Wildlife Week Celebrations Chennai

Sign up for the quiz, and come for the storytelling...promises to be fun.

Click on the picture for the enlarged poster

Elephant - God or victim?

We celebrated Gowri and Ganesha hubba/pooja this morning, and as I listened to the mantras, my mind wandered (Sorry, but it did!), to elephants, wild ones, those magnificent large creatures with gentle eyes that for some reason always look so sad. Odd, isn't it, we have deified both motherhood and the elephant, and both are exploited and mistreated in Indian society?

While we talk a lot about the vanishing tiger, as a country we have failed the much loved elephant haven't we? These large creatures need space and food, and as we pressure them into a corner, there is an inevitable man-animal conflict. Nowadays, a fortnight doesn't go by without a report of either an elephant killed, or a man killed/injured by an elephant.

Man vs elephant - the conflict of civilization, indicates that deaths of both humans and elephants are on the rise in India. When I read some of the reports, one almost gets the sense that the elephants are angry and raging.

I would be an enraged elephant too, if I found I had nowhere to go, take my babies, no safe points to cross from one forest to another, wouldn't I?

And then Ravi Chellam writes in his article Beyond the Herd, that there are 3,500 elephants in captivity. And I see those temple elephants in shackles and everytime I do, I make a silent apology to it, wishing I could free it.......

Finally an Elephant Task Force has been set up by the Ministry of Evironment and Forests.

Beyond the herd
RAVICHELLAM Posted online: Mon Sep 06 2010, 03:34 hrs

One of the innovative recommendations of the recently submitted report of the Elephant Task Force (ETF), backed by the environment ministry, is to declare it India’s national heritage animal. The elephant is possibly the most appropriate species to be awarded this recognition. Elephants have a wide distribution across the country, living in diverse habitats ranging from the tall grasslands of the alluvial flood plains of the terai to montane grasslands, evergreen forests, and moist and dry deciduous forests of the Western Ghats. They are also a much-loved species, with very strong cultural and religious links with vast sections of our population. The elephant is one of the most recognised symbols of India, and unique in being among the few widely domesticated wild large mammals. They play very important roles in religious and cultural ceremonies across India. Three thousand and five hundred elephants are estimated to be in captivity in India, largely in temples and under private ownership.
India is home to more than 60 per cent of the remaining wild elephants in Asia, with an estimated population of around 26,000. So, as a country we have a crucial role to play for their long-term survival in the wild. While these numbers may seem high and indicate that the elephants are well conserved and secure, the field reality is actually very different.

Elephant habitats have been undergoing rapid change in the last couple of decades in India due to conversion to agriculture, development of infrastructure and other development projects including tourism resorts. Much of this change has had negative impacts on elephant populations due to fragmentation and degradation of their habitats. In many instances, elephant habitats have been totally brought under human use, resulting in the complete loss of the habitat. Poaching of elephants for their tusks has also been a problem in certain parts of India. In Asian elephants, only the males possess tusks and so poaching tends to be focused on males with disastrous consequences for the sex-ratio of the remaining elephant populations. Human-elephant conflicts (HEC) are widespread and according to the ETF, about one million hectares of crop lands are damaged by elephants annually. Every year in India, about 400 people are killed by elephants and in retaliation about 100 elephants are killed. This indicates how widespread and serious this conflict is in India today. The task force has recommended multiple approaches, some of which are very innovative and practical, in order to mitigate and manage this problem. The focus is on preventing human actions which will create fresh conflicts and to prevent and minimise existing levels of conflict. This includes integrated land use planning in and around elephant habitats, enhanced guarding of crops, higher levels of local community participation in these efforts and more efficient and just payment of compensation.

Another major and avoidable cause of elephant mortality is death on railway tracks due to collision with trains and electrocution from low-hanging high-tension wire. These problems have also been recognised in the ETF. It has identified 10 elephant landscapes where conservation would be prioritised. These landscapes include all 32 of the existing and proposed elephant reserves. Elephants are extremely mobile and social mega-herbivores and so they can only be conserved at the landscape level. These elephant landscapes contain several types of lands including protected areas, reserved forests and revenue land. Many of the protected areas are connected by vital corridors, which enable elephants to move from one part of their home range to the other and also ensure the genetic connectivity and integrity of the populations, which is vital for their long-term survival. The task force places emphasis on securing the corridors and elephant habitats beyond the protected areas for their long-term conservation.

