Urban Yayawar

A Southern Odyssey

2011-06-19T09:31:00.003+05:30

This was an idea which was not encouraged by many!

Vacation in South in summer? Bangalore to Ooty to Pondicherry?? By Road??? In MAY???? Had Bertie asked for one word for the entire idea, Jeeves would have obloged him with the term - Preposterous.

Those who love us, generously termed it an adventurous plan, raising an eyebrow like Jeeves….while other, thought of it as an asinine one, but out of politeness and finding me stubborn actually did not use the word.

To be honest, I had my doubts too. Travelling in May anywhere in India generally is quite an arduous task. Travelling in south India, largely Tamilnadu, in what is called the month of Agninakshatram, can be worse. That’s why I was quite content with going to Bangalore & Ooty. But, soon at the request (~ nay, command) of the Missus, it first became Ooty - Pondicherry & then Ooty – Yercaud – Pondicherry.

And that’s how it all began, when an early morning in May, we embarked from Bangalore on a road journey of about 1500 kms, which in next few days was to take us right upto Chennai, through a route on which we were to cross over dense reserved forests, pass through the ever-twisting roads of Nilgiri mountains – well matched by the tongue-twisting names of most of the places on the entire route, steep climbs of Sheveroy Hills and plains of Tamilnadu graced with the presence of Indian rollers before seeing the sun rising from beyond the Bay of Bengal at the eastern coast of India. But all that was yet to be experienced.

A journey through road always has an advantage – it allows the detours & stoppages as one would desire. Our journey too, while keeping to the originally planned destinations, had its own unplanned & sudden stoppages & detours, the first one being to admire the wooden toys that are churned out in numbers at Chennapatna – a town on Bangalore – Mysore highway, also called the toy-town of Karnataka. Originated as an industry in the times of Tipu Sultan, the wooden toys of this town are made from variety of woods. What makes these toys different is the superb colours, provided through vegetable dyes, and fine glossy finish brought to it with lacquer.

Another detour meanwhile was on our way. As we reached closer to Srirangapatnam, we noticed a small road turning towards Somnathpur, that houses a 13^th century Hoysala temple dedicated to Kesava or Krishna. Having visited it a few years earlier, we had fallen in love with the Krishna idol inside the temple and this was just the perfect opportunity, which we would not have missed. The road to the temple, bumpy in patches, passes through the paddy fields & sugarcane fields, with more than occasional Gulmohurs in full bloom providing the shade as well as adding that perfect red hue.

The temple itself, despite being almost 750 years old, is still in quite a good condition. Another thing which immediately differentiates it – and may be most of the other heritage temple structures like Mahabalipuram – from more popular temples, is sprawling open areas and absence of religious fervour amongst the visitors. As a result, one can actually be in commune with the god unlike the more popular temples, one of which we visited later at Thiruvanaimalam - characterized by an ever present ongoing tussle between the devotees – each one of them wanting to spend more time with the deity and pujaris with their attitude bordering on arrogance ensuring the denial of this desire.

Leaving Somnathpur behind, we were on our way to Ooty. The approach to Ooty, as one enters the forests of Bandipur followed by Mudu-malai, and start climbing the Nilgiris, fills up one with lots of expectations and all senses are at alert The freshness in the air, a drop in the temperature, dense green colour in variety of shades all around, Gulmohur trees in full bloom slowly giving way to the tall Eucalyptus trees as road climbs up, clouds, sun and the trees creating their own shadow-play, occasional sightings of mammals like elephants, gaurs and monkeys, all looked like good omen for our stay at Ooty – till we reached Ooty. One look at the landscape of concrete jungle and all pervading noise and we wanted to escape from the reign of this queen of hill stations.

We still managed to stay in Ooty for next 4 days was largely due to the excellent location of Derby Green Resort – which despite being in the heart of the city, due to its elevated location overlooking the sprawling racecourse, allows one to still find some solitude and breathe freely in this otherwise crowded city.

Added to that were some sudden surprises as well as delightful moments –finding a not so visited trail around the lake towards the south-end, experiencing a variety of flowers in all kind of colours at surprisingly crowd-less Arboretum, checking out the tea factory on the way to Dodda Betta Peak, being explained the difference between Dosai & Roast at one of the restaurants, strolling amidst Botanical Garden peeping at unheard of and unseen flowers, watching a large flock of Oriental White-eyes near Lamb’s Rock at Coonoor, taking a drive into Wellington, experiencing, though apprehensively, our first ever moment of a train maneuvering itself in reverse gear as our heritage toy train reached Coonoor station.

The moments were many which kept us hooked on till, we were again on the road, this time travelling towards Yercaud via Mettupalayam & Salem.

Yercaud – meaning lake (yeri) and forest (kaadu), at Shevaroy hills near Salem is at a height of about 4500 ft. The road from Salem rises suddenly in last few kilometers to reach this height and hence has a number of hair-pin bends that makes the climb interesting as well as challenging. Yercaud itself – more of a sleepy town, as compared to the hustle-bustle at Ooty, was a welcome change.

For a Mumbaikar, Yercaud is Panchghani, Mahabaleshwar & Matheran, all rolled into one – steep climbs, a lake centric town and a table-top that gets busy over the weekend. However, what make it different are the dense forests and the coffee and spice plantations all around that can be explored through treks for birding.

Even our stay at Hotel Lake Forest, developed out of an old estate and situate amidst spice & coffee plantation, was truly soul-refreshing. Dense green all around, small bungalows like of structure for boarding, and lots of avifauna including robins, barbets, bulbuls, flycatchers, minivets, swallows and woodpeckers to keep you company. The only thing that could have made us move from there was our already planned itinerary and we again hit the road on our way to Pondicherry.

This time, the road journey, was more interesting, as rather than catching up the national highway through Salem, we climbed down through the forests towards Uthangarai, where we had one of the best dosa/roast breakfasts, and then moved towards Pondi through a country-side that was full of Indian rollers & kingfisher. Finding rollers perched on wires and trees almost every few hundred metres was too much of a temptation and ultimately we got down to chasing one of them with our camera, till we captured one of the few good shots of the bird. We were not lucky enough though in Thiruvanamalai, a temple town with towering Gopurams, where our surreptitious attempts to take pictures of deities failed miserably.

Another interesting sight on the way to Pondi, which we dared not visit due to scorching heat of the mid noon, was the forts of Gingee –one of the most impregnable citadels of south India. The forts has had an interesting history of rulers ranging from Cholas to Bijapur Sultan to Marathas under Shivaji followed by Moghuls, French, Hyder Ali & finally British. Since the forts would have required a good climb in the scorching Sun we decided to leave it for a winter trip and moved towards Pondi – our last boarding halt of the trip. Our wishlist included a visit to the Aurobindo Ashram, Auroville, capturing the sunrise from the eastern coast of the country, and experiencing the French flavour of the town.

However, the French flavour is long evaporated . Except a very small area around the Aurobindo Ashram resembling a French town, India has reached almost to the Ashram gates leaving nothing that distinguishes the remaining part of the town from any other noisy and crowded towns of the country.

The experience at the Ashram and Auroville was however, serene & peaceful.

The sunrise that we saw from the beach both the mornings were different and beautiful. The early morning mist over the Bay of Bengal, roaring waves of the high tide, the clouds playing a cameo, the fishing boats out in the sea like early birds, all provided a lovely character to the mornings.

And then came the finishing touches to the entire trip.

First, a last moment change of plan due to our yayawari attitude made us decide to take the Eastern Coast Road, one of the best highways that I have travelled on, so that we could visit Mahabalipuram shore temples - a heritage site with mind-blowing carvings of various deities that have survived the centuries of history and ravaging of weather, including even a tsunami.

And finally, as our flight took to the sky towards Mumbai and broke through the dense cloud cover with sun about to say goodbye to the evening, the colours that lit across were similar to our experience in this trip –dark and bland on the surface till we broke through the routine and found ourselves enjoying the unexplored colours of the country. And yes, travelling in the hot summer in south India actually turned out to be quite a good idea.

