Portfolio - Nature

Village Kasha, District Shimla, H.P. India, Dendrochronology is a scientific technique by which counting tree rings in a cut-section provides the age of the tree at the time of felling. If you can read between the lines of this sleeper, there’s a full record of the past climate, geography and landscape. Of course the trees we cut today and we cut a lot of them in Kinnaur in the name of development, disregard and theft—will have a different story to tell to our grandchildren.

Mastrang Forest, Sangla Valley, H.P. India,
Like the essence and memories of Kinnaur has gathered in its nights’ dew.
One such night, having wept in its own darkness, eloped with the twilight.
…and in its wake left teardrops, glittering diamonds, for a cobweb to gather and hold above the grass.

Mastrang forest, Sangla Valley, District Kinnaur, H.P. India,
The humdrum of city life recedes into the dim corners of your mind. You are in a glade, tucked away high in the hills…a million visions happening and dying around you. Some you see. Most you don’t.
You see a family of a wildflower (Potentilla argyrophylla) sitting next to a puddle, taking time under its share of the sky. Time beckons you …to move on to the next vision.

Chango Dogri, Ropa Valley, District Kinnaur, H.P. India,
Rattanjot (a herb used to color food) abounds the hill slopes above 13000Ft. in parts of the Kinnaur Valley.
As the valley below prepares for the night, thousands of a variety light up with the late afternoon sun.

Chitkul, Sangla Valley, Disttrict Kinnaur, H.P. India,
Keeping a silent vigil, a lone mushroom (Coprinus atramentarious) shares the dying light of the day.
Were it possible for plants to express their thoughts in words, I’m sure this one would’ve said,
“It’s going to be a lonesome cold night…”

Mastrang Forest, Sangla Valley, District Kinnaur, H..P. India,
Wandering through a dew-fresh conifer forest along the loitering banks of Baspa River, you cannot avoid squashing wild strawberries and mushrooms under your feet. A family of mushroom, lounging in the misty sun looked up at me, huddled close…almost afraid.
I tucked away the moment and carefully stepped around.

Ralli Forest, District Kinnaur, H.P. India
Walking through a forest is like walking through time itself
…that flutters away like a startled bird sometimes or lingers in the afternoon stillness at others resting on twigs and leaves floating in a lonely pond.

Jangal-Bairi, District Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, India, April 1999
Swamps flanking the Beas River are a host to thousands of species of plants. These four-leafed clovers take root in the shallow waters and float up to breathe.

Kalyani river, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India, 14000 ft. June 1999
Patterns spring forth from the womb of life. And as life flows, new patterns emerge. The cycle continues… the continuity becomes routine. But somewhere, sandwiched between the moments, lives a ripple, singing the beauty of nature.

Pong reservoir, Village Chatwal, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India, May, 1999
The departing evening light gently touches the water of the Beas River, in abstract communion. The coming together surfaces a pattern, a question …dying to be answered.

Bark peels of a wild creeper, banks of the Satluj at Sunhi, District Shimla, H.P.
Set against the 4 O’Clock sun, peeling bark of a wild climber lights up as embers. Seen otherwise, they are plain black wafers - nremarkable, insignificant.
It once again shows what a point of view can do.

In the fields of Shakrori village, District Shimla, H.P.
Evening is a time a lot is happening…that is, if we observe with a relevant angle of interest. Inflorescent panicles of wildgrass lining a wheat field droop their heads and prepare for the night.

Village Bayal, District Kullu, H.P.
An insignificant puddle of water on a patch of wayside grass, undisturbed dewdrops, day’s first light and a feeling in the heart.
These four things somehow made a rendezvous one morning on the banks of the Satluj and composed a sight to behold.