The report supports a strong role for science in assessing and monitoring elephant populations and also in undertaking ecological and veterinary studies which will help us understand elephant populations and their behaviour in a better and more holistic manner. A clear role for civil society organisations and public participation in the conservation and management of elephants has also been outlined, with Rs 600 crore recommended as the financial outlay to implement the recommendations during the Twelfth Plan period.

Wildlife conservation in India is beginning to take a broader approach, after many decades of tightly focusing on tigers alone. Last year, the river dolphin was declared the national aquatic animal, Project Snow Leopard has been functional, there is a move to bring back the cheetah, and the latest heartening development is the spotlight on elephants. This indicates an increasingly mature approach to wildlife conservation, one which values nature in its myriad forms.

The writer is country director, Wildlife Conservation Society-India Programme

He is also an MNS member.

Saving animals from humans!!

PUDUCHERRY, September 9, 2010

The heavy odds of animal rescuers

Sruthisagar Yamunan

They are yet to be made permanent staff

AT WORK: A personnel of the Forest Department rescuing a cobra in Puducherry on Wednesday. — Photo: T. Singaravelou

For C. Vajemouny, an animal rescuer at the Forest Department here, work has no set timings. Whenever he gets a call from residents, complaining about their unwanted guests (read animals), he rushes to the spot to do the double rescue: saving the animals from humans and vice-versa.

For people like him, the satisfaction of rescuing the animal is their biggest incentive. He says that despite working for 14 years, he is yet to be made a permanent staffer of the Forest Department and continues to work as a daily wage labourer.

On an average day, such rescuers receive four to five calls informing them about different animals that lose their way out of the adjoining forest areas and find shelter in houses. Time is precious to these people as even a bit of delay can result in loss of lives, especially if the animal is a snake.

For a long time, these men have worked even without basic protective gears and have exposed themselves to the risks of poisoning by these animals. But they do believe that catching a snake with the equipment is a difficult task and that "charming the snake with their bare hands" is much easier than with the gloves as they are used to such techniques. Apart from calls they receive from residents, they also develop sources in different parts of the town to get information about poaching and illegal sales of endangered animals. Karthickeyan, another rescuer at the department, says that this task becomes hectic during the migration season when a variety of birds visit the lakes in Puducherry. He says that rescuing such birds poses the risk of encounter with criminal elements that go to any extent to sell these birds in a thriving illegal market.

Their demands are a few in number, but the most important is that of being made permanent employees of the department which would provide them with a higher income.

An ode to Cubbon Park, Bangalore

My good friend Shoba finally writes something that I agree with! It deserves a cross post here. Anyways, dear Shoba, I am glad you met Karthikeyan - may his tribe grow - and I love the bit about nature surrounding us, like "God is Everywhere"!!

Cubbon Park was one of those parts often visited in my childhood, and her descriptions of the activities there were spot on.

At Cubbon Park, under the greenwood trees - Columnist - livemint.com

For a park that’s in the centre of the city, Bangalore’s Cubbon Park is remarkably deserted during the day. The Page 3 people who populate nearby UB City are absent here. Instead, the park is left to pedestrians, plebeians and proletariat, which is exactly as it should be. Unlike Central Park, Hyde Park, Lodhi Gardens or Tokyo’s Shinjuku, Cubbon Park hasn’t been overly gentrified: overtaken by stroller-moms in True Religion jeans, joggers in neon tights, or bare-chested drummers who jam all evening. Instead, Cubbon Park remains sedate, even somnolent, offering refuge for tired Bangaloreans who want to decompress in anonymity.

I visit Cubbon Park three times a week to walk my dog off-leash while my daughter plays tennis. Often, I see the same people. Law clerks from the nearby Attara Kacheri walk across, discussing cases and files. Weary men who look like Arthur Miller’s Willy Loman sit in grey pants and beige shirts under the broad canopy of a fading rain tree, making peace with their thoughts. Furtive lovers lurk in the shadows. Boys speaking Bhojpuri climb trees and chase each other. Burqa-clad women clutch toddlers in shimmering frocks. Two dreadlocked men play frisbee. A British man walks two sleek Weimaraners off-leash. Men urinate under the bamboo bushes. Retirees walk by in eye-popping attire: monkey cap, bright red tilak or namam, white banian, khakhi shorts, mismatched purple socks and chalk-whitened Bata shoes. A drunk auto driver gives a loud but perfect rendition of Mere naina, sawan bhadon.