As a Greek poet had written –

the road was long but full of adventure, the summer mornings were many that allowed us so much pleasure & joy to enter the ports seen for the first time.

In the stillness of mind..

2011-04-22T23:48:00.001+05:30

In this concrete jungle of Mumbai, there exists a land which is close to the oasis of nature. Powai. Situated at the outskirts of Aarey & SGNP - the lungs of the city, a lake with hills as the backdrop bordering it, the area is greener and serene than most of the city. I consider myself fortunate to be residing here, because I can just hop, skip & jump to the lake and amble along to brighten up my mood while the lake remains engrossed in its own moods – changing from hour to hour & season to season.

From a happy welcoming kind of a lake in the winters, it starts becoming a bit harsh with the arrival of the summer and definitely becomes sullen as the summer progresses. The monsoon, however, rejuvenates it, as it receives the bounty of life from the sky, getting ready for the next lot of visitors. However, it is the mood swings that the lake undergoes daily that I find more interesting.

Usually, I see the lake on my way back from the office – the chaotic traffic continuing in full blare at its bank, the lake resembling one of the urban dwellers, having had a stressful day at work, its surface looking affected, the waves exhibiting its higher stress level. As the evening progresses, one can see the harsh neon lights of the hotels around getting distorted in the darkish stressed waters of the lake, irritating the lake which is trying to rest after a hard day.

But the day I am able to visit the lake early morning, I find it in an absolutely different mood. After having settled down in its own solitude in the night, the surface of the lake is quiet & calm, reflecting the world around with absolute clarity. It almost brings to mind the words of Henry David Thoreau, the lake resembling the earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature. Though this mirror like mood starts changing with the unfolding day starts putting the water in turmoil, it is indeed a joy to see the reflections – especially of the winged characters in the water.

This is where I find the nature guiding us mortal beings. According to Democritus, truth lies at the bottom of a lake, the water of which serves as a mirror in which objects may be reflected. But a lake can be a mirror only when it lies unaffected, alone in its stillness. Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted.

Similarly in life, in order to understand the perspectives, we need to find the equilibrium where the mind is calm & the heart is at peace. A stressed mind and turbulent emotions only manage to present the distorted version of reality, which in turn does not allow us to see the truth and skew our decisions. What we need is Equanimity – a state of unperturbed-ness.

Rumi had said - Let the waters settle, and you will see stars and the moon mirrored in your own being. But much before Rumi, it was Lao Tzu, the mystic & philosopher from China, who had said: No thought, no action, no movement, total stillness: only thus can one manifest the true nature and law of things from within and unconsciously, and at last become one with heaven and earth.

Zhuangzi, another Chinese philosopher and the Tao’ist thinker recognised this simile of water and human mind almost 2300 years ago. He wrote: Water becomes clear and transparent when in a quiescent stage. How much the more wonderful will be the mind of a sage when poised in quiescence! It is the mirror of heaven and earth, reflecting the ten thousand things.

It is interesting to find the Chinese philosophy & Taoism so much in sync with Buddhism that early when the Buddhism had just started spreading. Perhaps Zhuangzi had already heard of the metamorphosis of the prince from India, Siddharth, who retreated to the stillness and solitude within himself and emerged as Gautam Buddha, with a new philosophy for the mankind - relevant even now more than two thousand years later..

Like Siddharth, what we need is a state of equanimity which alone can be our friend when the whole world is in turmoil. Equanimity is the only word used by Antonius Pius, the Roman emperor of 2^nd Century AD to sum up the philosophy of life and how right he was. Of course, equanimity also means not to get carried away when thing are going our way. The praise, the flattery is also like the waves on the water, again distorting the image & our perspectives.

There has always been, and much more today, a need of infinite patience and calm reflections. The world is grooving more and more to the tune of instant karma, expecting instant cures, rewards & reactions. A phone in hand wherever we go almost makes it compelling to respond – irrespective of the situation. Little do we realize that there are very few situations in life that require an instant reaction – everything else can wait for a calm, patient and well considered response. Stephen Covey has written - between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In those choices lie our growth and our happiness.

William Osler summed it up quite well in his valedictory address to the medical students of University of Pennsylvania:

Be calm and strong and patient. Meet failure and disappointment with courage. Rise superior to the trials of life, and never give in to hopelessness or despair. In danger, in adversity, cling to your principles and ideals. Aequanimitas!

Getting back to the mirror like surface of Powai Lake, I realize that it makes it easier for the birds out to find their morning meal – just like this egret returning to the land after a successful sojourn over the lake.

http://acumenimages.blogspot.com/2011/04/in-stillness-of-mind.html

Cheers

Ashish

Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai...

2011-04-14T16:25:00.001+05:30

Life and the idea of Heaven…

We were enjoying some profound & inspiring sufi music at Sama-e-sukhan last weekend when the thoughts about the life and the heaven slowly crept in. The genesis was some fabulous fusion of John Lennon’s soulful Imagine & Sufi music which had just turned the entire evening into a sublime moment for the heart & head alike.

Imagine there's no Heaven, It's easy if you try

No hell below us, Above us only sky ..

In 1971, after the breakup of Beatles, when John Lennon sang this song, the world was witnessing one of the most tumultuous age of modern history. Already continuing the cold war with Russia, the USA had just started retreating from Vietnam & Combodia, bowing to the pressure from its own citizens, but not before waging a long hard fought war. Despite all its talk about human freedom, USA had just seen the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. On the other hand, amidst all talks of social equality, the USSR’s autocratic regime was finding it difficult to accept the dissenting voices of people like Solzhenitsyn. The Middle East was engaged in its own conflict with Israel while the ethnic issues of East & West Pakistan had kept our own country engaged in a war. Amidst this, John Lennon’s song Imagine, alongwith another hit, Give Peace A Chance, became the voice of those looking for the peace in the strife torn world, and giving words to the human beings’ everlasting quest for the Heaven. But he was not the solitary voice, nor was the idea unique.

Over the centuries, the mankind has always been enamoured with the idea of Heaven, a utopian world, perfect in all pervasive sense. Since the life itself is never accepted as perfect by anyone, the Heaven has been thought to be a place which one visit afterlife. This has also resulted in religions across the world making heaven a kind of much cherished reward for living a life approved by religious scriptures.

However, the rational minds across different ages in time and place had a different take as they tried to define the idea of Heaven, relating it to our daily life. Considering the everlasting power struggle amidst the human race and resultant negativity it has generated, it is no surprise that these thoughts were centered at finding heaven by adhering to humanitarian principles.

Gautam Buddha, perhaps was among the earliest of such thinkers & philosophers who worked extensively on making the life in this living world itself heavenly through humanity for the universe. The Sutta Nipata, one of the earliest Buddhist discourses in Pali language, extols these virtues so lucidly:

Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Then as you stand or walk,
Sit or lie down,
As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will bring heaven to earth.

For Rumi, the Persian Sufi Mystic of 13^th century, the Heaven again meant absence of hostility and hatred:

I love this world, even as I hear

the great wind of leaving it rising,

For there is a grainy taste

I prefer to every idea of heaven:

Human friendship.

Kabir, the secularist that he was in the times strife with religious fervours & antagonism, went further and showed us the way to find the God & the Heaven within ourselves when he spoke:

Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande Mein To Tere Paas Mein
Na Teerath Mein, Na Moorat Mein Na Ekant Niwas Mein
Na Mandir Mein, Na Masjid Mein Na Kabe Kailas Mein
Mein To Tere Paas Mein Bande Mein To Tere Paas Mein…
Kahet Kabir Suno Bhai Sadho Mein To Hun Viswas Mein

As our race continues to hurl itself frequently into various crises, there have been many more voices – known & unknown, echoing repeatedly the similar sentiments – finding the Heaven through living life with love for humanity.

