Sometimes when I look at wildlife or Nature, I am awe-struck, not fully able to describe my feelings. I wanted to put those wordless, swirling feelings into short strings of words; for that, Haikus seemed perfect.

I present six Haikus on the wildlife of India. More to follow!

1. A Haiku for the Aravallis, the world’s oldest mountain range; thought to harbour dinosaurs.

2. A Haiku for a wild leopard that mistakenly entered a school in Bangalore. Earlier post here. Cornered from all sides, the leopard was terrified, yet it was called a terror.

You look at my spots, my anger, my teeth,

And yet,

I wait and wait to be unseen.

3. Another haiku for the same spirited leopard: he was called many things, almost labelled anti-national!

Some say I’m ferocious

Some may also say

I’m seditious.

4. A haiku for a Black-necked Crane. These cranes come to India from Bhutan, and their habitat was slated to be submerged by a dam.

More about that in my op-ed here and my report here.

5. Haiku for a Kingfisher at the beginning of summer:

6. Whales are dying all over the world, beached ashore for a variety of reasons; like plastic ingestion and underwater noise. I wonder if we only notice these magnificent creatures when they come ashore to die.