This is the first in an occasional series ‘Telling Tales’ which are stories of people from my different journeys. On a coarse sheet of paper Koul drew some lines and circles. “Here,” he said pointing to the lines, “are electric posts with wires.” “And these,” he said tapping the hurriedly-drawn circles, “are birds. They are sitting on the wire.” Koul then put a bold mark across one of the circles / birds. “If somebody shot one of these birds,” he asked looking me right in my eye, “can you expect

Dramatic translucent smoke billowed out of the open cockpit doors into the narrow aisle. I espied the numerous shiny consoles and knob-headed levers fading into a thickening blanket from where I sat with my cameraman Santosh. My co-passengers, mostly pilgrims from Hyderabad and Mumbai began to panic. The startled murmurs reached a feverish crescendo to screams and shouts of alarm. The older ones, not yet willing to let go, began the ubiquitous chant ‘Om Namah Shiva’. “Buddy, start rolling.” I told Santosh who sat frozen only for an instant. If

Every weather pattern has a name. And used to have a timeframe as well. The recent rains – which we all very clinically called ‘pre monsoon showers’ – used to be ‘mango showers’ earlier, helping in the ripening of mangoes. An outcome of thunderstorms over the Bay of Bengal, they fell in April and were also called ‘April showers’. Very crucial for the farmers of Kerala, Karnataka and Goa with large mango plantations, these showers prevented the mangoes from falling prematurely. However this year ‘mango showers’ have arrived as we