Three birds of paradise, two funerals and a wedding

Last December, my grandpa passed away a day prior to my wedding reception. Bed-ridden for months, he was in a lot of anguish. The beige color of his skin matched the peeled sections of the bedroom wallpaper. His head, resembling the plucked breast of an owl, bobbed up and down whenever I visited him. It...

Blaming Godzilla for the bloodbath

In May 2017, I made a dramatic exit from this blog to embark on newer pursuits. Since then, I have collaborated on 10 podcast episodes, and I have grown fond of Instagram. I have not done much else. Meanwhile, I had continued to collect stories about my experiences as a birdwatcher. Just like I used...

A house that built me

Many of the houses I grew up in never felt like home to me. No matter how sturdy their foundations were. How well-cemented the bricks. All the fine craftsmanship that had gone behind them. They lacked the comfort and warmth I wanted under a roof. Or they belonged to an ecosystem that seemed alien to...

Let’s talk about death

What if you could bring back to life a loved one in small portions? Would you pick a nose hair or a toenail or saliva stains on a glass of chai? Or would you need something more wholesome to remember them by? Many people die, without leaving a trace that they once lived and loved....

A cupcake for a heart

My 5-year-old niece – Sasha – drew this for me after she had suggested that I might have a cupcake for a heart. I do not think she meant anything profound by it. It was not an affectionate suggestion either. She said it because, at that moment, she felt it was fun to imagine her uncle...

Wrestling with childhood heroes

I have an enormous appetite for professional wrestling. I have been watching it since I was 10 years old. Even as I grew older, the obsession remained. People ridicule it because perhaps they haven’t connected with it. I am alright with that, as a fan, because professional wrestling is an art form. And art is subjective;...

A pilot turned princess turned pop star

She's a pilot, with burnt postcards of sunsets in her back- pockets, sketching summer skies in space cadet blue. She's a princess turned troubadour, a pop star unhinged at dawn, crying foul, sensing the human in you. The India Roller or the Blue Jay is the State bird of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. It can be found in...