Humans are a minority in Cubbon Park though. It really belongs to the trees, and boy, are they characters. There is this grandmotherly fig tree with stomach-folds that seems to have compressed itself to spread its canopy to the maximum extent. People sit on benches under it. Geckos breed in its fold. Fur-balled squirrels run spirals before jumping off its trunk. Eagles rest on top.

An upstart silk cotton tree arches sideways and upwards like a ballet dancer, surrounded by matronly peepal, gulmohar and banyan trees, all shivering and hovering. You can almost see this young tree navigating and negotiating with these matrons to get its place in the sun.

After walking amidst these trees for three months, I did something I have never done. I hugged a Laburnum. This Cassia fistula is a common sight in Bangalore. One evening, I wrapped my arms around this Cassia for 6 seconds—that’s how long it takes for the beneficial oxytocin hormone to release itself and make you feel good, so if you are hugging your spouse, lover, friend, child, or pet, make sure you hug for 6 seconds at least. So I hugged this tree in Cubbon Park. That was the turning point. Like a drug addict, I wanted more.

Also Read Shoba’s previous Lounge columns

I googled “Trees of Cubbon Park”, and came across just one worthwhile site that documented the trees, done by S. Karthikeyan, the chief naturalist of JLR, or Jungle Lodges. Called Wildwanderer.com, this site, or “Karthik’s Journal”, documents the flowering trees of Bangalore. I cold-emailed him and asked if I could walk with him the next time he was in Cubbon Park, which was how I found myself with the Wild Wanderer.

“Trees as a group can do amazing things,” says Karthikeyan. “We don’t notice because they operate in a different timeline than we humans do.” When I ask for an example, he asks, “Have you ever seen a fig flower?” I say “No.” “Then how do we get the seed?” He talks about inflorescence and the fig wasp, a co-evolutional relationship for the last 80 million years.

Karthikeyan points to an Albizia lebbeck or woman’s tongue tree, so called because the rattling of its pods sounds like women chattering. A proud peepal arches to the sky like a dad giving a lecture to a drooping millingtonia just across. Pink bauhinias are blooming and the sausage tree is shedding thick flowers. A Desi Badam or Terminalia catappa stands, slim and strong, like a teenage girl, preening before guests.

Karthikeyan spent 45 minutes identifying trees in Cubbon Park, but the high point was when I asked about a native “Pongam” tree. He held its discoloured leaf and said softly, “Lovely”. Turns out that there were two jumping spiders in the leaves and off he went into an explanation about their mating.

The true gift of spending time with a naturalist is not the species that he identifies, although that is a highlight. The true gift is how naturalists quietly transmit their enthusiasm for nature. Karthikeyan has the kind limpid eyes of a musician who operates in a different dimension. He notices different things than perhaps you and I. He thinks, for instance, that “arachnids are quite amazing”. When I asked him to repeat the sentence in plain English, he said, “You know, most of us take a vacation to experience nature—we go on wildlife safaris and such. Nothing wrong with that. But nature surrounds us every day. Every urban Indian is exposed to bees, bugs and spiders. Why not observe and enjoy them? Why give up those pleasures?”

Here is the takeaway: Next time you or your kids see a spider, ladybug, or even a cockroach, try not to squeal. Instead, become still and observe. Oh, and consider hugging a tree. Like a pet who will listen to you sob your broken heart out, without any seeming reaction, these trees will make you feel better. I know this because I was a sceptic converted into a regular tree-hugger. Just like Prem Koshy (of Koshy’s in Bangalore) and others like him.

Bangalore, by the way, is full of tree-huggers. It is one of the best things about this city.

PS: Shoba, Bangalore full of tree huggers?? Really? This I have to see.

Residents take a walk around Pallikaranai Marshland

The Hindu:Residents take a walk around Pallikaranai Marshland


As part of the Madras Day Celebrations, the 33-year-old nature conservation body Madras Naturalists Society organised a ‘Nature Walk' at Pallikaranai Marshland on August 14. People in the age group of seven to 70 took part in the walk which was led by the Society's founder member K.V. Sudhakar.