That evening, however, as I sat in a trance listening to the music that evening, I thought of the verse, a joint effort of Raj Kapoor’s favourite team – Shailendra & Hasrat Jaipuri, from one of the most profound Hindi movie songs, exemplifying through simple words the way to live life, and thus finding heaven, here & now:

Kisi ki Muskarahton pe Ho Nisar, Kisi Ka Dard Mil Sake to Le Udhaar

Kisi ke waste ho tere dil mein pyar,

Jeena Isi Ka naam Hai..

It is ironical that, despite the technological advancement, we are facing breakdowns in human communication. With faster speed, we are also getting distanced from each other faster. Add this to ever rising inequalities, in fast growing economies, and there is a perfect recipe for disasters. The challenges are many, but not impossible to overcome. All it requires is astrong resolve & honest action from us, the ones who are better offs, to do our own bit for the humanity & the lesser privileged ones of the society. We have to remember these oft repeated words from past

I expect to pass through life but once.

If, therefore, there by any kindness I can show,

or any good thing I can do for any fellow being,

let me do it now …

As I shall not pass this way again.

If such will be the resolve, we will not have to worry about finding the Heaven for us in our afterlife. Rather we will be building our own much sought after heaven.

Sounds Utopian? May be, but as John Lennon went on to sing:

You may say that I'm a dreamer, But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

So here is my picture for this week, from Varca Beach, reminding me always - I shall not pass this way again:

http://acumenimages.blogspot.com/2011/04/jeena-isi-ka-naam-hai.html

Cheers

Ashish

Where Streets Do Not Exist....

2011-03-29T22:29:00.009+05:30

I want to feel sunlight on my face
I see the dust cloud disappear Without a trace
I want to take shelter from the poison rain
Where the streets have no name

Bono of U2 crooned in this 1987 Grammy award winner. To an urbanite the entire idea seems so strange – the notion of having streets with no name, in turn making most of us lose their apparent identity in a society which ascribes high credence to the streets or the localities where we choose to live or have our work-place. A utopian situation of global equality impossible to be found in civic society – in fact not even acceptable as to our orderly mind, this would be an anti-thesis - chaotic and anarchic. No wonder the same album of U2 had Bono singing – I still haven’t found what I am looking for.

This February I experienced something even stranger – a place where let alone the streets without names, streets just do not exist – not at least for the urbanites like us, nor exists the dwellings of any kind, and this is what this travelogue is all about.

We had spent last 2 days roaming in the watery world of Nalsarovar & Thol. With water in plenty, crops abundant, the eyes & the soul had feasted on the greenery and the birds – resident as well as migratory of all sizes, hues & colours. The image of large flocks of geese clouding the early morning sky swooping down on to the greener pastures was still afresh in the mind.

All that had changed now – just about 100 KMs away from the bustling city of Ahmedabad, as our adventurous spirit had brought us previous afternoon to Patdi, a small town in Surendranagar district of Gujarat. The plethora of small waterbodies and green fields seen during the road journey had slowly decreased in numbers, though not really disappeared. It was yet early hours of the day in late winters, the breeze was cool, Sun had just started waking up the nature as its morning beams reflected on the streak of a jet in the sky. Our day also had begun early as we went exploring the Little Rann of Kutch (Rann), as a part of our annual pilgrimage to celebrate and commune with the nature.

The Rann is a vast area of almost 5000 Sq Km, believed to have been a navigable lake in the times of Alexander. The growing civilization of 2300 years, however, had changed its features - now comprising largely of arid grassland, saline desert & mudflats, thorny scrubs, marshes & seasonal shallow pools of water. It still is one of the most remarkable and unique link in nature’s ecology - one of its kind in the entire world. It is a vast desiccated, unbroken bare surface of dark silt, encrusted with salts which transforms into a spectacular wetland for a brief while after the monsoon.

What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well – so says Antoine De Saint-Exupery, in his classic allegory “The Little Prince”. Here, we were the adventurers in this desert looking for our well of treasure. For us, that morning the treasure that lied hidden in the Little Rann were some of the species of the birds and the mammals, unseen yet by us, one of them being Asian Wild Ass (the Khur), for whom, despite dwindling numbers, the Rann is their last refuge in the world. Our wish list however was not restricted to the Khurs but also included the Sand Grouse, Merlin, Owls, Harriers, Larks and Houbara Bustard, among others. The evening before we had already spelt out the wishlist to Pratap, the local guide, who nonchalantly had promised to show us most of these, while leaving remaining ones to the luck. His confidence seemed inspiring and despite not so good food at the resort we were staying at, the large number of stars above us in the sky and the tranquility around, made us look forward to the morning.

A few moments in the desert, and I was not sure any more about the sightings. The entrance into the sanctuary itself seemed to be an anticlimax – no gates, no road, just a signboard and a dirt-road track leading us away from the semblance of civilization into the vast span of mudflats dotted sparsely with the oasis of greens, and a few pools of waters. These pools of waters were the remains of one or two months of monsoon rain, during which a large area get inundated with water and attract enough of the migratory birds on their annual sojourn to escape the colder climates.

The disturbing fact, however, was the absence of any distinctive features in the landscape. Jidhar dekhoon, teri tasveer nazar aati hai..sung AB in Mahan to his object of affection. The uninteresting landscape all around us was making me think of these lines, though was not sure if our object of affection at the moment – the flat, arid, and monotonous, would have cared a bit. For us city-folks, used to travel in the concrete jungle through the myriads of street networks, leading to a variety of architectural efforts, this was disconcerting and a bit scary. It also made me wonder about the confidence that Pratap had shown the night before.

It seemed too late to worry, and since there was no turning back, it was time to look forward and enjoy the experience. I soon found out, that my lack of confidence was misplaced as sure enough, Pratap ably guided our driver in the vast monotonous expanse:

- sometimes to the fringe of a waterbody, with vegetation nearby to point out a solitary Greater Spotted Eagle, getting ready for the day ahead, its eyes reflected the rising Sun –

- egging us sometimes to lurk behind the shrubs and reach closer to the Lesser Flamingoes, busy looking for their morning grub in the shallow pools of waters, with mirror like reflections

- peering constantly like an oracle into distance & then guiding us to reveal a male Marsh Harrier almost blending with the landscape.

With the breakfast time approaching, this was soon turning out to be much more than just a birding trip. First the Khurs made their appearance. However, the mistrust of the generations with the human beings ensured that they stayed at a distance, protecting the younger ones and conferring about the way to tackle the growing menace of the intruders in their area.

The Neelgais were quicker in their thoughts and actions and resorted to galloping away to the safety.

Perhaps finding us affronted with the callous behaviour of the other mammals, the Rann decided to unfold its beauty. The month of our visit being February, the aftereffects of the monsoon had more or less disappeared, turning the land into the parched caked mudflats. These mudflats seemed to be running into the omnipresent pools of water in the distant horizon. The water, which seemed to be evaporating faster than the laws of physics could make it possible, as we reached closer, till I realized that I was experiencing the beguiling magic of a mirage firsthand. Like travelling to the mountains and coming face to face with those titans, I was finding ourselves very insignificant with endless mudflats all around and the nature guffawing as it played pranks on us.

Soon the Sun had risen higher in the sky. The hoardes of Neelgais, Khurs & Common Cranes had reduced their early morning activity, conserving their energy, and disinterestedly, but cautiously, maintaining their distance from us. The sudden breakdown of our vehicle due to a punctured tyre just seemed to make us conspicuously interesting for a moment as a Khur started walking towards us, before changing its mind and direction. Of course, amidst all these, the kestrels with their fluttering flights overhead, the crouching sandgrouse, the grey francolins, the larks, the white cheeked-bulbuls, the wagtails and the desert wheatears were constantly making their presence felt.

The rising heat and aridity, despite the cooler breeze, was making us thirsty. This was also making the birds seeking shelters under variety of shrubs, making birding look easier. All that our guide had to do now was to visit these shrubs and hey presto – there were those elusive birds for we city folks. Sounds easier in a city but we were in a land with no streets, similar looking landscape with the mirages confusing one further & the only GPS we had was embedded in the memory of our guide. Yet, it goes to the credit of our guide who unerringly made us sight birds like Merlin & Short Eared Owl.

