Sunlight slips out from beneath the clouds
clustered like children in a playground
I close my eyes and try to recall what we felt
that night when the moonlight danced across your skin

The barbet’s call is never ending and insistent
driving itself into my mind and unearthing
that moment in a foreign bedroom
when you held my head and time seemed to stop at the end of your smile

The drama of the forest around is lost on me
as I slip and slide along a wave of nostalgia
that suddenly drowns me in the memory of your smell,
an intense farrago of jasmine, musk and petrichor

The light is different now, grey like
the mountain before me and on its unyielding face
I project many moments from our past and try to relive
our first teleserial morning together when you woke me up with chaste Hindi

A sailor floats across in the summer breeze
navigating through a tangle of stunted trees
and reminds me of the impermanence of memory
that can blur the curve of your hips beyond remembrance now

But amidst this verdant dreamland that surrounds me
and leaves me breathless I can still remember
how you shuddered and held on to me when
our bodies rose and fell like a song under the starless sky

Note: A companion piece to this.

One can never get tired of watching this magical lake.

Pangong Tso, Ladakh

http://anilcherukupalli.com/pobitora-manas/

The film follows the journey of the 10 rhinos that were translocated from Pobitora to Manas National Park in Assam and the immense efforts that went into making the whole exercise successful.

This is the longest film I have made to date so your feedback will be most appreciated!

A majestic apparition suddenly filled the sky, soaring like a song on those golden wings and filling my eyes with a vision of absolute freedom.

Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), Magnetic Hill, Ladakh, September 2012

Sometimes, the real world can match the magical unreality of dreams.

Pangong Tso, Ladakh, September 2012.

Years later, these are the memories that will return with a vividness that will make me catch my breath.

Pangong Tso, Ladakh, September 2012.

The everchanging colors of the Pangong Lake are like multi-hued dreams that vie for attention on lonely nights.

Pangong Tso, Ladakh, September 2012

And around some corners we come across lovable denizens of this enticing environment.

The Himalayan Marmot (Marmota himalayana), Changthang Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary, Ladakh.

I’m lost, insignificant and therefore consumed by a constant need to find scales of reference that my befuddled brain can process.

On the road from Nubra Valley, Ladakh, September 2012.