Book Review, Muse India, September 2012

Book Review: India, A Traveller's Literary Companion
Originally appeared in the Sep-Oct 2012 issue of Muse India
Source: http://www.museindia.com/regularcontent.asp?issid=45&id=3640


Girija Sankar : India - A Traveller’s Literary Companion
A diverse picture of the geography and culture

India is complex. It is befuddling, beautiful, harsh and confusing. India is a catch-22, a conundrum, a story within a story within a story. One billion people, 26 official languages, 2000 dialects, and almost all major world religions represented. This diversity and the fact that in spite of it, the country continues to amble along, and even show robust economic growth over the last couple of decades has continued to amaze the cognoscenti and the hoi polloi alike. An interesting characteristic that shapes this diversity is that the states in India are for the most part linguistically divided, with many of the states having a distinct language, script and several dialects of their own. In this regard, the Indian federation is more like the European Union than the United States.
It is perhaps their long familiarity with this situation that has allowed Indians in India to become adept at navigating differences. Hop on the Andaman Express in Kanyakumari today and find yourself traversing 277 train stations between Chennai and New Delhi, reading station signs in at least six different regional languages, and eating everything from sambar idlis to Hyderabadi biryani to aloo parathas, all in a span of a mere 56 hours.
A multitude of languages unfortunately does not lend itself to an easy understanding and appreciation of the rich vernacular prose and literature from different states. The beauty of truly knowing a language well is that it provides a vehicle to understand the music, the literature and the culture of the people who speak it. In India’s case, one cannot possibly be expected to master all of its many languages sufficiently to be able to take a deeper dive into the literature, folktales and stories of each of these states with linguistically defined cultures. It is to fill this breach, comes a delightful collection of stories in India - A Traveller’s Literary Companion.
Stories are organized in five sections, each pertaining to a geographically defined region in India - East, West, North, South and North East with stories from various states falling within each section. With around thirteen stories, the collection paints a diverse picture of the geography and culture of India. A few of the stories were written in English originally but most others have been translated from the vernacular. The book begins with a story set in Kashmir by Salman Rushdie and ends with one from Tamil Nadu, essentially covering the length and breadth of the country. Rushdie’s story, “The Prophet's Hair,” is a great start to the collection and is, based loosely on a true incident - the theft of a relic from a mosque in Kashmir. Using his signature style of magical realism, Rushdie weaves a tale that at once combines fact with myth and legend.
The collection is notable for its lack of a unifying theme. This choice is a conscious one on the part of Chandrahas Choudhury, the editor. It would seem that he has chosen not to create a forced sense of unity but rather let the different contexts, backgrounds, and literary instincts of the authors speak for themselves. In “The Accountant,” Kunal Basu imagines the world of the Taj Mahal just before and during the time of its construction by allowing the protagonist to go back in time to an earlier lifetime. An accountant with a passion for history thus becomes the Chotta Mimar, a young Persian architect who is part of the team designing the Taj at the Emperors’ behest.
Goa boasts a different kind of entry in the collection with Anjum Hasan’s “Eye in the Sky,” where Dawn, a young married middle class Indian woman, tired from the tedium of her marital life, feels a deep desire to just get away. She does just that one day, on a whim, after a spat with her husband. She hops on a bus to Goa. Through vivid descriptions of the beach resort culture in Goa and the conversations of foreign and domestic tourists, the story also manages to convey the challenges to a young woman traveling solo in India.
The highs and lows of ordinary life, the effect of place on one’s circumstances, human foibles and aspirations are all exquisitely brought together in the different stories. While a small collection cannot be expected to capture all the nuances and flavors of a region in its entirety, it does provide a window into a world which is normally denied to most people unfamiliar with a language and consequently the cultural nuances and subtleties. Though labeled a "travel essay," the book deserves characterization as a literary anthology. A delightful read promising the reader perhaps a more nuanced understanding of what makes India – India! 

Cover Story, Desi Jazz, Khabar Magazine, August 2012

Cover Story: All that Desi Jazz
Originally appeared in the August 2012 issue of Khabar Magazine
Source: http://www.khabar.com/magazine/cover-story/all_that_desi_jazz

On June 21, 2012, as we went about our daily activities, two Indian-Americans had made it into the annals of American music history, yet again. The Jazz Journalists Association honored Rudresh Mahan- thappa as Alto Saxophonist of the Year, and Vijay Iyer as Pianist of the Year. Mahanthappa won the same award in 2011, 2010, and 2009. In 2010, the Jazz Journalists named Iyer the Musician of the Year. Consider this: Iyer won an award that had been previously bestowed to jazz greats such as Herbie Hancock. Vijay Iyer also won in five categories in the recently announced 2012 Downbeat International Critics poll.