With the noon hour approaching, we left the Rann, and after nourishing the body, spent some time in visiting a waterbody near Patdi. The Sun was scorching the earth yet the flocks of pintails, shovellers, geese, common teals, cormorants, grey & purple herons and a variety of waders were holding otheir court looking like choir singers engaged in the practice before the beginning of the show.

Amidst this the occasional sorties by the raptors including a marsh harrier and a juvenile imperial eagle failed to make any impact on the siesta time of the water birds, refusing to budge from their chosen position in the court of nature.

With afternoon Sun reducing the heat, we returned to the Rann seeking the elusive Houbara Bustard in the wilderness. But the capricious Rann was sulking, refusing to reveal any more f its treasure – at least for this trip. As a result even though it was at an arms' length from us, the Houbara preferred to give us only a fleeting glimpse, before shying away in the shrubs.

As the evening hour approached, the setting Sun was giving long-shadowed kind of hints for us to go back . The expressions of the larks foraging on the ground also indicated that they have had enough of us. With even the ducks deciding to fly away in the sky ablaze with the colours of the setting sun, we also bid our goodbye, gazing at the parting Rann with a fervent hope that it would generously welcome us again and unravel some more of its marvels when we meet next.

Talking Harsh is Nothing to Crow About...

2011-03-16T18:34:00.011+05:30

“Hey, isn’t the crow your friend?”

A statement, which I am not sure was spoken in jest or sarcasm, - started a thought-process. Why is it that normally Crows are not supposed to be among the adored birds?

Crows have been associated with human beings from time unknown; have been known to be sturdy, playful, intelligent and cunning. While we all know about the folk tale of Thirsty Crow, those with any doubts about their playfulness & cunning must see them dodging our society’s resident dog Caspian, always leaving him with stupefied expressions.

In various ancient mythologies from across the world, including the Scandinavian, Celtic, Mayan and South East Asian, crows have been depicted as the symbols or messengers of God. Among the Scottish, a complete body of lore has been built up from listening to the varied calls of the crows who have the ability to mimic many kinds of sounds as well as to communicate with its own kind. In the medieval times, the crows were said to have magical properties which included an ability to divine the future and to dismantle the past, as well as to teach human beings how to mix love, humor, and playfulness.

Closer home, in the Aryan culture, the crows have been associated with food & fertility while among Hindus, the Crow has been the emblem of God Varun as well as a messenger to our departed ones.

And yet, when a poll was conducted recently to select the symbolic bird for Mumbai, the Crow was among one of the contenders but lost out to the petite and more colorful Coppersmith Barbet- despite crows adding their might regularly to clean up the garbage, that we generate a plentiful of, on a regular basis.

Surely, there is something about crows that makes us dislike them….

Is it colour related racism on our part? But then koel (the male koel) is also black, so are the Drongo and a number of other birds and not yet ignored the way a crow is.

Could it be due to its being in too many in numbers all around us leading to the contempt that familiarity breeds? Not really conclusive when I notice the affection for sparrows, though they are declining now. Even common mynas or parakeets who command a large presence have never been treated so disdainfully.

Or could it be their continuing raucous calls, always harsh & discordant in nature, creating a cacophony, which puts one off? Yes, this seems to be the raison d’etre for this dislike.

The mystical poet and one of the greatest saints of our country, Kabir had said:

Aisee Vani Boliye, Man Ka Aapa Khoye

Auran ko Sheetal Kare, Aaphu Sheetal hoye.

Kabir was always a keen observer of human behavior & profound in his analysis. In our personal interaction, our likes & dislikes of a person largely gets determined by how, when and what of his talks. The success & failures of high level negotiations, even among the countries as well as in the corporate world, have depended largely upon the demeanor & language of those who carried out the talks.

With the advent of the mobile technology, where more and more of us have become talkers then listeners & doers, to know how to talk is becoming critical even for the success of interpersonal relationships. Yet, we are talking more, getting aggressive, and letting our indignation and necessity to have the last word get better of our softer emotions.

Such being the importance of how we talk, it might be a good idea to actually understand the depth of the words that Lebanese poet & philosopher Kahlil Gibran used about the way we talk in his classic - The Prophet:

You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts;
And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your lips, and sound is a diversion and a pastime.
And in much of your talking, thinking is half murdered.
For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly.

There are those among you who seek the talkative through fear of being alone.
The silence of aloneness reveals to their eyes their naked selves and they would escape.
And there are those who talk, and without knowledge or forethought reveal a truth which they themselves do not understand.
And there are those who have the truth within them, but they tell it not in words.
In the bosom of such as these the spirit dwells in rhythmic silence.

When you meet your friend on the roadside or in the market place, let the spirit in you move your lips and direct your tongue.
Let the voice within your voice speak to the ear of his ear;
For his soul will keep the truth of your heart as the taste of the wine is remembered
When the colour is forgotten and the vessel is no more.

I hope I am on the right track here. But again, my entire idea of equating the way we talk with the crow may make me look like someone wet behind the ears, just like this crow whom I caught facing the hard thunderous rain with equanimity:

http://acumenimages.blogspot.com/2011/03/talking-harsh-is-nothing-to-crow-about.html

Cheers

The Goodluck Charm...the beginning

2011-03-04T14:47:00.000+05:30

On one of my recent postings about the Birds (O! Thou Heavenly Creatures…), a dear friend of mine commented..."You really are in love with these winged creatures. Aren't you?"

That simple, and completely true statement made my mind wander back to about 5 years ago when in Coorg, I first chanced upon (from the hotel room's window) a strange bird - shying away in the shadows of trees. The curiosity to know more about it, slowly unrevealed a world of treasure for me, as that marked the beginning of my hobby of bird & nature photography.

For all passionate birdwatchers, the number of bird-species sighted (for the first time) has always been important, and it has not been any different for me. My recent trip to Gujarat made me cross a landmark of 300 different kinds of bird-sightings. Yet, in a country boasting of almost 1200 species, this is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The real treasure still lies hidden, waiting to be explored.

On the course of my journey to reach this number, I captured, through my lense, not only birds, but also the smallest of creatures, the most varied kind of landscapes, and other celebrations of life on my camera. It also made me realise how, with so much demand on natural resources to fulfill our needs, we are depleting this treasure. Little do we realize that in the process we are also straying away from nature & in turn from God.

Akbar Illahabadi, the well-known Urdu poet had penned a ghazal - Hangama Hai Kyun Barpaa in response to his critics objecting to his friendship with wine-drinking friends of other religions. This was made more popular by Ghulam Ali in his inimitable style. One of the couplets of this ghazal was about the omnipresence of God:

Har Zarra chamakta hai, Anwar-e-Illahi se,
Har Saans yeh kahti hai, Hum hain to Khuda bhi hai..

Similar sentiments were echoed by William Blake, the English poet and painter of the late 18th century, in his all-time classic - Auguries of Innocence

To see a World in a Grain of Sand, And a heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour

These are not solitary voices, as there are many more echoes, from different parts around the modern world. Our ancient Indian scriptures & philosophy was possibly the earliest known proponent of being close to nature. Rig Veda itself equated Nature's beauty as an art of God and commands us to feel the touch of God's invisible hands in every beautiful thing. Atharva Veda tells us God’s joy manifesting through splendour of his creations in the nature. “Kan-Kan men Bhagwan” has been one of the corner stone on which our mythologies are also based. And yet, we – the citizens of the modern, more educated India are repeatedly isolating ourselves from nature.

My own regret has been about losing out on a precious 40 years of my life, ignorant about nature’s calming & well-balancing effect on the workaholic’s soul. Yet, I am not the only one. There are scores of others, still unaware of our deep rooted affinity with nature and the joys of simplicity – even if only once in a while.

It may not be practical anymore to live a life like Henry David Thoreau, who decided to spend more than two years on the Walden Pond, away from civilization. Yet, there exists a fundamental truth in his writings:

Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind….. Our life is frittered away by detail….. We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without…Simplify! Simplify!

