The terrible, horrifying series of attack on Mumbai that started on 26th November & culminated after 60 hours on 29th October must have given sleepless nights to most of us, and I was no exception. The events were so disturbing that despite trying to sleep peacefully, each night, I ended up waking up in the middle of the night & switching on TV (against all instincts) with the hope that by then the situation would have been under control. Alas, every time the TV provided images which could not bring solace to the mind & the heart, and the fingers on the remote always kept surfing from one channel to another looking for some reassurance on some channel. But it just did not seem to be available.
During one of such surfing spree, I came across a clip shot by some safari visitors at Kruger of a pack of lions hunting a buffalo family & capturing the baby buffalo. To add drama to the clip was a crocodile using the opportunity (as the baby buffalo had fallen into water) to carve a piece out for itself. Without using it as an analogy, (after all a gun-wielding bully of a terrorist can never be compared to a majestic animal like lion), the clip reminded me of the events at CST, Taj, Nariman House & Oberoi. The innocent people of whatever origin were killed without remorse. While I had always enjoyed all kind of nature-documentaries & clips, this time around it was making me more disturbed. I was about to switch to another channel when there was a twist in the tale, which, for once in those three days really made me smile.
Without wanting to divulge the twist, I would recommend that you must watch this clip on the following link to appreciate the reason it gave me to have hope & faith in that night of despair. I truly believe, if we stop indulging into empty rhetoric and gestures and take some hard actions that would change us from a lawless mass of argumentative indians to law-abiding citizens demanding accountability from our leaders & bureaucrats, these three days of November 2008 may really prove to be a watershed event in India ’s tryst with destiny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM
Jai Hind!
Oct 16, 2008
Bhoj - Pristine Nature so close to Concrete Jungle
Recently my daughter participated in Elementary Drawing Examination conducted by the state government. It was a cue for me to remember my participation in the same event during my schooldays. While my daughter seems to be faring much better (luckily having this part of the DNA from her mom), for me that was a disastrous experience –first learning to draw & paint (apparently I was a person with two left hands -akin to two left feet of dancers - when it came to expressing myself on art canvas) & then actually attempting the exam. My best attempt could get me a C grade and that’s where my ambitions of becoming an artist ended. But during this brief adventure, my favourite drawings were those where I tried to create a scene comprising of a waterbody with huts & mountains and a temple as the backdrop, blue sky with clouds & some caricatures which were supposed to resemble the human beings on earth & birds in the sky.
This Dussera morning, we reached a place which reminded me of the scene which I had in mind but could not reproduce on papers. Here is my account of this short picnic.
The tax returns related deadlines had taken its toll with me wanting to get out of the rut as soon as possible. However, nothing seemed to be in the offing from either MBC or BNHS. Not wanting to waste the day at home, me, Minoo & Abhi decided to venture out with an idea to have a half-day picnic somewhere closeby. While scouting for the areas, I came across a few snippets about Bhoj lake near Badlapur. The snippets sounded interesting and off we were looking for the place.
We started off a little late but being a holiday, the road to Badlapur was quite empty. Despite part of the journey on pot-holes filled road, we completed this 60 odd km distance in less than 2 hours. The road from Badlapur to Bhoj had fields on both the side with Badlapur Hills as the backdrop. However, as we turned a corner, we came across a dam at a height on the right hand side, with some people washing off their auto-rickshaws and kettles at the base.
At first the place looked quite but not at all impressive. We were told however that this is the dam on the Bhoj lake and having reached this far we decided to walk up to the dam. As we reached the top of the dam, the dullness disappeared. To say the least, it was an awesome sight of a pristine environment. The lake had to its backdrop green hills and jagged peaks with their reflection in the water, a cluster of huts across the lake, a temp
le (Kondeshwar) at a height across the lake, a cluster of huts forming a hamlet and absolute tranquility permeating into the soul. Well, except the altitude being low and hence no snow at the peaks, the place could have given run for money to any of the swiss song-n-dance locations.
The dam wall was surrounded with wild flowers & shrubs. Dragonflies, butterflies & moths were abound. A couple of trees were sporting glory-lilies. There is a small pathway circling the lake & going towards Kondeswar temple and seemed quite interesting. However, since it was quite hot, we decided to skip the trekking and opted for birdwatching. But this was not really fruitful too. To some extent, it could be because we were late in the day with heat increasing each minute and it was too early for the migratory season. Still, we could catch the sights of Greater Coucal, Magpie & Indian robins, Drongos, a Pond Heron, Egrets, Purple Sunbird in partial eclipse, grey breasted prinia, long tailed shrikes, spotted doves, jungle babblers & green bee-eaters. There were also continuous chatters & calls of tailorbords & some other birds which we could not identify.
Finding the day getting hotter, we decided to call it a day but surely, with a resolve to return soon. I am sure, the place, while a good location to just chill out, would also be great for bird-watching.
This Dussera morning, we reached a place which reminded me of the scene which I had in mind but could not reproduce on papers. Here is my account of this short picnic.
The tax returns related deadlines had taken its toll with me wanting to get out of the rut as soon as possible. However, nothing seemed to be in the offing from either MBC or BNHS. Not wanting to waste the day at home, me, Minoo & Abhi decided to venture out with an idea to have a half-day picnic somewhere closeby. While scouting for the areas, I came across a few snippets about Bhoj lake near Badlapur. The snippets sounded interesting and off we were looking for the place.
We started off a little late but being a holiday, the road to Badlapur was quite empty. Despite part of the journey on pot-holes filled road, we completed this 60 odd km distance in less than 2 hours. The road from Badlapur to Bhoj had fields on both the side with Badlapur Hills as the backdrop. However, as we turned a corner, we came across a dam at a height on the right hand side, with some people washing off their auto-rickshaws and kettles at the base.
At first the place looked quite but not at all impressive. We were told however that this is the dam on the Bhoj lake and having reached this far we decided to walk up to the dam. As we reached the top of the dam, the dullness disappeared. To say the least, it was an awesome sight of a pristine environment. The lake had to its backdrop green hills and jagged peaks with their reflection in the water, a cluster of huts across the lake, a temp
le (Kondeshwar) at a height across the lake, a cluster of huts forming a hamlet and absolute tranquility permeating into the soul. Well, except the altitude being low and hence no snow at the peaks, the place could have given run for money to any of the swiss song-n-dance locations.The dam wall was surrounded with wild flowers & shrubs. Dragonflies, butterflies & moths were abound. A couple of trees were sporting glory-lilies. There is a small pathway circling the lake & going towards Kondeswar temple and seemed quite interesting. However, since it was quite hot, we decided to skip the trekking and opted for birdwatching. But this was not really fruitful too. To some extent, it could be because we were late in the day with heat increasing each minute and it was too early for the migratory season. Still, we could catch the sights of Greater Coucal, Magpie & Indian robins, Drongos, a Pond Heron, Egrets, Purple Sunbird in partial eclipse, grey breasted prinia, long tailed shrikes, spotted doves, jungle babblers & green bee-eaters. There were also continuous chatters & calls of tailorbords & some other birds which we could not identify.
Finding the day getting hotter, we decided to call it a day but surely, with a resolve to return soon. I am sure, the place, while a good location to just chill out, would also be great for bird-watching.
Meanwhile, you may have a look at the pictures clicked that day on the link given below:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/7271923@N06/3NSV80
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