Kundapura, Karnataka
Bird of the Day: Greater Crested Tern
Kundapura, Karnataka
World’s Largest Ocean Sanctuary, Maybe
Thanks to the CS Monitor for this welcome news:
Obama seeks to create world’s largest marine sanctuary
With the aim of protecting marine wildlife, President Obama is considering greatly expanding the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, an ocean preserve that lies between Hawaii and Samoa.
President Barack Obama is looking to create the largest marine preserve in the world by protecting a massive stretch of the Pacific Ocean from drilling, fishing and other actions that could threaten wildlife, the White House said.
Aiming to protect marine wildlife, Obama will also direct the government to create a program to deter illegal fishing. The executive steps come as Obama is searching for ways to leave his second-term mark on the environment despite opposition from many Republicans in Congress.
Obama was to announce the steps Tuesday in a video message to those participating in an “Our Ocean” conference that the State Department and Secretary of State John Kerry are hosting. Continue reading
Coffee in the Ground at Xandari
Coffee ready to be planted, next to its hole
On Monday, we began planting coffee and made great headway on getting the shrubs in the ground. Fortunately, José Luis, Xandari’s head gardener, and his team (or should we say “coffee crew” in this case?) had already done significant work in preparing the soil to receive the plants. Continue reading
Chenda
Photo credits: Shymon
The Chenda is a musical instrument commonly used in Kerala. This two-sided drum is famous for its rigid and loud sound. The Chenda melam is an integral part of all Kerala festivals, mainly played in Hindu temples. It is also the percussion choice for almost all Kerala’s classical art forms such as Kathakali, Panchavadyam, and Theyyam. The cylindrical wooden drum has stretched animal skin on both the sides that the drummers play using two sticks.
Bird of the Day: Pied Thrush (Nandi Hills, Karnataka)
Via Kerala = Kerala
Via Kerala uses Malayalam as a motif to bridge the gap between the traditional and the contemporary
Our friends at Thought Factory and Via Kerala are important members of our collaborative tribe, so of course we were thrilled to read this article highlighting their efforts. We manage their flagship store in Thekkady at Cardamom County, and the new RAXA Shop at Spice Harbour also showcases some of their iconic products.
Malayalam alphabet and the Malayali’s personality have some things in common. Just as the rounded letters, we, as a people, are not aggressive and have rounded personalities. We are a bit complicated, too. Theresa J. George uses Malayalam typography as a metaphor for our culture and the very essence of being Malayali.
Her company Via Kerala uses Malayalam as a motif to bridge the gap between the traditional and the contemporary. “We are proud of our roots, yet there is a slight disconnect between it and the younger generation,” she says. Continue reading
Growing Fruit and Vegetables at Xandari
The view from the path right before reception
Much of the fresh, rich compost that Xandari produces from all sorts of organic material is used as the perfect substrate to grow delicious fruits and vegetables on property, both in greenhouses and out in the open. During our tour a few days ago with José Luis, James and I saw dozens of tomatoes (three different varieties), lots of lettuce, citrus and other tropical fruits, green beans, and much more.
Snake Charmer
Photo credit: Jithin
Snake charmers can manipulate trained snakes by playing the instrument called pungi from Indian folk music. This practice originated in India and lives on today in street performances. The snake charmers lure the snakes from bamboo baskets with their pungi while tourists and residents alike pass by.
Bird of the Day: Hermit Warbler (Yosemite National Park, California)
Citizen Science in Belize – Update on Lionfish Jewelry: Part 1
Freshly dried lionfish fins and tails. Photo: Polly Alford, ReefCI
I’ve written in previous posts about the initiative to develop a market for lionfish jewelry as one of a number of commercially sustainable approaches to fighting this invasive species that is threatening marine ecosystems throughout the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Southern Atlantic seaboard of the United States. In my last post, I mentioned that the idea is beginning to take off in Belize. I was able to observe this first-hand last month, spending two and a half weeks in the country. During my stay I had the opportunity to meet local artists who are making lionfish jewelry and to participate in several workshops to share techniques and designs. Continue reading
Flavours Of Kerala – Parippuvada
Photo credits : Shymon
Parippuvada is a popular evening tea-time snack in Kerala. Spicy and crispy, the dish is often made from chana dal, green chili, curry leaves, ginger, onion and salt. After the ingredients are ground, the mix is rolled into small patties and deep fried. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Grey-headed Fish Eagle
Kaziranga National Park, Assam
How Do You Write 200 Crore, In Words And Deeds, In The New Improved India?
