefulness when one just starts having dreams- blurry images and illogical thought bits floating in one’s head.
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Should We Eat When We Are Sick?
There is this old saying, ‘feed a cold, starve a fever.’ Is it really good advice?
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Sea Urchins: A Palatal Gift From The Ocean That One Should Not Miss
Uni Sushi is a treat to the taste buds and rare and expensive addition to the platter. Uni stands for the gonad of the sea urchin, eaten raw and tasting creamy, buttery and cheesy.
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The Arctic Life: Traditional and Modern
Human habitats in extreme climate zones are a mystery to the rest of the world. How people, animals and plants live in these brutal terrains, remains unknown to the outside world. This article is a peek into how mundane life is in the Arctic region.
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Truffles: The Rare Delicacy Hidden by Earth
Truffles are the fruiting body of an underground fungus, some varieties of it edible and highly palatable. They have tempted human curiosity and taste buds since the hunter-gatherer times.
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Is Happiness Possible? How?
What percentage of the population on this planet will be thinking, “this is not the life I want to live?” Is it possible to know the secret of happiness?
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Wormholes, Blackholes, and Singularity
Wormholes are imaginary yet theoretically possible shortcuts in space and time. A black hole is what makes a wormhole theoretically possible. Science has proven black holes exist. How far humanity is from wormholes and time travel?
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The Most Expensive Flower in the World: Sweet Juliet Rose
Flowers are primarily seen as beauty for our eyes to behold; some flowers are edible and form part of our food culture, while certain others are medicines or sources of commercial fragrances. Among the manifold uses that we find for flowers, a few fall under the genre of luxury and high-dollar.
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All About Trees
We have no idea in how many ways, the trees make our lives pleasant and liveable. In the face of the deteriorating environment on this only home of ours, it is time to look at the role of trees once again.
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A History of Ukraine
The Ukraine war has brought forth a forgotten history into the limelight. A history that can only be told completely by the generations of people of Ukraine. A history that is fraught with memories of invasions and power games across centuries.
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Frogs and Toads: Facts and Info
Frogs and toads were the first vertebrates to leave the aquatic habitat and set foot on land. Learn more about these amazing and adaptable species.
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Sapien Stories: The Norwegian Raindeer Herders
The Norwegian reindeer herders have an amazing way of life almost incomprehensible to the modern world. The charming reindeers and their shepherds, the Sami tribe, are comrades in arms in their engagement with an unforgiving Arctic climate.
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Electronic Waste and Environmental Racism
From environmental racism to sea piracy, the e-waste dumping in developing countries, especially African countries, raises many questions before the developed world. It also presents a misbegotten picture of the world's claims of humanity. and taking responsibility.
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Sapien Stories: Sherpas of the Himalayas
How did Sherpas, a mountain-dwelling community of the Himalayas, become the best guides in mountaineering? What is so special about these people that make them such experts?
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Pandemic is Brewing More Violence
Unfazed by the grim realities of life catechized by the pandemic, the world is rushing to more violence. Why does this happen? In a moment when humanity more than ever needs to lean upon unity, why do conflict and apathy rule?
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The Era of Lifesaver Plastic
Who ever imagined plastic will deserve this commendation that I am about to write! In this grim era of the pandemic, the lives of our front line workers are saved by this material that symbolizes the ultimate inorganic.
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Monuments and Cities Destroyed by War
A war, any war, not just kills people and lets a country conquer another but often erases the entire architectural landscape of a place. Many glorious architectural and cultural monuments of the world have been smashed to the ground by wars.
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Barbet Rescue: Hand-rearing a Fallen Chick
I am jotting down how I rescued a Barbet chick here, hoping that this would be helpful to someone who gets into a similar situation. The bird was so small that at first, I was afraid even to hold it in my hands.
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The Riveting Story of Amazon: Explorations and Their Adverse Impact on Nature and Native Populations
Amazon is the name of the largest rainforest in the world and the second-longest river upon the earth. The social, economic, and environmental history of this region rivals fairy tales. It is also a history of injustice and exploitation.
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Uighurs & Tibetans: Cultural Genocide and a Long History of Persecution
Uighurs and Tibetans are two people united in discrimination and bondage. Their struggle to preserve their cultural identities wage on.
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The Fascinating Story of the Silk Road
The silk road was an ancient road that connected China with Europe, Africa, and Asia. This road network was used by traders for about 400 centuries.
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Rice: The Staple Diet of Half the World
From being the novel food of the Yangtze Valley civilization and a summer crop in the Harappan civilization to the staple diet of half the world, rice has traversed a long and eventful path in history. This article will take a look at the crop eaten more frequently around the world than any other.
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Stem Cell Meat: The Novel Meat
Stem cell meat is the new buzzword in vegan circles. Animal lovers are also enraptured by the idea of it. For those who love to have meat on their menu, and still do not want to harm animals, stem cell meat is a guilt-free alternative.
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Jack Fruit: Food for Thought During a Pandemic
Let me tell you about a fruit that has the potential to save at least the Asian countries from starvation during these testing times of the pandemic. It is a fruit ignored for long in many Asian societies as it carries a social stigma related to poverty.
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One to Three Billion People Will Live in a Hotter World in Next 50 Years
A new study provides a better and actionable insight into how climate change is going to affect us. Will we positively act upon it is the question that remains.