The walk highlighted the importance of conserving wetlands which is not only a water aquifer helping to recharge groundwater levels, but also serves as an ideal feeding and resting ground for migratory birds.

The Society has recorded sighting of 134 species of birds in the Marsh. Chennai was fortunate to have right in its bustling midst a place such as the Pallikaranai Marshland and it was vital to preserve this precious natural resource. Senior members of the Society Rama Rajaram and A. Rajaram assisted participants to spot and identify the birds in the Marsh with the help of a powerful Spotting Scope. Birds sighted that morning include the Spot-billed Pelican, Pheasant-talied Jacana, Spot-billed Duck, Glossy Ibis, Purple Heron, Caspian Tern, Black-winged Stilt, Purple Moorhen, Indian Moorhen, Coot and Dabchick.

With persistent efforts from environmentalists, the Wetland was declared as a Reserve Forest area some years ago. A huge portion has been irreversibly damaged due to the dumping of garbage. What remains of the Marshland now is a fraction of its original expanse of several thousand acres.

Rains!

Skyblue clustervine
August rains, unusual but welcome. It was a wet weekend in Hyderabad and a wetter week that followed in Madras. The papers are full of gripes - bad roads, potholes, overflowing drains, Stadia roofs leaking....Man's woes.

But I look around and I see that every other non-human creature around me is celebrating! The dust and pollution has been washed off the leaves, the cactii greeted the rain with more flowers, I heard the croaking of frogs after aeons, and the morning skies were oh so blue.

So here's my photo offering to that wonderful season of monsoon.

There was torrential rain one night, accompanied by all the sound and light effects that go with a thundershower.

I woke up in the morning to the call of sunbirds, koels and mynahs. This was in Shameerpet, near Hyderabad at a place called Celebrity Resorts.

I also awoke later than I would've liked, thanks to hysterical friends who insisted on hearing strange knockings and feeling imaginary rats crawling up their sheets, in the night!

All were much relieved to see daylight, reassured that all was well with the world, and the sun streaming through the trees was most welcome.

This butterfly (that I thought was a Common Crow) in the rain tree was blissfully unaware of all this nightly drama, as it went about its butterfly day briskly and flightily. As Amila pointed out, its actually a Great Eggfly! Take a look at both the links and this picture and you'll see that there are differences in the way the dots are aligned on the wing tips! Thank you Amila!

A female garden lizard basked in the grass, and obligingly held her pose for me. Some metres away, grown men were yelling like boys as they played a tennis ball cricket match as if their life depended on it.

As I explored the rear garden of our cottage, I saw these wasps hard at work. Are those white dots in the middle of the hexagons their eggs, I wondered.

The rains, I assumed, had led to hatching of hordes of these millipede-like arthopods all over the campus.

They just lay there in clumps, crawling all over each other and moving collectively across the fields. Hundred had been squished under car tyres, and it was not a very pleasant sight I tell you.

I have never seen them in clumps like this, and I wondered what they were. Anyone knows?

The bird life at the resort was amazing. The grounds are vast and wild, and I only hope it remains that way - wild I mean. It would be a pity if the grounds are landscaped.

Not wanting to miss out on the company of friends, and unable to convince them to walk with me in the middday sun, I went for an hour's meander, and did regret not having more time.

There were doves, scaly-breasted munias, mynahs, jungle babblers, bee eaters and sunbirds by the dozens. Red-vented bulbuls called out from everywhere, and I heard coucals and even peacocks!

Strangely, I did not hear a single barbet nor did I hear tree pies. I heard orioles and I caught a flash of scarlet - could it have been a minivet?
Scaly-breasted munias

They were all over the resort, and a first-time for me! I love the stout bills of the munias.
They were a gregarious lot, and I saw flocks like this on trees and in the tall grass. My most memorable moment was coming upon a group of them having a bath in the rain puddle. I delighted in their pleasure, as they whirred around and flew up and down from the nearby shrubs, the whirr of their wings so loud in the quietness.

This one looked busy picking at all the seeds in the grass heads. Everytime a munia landed on a grass, it would bend over with the weight, but they hung on...yoyoing up and down!