When one thinks of Indian influences in the global music scene, sitar maestro Ravi Shankar comes to mind, and indeed, his influence on Western performers and audiences is well-documented. Jazz great John Coltrane studied under Shankar and even named his son after the maestro. Today, Ravi Coltrane is himself an accomplished saxophonist.

“Guitar” Prasanna.

Music enthusiasts may also be aware of artists like “Guitar” Prasanna whose explorations of Carnatic music on the guitar have won him much praise and accolades, including stints as a composer for various Tamil films. But also consider this: the contemporary jazz scene in the States today is home to not just Iyer and Mahanthappa, but also, among others, to performers like Sameer Gupta, a noted percussionist who plays the tabla; Sunny Jain, a dhol player/percussionist who started a band that would feature the dhol as the lead instrument; Sachal Vasandani, a jazz vocalist; Rez Abbasi, a Pakistani-American guitarist/composer; and Rafiq Bhatia, an up-and-coming guitar player/composer.

Rafiq Bhatia.

The stories and musical journeys of the various artists profiled here—some of the most talked about desi performers who showcase jazz in their compositions and repertoires—reflect that very quintessential of immigrant experiences, a quest to marry the richness of the native and adopted cultures, whether the artist is a chef marrying diverse tastes or a saxophonist merging Charlie Parker with Kadri Gopalnath.

All what jazz

Rock ‘n’ roll, rock, and hip-hop feature prominently as early influences for artists such as Bhatia. But, as Indian-Americans, many were also exposed to Carnatic music, bhajans, ghazals, and Bollywood numbers, setting the stage perhaps for a greater appreciation of music in general and particular similarities in rhythms and tones. Early evidence of musical talent and precociousness is a common thread in these artists’ youth.

Sunny Jain.

“I grew up with Jain bhajans, Bollywood music, and a heavy dose of classic rock,” says Jain, who leads Red Baraat, a nine-piece dhol and brass band. His drums instructor, himself a bebop jazz drummer, encouraged Jain to join his junior high school’s jazz ensemble. Pretty soon, he was completely taken by jazz and began studying some of the jazz greats. Jain later went on to obtain a B.M. in Jazz Performance from Rutgers University and an M.A. in Music Business from New York University.

When his parents visited India, Bhatia, then a first grader, asked them to bring back a snake charmer’s flute. His precocious talent in music became apparent to his parents when he played the then-popular Hum Aapke Hain Kaun tune on the flute, almost as soon as he heard the soundtrack. Bhatia, the son of East African Indian immigrants, is a guitarist/ composer who enjoyed hip-hop growing up. His interest in jazz developed when he took up guitar in high school and started listening to Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane. Bhatia spurns categorization as an artist. His music may not fit cleanly into what people imagine when they think of jazz. “I make instrumental music that incorporates improvisation and draws on all of the music that inspires me,” he says.

Iyer grew up in a traditional middleclass South Indian-American household. Even though he didn’t start out playing Carnatic music, he was drawn towards it in his twenties. “Carnatic music has a certain symmetry, much like the kolam (South Indian design that adorns the floor in front of homes) or the South Indian temple architecture,” Iyer says.

Rudresh Mahanthappa.

By contrast, Mahanthappa, who started playing the saxophone in elementary school, was exposed to the occasional bhajan music at home, but not much more. Mahanthappa’s exposure to Indian classical music came from a college trip to India in the early ’90s. “It was a revelation,” Mahanthappa says. Attending traditional music concerts from sunrise to sunset, and being exposed to a whole new genre was eye-opening. And then he heard about Kadri Gopalnath, who had mastered Carnatic music on the saxophone. Something clicked. Soon after, he met Iyer and they began their creative collaborations that spread over many albums and continues to this day.

Sachal Vasandani.

In an introduction to Sachal Vasandani, NPR host Michelle Norris offers, “Every now and again you hear a special voice that makes you sit up and take notice ... Sachal Vasandani has that voice.” Vasandani, a jazz vocalist, drew attention when he won DownBeat magazine’s Collegiate Jazz Vocalist of the Year award in 1999.

Rez Abbasi.

