-
SABARIMALA: PILGRIMAGE IN THE WESTERN GHATS
August 14, 2017
The Sabarimala temple in the Pathanamthitta District of Kerala has long been revered as a sacred location and has been drawing increasing numbers of pilgrims in recent years. The temple is dedicated to Lord Ayyappa, a deity closely associated with forest lore. Riding a handsome tiger, the youthful Ayyappa is revered as a protector of [...]
-
AGASTHYAMALAI: A MOUNTAIN OF SIGNIFICANCE
August 12, 2017
The man next to me, a young pilgrim with a fragile frame, is muttering a prayer, just barely discernable over the sounds of thunder and rain lashing down on us. A ferocious wind is blowing in from the north-east and threatens to blow us off the precipitous summit that we are bivouacked on. Flashes of [...]
-
METAMORPHOSIS OF A LANDSCAPE
March 2, 2017
We live in a world that appears to be moving at a pace faster than ever before. In that, environmental change - of our own making - has become an unfortunate repercussion of the human experience. In India, most of us can relate to changing cities and sprawling urban cancers that are unrelentingly eating into [...]