So entranced was I with the munias that I almost missed this purple sunbird that came and perched right over my head!

Back in Madras, and the rains continued. A wet Kingfisher sat on the Millingtonia outside my window, waiting for its wings to dry.

The rains also brought a large number of damselflies to my balcony. Strange, delicate creatures and I watched them flit from plant to plant, with their slender bodies bending, almost to form a circle.

I thought this one is a Golden dartlet. Amila says (see comment below) that its probably an Agriocnemis. Hmmm.

I used the Macro setting in my Panasoic Lumix digicam. Not bad, huh?


As I watched the dartlet, I was startled by this grasshoppper that whirred in front of my face, and landed on the leaf ahead. We eyeballed each other for a while, before it took off again for the next plant.




A crow called excitedly overhead, and I wondered if this grasshoppper was going to be lunch. It didn't. It came indoors that evening, and explored our apartment at leisure. It has a strange mannerism of using the foreleg to clean its antenna, and I must say it was more entertaining to watch than the cricket on the telly.

(By the way, I am sick of the over commercialism, greed and ridiculous marketing that is happening through the cricket telecast...impossible to watch.)

Tigers & butterflies

Arun was in Tadoba, for a weekend trip, along with his camera.

He writes:, "The forest was unbelieveably brilliant green , with the rain everyday . The rivers and streams were a raging torrent and a number of 'roads'/paths were underwater. Very often we would have to turn back and look for another place to cross. Sometimes the passage would be one-way(the water level having risen by the time we returned). Birdwatching was limited , notable being Monarch flycatcher sitting in its nest in full view at a height of about 15 feet. And a number of Streak-throated swallows."

I enjoyed being there, via these lovely pictures. Enjoy!

Arun's TADOBA recce - mid monsoon 2010

Two endangered creatures - the loris and the grizzled squirrel

Mr Ramanan was at Ayyalur and Srivilliputhur recently and made a determined and successful search for the slender loris and the grizzled squirrel.

The Loris tardigradus malabaricus is a species of loris confined to India and mainly found in the south-eastern Ghats. Loris are nocturnal primates, that are quite small, with slender arms and legs but huge saucer-like eyes!

Mr Ramanan's pictures and account (which follow below), intrigued me to learn some more about this strange creature. The loris is arboreal (lives in trees) and has an insectivrous diet, for the most part. I read about their strange habit of urine washing and their fondness for bad-smelling insects!

They are on the endangered list, threatened by habitat destruction as also poaching. If you want to read more about all the ghastly uses their body parts are hunted for, please read Slender Loris Gasps For Survival As Urban India Expands

The Grizzled Gaint Squirrel - Ratufa macroura - is in the near threatened category. This member of the rodent family is under threat due to being seen as a pest by farmers. Supposedly, these squirrels love fruit, and the farmers are not amused or do not take kindly to the ravaging of jackfruit, mango and tamarind trees!

The Wildlife Trust of India is working among the Srivilliputhur farmers to protect these squirrels and come up with solutions to reduce crop damage. Mr Arumugham, a WTI conservationist, is quoted in this article as saying, “The squirrels do cause losses to the farmers. However, these losses can be reduced by simple understanding of the squirrel behaviour. For example, when a squirrel feeds on a jackfruit, say, it will continue to feed on the same fruit if not removed. Only if the farmers pluck out the damaged fruit, the squirrels move on to a new fruit,”

Here is Mr Ramanan's pictures and report!

"On the 7th of August, 2010 after attending my fathers’ anniversary at Gandhigram, we proceeded to Ayyalur with Mr.Ramdass of Gandhigram who has done a project on medicinal plants of that range. (Ayyaluru is on the way to Trichy from Dindigul on
NH45. It is exactly 30KM from Dindigul.The Forest Range Office is very close to the railway station and that is the entry point for Ayyaluru Range. FromChennai it is about 420KM). Many of our MNS members are familiar with Gandhigram for various activities as well as the first BIRD FAIR which was organized at the Deemed University of Gandhigram.