Rez Abbasi, born in Karachi and raised in Southern California, is an accomplished guitarist and composer who was tutored by Ustad Alla Rakha. Abbasi, who will visit Atlanta in early 2013 for a concert with Georgia State University faculty and organize workshops on jazz and Indian/South Asian classical music, was exposed to Indian classical and film music through television and from relatives singing around the dinner table at family gatherings.

Sameer Gupta.

Sameer Gupta, a percussionist who plays a hybrid tabla and drumset simultaneously, became curious about jazz in high school and was at first hesitant about the art form. “I also didn’t like things that sounded ‘out’ and didn’t have patience for stuff that rocked the boat too much,” he says. With time, though, a greater appreciation of the music allowed him to embrace “the rocking that ensues when it is truly floating down the stream of consciousness.” Growing up, Gupta was exposed to the popular film and ghazal music from the ’60s and ’70s, but became a serious practitioner only several years after college, where he received a degree in Western Orchestral Percussion.

Prasanna, who attended college in India before moving to America, grew up with the music of Michael Jackson, Tamil composer Ilayaraja, Carnatic musician Lalgudi Jayaraman, and Iron Maiden. Given the broad range of musical interests, “jazz was just a logical extension of my curiosity,” he says. However, it took Coltrane’s record Ole Coltrane for Prasanna to truly understand and appreciate the art form. The record “drove home the point that jazz is much more than fancy chords, complex technique, and virtuosic playing. It’s about personal expression.”

Book Review, Lia's Purpura's Rough Likeness, JMWW Summer 2012

Book Review: Rough Likeness By Lia Purpura
Originally appeared in the Summer 2012 issue of JMWW.
Source: http://jmww.150m.com/PurpuraRev.html

Rough Likeness 
by Lia Purpura
Sarabande Books, 2011
978-1936747030, 224 pp., $15.95 paperback 

Rough Likeness, Lia Purpura's latest book, is an eclectic collection of essays and an attempt at explaining the mundane, the ordinary, and the things that do not usually populate dinner table conversations but are nevertheless part of the everyday imagination and life. Take the first essay, for instance, on buzzards: Why do we ignore the buzzard, she asks? A bird that does the job nobody else is prepared to do. I haven't killed a thing, the buzzard implores. Why see me as malevolent? "That no one wants my job that I go on being needed." In the essay titled "Against Gunmetal," Purpura laments about why some choose to describe shades of gray as gunmetal or as battleship gray. "Strike me down if I use it again. If I don't, right now, erase this method by which we impart, those of us who know nothing about guns, drama to a sky, pressure to a scene, hardness, knowhow, coldness to a description, glad for its hint of treachery, its sidelong, thanatotic meanness." Laziness in language and expression is something the author abhors, and is a theme that surfaces in other essays as well.

Purpura's prose is at once rich, lyrical, sudden, and provocative. Through her writing, she invites the reader to do what she does—provide everything you do, see, touch, or feel with the uniqueness of observation and attention that it deserves: "Here is a field between parking lots—real grass and dirt with bottles thrown in, amber longnecks, flat clears of hard stuff."

In the essay titled "Jump," Purpura ponders over the intentions behind a signpost that reads "Last Death from Jumping or Diving from Bridge June 15, 1995."

"Around the sign, around the inconclusive or—because of the or, the pause it stirs, the space it opens—fragments and conjectures gather: the last person was drunk"

Her reflective essays then are an essay (pun intended) into the layers folded under and between the everyday occurrences, the random signposts, the street signs, the buzzards flying overhead or the words attributed to colors (why gunmetal for gray?).

Rough Likeness can be savored whole or in bits, read from beginning to end or from the middle backwards. Purpura's writing is such that even without context, the prose is beautiful, to be enjoyed much like a Dali painting, different vantage points allowing for varied appreciation of the artwork.

That the author is also a poet is evident in the lyricisms and incantations in the writing, as when she describes a street as "that echt yellow stripe, those newly dribbled tar snakes filming cracks, curbs darkened with rain, fickle puddles, passing cars launching watery stars out of low spots to firmanents elsewhere."

The brilliance of Purpura's writing is such that even though her subjects in the essays may be ordinary (in the most fundamental sense of the word), in the rendering of the mundane as sublime and as that demanding acute and singular observation, she demands, nay commands the reader's absolute attention.—Girija Sankar

Poor Economics, Book Review, Hunger and Under Nutrition Blog, May 2012

First appeared in the Hunger and Under Nutrition Blog 

Source: http://www.hunger-undernutrition.org/blog/2012/05/book-review-poverty-economics.html
Poverty Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to fight Global Poverty - Abhijit Bannerjee & Esther Duflo,    Public Affairs. 2011.