I believe that getting back to the roots on a regular basis, forsaking all luxuries and just to experience the simplicity, just like a lost child returning to its mother, and to learn what it has to teach, is something worth yearning for.

This, being the thought uppermost on my mind as I complete 5 years of efforts of getting closer to nature, I chose to convert my blog into a bi-weekly update through a picture, hopefully, inviting and tempting enough to let nature reach out to us- soon, and more often.

To begin this (hopefully life-long) project, nothing better but to bring to you alive the colours of that strange shy bird with whose sighting this journey had begin for me – the Greater Coucal. Incidentally, while on almost all my birding trips I have had a sighting of this bird, it took me more than 4 years to capture a good picture of this good-luck charm of the farmers (& mine!). I just hope it continues to inspire more & more human beings, the way it inspired me…

http://acumenimages.blogspot.com/2011/03/goodluck-charmthe-beginning.html

Cheers

Ashish

A time to follow your dreams…

2011-03-04T14:46:00.000+05:30

On a hot October morning, I and my friend were sitting at the rocky shore of Vashi Creek. Facing the ever increasing heat on the beach devoid of any shade was proving to be tiresome. More so, as with passage of time, our chances of sighting the migrant waders, having arrived in the region recently, seemed to be diminishing.

Not that, the shore was without any activity. We could occassionaly sight some of the residents making a cameo-kind of appearances – Brahminy kite, Spot-billed ducks gave a few fly pasts while Munias, juvenile golden orioles, little kingfisher, zitting cisticolas and bee-eaters were busy in their early morning routines in tall grasses, mangroves and the trees. Long tailed shrikes, having arrived recently, were vociferously establishing their territories. Away in the sea, occasionally we could see a not so visible flock of waders moving like a phantom, but the shore where we were sitting – the rocks were barren and had stared emitting the heat. My patience was running out and yet something was holding us back.

And then, like the song of Abba – they came flying from the far away – a good size flock of small waders, their silvery bodies glistening in the sun rays – a mix consisting of curlew sandpipers, stints, ruddy turnstones, and plovers.

Flying into our region from places as far as Siberia and Alaska, some still juveniles, these waders cover a distance of almost 10000 miles! While there continues to be a plethora of studies to understand the migration phenomenon, watching the entire flock of these little feathered bodies, I stood wondering about the tenacity, energy, courage and the risk taking ability of these waders.

As these, and many other migratory birds, move out of their safety zone, leave the known shores, I am sure somewhere in their intelligence they must be aware of the challenges that they would face in their zest for the sunnier climate. Crossing oceans, facing storms they fly onto a route imprinted in their brain genetically since generations. But never do they falter because of their belief in their own capabilties.

Yes! Without knowing about Zig Ziglar, these visitors epitomize his words - When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there.

And I, just a few moments ago, was ready to retreat back into air-conditioned comfort and give up seeing such a wondrous sight. So here was yet another lesson learnt from the nature: You have to risk going too far to discover just how far you can really go!!

But most important was to comprehend the thought behind the words of Sergio F Bambaren:

There comes a time in life

When there is nothing else to do

But to go your own way.

A time to follow your dreams,

A time to raise the sails of

Your own beliefs.

Don’t let your fears stand in

The way of your dreams!

Here is a glimpse of these feathered friends as seen that morning.

http://acumenimages.blogspot.com/2010/10/time-to-follow-your-dreams.html

Wishing you all an inspired week ahead!

Cheers

Oh, Be Swift To Love!

2010-06-13T20:58:00.000+05:30

Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of others…for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected .….
~ Einstein

As we got aboard the heritage train at Ooty, travelling towards Connoor, the feeling of adventure and excitement soon vanished. The general compartment, with the seating only for a few, was filled to the brim with the GRP constables outside relentlessly pushing – yes, literally pushing - the people inside. As the engine whistle sounded its readiness to embark on the journey, the negativity prevailed in the compartment. The tempers running short & high, no one was agreeing to adjust for anyone else. It was indeed a chaotic situation which normally a general compartment in Indian railways is.

However, as the train started on its journey towards Connoor, enroute Mettupalayam, though the chaos stayed, the fresh breeze of the mountains soon made egos and feelings of resentment disappear. Those who were fortunate enough to get a seat started accommodating those who needed one. Those who sometime back had fought to capture a seat to have an uninterrupted view of the beautiful terrain of Nilgiri mountains, were now ready to share it with those who were lesser privileged.

The entire journey, to me, resembled the way our life is. However, the journey of life is different from a train journey because, the bigger mystery of our journey is that we don’t know when our last stop will come. Neither do we know when our travel companions will make their last stop. Not even those sitting in the seat next to us. Hence, sooner we get over our negative feelings and get on with sharing and caring, better our own journey would be. Let us not wait for speaking the words of appreciation, encouragement or retracting our own harsher words earlier. We must remember that the time is short and we never know who next would be getting down from the train we all are on.

Henri Fredrick Amiel – a Swiss philosopher and poet of 19th century put it down in much better words

Life is short
We have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those
who are travelling the dark journey with us.
Oh, be swift to love! Make haste to be kind.

Here is my lense looking at the journey of life:

http://acumenimages.blogspot.com/2010/06/oh-be-swift-to-love.html

Share and care!

Cheers

Ashish

Song of The Flower - by Kahlil Gibran

2010-04-01T14:57:00.000+05:30

Song of The Flower

~ Kahlil Gibran

I am a kind word uttered and repeated
By the voice of Nature;
I am a star fallen from the
Blue tent upon the green carpet.
I am the daughter of the elements
With whom Winter conceived;
To whom Spring gave birth; I was
Reared in the lap of Summer and I
Slept in the bed of Autumn.

At dawn I unite with the breeze
To announce the coming of light;
At eventide I join the birds
In bidding the light farewell.

The plains are decorated with
My beautiful colors, and the air
Is scented with my fragrance.

As I embrace Slumber the eyes of
Night watch over me, and as I
Awaken I stare at the sun, which is
The only eye of the day.

I drink dew for wine, and hearken to
The voices of the birds, and dance
To the rhythmic swaying of the grass.

I am the lover's gift; I am the wedding wreath;
I am the memory of a moment of happiness;
I am the last gift of the living to the dead;
I am a part of joy and a part of sorrow.

But I look up high to see only the light,
And never look down to see my shadow.
This is wisdom which man must learn.

Here is my tribute to Kahil Gibran's poem through a picture, of a Lotus - one of the most beautiful & elegant flowers, at the following link:

http://acumenimages.blogspot.com/2010/04/wisdom-of-flower.html

Into the Cradle of Democracy

2009-08-30T08:07:00.013+05:30

Once upon a time….I always wanted to start a travelogue with ‘once upon a time’. But it is difficult to have such an opening for a travelogue, simply because a travelogue is more about our experiencing the present whereas “once upon a time” is about past, the history; Or so I thought till we made the trip described in this travelogue. So here I go...

Once upon a time, about 2500 years ago, there was a quiet awakening in the mind and spirit of the residents of a small town -located on a sea shore, almost at the far end of the western border of a civilized world. This not only left a lasting impression on the region, but over the centuries, the entire world’s history had a shattering impact. We, largely the civilized world, today think and feel differently because of the events that took place circa 500 BC in this little town.

What transpired was the development of the first recorded attempt to introduce Democracy as a way of life. It could be just a coincidence or the effect of newly introduced system of democracy, but this period was also the golden age for that sleepy town; and nothing remained the same – for the world and for that little town known as “Athens”.

And here we were, free citizens of the largest democracy of the world, travelling – as a part of the first leg of our trip to Europe – to Athens. This was definitely not intended to be a trip to pay respect to the cradle of modern democratic state. But what we saw and experienced over 3 days in Athens was not only a journey of lifetime for us but a journey into the Cradle of Democracy itself.

