MY PERSONAL SPACE (IN THE PUBLIC REPOSITORY)
This page mostly contains a collection of articles (scientific or otherwise) / photos / excerpts from books I found interesting and a few of my own verbose scribblings. The opinions expressed here are my own (unless otherwise specified).
ACADEMIC
Climate Change in the Tropical Forests of Eastern Himalayas - Size Matters!
This is a popular science article I wrote for the institutional magazine. It covers the research on body size - elevation relationship in hawkmoths and birds along a 2600 m elevational gradient in Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary.
Geospatial analysis can be daunting for beginners - a lesson I learnt the hard way! When I started exploratory spatial analyses, I compiled a few basic definitions of terminologies from various publicly available sources. I hope these help someone who is ready to begin the journey.
R Scripts & Bundles
Follow this space for common community ecology related R programmes. I accept requests in case anyone wants a script for something I have already published on my Research page
Plant Identification for Dummies
One of the biggest challenges of interpreting my results on moths and birds in Eaglenest was the dearth of any systematic information on the vegetation of the region. I decided to address this gap in research and wrote a proposal to start a long-term monitoring program on plant-pollinator communities in the region. It remains my long-term career goal and is something I hope to initiate as soon as I affiliate with an academic institute in India permanently. In the meantime, I have recently started 'learning' plant taxonomy and basic identifications. The material I have put together is for absolute beginners and may be useful for anyone else interested in the field. This section can be expected to be revised continually.
NON-ACADEMIC
She likes to Travel by Mansi Mungee
She likes to travel
But I think what she likes more is to tell you “she likes to travel”
The idea of being a traveller appeals more to her than the journeys themselves
Blurry in her mind is the distinction between who she is and the idea of who she must be
She takes care of herself
Or at least that’s what she’s been training her mind to believe.
There is a conflict deep within, can’t you see
It has to end
It will explode in ways unprecedented
Paving the way for unwarranted, completely dispensable emotional outbursts
“You” are the only person you should truly ever be
Not the idea of who you must be
Not the nomadic travel blogger you’ve been following
Not the character in your wonted new age movies
Not the girl you play out to be in your fantasies
Not the girl you think he would want you to be
She Let Go by Safire Rose
She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.
She let go of the fear.
She let go of the judgements.
She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.
She let go of the committee of indecision within her.
She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons.
Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.
She didn’t ask anyone for advice.
She didn’t read a book on how to let go.
She didn’t search the scriptures.
She just let go.
She let go of all of the memories that held her back.
She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.
She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.
She didn’t promise to let go. She didn’t journal about it.
She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer.
She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.
She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.
She just let go.
She didn’t analyse whether she should let go.
She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.
She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.
She didn’t call the prayer line.
She didn’t utter one word.
She just let go.
No one was around when it happened.
There was no applause or congratulations.
No one thanked her or praised her.
No one noticed a thing.
Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.
There was no effort.
There was no struggle.
It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.
It was what it was, and it is just that.
In the space of letting go, she let it all be.
A small smile came over her face.
A light breeze blew through her.
And the sun and the moon shone forevermore…
Growing Up by Michelle Obama
"Now I think its one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child - "What do you want to be when you grow up?". As if growing up is finite! As if at some point you become something and that's the end. For me, becoming isn't about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey never ends."
The remembering by Dorothea Grossman
"It is not so much that I miss you, as the remembering, which I suppose is a form of missing, except more positive. Like the time of the blackout, when fear was my first response, followed by love for the dark."
Grad-Club @ IISER-Pune - by Mansi Mungee
This is the stand-up comedy speech I gave at the first Grad-Club party at IISER, Pune. It is of course written with very little grammatical or literary precision, and viewer discretion is STRICTLY advised!
DECLARATION - The opinions are my own! As are the jokes...(copyrighted).
The Golden Record by Maria popova
I absolutely enjoy reading her blogs and would strongly encourage interested readers to browse through some more of her collections. A few more interesting collections that I personally enjoyed a lot are listed below:
How Alive Are We? Alan Turing, Trees, and the Wonder of Life
PHOTO GALLERY