There has been much debate recently on the efficacy of foreign aid and  whether international NGOs and developed countries ought to invest their tax dollars and grant funds in resource-poor countries.  These are very controversial issues and much that has been written both in academic and popular publications.

This book is not about any of them.

Poverty Economics: A radical rethinking of the way to fight global poverty by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo looks at the question of micro-approaches to poverty eradication, i.e. small scale interventions through local policy making or small but significant technological changes.  It avoids grand generalizations about “poor people” and tries to explain their challenges in context.  It also points out how in many cases, the basic choices that the poor have to make are already made for the rich.

The authors are both professors, economists and the co-founders of the Poverty Action Lab at MIT.  Through a number of field studies and using their favorite research method- Randomized Controlled Trials - the authors demonstrate that it is possible to have a significant and meaningful impact on the lives of the poor through context specific micro-changes. The book provides numeous examples from the fields of healthcare, education,micro-lending/saving, economic development and nutrition security, all in the context of the lives of people who make less than $1  per day.

The first part of the book focuses on the private lives of the poor and their approach to healthcare, education, and savings.  The second part discusses the efforts of institutions - large and small - in impacting the poor in meaningful ways.  Banerjee and Duflo also demonstrate how many big interventions fail because they often ignore or neglect local aspirations, cultures and contexts.   The real value of this book is that in case after case, the authors provide tools and techniques for understanding the performance of various interventions that have been implemented. Mainly, they rely on creative problem solving in the local context and the use of rigorous statistical methods to evaluate how indicators such as school attendance or healthcare availability have improved as a result of a new approach to problem solving.

In short, this book is a must-read for development practitioners working in the field of poverty alleviation and seeking new ways of approaching program and policy impact.

http://www.amazon.com/Poor-Economics-Radical-Rethinking-Poverty/dp/1586487981

http://globalhealthaction.org

On kid-friendly online news sources, India Currents, April 2012

Originally appeared in the April 2012 issue of India Currents
Source: http://www.indiacurrents.com/articles/2012/04/13/dont-just-google-it

Don’t Just Google It!

The teenage girl in the ABC sitcom The Middle asks her mother (played by Patricia Heaton ofEverybody Loves Raymond fame) where she could learn about love, seeing as Valentine’s Day was around the corner. The mother, exasperated and annoyed, dismisses the girl with a “Just google it,” then takes a moment’s pause and says, “May be not…don’t google it.” Where then do young adults and children go online to learn about love, the Arab Spring or the economic crisis? Where can parents go online to steer their children towards accessible, safe and reliable information?

Deepa Gopal, the founder and visionary behind U.S Based Youngzine started the website as a way to bring world affairs to the attention of her young son who had outgrown kiddie websites like Disney but was still not mature enough to get on Wikipedia. “Most mainstream media assumes some level of understanding. So, when we did not find any [websites] that fit the bill, we decided to start one!” Sites like National Geographic Kids, while very resourceful for general knowledge, may not provide much kid friendly content on current, international and political affairs. Deepa often found herself “tailoring content for [her son’s] schools assignments.” Barkha Madan, of Our Little Earth had similar motivations. She found herself culling stories from the Internet and tweaking them just so her nieces could read about the world in accessible and easy-to-understand language. The website and e-newspaper was born when Barkha’s edited stories were being forwarded to friends and family. Meera Dolasia'sDOGOnews (dogo means young or small in Swahili) was a response to the amount of research that her then second grader’s weekly homework assignments required on a daily basis. Why not start a website that does just that, Meera thought. And so, DOGOnews was born.

Deepa’s passion was so strong that she quit her full-time job at Cisco after a 17 year-long career in computer hardware. With much technical and intellectual support from Deepa’s husband, Youngzine went live September 2010. Meera’s engineering background helped her set up Our Little Earth but with additional support from developers. DOGOnews had a modest start as a regular email update with PDF attachments which later led to a blog and then six months later, a fully-featured website.

When sourcing articles for the websites the writers start their research online on mainstream news, politics, science and technology. “I continuously scour the web for interesting content that could be intriguing, educational and appropriate for my young audiences,” says Meera. Youngzine’s Deepa tries to reach beyond mere expository text to explain the socio-political and cultural context that shapes the world’s news. This angle enables teachers to foster critical thinking amongst students. For instance, a recent article on the Arab Spring described not just the events but also the historical and political context surrounding the events in simple and crisp language. Deepa is quick to point out that in selecting topics, “avoid sensational articles that take center stage in mainstream media as there really is no value in those for children.”