Nevertheless, this was yet to be experienced, and so my mind was full of trepidation as the plane glided into Athens, on that bright and reasonably hot sunny afternoon of May, 2007. I use the word trepidation because the web surfing had brought to me travails that tourists in Athens had poured about. The web surfing had also got me in touch with people like Matt Barrett - a blogger passionate about Greece. And the trepidation was because of the confusion about what we were getting into. Starting from the immigration desk, over next three days, however, everyone in Athens went out of their way to dispel our apprehensions – making us feel more and more at home.

The hospitality might come easier as far as Greeks are concerned but the language is something that make you feel closer home – as difficult to follow as we find the moment we cross into another state within our own country. The fact that most of the places we visited had names which were tongue twisters, as well as difficult to spell, was a rule. Add to this the fact about various ways the same place could be known as – due to it having been occupied by various set of cultures over different periods in history, and the confusion abounds. No wonder even Shakespeare had one of his characters describing his state of confusion as “It was all Greek to me”!

Being short on time, we used the early morning and day time to explore the city, while taking advantage of summer; evenings were spent in exploring the streets of Glyfada, a beautiful suburb, close to the sea shore with shops on both sides, of the main street, bisected through tram tracks. The area, bright and lively; was made more vibrant with the cosmopolitan potpourri pervading the streets. A couple of musicians, playing their instruments on the street corner, a man with a bioscope, walls with beautifully coloured tiles, aroma emanating from various eateries enhancing the flavour, all added to the quaintness of the street. The hawkers, mostly natives of Asian & African countries, were trying to outsell each other by resorting to the tactics similar to what we see here, in India. A hawker, of Bangladeshi origin, proudly introduced my wife as his sister to a couple of African hawkers and asked them to give us added discount on their wares as we were from his corner of the world. But for the genuine pleasure on his face, it could have really been one of the melodramatic scenes from an “NRI” kind of movie.

Early mornings, our taxi driver Dimitri –nay, our Friend and Guide for two days, who also owned his taxi, was at our hotel sharp on time & very eager to take us for a tour of the city, and other surrounding areas. Well educated and informative about the entire history of the places we were visiting, he was equally interested in knowing more about India and her culture. His observations on everything Greek – be it the corrupt politicians & civil service or the present culture – brought home to us the raw strands of wisdom that usually our own taxi drivers provide.

The first trip that he had planned for us, took us on the route starting from ancient Acropolis of Corinth, Mycenae, Epidaurus and Nafplio. Corinth is well known for the canal cutting across the Isthmus of Corinth, linking the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. Although it was finally built in 1893, the history does speak about earlier efforts to build a canal at this location commencing from 7th century BC right through the period of Roman emperors, Julius Caeser and Nero.

Our next halt was Mycenae - one of the mightiest kingdom of ancient Greece. Much more ancient in its establishment, and settled amidst hilly terrain, Mycenae is believed to have been established around 2000 BC before lost in the mist of time. It was rediscovered during the middle of the 19th century, by archeologists, and over the years they excavated most of the ruins of this ancient wonder.

Mycenae is where Greek mythology meets the history, the most well-known one being the abduction of Helen, wife of Menelaos, the brother of Mycenae’s king Agamemnon - leading to the Trojan War. As one walks through the Lions’ Gate, one can easily imagine the dramatic past. The national museum at Mycenae, showcasing ancient art, sculpture and civilization – including golden mask of Agamemnon, indeed amazes you with the level of art, science and knowledge achieved about 3500 years ago. No wonder, the period of 1600-1100 BC in Greece is known as Mycenaean period.

It could be the same reason for why most of the souvenir shops were stocking only the replicas of these ancient arts - including their bestseller - the Pythagoras Cup – an intricately designed cup to be used for controlled wine drinking, invented by Pythagoras around 2500 years ago. The cup ensures that a person can drink only in a moderate level and if he decides to be greedy and overfills the cup, the entire contents could spill over from the bottom (may be onto the lap of the immodest drinker!). Imagine, I had thought Pythagoras formulae was the only pain ascribed to him!

The tour took us back to Athens from Mycenae via the Amphitheatre of Epidaurus and the port town of Nafplio – popular among Athenians for weekend trips, with its mid-harbour Venetian fort of Bourtzi and on-shore castle of Palamidi. The Amphitheatre of Epidaurus showcases the advancement of Greek civilization. Designed & built in 4th Century B.C., the theatre, with 55 semi-circular rows to seat about 14000 people and a lush green backdrop to its centre stage, is renowned for its excellent acoustics. The theatre is so designed that even the unamplified sound of a match struck at the centre stage can be heard clearly by the audience seated anywhere in the theatre. On the other hand, the limestone material of the seats provide a filtering effect, suppressing low frequencies of voices, thus minimizing background crowd noise. Sitting in the Amphitheater, I could imagine the thrill of the audience 2500 years ago watching the performers enacting Greek tragedies.

The final day of our trip was spent in exploring the ancient sites of Athens itself in the morning, starting with the Parthenon, a 4th Century B.C. temple of Goddess Athena – the reigning deity and protector of Athens, on the Acropolis. Established as a temple as well as a treasury, the Parthenon was later converted into a church and then a mosque as the rulers changed in Athens, before finally getting severely damaged due to an explosion in the ammunition dump inside the temple. In the ruins now, one can still imagine its past beauty and strength. Comparatively, the temple of Olympian Zeus – construction for which commenced in 6th Century BC and completed in 2nd Century AD – which was renowned as the largest temple in the Greece during Roman times, lies in complete ruins now and its glory days just can not be imagined. A visit to the national museum at Athens again brings alive the ancient history while the stadium built for the first modern Olympics of 1896 AD connects the modernity to that glorious past.
Our last visit for the day, after exploring Attica Zoo -one of the best zoos that I have ever visited, was to the Temple of Poseidon, the god of oceans, at Cape Sounion, a perfect setting for signing off from Athens. The temple, dedicated to the second most powerful god in the Greek Mythology, is another 5th Century creation now in ruins. The temple itself has a dramatic location, lying on a cliff and surrounded with the lovely, blue, Aegean Sea on three sides. The cool breeze, all pervading peace, except the sound of waves breaking onto the shore below the temple made British Poet Lord Byron write:

Place me on Sunium's marbled steep,
Where nothing, save the waves and I,
May hear our mutual murmurs sweep
As we left Athens the next day, I realised that the essence of Greece is in the beauty that looks desolate initially, but as you reach out to understand its history, it grows onto you and keeps you hooked forever. Paraphrasing Lord Byron, I would love to say:

“O City of Athens, ere we part, Give, oh give me back my heart!”

For more pictures of the trip, please click on this link:

http://flickr.com/gp/ashishmantri/Tj48B8

Ashtamudi - A Lazy Midsummer Weekend Amidst Backwaters

2009-06-18T10:15:00.012+05:30

When you really want something, the whole universe conspires to help you realise your desire.

These lines from Paul Coelho’s Alchemist, an inspiration for so many of our generation, have been often heard and used. This summer I also realised the profound truth behind these. Bertie Wooster might have used his wodehousean sense of understatement saying – Jeeves, the guy knew his stuff!

But, I am digressing.
Early this year, we decided not to travel anywhere during summer vacation as our son Siddharth was to appear for his competitive exam.s But by mid-April, despite knowing about impossibility of finding an accommodation in any of the Club Mahindra resorts, the tired body & mind started craving for its regular dose of travel and relaxation. That’s when a wholesome desire made the universe conspire. A chain of unrelated events created together an opportunity for us and on 1st May, we were on our way to Trivendram, to spend a week in backwaters – Ashtamudi, followed by Poovar.

The surging crowd at the Mumbai airport the day immediately after the voting day was a stark contrast not only to the empty voting centres but also to the cloudless empty skies of the city. The smouldering heat of midsummer afternoon was stinging the eyes as we boarded the aircraft on the tarmac.

The air route from Mumbai to Trivandrum, specially for those sitting on the right side of the plane, is monotonous as the only features visible of the terra firma are: a shore line and the vast sea, made further hazy due to rising heat.

