Tag: Luke PG Draper

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Celebrating Life

For All Creatures Great & Small

Painting by Sybil Pretious

Sometimes I wonder what makes us exclusive as a species on Earth? Do we really have some kind of superiority over the flora and fauna without which we may not survive? With multiple species of wildlife being threatened by human exploits, perhaps there is a need to remind ourselves of our dependence on our planet and the lives it supports while acknowledging our existence as just one of the many species. In this issue, we celebrate life on this planet… I do not know if a cockroach or a cow would be considered wildlife, but it seems only right to see all of them as our brethren… along with yetis who could be a figment of the human mind… Enjoy some of our selected fare from around the world on World Wildlife Day today.

Poetry

Katsaridaphobia by Aditya Shankar. Click here to read.

Kissing Frogs by Rhys Hughes. Click here to read.

Pirate Blacktarn & the Worm by Jay Nicholls. Click here to read.

Yeti by Jared Carter. Click here to read.

Giraffe’s Dad by Tagore has been translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

Jibananda Das’s Where have all these Birds Gone & On the Pathways for Long… have been translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

Non-Fiction

Humbled by a Pig: Farouk Gulsara meets a wild pig while out one early morning and muses on the ‘meeting’. Click here to read. 

Breaking Bread: Snigdha Agrawal has a bovine encounter in a restaurant. Click here to read.

Rabbit Island: Suzanne Kamata visits the island of Okunoshima, where among innocence of rabbits lurk historic horrors. Click here to read. 

The Ocean & Me: Meredith Stephens writes of her encounters with sea creatures in South Australia. Click here to read.

An Encounter With Snakes: Devraj Singh Kalsi, amuses with his hilarious take on snakes and snake charmers in his home. Click here to read.

Bugs of Life: Sohana Manzoor, highlighting her ‘affection’ or the lack of it for bugs. Click here to read.

Fiction

Maya and the Dolphins: Mohin Uddin Mizan weaves a story around dolphins in Cox Bazaar, Bangladesh. Click here to read.

Memory Gongs: Rhys Hughes reflects on the cycle of life. Click here to read.

Navigational Error: Luke PG Draper explores the impact of pollution on wildlife. Click here to read.

The Llama Story: Shourjo shares a short fun piece written from a llama’s perspective. Click here to read. 

Naughty Ravi: Naramsetti Umamaheswararao writes of an awakening of kindness to fellow creatures. Click here to read.

One Small Ancient Tale: Tagore’s story about two wild birds has been translated by Nishat Atiya. Click here to read.

The Parrot’s Tale:  Tagore’s powerful story has been translated by Radha Chakravarty. Click here to read.

Dolphins. Photo Courtesy: Meredith Stephens
Categories
Earth Day

Celebrating Our Planet

To care,
Nurture and
Cherish till
Death do us part —

A day to celebrate the
Fecundity
Fertility and the
Rites of the passage of
Time.

-- Earth Day, Countercurrents,org

Earth Day is a celebration of our planet that has been our cradle and our home for the last 200,000 years, though the Earth itself is much, much older. It is more 4.5 billion years in age…Perhaps a number unimaginable in the small speck of our existence…

Our oeuvre for this occasion starts with non-fiction that celebrates the beauty, the fecundity of the planet along with its colours — travel stories from Himalayas to Antarctica. We meet whales and sail or climb mountains to see what we have done to Earth and its other residents. Through poetry and fiction, including translations of greats like Tagore, Jibanananda Das and Nazrul, we quest to understand the needs of our planet better… Do join us in celebrating our home — yours and mine…

Non-Fiction

In A view of Mt Everest, Ravi Shankar travels in the freezing cold of Himalayan splendour and shares magnificent photographs of Mt Everest. Click here to read.

In Four Seasons and an Indian Summer, Keith Lyons travels to Antarctica and shares magnificent photographs. Click here to read.

In Sails, Whales, and Whimsical Winds, Meredith Stephens writes of her sailing adventures in New South Wales and spots some sporting whales. Click here to read. 

In Climbing Sri Pada, Rhys Hughes takes us on a trek to the hilltop with unusual perceptive remarks which could evoke laughter. Click here to read.

Poetry

Rows of Betel Vines by My Window by Nazrul has been translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

Jibananda Das’s Where have all these Birds Gone & On the Pathways for Long… has been translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

Fiction

The Parrot’s Tale by Rabindranath Tagore has been translated by Radha Chakravarty Click here to read

A Curse by San Lin Tun is set in the woods of Myanmar. Click here to read.

Navigational Error by Luke P.G. Draper explores the impact of pollution with a short compelling narrative. Click here to read.

Categories
A Special Tribute

Born to be Wild…

We share the planet with creatures great and small. To commemorate the World Wild Life Day, we present to you a selection of non-fiction, stories and poems around the fauna and its conservation

Penguins
Leopard
Dassies

Poetry

Vanilla Gorilla by Rhys Hughes. Click here to read.

Animal Limericks by Michael Burch. Click here to read.

A translation of Tagore’s Amar Shonar Horin Chai (I want the Golden Deer), set against the backdrop of the woods in Ramayana. Click here to read.

Prose

One Small Ancient Tale

Rabindranath Tagore’s Ekti Khudro Puraton Golpo (One Small Ancient Tale) from his collection Golpo Guchcho (literally, a bunch of stories) has been translated by Nishat Atiya. The story centres around birds in wilderness. Click here to read.

Forsaking Distant Hemispheres for the Immediate Locale

Meredith Stephens introduces us to the varied fauna (ranging from seals to monitors) found in South Australia with vivid photographs. Click here to read.

Navigational Error

Luke P.G. Draper explores the impact of pollution on whales with a short compelling narrative. Click here to read.

Memory Gongs

Rhys Hughes creates a legend with wild elephants. Click here to read.