Our Little Earth covers ten main stories each month and like Youngzine, “has a bias towards stories that provides an opportunity to talk about the rich historical and cultural backdrop on the region being covered.” The audiences for all three websites are children and young teens in the 9-14 age groups, school teachers and ESL learners. Studies show that the biggest drop off in academics happens in the middle school years, says Deepa, so the websites finds a way to sustain interest in that crucial age-group.

The websites are being increasingly sought after by schools, both within the US and internationally as a source of reference and teaching material. Schools from over 30 countries have already subscribed to Our Little Earth. Youngzine has already been recognized by the American Library Association as a “Great website for kids.” DOGOnews’ growth has been mostly organic, with parents and teachers spreading the word about website.

On desi-design bloggers, Khabar magazine, Feb 2012

Originally appeared in the Feb 2012 edition of Khabar.

Source: http://www.khabar.com/magazine/features/Desi_Do-It-Yourself_DESIGNERS

Living: Desi Do-It-Yourself DESIGNERS 

In the South Indian middle-class Tambram household I grew up in, “decorating” meant the frantic dusting of the center table before a relative stopped by for afternoon filter coffee. Sure, we had all the trappings of a typical middle-class home—a giant picture-tube TV, a wooden showcase of brown Formica with shelves stopping mere inches from the ceiling, a few brass lamps from my mother’s trousseau, and perhaps a stray souvenir from one of our many temple-hopping trips. But a centerfold for Better Homes & Gardens it was not. 

Perhaps our décor-deprived yet typical home was also reflective of our conservative, salt-of-the-earth sensibilities. Who cares how the walls look if you feed folks great food and supply enough gossip/intellectual nourishment to keep them coming back?

It’s this middle-class ethos that I now strive to overcome every day, as I incessantly rearrange potted plants on top of a kitchen cabinet in my suburban home in the U.S. Thanks to my web-browsing, I now know I am not alone in my amateur artistic pursuits. Some women, in fact many, have scratched this décor itch into successful blogs.

Take, for instance, Patricia Torres (coloursdekor.blogspot.com), who describes herself as an “ordinary person, a working woman, a mom, a wife, a friend.” When not at work at a multinational company in Dubai or tending to her daughters, she is busy at home “aspiring to see beauty in everything around me.” With a full-time job, she often wonders if she would have taken up design as a career if the opportunity had presented itself earlier in her life. It was a friend’s suggestion that she consider blogging about the million or so pictures she would take of things around her house that got her started. Her blog is her “design diary.” She manages to pull it off, blogging in between her day job, parenting and home-making.

As a teenager, Kamini Raghavan (saffronandsilk.blogspot.com), would spend hours arranging and re-arranging furniture, artwork, and flowers around her house, though she just started blogging about design in 2010. For most bloggers I spoke with, blogging is a relatively new experience. While some bloggers are professionally trained in design and décor, a few have successfully turned an amateur interest into a nearly full-time career. Kamini, who originally earned a degree in Economics, went back to school in the 1990s to earn a degree in interior design. She worked in the industry for nine years in the U.S. before moving back to India in 2006.

Sudha Sundareswaran (adesignenthusiast.blogspot.com), grew up helping her grandfather with his various woodworking projects, picking up carpentry skills along the way. Therefore, Sudha sees herself more as a design enthusiast than a decorator. She started her design blog more as a way to attract attention to her original blog on green/environmentally conscious living. As a result, she now juggles between three blogs—cooking, design, and green living.

Anuradha Varma (mydreamcanvas.blogspot.com) reminisces about decorating her own room as a kid, and being extremely possessive of the knick-knacks that she would randomly pick up. She started blogging in 2008 more as a way to chronicle her own experiences with design and décor. Her lifestyle blog, My Dream Canvas, evolved out of the countless hours she spent browsing through design-and-décor magazines and a desire to critique them. She blogs full-time and loves every addictive minute of it.

 Gagan (who blogs at Of Peacocks and Paisleys, http://gb73.blogspot.com/) quips that décor and design are part of her genetic makeup, since she is the daughter of an artist. She started her blog in 2010 when she realized that some of her comments on the blogs she followed were longer than the blog posts on which she was commenting.

A chance visit to any one of the blogs featured here will clue you in to the sense of camaraderie and bonhomie that prevails in the community. Bloggers regularly feature others’ blogs and posts, invite guest blogs, and organize frequent giveaways that mutually benefit each other’s blogs.