"We were well received by the Forest Range Office of Ayyalur as both Gandhigram and Forest Department have combined together and done a lot of welfare projects for the villagers living there. From the Range office we proceeded to a place called Ayyanarkoil Palathottam. The Ayyalur range has a lot of hillocks. For sighting of Slender Loris we were advised to trek the Beerangi Karadu hill which is also the foot of Ayyanarkoil. The name of the hill is derived because the British had used this hilltop to attack the Tippu Sultan palace of Dindigul with beerangi[cannons] and the remains of it are still seen at the top of the hill, as was narrated to us by the villagers





"As we trekked, I was at home with the terrain that resembled the open thorny, euphorbia scrub forest of our Nannmangalam forest, but without the quarry with water body. Half way up the hillock with the assistance of a local boy Ganesan at 5.40PM we sighted a wild slender loris on a neem tree. But on seeing us it used the neem leaves as a cover and moved away to an unreachable branch in no time and afterwards it was not sighted again.

After scanning and searching for more than an hour in the hill, the local boy took us to the foot of the hill and nearer to the villagers where bananas, coconut and other crops were seen. Nearer to this place at 6.40 PM, a pair and one with infant were sighted,

And at 7.00PM another boy had located the fourth loris rolled like tennis ball fast asleep! On hearing us she also woke up along with her infant. By this time it had become dark even with torchlight we couldn’t locate any of them till 8.30PM, but we heard a number of calls of them from various directions. So we had seen a total of four with two infants in a radius of a kilometer which is good as far as sighting of wild slender loris goes!


"The next day I proceeded to Srivilliputhur for sighting of "white squirrel" as termed by the locals of that place for grizzled giant squirrel. With the help of local SBI staff Mr. Mani we proceeded to Shenbaga thoppu where Pechiamman Koil is situated. Mr. Mani has very great trekking experiences of that place and even trekked to Mudaliaroothu on many occasions. We MNS under the leadership of our beloved Mr. Rajan, the then secretary also trekked and had a nature camp in those days at Mudaliaroothu. As we have seen this squirrel near a stream while on one of the nature camp of MNS in Chinnar, we tried our luck in a stream behind the temple. On the other side of the stream in huge original shola trees surrounded with wild mango trees we sighted three of them playing in the top branches.

In and around the stream there was a lot of elephant’s dung, so we didn’t venture further inside. While standing underneath a tall tree we were hit on our heads continusly with nuts. On looking up the tree was full of jamun fruits and along with the three striped squirrels, two grizzled squirrels were also feeding on these fruits. And whenever the devotees of the temple came there to collect water the grizzled squirrels froze behind the big branches and disappeared for some time until silence returned to the place. We waited patiently for more than three hours and finally they cooperated with us and literally posed for us to photograph them.

Ayyalur is a really fantastic place not only for slender loris but for other animals also present there.The Sand boa snake which is now smuggled out of our country is from this range only. There are so many more wonders, and I can go on an on!"

Yay!!!

The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Night traffic banned on two roads

Chennai: The Nilgiris district Collector has banned vehicular traffic on the Thalaikundah – Theppakadu Road (via) Kallatty and the Thorapalli – Theppakkadu – Kakanallah Road (NH67) from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

In a notification in the Nilgiris District Gazette, Collector Archana Patnaik has said that the restrictions have been imposed in the interest of public safety and to protect wildlife and preserve its peaceful habitat.

The Karnataka government has banned vehicular traffic through the Bandipur wildlife sanctuary in the night. Wildlife activists have been demanding a similar move by the Nilgiris administration to protect wildlife in the adjoining Mudumalai tiger reserve.

Advocate M. Santhanaraman filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court seeking directions to the Forest Department and the Nilgiris district administration to ban vehicular traffic between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. last August. The then Chief Justice H.L. Gokhale had asked him to give a representation to the authorities concerned, expecting the government to take appropriate decision, keeping in mind various laws in existence for protection of wildlife.

Nearly a year later, the Nilgiris Collector, who is also the regional transport authority, has banned night traffic on these roads traversing the Mudumalai tiger reserve.

Emergency vehicles such as ambulances are exempted from the restriction. According to the notification, trucks carrying produce of farmers could ply on the above routes only with prior permission from the Collector.

Forest officials said movement of vehicles through the Mudumalai tiger reserve had come down in the night after the ban imposed by Karnataka. Now, forest rangers in Mudumalai and the Nilgiris North division had been instructed to impose the ban strictly. Earlier, vehicles were allowed to park near the check-post inside the Mudumalai reserve. This had also been checked now, senior forest officials said.

