Seasonal streams are common across India when the monsoon arrives. I’ve been on jeeps which crossed dry stream beds in an absolutely arid land. Such streams must be replenished every year by the rains. When these streams form in the Western ghats we see waterfalls. The Family remembers childhood trips to seek out these seasonal… Continue reading Monsoon’s waterfalls| Don't hold your breath
We had many chance encounters as we drove through Bhutan. But one encounter stood out because it involved many different people. As we were walking, a couple in a car stopped near us. The two were dressed impeccably in traditional formals. Tashi introduced us; the man was a district counselor (dzongkhag tshogdu in the local… Continue reading Hierarchy of needs| Don't hold your breath
Paro dzong stood as we had seen it long ago, on the far side of the Paro river. With a watch tower on the slope behind it, and the easily defended bridge in front, it looked exactly like the fort that all dzongs actually are. Today they are the administrative centers of the districts, called… Continue reading Colour me crazy| Don't hold your breath
We drove up the road towards Chele La in the morning, and began our walk below the pass, at a height of a little above 3500 meters. This early in the morning the forest was full of bird calls. There were no animals up here; this western part of Bhutan has a relatively larger number… Continue reading An hour in a high forest| Don't hold your breath
With a range spreading right across the Himalayas and extending west into Pakistan and east into Myanmar, I could have seen an Yellow-breasted greenfinch (Chloris spinoides) many times in the past. I saw it for the first time in Bhutan, and since I saw it several times during the ten days I spent there, it… Continue reading Yellow-breasted greenfinch + Birds of the Week Invitation CXXX| Don't hold your breath
School stories are such an old genre: Tom Brown, Billy Bunter, Mallory Towers, Psmith. In films those posh schools have largely given way to troubled schools. If you don’t remember Sydney Poitier in To Sir, With Love, you may recall the one which features in Adolescence. But the posh have made a bit of a… Continue reading You’ve passed many doors, Tom Brown| Don't hold your breath
As we drew out of Paro for our long drive down to the plains I asked Tashi whether we could have a coffee before we hit the highway. He was a little apologetic about not taking us to the best ice cream shop in the town, so he said he would stop at the best… Continue reading Bhutanese Coffee| Don't hold your breath
A stalk of grass bends into a gentle curve because it is a little overloaded with the weight of the flowers that it holds. My first thought was that these would be wind pollinated, like many of the other tall grasses that I’ve seen. But the spiderweb along the stalk told me that it could… Continue reading Curve with curves| Don't hold your breath
This older Golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) looked calmly back at me from a distant tree. I took up my camera for a portrait of this collected individual. Looking at the photo I was struck by the fact that the sclera of the eyes, the outer layer of the eyeball, are fairly light. The lightest sclera… Continue reading It’s all in the eyes| Don't hold your breath
Strange to think that Tantric Buddhism reached the Himalayas from India, where it was developed. But the cultures have diverged so much over many centuries that houses decorated with the central mo…| Don't hold your breath
Every trip into the wild is a learning experience for me. There are so many new species, so many new experiences. But one hard earned lesson is not to ignore common species like this Oriental turtl…| Don't hold your breath
10 posts published by I. J. Khanewala during May 2025| Don't hold your breath
Assam macaques (Macaca assamensis) are a study in how our behaviour shapes the behaviour of other species. It is classed as near threatened in the rubric of IUCN. The reasons given are not just the…| Don't hold your breath
“We aren’t in the 1950s any more. We say people. Or men and women.” Yes, I understand. I’ll be more careful next time. But to get on with the story … Birding is hard w…| Don't hold your breath
Scaly-breasted munias (Lonchura punctulata) are visible fairly frequently when you travel outside of town into dry grassland or scrubland. They are fairly social and have a characteristic call whic…| Don't hold your breath
Indian silverbills (Euodice malabarica, also called White-throated munia) is a gregarious species found in the dry scrublands of South Asia (including Sri Lanka and Nepal) and patchily eastwards in…| Don't hold your breath
High flyers, that’s Bar-headed geese (Anser indicus). They have been reported to fly as high as 10 Kms above sea level as they cross the Himalayas in their flights between their breeding grou…| Don't hold your breath
Back in the village of Colva, we wandered aimlessly in the afternoon, looking for lanes that we had not explored when we visited in the monsoon. Another chapel! This one stood in a small ground, an…| Don't hold your breath
On a crisp morning at the cusp where autumn turns into winter, two Chinese youngsters accompanied me to the Mutianyu section of the great wall. With their help everything turned out to be smooth. I…| Don't hold your breath
The weather had changed around Narkanda since we moved from the cabin on Hatu Peak to a decent hotel at the foot of the mountain. From merely foggy it had gone to foggy with an occasional drizzle d…| Don't hold your breath