A good majority of the readership is drawn from the Indian community at large, whether from India, the U.S., the U.K. or the Middle East. Many bloggers have also tapped into the larger cosmopolitan global-design blogging community. Sudha’s blog was recently featured on apartmentherapy.com, the go-to blog for design inspirations.

Few bloggers seem overly concerned about readership. Blogging seems to provide such pure joy that many of the women I spoke to had never really considered developing their blogging into a business.

Travel essay on Costa Rica, India Currents, January 2012

(Originally appeared in the  March 2011 print edition of India Currents)
Source: http://www.indiacurrents.com/articles/2012/01/09/of-blue-morphos-sloths-and-ziplines

Of Blue Morphos, Sloths, and Ziplines

 We were instructed to wear dark clothes, preferably all black. No flashlights, no camera. Just your self, your imagination, and more importantly, faith in the guide that was to lead you through a two-mile hike in the dead of night through the coastal jungles of Costa Rica. The guide would later casually inform us that the stretch of jungle we covered by foot was the natural habitat of the Costa Rican jaguar, an elusive, rarely seen creature, but in any event, not an animal that you’d like to cross paths with, with nary a flash light to shine on it in vain attempts to keep it at bay.

On this expedition (one of many in Costa Rica) we set out to observe the greenback turtle lay her eggs off the coast of the Caribbean sea in the Tortuguero National Park. As the nesting season for the endangered turtle had just begun, we were told to be prepared for a possible no-show. Having already experienced a bit of wildlife in Costa Rica, we were prepared for any eventuality, knowing that we would still enjoy the walk through the jungle.

We left our lodge and set out on a 40 minute hike through a trail straddling the edges of the beach and the coastal forest. When we arrived at our sector, we were asked by the spotters to enter the beach as they had just seen a turtle laying eggs. There she was, seemingly oblivious to a dozen or more scurrying human feet, laying eggs, one after another. She would have laid about 150 eggs that night. Her insouciance towards us humans was apparently a biological response. When the turtle lays her eggs, she gets in a trance-like mode. Our guide flashed the infrared flashlight on the nest, which the turtle had spent a good hour digging up. Different groups of tourists led by their guides would take turns gawking at her. I wondered how a human female would react were she to experience her birthing pains before dozens of squawking macaques or snorting pigs. I was glad the greenback was in a trance.


The turtle walk in Tortuguero was on day nine of our twelve-day trip to Costa Rica which included stops at Arenal and Flores, home of the Arenal volcano, to Monteverde, home of the cloud forests, Turrialba, where we went on a rafting expedition down the Rio Pacuare and, finally, Cahuita, your quintessential sleepy Caribbean seaside town.


Costa Rica figures high on the charts in adventure tourism destinations, and rightly so. There are plenty of adventures to choose from, even for a first-time thrill seeker, from white-water rafting to rappelling, to rock climbing, and zip lines. While most of these activities are popular enough to be found in most other travel destinations, Costa Rica’s lush rain forests and the sheer diversity of fauna and flora render these experiences particularly enjoyable. One can rappel down any mountain face or cliff. But rappelling down a 180 foot waterfall, in a thick central American jungle amidst luscious canopy is an experience of a lifetime. Or hurtling down the Rio Pacuare frantically paddling to navigate a rapid while keeping an eye out for a rare toucan and a even rarer Blue Morpho butterfly elevate this rafting expedition from others in less enticing surroundings.

The country’s national parks are well maintained, its guides are knowledgeable, and in general, there is a sense that the country and its people assume the mantel of eco-tourism seriously. I pride myself on being a naturalist—a lover of nature, ardent recycler, mostly vegetarian except when chomping down bizarre foods in the interest of adding to the been-there-eaten-that list. But, floating down the canals of Tortuguero National Park in a four-person motor boat on a cloudy, intermittently rainy afternoon, I realized I knew zilch about nature. Here’s a bit of trivia for you to mull over: there are  birds that hover around the spider monkeys as the latter are rustling branches on the trees looking for food to eat. The birds then scoop up any insects that the monkey unseats from all their scurrying. How is that for balance in the eco system? Or the theory that sloths (they defecate once every week) dispose off their waste in a hole at the bottom of the tree that they inhabit so as to return to the tree all the nutrients that the they used up. This points to the subtle checks and balances in the eco-system, something that we as humans in our ignorance upset, then learn rather belatedly about and finally scramble to make up for our ignorance.