“A recent study revealed that there were 91 road kills in 71 days early this year. The ban on vehicular movement on these roads will reduce man-animal conflict and pressure on wildlife, especially when the tiger population is encouraging in Mudumalai,” said S. Jayachandran, secretary, Nilgiri Wildlife and Environment Association.

An industrious spider works overnight

Overnight, over the parapet wall of my balcony, a spider was at work.
From building this large web, it obviously did not shirk.

The morning sun glinted off the web, so magical
Its silken threads making me wax so lyrical.
I wondered about the spinneret glands under its belly
That helped make this work of art, that should be on telly.

Different glands, different types of silk made,

From one, a safety line is trailed,

another, sticky silk to trap its prey

a third, stronger silk, for wrapping it may.

So much energy does the spider expend

all to feed itself, in the end.

All the work and it lasted not a day

The rain came that evening and washed it all away.

Whatever became of it, I sit and wonder

As I listen to the intermittent thunder.

Another day, another web

So does life flow and ebb.

Of bulldozers, hospitals and cycles

I had wondered if the Corporation taking over the PWD park was good news or bad news. Sadly, our fears were not unfounded. One morning, on her usual visit Shobha was shocked and distraught to find that a bulldozer had been at work at night, and in the process of widening the road had destroyed the surrounding fence, and uprooted some of the surrounding trees.

They were about to begin levelling work inside the park, and Shobha intervened in the nick of time, putting a halt to their activity, calling up various Corporation officials and citizens of Kotturpuram. The reason for the alarm is that there are so many saplings planted in close proximity, and it it is not feasible for a bulldozer to work there, without destroying the saplings.

It is difficult to explain to a third person the amount of time, energy and care that has gone into this park, getting rare native trees, with children planting and taking care. Why, even the Mayor has planted a tree here! With Shobha's and Mr Dattatri's dogged efforts, the Asst Commissioner has promised to go about the park development in a sensitive manner! My hats off to you Shobha!

Then, there was this report a fortnight ago that had the naturalists community of the city up in arms. The Governor, in his moment of largesse, announced that he would give away four acres of the Raj Bhavan land to develop a hospital. I have no problem in a hospital being developed, but does it have to be in Raj Bhavan land, which is actually forest land? Yesterday's TOI, highlighted the issue Forest under seige

Forest under seige
Shalini Umachandran, TNN, Aug 3, 2010, 12.48am IST
CHENNAI: Wood apple trees form a canopy over the mud trail leading through the forest, the chirruping of crickets fill the air, butterflies flit to and fro, and an ashy drongo sweeps across and settles onto a branch. It's hard to believe that the busy Sardar Patel Road is just a 10-minute walk away. It's noon at Guindy National Park (GNP) and not the best time to spot creatures but there's still so much to see.

A recent announcement, however, holds the threat of disrupting this rich natural habitat, widely described as the only national park within the confines of a city. Earlier this month, Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University vice-chancellor Mayilvahanan Natarajan said the governor had given in-principle approval for allocating four acres within the Raj Bhavan campus to the university for setting up a 500-bed hospital.

"GNP is the among the last remnants of the tropical dry evergreen forest, unique to the east coast of India," says D Narasimhan, botany professor, Madras Christian College. "Very small patches of this type of forest still exist in Tamil Nadu, which is why GNP, a well-protected fragment, is ecologically important." The forest is home to over 130 species of birds, 350 species of plants, 60 kinds of butterflies, and many animals, including the endangered black buck. "The forest itself is an endangered type. Naturally, all the creatures and plants within it are endangered," he adds.

Naturalists and conservationists say a hospital on the Raj Bhavan premises, which is contiguous with GNP without even a fence separating the two, would be disas-trous for the habitat. "A hospital would mean light, noise, garbage, pollution and diseases," says wildlife filmmaker and conservationist Shekar Dattatri. "It will also draw a huge amount of groundwater which is needed for the animals."

Wildlife warden Karunapriya says GNP faces a water problem during summer and that they have plans to improve rainwater harvesting. "We only have two ponds that provide water for the whole park," she says.

