Thirumurugan

  Elephants and Frontline staffs.  For those who think working in the forest gives pleasure. But that's not true. For a tourist, it's easy to come and go (enjoy) the protected areas for some days. But these frontline forest department staffs are the real ground workers and are solely responsible for safeguarding Indian reserves. They are the people who work for almost #24 hours a day. They are strong enough to face wild animals and prevent wild animals near agricultural lands. The department works, manages, accompanies researchers, guards guests, tourists, night rounds, poachers, petty politics, etc. Many policies can be easily written on paper and passed out the order. But the implementation should be done by these frontline staff. If the Indian army parade gives 'emotions' and 'goosebumps,' you should also be proud of these forest department staff, who risk their lives daily to protect nature's wealth.  The wealth of the country doesn't depend on the p...

This content is especially for my friend Santhanapandi from Madurai, Down South, Tamil Nadu. He was the one who took me to see jallikattu's live performance. It was a memorable day as I realized the uniqueness of our own Tamil Nadu and a new side of its culture. I grew up in a region where jallikattu sport is never played. After watching the play, I am forced to think about why we protested for Jallikattu two years back. But everything happened for good. So here it goes, my friend took me to his village and showed me his bulls. They were six-foot-tall majestic bulls that one can only imagine in dreams. Only their family members can touch them. No other people can't even go near or touch them. There's a close bond shared between the bull and the family. We saw "Vadamanju viratu," named bull tied with a rope in a rotating circular manner. The players have to embrace the bull for some seconds. There are several strict rules meant to be followed during the play. The g...

We, as individuals desire to bring about a change in the world, including me; we aspire to be on top of this planet to achieve our goals. Most days, we wake up broken with unaccomplished dreams that lead to a built-up of sorrows, worries, and, importantly, greed. Still, maybe in the upcoming days, we will somehow get motivated to have a good chance (because of the connectivity we have built among ourselves) to be successful and lead a 'well-settled materialistic life.'  For all the species on the Earth apart from humans, this is not the case. Only survival is instinct. Thanks to fire, modern humans are already at the top of the food chain at the species level, but we should not forget that we still have the back tail bone. Services which we have benefited from our Earth are not that she (Earth) gives us gracefully; instead, it's being systematically looted by us. Thinking (brain) and advanced connectivity have improved human lives, but eventually, over time - we lost the lo...

The night started at 9 pm after eating a mouthwatering coconut milk curry with dry fish. We (a four-member team) started into the ocean for fishing in two traditional Nicobari canoes; I was sitting on the front side of the canoe (boat), rowing with the paddle (thuduppu/allis), listening to my canoe captain's orders, under the beautiful bright moonlight and infinite stars beneath it.  Around 2 am, the ocean became dark, silent, and calm (without waves); we were about 750 m to 1 km from the shore, the moon sets, stars vanished abruptly, and there was a pitch dark in the middle of the ocean while we can't see the next person face near us and then the magic happened. For the first time in my life, I saw Bioluminescence on a larger scale. Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism. The locals called it a 'chunk.' Whenever we think of Bioluminescence, our mind used to correlate with our childhood memories of Fireflies (min mini poochi). Yes! ...

Traveling has many stories to tell. Even a smile from an unknown person makes you happy. In adding that, the kids were amazing. For the past few days, I have been playing with two Punjabi kids ( - aged 3 and 7). The two were simply adorable and naughty, and they called me chachu Ji chachu Ji. I have seen only their smiles all the way. Whenever you see them, you will lift them without any hesitation. The three-year-old usually holds my finger and walks; he takes me through the corridor to play hide and seek and is excited to see a frog in the gutter. The seven-year-old plays a game on my phone and talks with me politely. He bares my karab (broken) Hindi even if there is a flaw😂. Today, he came inside my room and said, "good morning, chachu," and hugged me gently. I felt this is enough for the whole year.  Kids were adorable and taught you to be humble, grounded, kind, and show much love to others without any teaching. Yes! It's time to offer them the same and protect thei...