Chirping of Gubbi (sparrow)

  [Today Bonphool is very popular honey brand at the national level. It was created six years back in 2020. I never spoke openly claiming on its success. The entire journey of success has been long and result of contribution from many individuals. I will be sharing the entire journey in series.] (This Picture was taken on my office desk)                                 I grew up in a rural environment where financial struggles were part of everyday life. Watching my parents and the people around me work hard just to sustain their livelihoods, shaped my perspective early on and instilled in me a strong desire to work on improving the lives of the most vulnerable. My keen interest in wildlife led me to pursue a degree in forestry, followed by a Master’s from the College of Forestry in Kodagu, Karnataka—a region known for its coffee plantations with abundant forest full of elephant all around it. ...

(This is one story etched in my memory from a field day in Sundarbans on 17th December, 2019).  It was a winter day in the Sundarbans. A quiet chill from the sea drifted through the whispering mangrove forest, carrying the scent of salt, mud, and stillness. Murali Sir (Senior IFS officer) and I were returning to Jharkhali from Bonnie Camp. Leaving the wide expanse of the Bidya River, our boat turned left into the narrow embrace of the Suryamukhi Creek—one of those creeks that holds life in abundance and danger in equal measure. The tide was low. Vast stretches of muddy creek bed lay exposed, glistening under the pale winter sun. This brief window of retreating water invited life to emerge. Spotted deers were stepping cautiously along the banks, wild boars rummaged through the mud, whistling ducks dotted the shallows, and countless birds and animals revealed themselves, as if the forest had momentarily lifted its veil. Midway through the creek, we spotted a small wooden boat—humble ...

It's been nearly three years; I wrote my last blog. Lot has happened in this gap. Got transferred twice during this time. There are many ups and down in official and personal front. My friend Kajari biswas has been constantly prodding me to write. Finally, I am able to write that too about bird which belongs to the same order which Sparrow belongs. All pictures used in this writing are taken from Samsung S6 mobile. Here are the chippings of Gubbi....  I thank the medical shop owners Rudra Narayan Agarwala, Shiva Kumar Agarwala and Viresh Agarwala for allowing to take pictures of Barn swallow and providing information about the bird. After being transferred from Birbhum, I settled down at Dow Hill as the Director of a century-old training institute. Dow Hill is a small place situated amidst clouds on top of a mountain in the Eastern Himalayas. The place is well known for evil spirits and is listed as one of the most haunted places in India. For mark...

In childhood, I had heard many stories of close encounters and narrow escapes from fights with sloth bears. As I grew up, I saw many such encounters with lions, elephants, etc. , on Discovery and National Geographic Channel. After I started wandering in the wild, I heard many such stories. Today, I will be narrating one such encounter of mine with one of the surviving mammoths on earth, the Rhinoceros . November 2012; to check the progress of preparations for Wildlife Day celebrations, I went to Falakata from Madarihat. After the progress was checked, instead of taking the direct road to Madarihat, I chose the jungle road. I decided to drive the vehicle. On the way back, two of my Range Officers, Buddhadeb and Ranjan Talukdar, were narrating the story of a rhino attacking the vehicle of an Assistant Wildlife Warden long back. Listening to the stories, I drove into the tall, dense grasslands of Moyurdanga. Moyurdanga, as the name suggests, derives its name from Mayur (peacock). The f...

          With shrinking forest cover, planting a seedling has become popular slogan everywhere. Lot of money is spent on afforestation. How many of the seedlings planted grows to become fruit bearing trees? Many die naturally, some are cut by villagers for the firewood or will get damaged for one or the other reason. It would have wonderful if fully grown trees are planted directly in the field. Many trials have been done in this direction. But it's not possible on a mass scale.          As part of IFS training, during our field visit to Bandipur, I remember Dr. A.J.T. Jonhsingh saying that the forest department should take up planting of fig plants and other fodder species in wildlife areas. But raising nursery of fig plants is very difficult. If small fig plants are planted in forest, they will immediately be browsed by herbivores and will not be allowed to come up. The fact is that fig trees are abode for wildlife. One will ...