By Mythreyi K In early December 2018, James and I headed to West Bengal to conduct a birdwatching workshop for budding tourist guides. The workshop took us all the way from Wandoor in the Andamans to the island of Kumirmari in the Sunderbans. Sunderban, “the only Mangrove-Tiger land of the planet” (Banerjee M, 2012) was…
By Tanya Koshy One of the most remarkable things about field visits is its ability to jolt you back to reality. Vulnerable communities who were earlier mere statistics in a larger, impersonal statistical picture that we absentmindedly scroll through as we sip our morning cup of chai, suddenly come to life as real people with real…
By Shiba Desor The Karen community settled in the Andaman Islands in the early 1920s. A forest-dependent community from erstwhile Burma, the Karens quickly developed linkages with the natural environment of the islands. Along with having a good traditional and developed knowledge of the forest and the sea, the Karens are adept craftspersons of wood,…
Part 3: James & Co. James quickly made friends with many of the participants and organisers by hanging out at the nearby chai shop. He was even invited for a game of “patti” and a drink where he also became quite attached to a few of the local boys whom he took under his wing…
