NOTE: I read this book and responded immediately by translating into English assuming that the author’s foreword allowed anyone to do this and based on public statements attributed to him inviting widespread dissemination, and interpreting it as a waiver of his rights. However, the author has noted that translation requires his prior permission. With apologies to the author for issuing a translation without their permission, the previous translation uploaded here is hereby withdrawn. If you are looking for a version of the translation uploaded by “esvin.martese” on Archive.org, scroll below to end of post. Meanwhile see the official translation of the book here.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Reviews
Prasar Bharati’s Flora & Fauna of India Series: Namdapha Tiger Reserve
My Youtube feed offered me a suggestion from one of the recent uploads by Prasar Bharati, the Indian government public broadcaster. It was a documentary film about Namdapha Tiger Reserve, nestled away in the north-eastern corner of India with “pristine” but peopled forests. Literally within seconds, the film became uncomfortable to watch and as the 20-odd minutes of the film rolled by with very little of the flora and fauna of Namdapha, and a complete lack of mention of ANY local person, let alone a mention of the several tribes including the Lisu people who have lived for decades (if not longer), I thought of putting together my thoughts on the fillm in this thread.
Intro to the Indian Constitution
What is it like to be a bird?

Cover of Tim Birkhead’s book Bird Sense
Can we ever know what it is like to be a bird? As poetic as the question may appear to be, it’s fascinating how the question has captured the attention of a bunch of scientists, artists and other professionals ranging from neurosurgeons, ecologists, physiologists to bird illustrators and medieval travellers. The fascination with bird flight is possibly as old as language itself. Birds are among the early cave paintings, be it in the subterranean caves discovered by teenage boys at Lascaux, or the paintings of Genyornis in cave paintings in Northern Australia that could be 40,000 years old, dating to the time when man set foot on that continent. In Bird Sense, Tim Birkhead who has written fascinating stuff on history of science, birds and birdwatching and has edited the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Ornithology, makes a narrative synthesis of the historical and contemporary knowledge on what it is like to be a bird. An extremely intriguing question throwing up questions such as “Is this know-able?”. Such philosophical meanderings have clearly not deterred several scientists from designing simple and elegent experiments to try and understand this. Continue reading
Review of Pankaj Mishra’s “A great clamour”
I picked up Pankaj Mishra’s latest book “A great clamour: Encounters with China
and its neighbours” at the Raipur airport, on my way back to Bangalore from a short consultation on tribal health. I have discovered a deep interest in China, after my month-long stay in Beijing and my conversations with several public health researchers from China. Continue reading