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Is Climate Change Natural or Human Made?
Climate change has become a grim reality for us as the modern-day is haunted by natural catastrophe and even viral infections, which according to at least a few scientists, have something to do with climate change.
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The Western Ghats: The Rain God of South India
The Western Ghats is a mountain range that separates the southern stretch of India from the rest of the country. It is situated between the Deccan plateau and the coastline of the Indian peninsula. It is older than the Himalayas and houses more than 300 of the threatened species of the planet.
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The Rainbow Flora
Ever wondered why some plant leaves have colors more exotic than flowers? How do the red, blue, and brown leaves of some plants prepare food as they seem to be devoid of chlorophyll?
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Pandemic and Life: How to Change and Survive
The philosophy of life is changing in this dark and depressing time of the pandemic. Your mind is going to be your greatest tool for survival.
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The Disappearing Footpaths
Footpaths are a childhood nostalgia for many. Modern life has almost banished those nice and cosy walkways that meander through meadows, hillocks and hamlets. In many European countries, there are attempts to reclaim them.
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Story of a Life
I was working as a television journalist when I met this strange man. Vijaya Kumar. Most probably he was in his late 50-s. He was the ex-owner of a tile factory in the suburbs of Calicut, a coastal town in North Kerala. He was also drawing a monthly salary same as a worker of the factory.
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Who Wrote Dictionaries?
Writing a dictionary can seem to be a humanly impossible task if one looks at the size, volume and information that goes into one. Not to mention, the meticulous structuring and detailing. However, there were individuals who dedicated, single-minded and almost single-handed, their lives to this task
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Plant Migration: Wings, Hairs and Humans
Plant migration is a vast study of botany. It overlaps with disciplines like Biogeography, Palaeobotany, Ethnobiology and human evolution. It has also connections to climate and ecosystem changes.
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Some Mysteries of the Plant World Answered
We often forget that plants are living beings. They have a unique sense of their surroundings and lot of intuition. Here are some plant facts that will leave you aware of our closeness and commonness to them.
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Ecosystem Services and Economic Values
Ecosystem services is a concept in ecology that helps us understand how ecologically important each specific ecosystem is. It re-imagines a familiar landscape like a neighboring pond from an ecological perspective for us, lists the services it provides and translates its value into monetary terms.
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My Organic Farming Practices Part 3
Fertilizer application and upkeep of nutrient balance in the soil are areas where an organic farmer would find many problems and doubts. This part of this series on organic farming is about how to keep your soil and the crop well-manured.
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The Tropical Rain Forest
Rain Forests are the oldest and one of the most complex ecosystems of this planet. The weather mechanisms and ecosystem services that are linked with the rain forests are invaluable to the habitability of our precious abode, the earth. This is a biography and tribute to the tropical rain forest
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My Organic Farming Practices Part 2
This is the second part of the series on organic farming. It is the simple things I have not only learned but internalized as I went on experimenting with organic cultivation.
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Farmer Suicides in India
Wikipedia says, farmer suicide is an issue India faces in the last three decades; to be more precise, this social phenomenon started off in the 1990s and is continuing. This article is part of a series that try to find out why.
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My Organic Farming Practices Part 1
Farming is a vocation that charms every one though not many really venture into it. Here I begin a series that gives some tips to the new farmers.
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The Street Dogs of Kerala and My Dog Story
It was two years back that I rediscovered my love for dogs. In my childhood, they were around us, owned by us and by the community. They walked around, befriended all of us and were fed by all. Now they are part of a scary propaganda of misinformation and cruelty in our state, Kerala (India).
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What is Time and How One Can Understand It?
Do all of us perceive time in the same manner? What is the time concept in different civilizations-in the past and the present? Do all experience time in the same linear way?
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The Ant Lion and the Art of Living Extraordinarily
Ant lion is one of the most fascinating insects on earth. If you have explored around a bit in your childhood and let yourself a peep into the worlds of other animals and plants, you surely would have spotted the ant lion larvae and their perfectly-shaped pits.
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An Interview With Felix Padel, Renowned Anthropologist and the Great-Great Grandson of Charles Darwin
This interview was done in 2015, when I visited Felix Padel, famous anthropologist and the great-great grandson of Charles Darwin, in Odisha
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Living With Nature
Today’s world, especially the world of social networking, nearly coerces one to live a major part of life in incessant communication with others. In others words, to go incommunicado feels like a crime. What if one can live another life, a solitary one, at least for a while, to rejuvenate oneself?
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The Secret World of Wild Mushrooms
Soon after the monsoon arrives, the homesteads and farmlands in and around the Western Ghats are fraught with wild mushrooms. A visual journey through the mushroom biodiversity of this region will make one wonder if an artist handcrafted with care, all this variety, and colors.
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Will Climate Change Alter What the World Eats?
In the next 30 years, how many in the world will be able to have their morning cup of coffee as compared to now? How many will have access to non-vegetarian food against those who have today? Climate change is going to banish certain food items from our platter. Some new items will enter it too.
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What is Death? How to Understand it?
Death is a reality we should try to understand more so that we fear it less. Science is making progress towards understanding death and probably even conquering it. In history, different people had different notions about death and the perceptions will change in future also.