Free from School

You must try to understand that when I finished school I was as raw as raw could be. I had never travelled anywhere on my own, never purchased a train ticket, since like most ki...

One of my plans for the rainy season was to go to RUSTIC Farm which is in Thanem, a small village near Valpoi in the remote north-eastern district of Sattari, so that I could ga...

The rainy season brings out the average Goan's passion ate love for plants and some of this fervour and enthusiasm finds its way into plant exhibitions and plant festivals. I wo...

Attending the Green Heritage plant festival in Siolim had one more advantage for me. It brought me into contact with Mr Miguel Braganza, an agricultural officer of the Goa Gover...

It was now the end of August and also the end of the heavy rains. I was eager to begin travelling out of Goa to visit the many places on my agenda. I had got fairly comfortable...

It took several letters and phone calls from my dad to establish contact with Mr Neelimkumar Khaire, Director of the Snake Park in Pune till finally the green signal was given a...

My stay at the Pune Snake Park was to be for about three weeks but I was enjoying the experience so much that I was reluctant to return home. To my good fortune the family decid...

On the 6th of November, I was put on the Chennai Express, which was to leave Dadar Railway station at 7 p.m., by my Uncle Alan who is very knowledgeable about trains since he ha...

My stint with vermiculture over, I had another fortnight of study with Dr K. Vijayalakshmi, whom my dad calls India's `Spider Woman'. Dr Vijayalakshmi has been doing research on...

December was the most eagerly awaited month of my one year sabbatical. All decks had finally been cleared for my long awaited trip to the Crocodile Bank at Mamallapuram. Nearly...

January brought fresh experience for me and it happened entirely because of Hartman de Souza. I was to return to Goa via Bangalore and since our good friends, Hartman and Ujwala...

I was at home for practically the entire month of February, partly because my parents themselves were away for nearly half the month and had asked me to help in the house during...

The summer vacation that year was great fun. My cousins from Belgaum arrived on schedule and since no one had Board exams that year the holiday season began in the first week of...

A year had gone by since I had finished school and what an exciting year it had been. Having to go to college now seemed quite tame in comparison. But as I busied myself with fi...