Closer to Trivandrum, the pre-monsoon clouds in the sky surrounding the aircraft, were the first welcome change in the sky while the huge pool of backwaters were changing the landscape . Soon, the aircraft glided with flaps readying for landing towards the land, the sea changed its colour, waves could be seen rocking over the beach seemingly golden with evening sun, and first sight of Trivandrum was a land thickly carpeted green with canopies of coconut plantations. An apt sight while landing in Kerala – the land of Kera (coconut), this sea of tranquility seen on arrival at Trivandrum was a perfect precursor to an idyllic holiday in which our first destination was Ashtamudi.

Reaching Ashtamudi from Trivandrum is a reasonably safe & swift drive that takes one to Kollam (Quilon), situated at the bank of Ashtamudi Lake. Kollum, a historic port town, has been on travelers’ map for a long time. Established sometime in 9th Century, Kollum has been mentioned by venetian traveler Marco Polo in his travels (spelt as Coilum) during 13th century. Marco Polo had noted the presence of various faiths & nationalities, including jews & christians in the city and had also noted the presence of trade with chinese & arabs. Even today, Kollum is the hub of cashewnut trade.

The highway, smooth but a bit narrow, lined with paddyfields & palm plantations, was dotted with small lovely bungalows through out – coloured in bright & unusual shades of yellows, greens, purples, reds and blues. The gulmohur and copper pod trees with their lovely blossoms of scarlet & yellow were providing a different hue to the combat between red flags of communists and the congress tricolour – a remainder of the general election process.

The only interruption in our journey we faced was a huge temple procession midway to Kollam. The colourful mechanized tableaus of hindu idols on the huge vans & trucks and people on both sides of the roads in festive mood with their coloured clothes – rather I should say females of all age with bright coloured clothes, while the male population was attired largely in whites & creams - made the interruption worthwhile, though as a result by the time we reached Club Mahindra resort at Ashtamudi Lake, it was almost dark.

The Ashtamudi Resort of Club Mahindra located at Chavara south on the bank of Ashtamudi lake is smaller in size compared to other resorts of Club Mahindra, and has cozier rooms but in amenities as well as hospitality, it matches the standards of all other resorts.

Ashtamudi, a lake with eight arms, is the second largest and deepest wetland ecosystem of our country and is also known as the gateway to the backwaters of Kerala. My first view in the morning of Ashtamudi Lake and resort was through the foggy lenses – not so much because of the fog on the lake but more because of the high humidity that was prevalent, obviously due to heat and huge expanse of water. I got to know that during monsoon, it worsens further with anything that absorbs moistures becoming moist instantly, even if kept indoors. So for once the chalk and cheese may really not differ much here. Incidentally, Marco Polo had also noted the extreme here and in his most interesting, and sometimes exaggerated, manner described it as under:

And I assure you that the heat of the sun is so great there that it is scarcely to be endured; in fact if you put an egg into one of the rivers it will be boiled, before you have had time to go any distance, by the mere heat of the sun!

The Lake, while not exactly capable of boiling an egg, has a character that changes with day. Serene in the morning hours with fog enveloping the traffic & muting the sound of fishing boats all around, mid-morning sun transforming it with its rays during the day into a bee-hive of activity, approaching dusk bringing out a melancholic mood with people & feathered-folks returning to roost and nights with only the sound of small ripples of water as a few ferries continue with their activity– in essence time can be a blur here as one sits and gazes across.

Keeping in mind the extreme humidity that saps the energy, we spent most part of the day indoor. The early mornings & evenings were though well-utilised with exploring the lake through cruise, taking a walk in the small villages nestled among islands in the lake or strolling through the town. The banks of the lake & the islands full of coconut plantations – also of cashew, bananas, toddypalm but chiefly coconut palms due to its multipurpose utility.

The random explorations of ours at Ashtamudi culminated in entire montage of memories – morning sunrays weaving their way through numerous Chinese fishing nets, Brahminy kites taking a flight at the break of dawn and intermittently wheeling overhead eyeing the catch of fishermen, small houses with thatched roofs on both sides of the lake using lake for regular transportation the way we use roads, a couple of ferries working late in the night - their reflection in dark waters resembling mumbai’s local trains on a day of heavy rains, bright eyed children with unbridled joy in the surroundings devoid of anything resembling comforts, a couple of fishermen fishing barehand after the dusk with the help of a petromax lamp submerged into the water, an old lady working on her coir making equipment converting a shade full of coconut husk into coir, another lady rowing a boat on her own making her own statement about women empowerment, sounds emerging of a choir singing in the church on one of the evenings, elephants decked up and readied for the procession of the temple festival at Chavara South or wonderful rendering of hindi movie songs – new as well as of yesteryears, by guest singer Mr. Shibu at the Resort.

As the weekend ended, we started the manic monday drive to Poovar - biding audieu to the lake & sea-shore of Kollam,

with images of the lazy holiday– some my camera could capture while most of them remain captive to the memory. More of the images captured by camera during this part of our trip can be seen on the following link:

http://flickr.com/gp/ashishmantri/3DS0g7

A Tale of Two Lakes - and a half

2009-04-25T08:49:00.014+05:30

(This blog is about a trip that I undertook to visit Nalsarovar & Thol lakes near Ahmedabad for birding & photography. While the "two lakes" part of the title is obvious, a half comes from a small pond - which proved to be a surprise treasure trove for birding.)

How does one describe the experience of travelling into the vastness of water – water where all pervading silence during the day is an exception to the chattering regime of waders, ducks and birds? Though there is a limitation to the language which makes it difficult to recount one’s encounter with the bounty that nature bestows on us, effort I shall still make!

A crisp but not very cold Friday morning, early March this year, found myself & Amit Gupta travelling from Ahmedabad to Nalsarovar. For the uninitiated, or new to birding, Nalsarovar is a huge reservoir of water (about 121sq km) about 60 km away from Ahmedabad, formed naturally in a shallow depression. The lake being shallow and marshy has made it extremely attractive for the wintering migrants – especially water-birds and cranes, who come in numbers. A night train connecting Mumbai & Ahmedabad makes it convenient for a day long birding trip and that’s how we were en-route Nalsarovar early morning.

As we reached closer to our destination, dawn was breaking. The rising sun gave light to the fields on both sides, exhibiting a large numbers of peafowls and peahens looking for the proverbial worm, white breasted kingfishers & Indian rollers on the wire, a solitary grey francolin on the road making a dash to get away from the traffic, a herd of neelgais, a marsh harrier looking for an early breakfast – in all, a good omen for our birding day ahead.

Nalsarovar needs to be explored through a boat and though the water is shallow at most of the places, it is the vastness of the placid lake that is breathtaking. Despite having visited the place about 2 years ago, I was still awestruck with the everlasting wilderness of the glimmering water mingling with the sky at the horizon.

As we set out in the boat, the breeze was wild, soft and free, making the heart light. The early morning serenity of the lake was fading away as birds were waking up to their tasks. The flocks of common coots were having their own version of bird race. Also engaged in various activities were garganeys, spot billed ducks, northern shovellers, pheasant tailed jacanas, godwits, purple moorhens, black-winged stilts, Egrets, Pond herons, Glossy and black Ibis, little grebe, Citrine and yellow wagtails, barn swallows, cormorants and brown headed gulls.

We had set out on this trip however with the hope to see Sarus, Pelicans & Flamingoes from close quarters. Here, since our interest lied in the flock of Pelicans & Flamingoes chiefly, the boatman expertly steered us towards them. The mobile communication technology has helped them too as he was constantly in touch with other boatmen to get the exact location of these birds at the moment. Soon our eyes and cameras feasted on the sights of large flocks of Great White and Rosy Pelicans, followed by Greater Flamingoes.

It was very interesting to see and click pictures of these majestic birds from a different vantage point – almost at their eye level. The most interesting sight was of the greater flamingoes, submerged and floating in knee deep water and their beak giving them a snobbish uppity nose attitude – reminding me, for some reason, of British upper class as caricatured in stories and movies of Wodehouse.