Dr V Santharam, director, Institute of Bird Studies & Natural History, Rishi Valley Education Centre, says a number of ground-dwelling birds that were seen about 15 years ago have disappeared. "Even the slightest change in the forest can affect species," he says. "A hospital will bring more human presence and that will be disruptive. Surely it can be built elsewhere."

The Raj Bhavan grounds still have reserved forest status. "Technically, they should consult us before they undertake any construction," say forest department sources. "But as there is no real threat to the animals from their activities, we do not interfere."

Repeated efforts were made to get in touch with Raj Bhavan authorities but no response was forthcoming. Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University's Dr Mayilvahanan says, "The viability of the project is being worked out and the details could be finalised in the next two months."

Wildlife warden Karunapriya says blackbuck often wander into the Raj Bhavan polo ground and the population there is included in the GNP animal census. "We have a healthy population of blackbuck and spotted deer across the two areas," she says.

GNP, Raj Bhavan, most of IIT, Cancer Institute and the memorials were originally a game reserve owned by British citizen Gilbert Rodericks who died in 1817. The East India Company bought the property in 1821 as a weekend retreat for the gov-ernor. In 1947, when India became independent, Guindy Lodge, as it was known, became Raj Bhavan. In 1958, about 600 acres of the grounds was handed over to the forest department, and in 1977 it received the status of a national park, accord-ing to S Muthiah's book The Raj Bhavans of Tamil Nadu'. By then, however, the original extent of the park had shrunk as large portions of land had been parcelled out Mahatma Gandhi memorial (1954, 9.25 acres); Cancer Institute (1954, 9 acres); Rajaji memorial (1974, 2.5 acres) and Kamaraj memorial (1975, 6 acres). IIT-M and Guru Nanak Educational Society also got land. Today, the national park has shrunk to 2.7 sq km.

"Despite the limited land, the forest and its population is stable," says Kumaran Sathasivam, an avid bird watcher and editor of Blackbuck, Madras Naturalists' Society's journal. "But further fragmentation would add new pressure. Raj Bhavan extends to the doorstep of the forest. It is important to keep Raj Bhavan whole to keep the forest safe."

At the heart of these issue I guess is the manner of "development". Why is the government concentrating efforts on this kind of development, though, when what the city needs is better public transport - that all connects to each other - safety of pedestrians and cyclists? If one is pro-common man, you would think this is where their energies would be directed, but no, they want to build, build and build, without spending on or planning maintenance.

Just as I wondered about this, I came across Chennai City Connect. There are plans afoot for a cycle track in Anna Nagar, redesigning the MTC website, and much more! I am going to be keeping tabs on that site!

Manual or Auto mode?

I love taking photographs, ever since digital technology and the wonderful auto mode became popular. I do not have the patience to do what most proper photographers (including my husband) enjoy doing - setting aperture, exposure and all those myriad settings before taking a picture.

Yes, I love to point and shoot. My husband did make some weak efforts to convert me into a proper photographer, but all that ended up happening is that I've made him lazy too!! And yes, I definitely do not want to carry those large gun-like lenses, like many of my young MNS friends, like Sripad and Skandan do.

So I still do not know why I signed up for the Basic Photography workshop that Dr TP Alaganantham offered through MNS. I think some of it was to do with demystifying the whole process and understanding what the camera was actually doing when I pressed that button.

What an enjoyable weekend it was! First of all, its so uplifting to interact with people like Dr TPA, a surgeon by profession, but whose passion for photography has led to much tinkering and self discovery, and the interest to communicate to others like me.

Elbows close to the body brings greater stability...hmmm, I had not thought of that. I now am aware of specular reflection, catch light, spot metering, white balance, CCD and CMOS, depth of field, ghost shadows and the reasons for red eye! A great tip for me was the suggestion to use flash in daylight to counter the effects of backlit people - I always seem to be having this problem.

For me, the most interesting part of the weekend, were the sessions related to composition and framing. The rule of thirds and the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci spiral. My Ikebana training immediately identified with this asymmetric sense of aesthetics.

So am I likely to move out of auto-focus? Unlikely. But there may be 10 reasons to turn off that auto-focus. And now I know what to attempt to do, when my Ikebana arrangements develop ghost shadows, when those mid-day photos look all washed out and when there is low light at dusk.