From Behind the Wheel: Top Tek Chauffeuse
Vytilla Junction, Ernakulam
Windows For Bird Conservation
Thanks to Conservation Magazine‘s weekly newsfeed for this briefing on bird-friendly building practices:
The infrastructure that provides people with essential services sometimes has a surprisingly large side effect on other species. Seemingly benign buildings may be one of the deadliest serial killers.
People have long observed birds collide with windows at their home or office. The cumulative effect of all those collisions across America has previously been estimated to range widely from 100 million to 1 billion birds killed a year. A new study to be published in The Condor analyzed previous studies and datasets for a clearer consensus. The result, even with some uncertainty remaining, was still a whopping 365 to 988 million birds. Continue reading
Thai Pongal – Festival of Tamil Nadu
Photo credits: Renuka Menon
Thai Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated in Tamil Nadu on January 14th every year for four days. Tamilians decorate their homes with sugarcane and leaves from banana and mango trees, and draw on the floor with kolams (decorative patterns made with rice flour). Continue reading
PhotoSingularities: Big Sagebrush in Moonlight (2)
Bird of the Day: Lesser Flamingos
Little Rann of Kutch, Gujarat
Prehistoric Kerala Rock Art
Deep meanings: A newly discovered anthropomorphic motif on a rock in the Thovari hills near the Edakkal caves in Wayanad.
The Hindu reports today on a discovery in Wayanad, where Raxa Collective hopes to offer travelers cultural heritage conservation experiences in the near future:
This is the first time an anthropomorphic figure, a recurring motif of pre-historic rock arts sites in the world, has been reported from the site.
An anthropomorphic figure has been discovered among the prehistoric petroglyphs (rock engravings) on the Thovari hills near Edakkal caves in the Wayanad district of Kerala.
Bald Eagle Encounter In Paonia, Colorado
This Bald Eagle is one of at least two that fly through the valley where I live in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. This one surprised me by swooping down meters away from me as I read a book outdoors on a warm winter day. Springing from my post on the roof of my house, I scrambled down onto the deck and into my kitchen in a mad dash for a camera. The eagle had thankfully not left its position in a tree barely thirty feet from my house in that time. With a harsh glare radiating from the sun just short of dead center behind the eagle Continue reading
Hill Palace – Kochi
Photo credits: Aju
The Hill Palace, built in a blend of Dutch and traditional Keralan architectural styles, was built in the year 1865 and spreads over 20,000 square feet in forty-nine buildings. Once the official residence of the maharaja of Cochin, today Hill Palace is one of Kerala’s largest archaeological museums. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Arafura Fantail (Darwin, Australia)
At Play In A Greek Kitchen
William Brinson for The New York Times. Food stylist: Suzanne Lenzer. Prop stylist: Deborah Williams.
Click the image to the right to go to the story (and take a few minutes to watch the video), which contains a brief cooking lesson in the form of a travelogue. It will either get you reaching for your cookbook, or your travel planner. As we prepare the opening of a restaurant facing a harbor whose waters have hosted ships from the Mediterranean for thousands of years now, we find ourselves with a soft spot for any and all mentions of the foods from that faraway region.
We have been offering authentic Malabar cuisine, in its present day form, in multiple venues over the years already. Now it is time to go back to some of the less considered influences. For that reason, a quick trip to a kitchen in the Greek islands is a welcome diversion. In his article Life of Pie the food writer Mark Bittman has described the same food in the same location where Amie and I recently ate what we thought was the best hortopita, a variation on the more well known spanakopita, we had ever tasted. And by chance we were on a scouting mission on the island of Ikaria, so this article and the forthcoming cookbook are both perfectly timed for us:
When Diane Kochilas said we were making phyllo, I confess I was intimidated. But as Kochilas taught me, although “phyllo” means “leaf,” that leaf need not be the paper-thin type we’re accustomed to seeing in flaky Middle Eastern pastries. It may be, as it is here, a thin but readily made dough, rich in olive oil, smooth to the touch and easy to handle. Continue reading
Simian Visitors to Cardamom County
Nilgiri Langur
It’s been a while since we shared with you pictures of visitors from Periyar at Cardamom County. Here are a few photos of a family of Nilgiri Langur that took a quick stop at our resort on their way to their final destination: the Periyar Tiger Reserve. Continue reading
Just Stop, Leave, And Do Not Come Back
A Dakar rally competitor passes indigenous people between Bolivia and Chile. The rally, it is claimed, turns their land into a tourist attraction. Photo: Felipe Trueba/EPA
From 2008-2010, several contributors to this platform were spending time in the Patagonia region of Chile working on various projects, and during that period first came to know of the obscene event known as the Dakar Rally.
With no offense intended to motorbike racing, car racing or other enthusiasts of motorized sport, it is impossible to reconcile the destruction this event causes with any supposed positive outcomes. We can think of plenty of healthier alternatives to this method of getting around the southern part of South America. And yet, the event organizers have continued making their case to a government that has continuing granting an unwarranted privilege, and the annual event it is still going strong in spite of all the evidence of its negative spillovers:
The Dakar Rally of 500 off-road vehicles bumping and skidding through clouds of dust may be one of the world of motor sport’s most spectacular sights but archaeologists, environmentalists and indigenous groups are warning the 14-day event is ruining Chile’s ancient heritage.
Chilean government studies seen by the Guardian confirm the damage done to geoglyphs, protected sites, burial grounds and tracks on the Inca trail during previous races, but such is the race’s importance for tourism that it has once again been given the green light. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Merlin
Lake Park, Milwaukee
PhotoSingularities: Big Sagebrush in Moonlight (1)
Artemisia tridentata, or Big Sagebrush, is a ubiquitous herb in the North Fork Valley and elsewhere in the Rocky Mountains and beyond. It has been traditionally used by Southwestern Natives in many ways to many effects. It has been used to prevent contamination of wounds, ward evil spirits, relieving indigestion, and to treat colds and fevers, among many others.
Beauty of Munnar – Top Station
Photo credits: Jossmon
Top Station, named for being the railway station with the highest elevation in the area, is one of the main attractions in Munnar. It is about 24 km from the town, and the view from Top Station provides us with a stunning bird’s eye view of Tamil Nadu, our neighboring state to the east. Continue reading
2014 Jaipur Literature Festival
Sang Tan/Associated Press
Author Jhumpa Lahiri with her book ‘The Lowland’ at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.
Thanks to India Ink for an overview:
The 2014 Jaipur Literature Festival, now in its ninth edition, kicks off in the state capital of Rajasthan on Friday. Over the course of five days, celebrated writers from India and abroad will talk about not just their books but also about the two World Wars, Afghanistan after the withdrawal of American troops, Himalayan languages and the making of modern China.
This year’s highlights include:
The festival starts with an inaugural keynote address on Friday at 10 a.m. by the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, who will also talk about the workings of democracy and human freedoms with John Makinson, chairman of Penguin Random House, in another session later that day at 2:15 p.m.
Read the whole article here.
Bird of the Day: Dollar Bird
Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, Kerala
Spicing Things Up
We normally don’t post advertisements on this blog, but the video above by the folks at Machine Shop, in collaboration with MJ Cole for the spice flavoring company Schwartz, is too cool and creative to ignore when we have such a deep connection to spices in Kerala, both historically and for visitors today. Continue reading
Thirumali Nayak Palace – Madurai, Tamil Nadu
Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor
Thirumalai Nayak Palace was built in the year 1636 by king Thirumalai Nayak, designed by an Italian architect. The courtyard in this palace is 3900 sq meters and is surrounded by massive pillars. The courtyard was mainly used for daily dance and music programmes. Continue reading