200 crore is a uniquely Indian way of saying a number. Two billion; or 2,000,000,000 is the way to see the number written out in Western terminology, but the Indian deeds associated with this particular number are much more important, according to news headlines across India in recent days (here taken from the Hindu):
The government plans to plant 200 crore trees along the entire 1 lakh km National Highways network across the country to employ jobless youth.
“The length of National Highways in the country is one lakh kilometre. I have asked officials to come out with a plan to plant 200 crore trees along these stretches which in turn would create jobs for the unemployed on the one hand and protect the environment on the other,” Road Transport, Highways, Shipping and Rural Development Minister Nitin Jairam Gadkari said in New Delhi on Friday.
A similar scheme could be implemented under MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act) along the village and district roads and state highways. That has the potential to employ 30 lakh youth, he said while inaugurating a conference on “Regeneration of Rivers”.
Mr. Gadkari said Gram Panchayats will be taken into confidence and the unemployed youth could be assigned 50 trees each which could fetch livelihood for them from the produce. Continue reading
Kattakampal Temple Festival
Photo credits: Jithin Vijay
Kattakampal is a village in the Thrissur district of Kerala where Pooram is an important annual festival in the Kattakampal Goddess temple. The name Kattakampal is a combination of three individual words namely Kadu (forest), Kamadhenu (cow) and Pal (milk). Kathakali is the main attraction of this festival.
Bison, A European Species Almost Lost
Thanks, prince (and New York Times for the video record of a noteworthy collaborative act of conservation, with a dash of altruism, and creative definition of commons):
Bringing Back Europe’s Bison
A German prince is leading an effort to bring back the European bison, Europe’s largest land mammal, in Bad Berleburg. The animal almost went extinct in the early 20th century.
Bird of the Day: Indian Blue Robin
Nandi Hills, Karnataka
Ichnology, Xandari-Style
Ichnology is the study of animal traces—commonly tracks, but also anything else that organisms leave behind in their activities (for example, burrows, nests, scat, feeding remnants, or territory markers). It is often far easier to discover an animal’s presence through tracks than direct visual sighting, especially for shy or nocturnal mammals. “An animal can only be in one place at a time, its tracks can be everywhere,” one of my environmental science professors sometimes remarked in support of this principle. Indeed, around Emory’s campus (Atlanta, Georgia) I found tracks on stream banks that belonged to animals I had never actually clapped eyes on in the flesh. Prized among those were a Continue reading
Xandari’s Omni-garden
Over the past decade and a half, the creation and maintenance of Xandari’s impressive and diverse flora has been largely orchestrated by one man, José Luis Ballestero. Head gardener at the property, this man and his skilled team of gardeners have developed a highly heterogeneous and visually appealing collection of plant life throughout the private nature reserve that was once a coffee plantation.
As James and I will show in the next several weeks, Xandari’s gardens are a true wonder and effectively occupy any space that is not covered by the resort’s buildings. I use the word ‘garden’ here flexibly, because the forest that makes up the lower portions of Xandari’s forty-odd acres is more of a jungle than a garden, and at this point much of the flora Continue reading
Nature’s Apps
It’s not all fun and games when it comes to games featuring the environment. With some green game apps, not only can you live in your world and play in it, you can learn stuff too.
Thanks to Conservation magazine for this article, published coincidentally exactly at the time when several Raxa Collective contributors were visiting the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which itself is participating in the App business (more on which, by Seth soon) in a manner resonant with the focus of this article:
DIALING INTO THE OUTDOORS THROUGH PHONE APPS
The Nature Deficit
Judging from the amount of time my grandkids hunch over their iPhones and iPads for game time, I’d have to say games have garnered a major portion of the younger set’s mindshare. And in my book that’s a shame. While more and more studies find that children’s outdoor time contributes to their well-being — by mitigating obesity, promoting cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and mental health, as well as boosting academic achievement — the number of hours children spend outdoors is on the decline. (See also here.) Continue reading
Rudraksha Prayer Beads
Photo credits: Shymon
Seeds from the rudraksha tree have been traditionally used as Hindu prayer beads. The rudaksha tree’s name means the “eyes of Lord Shiva,” rudra being another name for Lord Shiva. Mythology has it that the rudraksha plant was born out of Lord Shiva’s tear drops. Monks and yogis have found that merely wearing beads from the rudraksha tree imparts an astonishing tranquility to the wearer. Continue reading
