Articles
These are a few articles I wrote for a column on Snakes. Never got published, but enjoy!
Dudhsagar; is undoubtedly one of the most famous nature sites in Goa. I have visited Dudhsagar a number of times and each time in a different season
When you have had enough of beaches, or need to get away from the madding crowd, drop everything and drive to Rustic Plantations.
- Carlos the percussionist
- Joe the Bullet Mechanic
- Simran the Bead Maker
- Sonia Sirsat the Singer
- Kismet the Band
I am not a great fan of art, so I am not a very good judge of it either. I have therefore arrived at Shireen's home totally skeptical. But as I run my eyes over her paintings, I am entirely captivated
Six in the morning and I am sitting in the jeep that is bouncing along the stony wildlife trail leading into the depths of the Mollem National Park. Behind the wheel sits Prakash Salelkar, his coarse and ruggedly handsome face frowning into a grim expression.
Kistu the LegendKistu is a legend in Goa. Perhaps a little forgotten today, but 10 years ago, I remember even my school teachers used to talk about him in class with awe. Friends used to tell me that he escaped from the Aguada prison, with shackles on his feet. The jailers, they said, had pierced metal through his shins, (like a ring through a bull's nose) to keep the chains on him. Equally famous he was for living a life like a guerrilla...
Nirmal Kulkarni; A wildlife photographerNirmal has been working withlesser known fauna (reptiles, amphibians and insects) for the past six years.
Over the years, I realised that many a times innocent snakes were killed just because I wasn't there or I wasn't able to make it to the far away places of Goa. So I have made a detailed list of phone numbers of snake catchers, spanning the entire state.......
Seven years ago, at two in the night, my dad and I were walking along the dark deserted beach of Morjim. I had managed to persuade a pretty college girl to come along, and with Jonny-a local boy from the village-we were patrolling the shoreline for sea turtles...........
I am a staunch defender of heavy metal music. My exposure to it started at the age of fifteen when I borrowed a Guns and Roses tape from one of my friends to listen to the song Sweet Child of Mine. The cassette was a greatest hits collection......
He lives inside a round cement pond behind my house. The dark, sinister looking water with rotting mango leaves provides him with the ideal camouflage that merges perfectly with his muddy green skin colour. Most of the time.....
Along with calls that I receive to rescue snakes, wild cats, monitor lizards and birds, I also get calls from people who want me to do something about stray dogs. Some of them are concerned that the strays are not getting enough food,
Goa's youth and wild life: Enemies or friends?
Nowadays wildlife conservation talk is common practice. Thirty years ago, my father tells me, people, young people especially, didn't think twice before shooting a bird or gunning down an animal. They didn't have to bother because there were hardly any laws protecting wildlife, and the animals were a lot more in number. There was no awareness either.
I did an article on the ten people doing different things in Goa. This article was published in Goa Plus in their Anniversary Issue.
One of the creatures I studied about when I took a year off from School was spiders. I worked under Dr. Vijayalakshmi in Madras, who is an expert in rearing Giant Crab spiders - a species she uses especially to control cockroaches. My real interest even at that time was reptiles, but I was keen on learning about these animals as well.
For a time when I was younger though, I used to be crazy about movies on animals, snakes especially. As I grew older however, I lost all interest in such films. The reason being they are all badly made and misleading too. Most animals I have found, in my reading and experience, are peaceful creatures, attacking only in self-defence.
In November last year, a King Cobra was found by terrified villagers on the outskirts of the Molem Wildlife Sanctuary. Not knowing how to handle the large and extremely dangerous snake, the Forest Department's officers, when called to help, killed it instead. The King Cobra was reported to be 12 feet long. Like other wildlife enthusiasts, I was shocked with the news of the killing...