The day had started warming up with the sun at a mid horizon level and having exhausted our camera batteries, we had no option but to return to the shore where rosy starlings and green bee-eaters were busy in their daily routines. Also, we could see a flock of common cranes, which soon took a flight and for sometime the sky was full of cranes and pelicans that were already patrolling in a large flock. A pied kingfisher about to make a dive for its prey, discarded the idea spoiling our chance of clicking it in action.

We left Nalsarovar behind to travel towards Thol, another lake, at about 40 Kms from Ahmedabad and about 60 Kms from Nalsarovar. The lake though much smaller in size is renowned for large variety of birds it provides shelter to. The journey, interrupted for a splendid meal, was peaceful but did not allow us to take a nap as it revealed unexpected sightings - first a male blackbuck with its harem in a field and then a flock of comb ducks – a sight that had eluded us at Nalsarovar.

While Nalsarovar is a never ending sight of water, Thol is a lake much limited and restricted with a bund, also supplying water to the fields around. It is a scenic beauty with woods encircling the lake amidst dreaming the sky. The readers of the Phantom comics could relate to this place immediately as it resembled the Eden that Phantom had developed for the variety of creatures he had saved from extinction. Though lacking in size, it made up in its variety. Birds ranging from common hoopoe, purple sunbirds, prinias, Indian robin and greater coucal to godwits, darter or snake birds, river terns, wigeons, pelicans, flamingoes, bar headed geese, common and ferruginous pochards, greater spotted eagle, marsh harrier, comb ducks, spot billed ducks, tufted ducks, northern pintails, painted storks, common cranes, – all were there. And above all, the prized catch - a few pairs of Sarus cranes lording over the place majestically.

As the sun started inclining towards the horizon, we reluctantly decided to leave the place and drove towards Ahmedabad. But as has been the case most often, the day was yet to finish with its surprises. On our way to Ahmedabad, as we took a turn on the road near a place called Gota, to the left was a small pond where we could see some bird activity. As we got down to have a look, the first sight was a berry tree full of Yellow footed Green Pigeons and a couple of koels. If these were welcome sights, what awaited at the pond was simply magnificent – common teals, river terns, sandpipers, pied avocets, spotbilled ducks, northern shovellers, black-winged stilts, glossy and black ibis and at a distance of few feet away flamingoes – all in plenty. And all of this, just at the outskirts of a city and so close yet totally oblivious to the traffic. For the first time I was engulfed with envy. However, since the setting sun was giving a perfect light condition, it was time to let shutterbugs take charge over my negative emotions and off we were to click more pictures.

Having exhausted ourselves totally by now, we called it a day and returned to Ahmedabad. On our way back, as we tallied our count of almost 100 species, lines from a poem, which I had read some time back but had not really appreciated the beauty till this trip, came back to me -
….ducks on a pond
A grass bank beyond
A blue sky of spring
White clouds on the wing
What a lovely thing
To remember for years!

For seeing more pictures of this trip, please click on the following link:
http://flickr.com/gp/ashishmantri/7h5vp0

Close Encounters of the Bird Kind

2009-02-12T11:19:00.025+05:30

One of the most tiring & often frustrating aspect of being an amateur bird photographer is inability to get true colours of the birds. The cameras might be good but the zooms leave much to the desire. And closer one tries to get to the birds, faster they fly away. It is challenging but, as I started with, also very frustrating. Even in the best of the sanctuaries, one needs to tread so carefully to reach into that distance which, to a bird, should be acceptable as non-threatening.

Hence a full resolution picture like this would be a dream-come-true:

or getting so close to a "magar" that you can advise it about maintaining dental hygiene (if only you are ready to forget the age old proverb "pani men rahkar magar se bair nahi lete"):

No, these are not the pictures taken at Zoo nor is this report about my having acquired a new zoom lens.

This is about Ranganthittu, a bird sanctuary unique by itself and Kokkare Bellur – a village about 100 Kms from Bangalore that has adapted itself to a lifestyle to suit annual visits of Pelicans & Storks.

Kaveri river, originating from Kodagu (Coorg), after leaving western ghats forms its first island at Srirangapattnam. Ranganthittu is a series of small islands located just before Srirangapattnam. Here, rather then conquering these islands, Kaveri has created a place that migratory birds find idle for nesting & breeding. Dr Salim Ali, with his foresightedness, was the first one to recognize the potential of this place and it was his efforts that led to conversion of this area in to a sanctuary.

My first visit to Ranganthittu was in October 2006. Those were the initial days of my passion for bird-photography. I was comparatively raw to the hobby and I used a Videocam for still photography. As a result, though we had a great time sighting White Ibis, Black Ibis, Darter, Stone Plover, Cormorant, Night Heron, and Brahminy Kite among other birds, my album had nothing great to show.

Since then, except the darter, I have had chance to see most of these birds in & around Mumbai itself, but in my mind I still could visualize the ones which I had seen 2 years back from such close quarters. Providence provided another opportunity to visit Bangalore and having completed my work decided to stay an extra day to visit Ranganthittu with my cousin brother – a friend, philosopher & guide always but more so through the growing up years of my life. The habits die hard - so off we were for bird-watching (albeit of a different kind) !!

We reached the sanctuary early morning, an ideal time when the the songs of birds can be heard easily - not because they are more vocal but because there are very few human beings around. Kaveri, in the morning light was resembling more like a placid lake, green in appearance, flowing discreetly as if not wanting to disturb the migrants it attracts.

In contrast to the serene river, the islets resembled huge colonies under reconstruction as Painted Storks, Open bill Storks, Spoonbills & Spot-billed Pelicans had staked their claims to various plots. Not at all concerned about the slump in property prices, these creatures were continuously chattering & calling out to their mates while finding suitable construction material to ferry to the site, and yet finding time enough to engage in courtship. The lower parts of these Islets were being occupied by Night Herons largely with few white breasted waterhens, large, little & median egrets also jostling for the space.

Countless number of cormorants had carved out a niche for their own and were spending less time in swimming & more in nesting. A few darters, perched among the tree branches, justified the reason for their also being called a snake bird.

A few Great Stone Plovers (Great Thick-knee) completed the picture, ever alert to the boats nearing them while unseen White throated Kingfisher filled in the back-ground score. Other birds seen included streak throated swallow near the entrance to the sanctuary, a few parakeets & grey hornbills in flight, Brahminy kites, sunbirds, tailorbirds, White browed wagtail & a pair of unidentified warblers.

The mammals, till homosapiens crowded the sanctuary, were represented by huge colonies of flying foxes. And yes, a few sun-bathing resident muggers, eyes closed & smiling at the memory of the last meal they had devoured, were occupying the smaller rocky outcroppings - oblivious to the floating population gawking at them.

Having feasted our eyes & having exhausted the shutterbug, we moved to Kokkur Bellur via a brief halt at 'Daria Daulat Bagh" - the summer palace of Tipu Sultan. A plain looking monument from far, due to sun-screen all around, hides the history that has been recreated through paintings on the walls of the monument. Situated amidst verdant green lawn hedged with tall trees all around is a single storeyed structure made up largely of wood.

The wall on one side of the hall depicts defeat of Colonel Bailey at Kancheevaram in a mocking style (the defeated colonel with knuckles pressed to the teeth depicting his fear & shock), the wall on the other side has been used as personal album of Tipu Sultan, depicting pictures of various kings of those times. It would be interesting to not only identify those faces but also to find out the reason for depicting them on the wall of a palace which was apparently used by Tipu to recover from the fatigues of the hard fought war. The colours of the courts have faded a bit but are still evidence to the rich heritage existing here.

From Daria Daulat Bagh, we moved to Kokkare Bellur (KB). The road to KB is a turn off (on the left after passing Cafe Coffee Day outlet at Channapatna) from the newly laid six-lane Bangalore Mysore highway. As you move on, the road becomes much narrower & difficult to drive on, with furtehr obstacles created by villagers using the vehicles movement to thrash Ragi from its husk. Talk of effcient cost reduction & energy saving measure. The paddy fields around were proving to be a good food provider for egrets, black ibis, barn swallows, Indian Robin, Pied Starlings, wagtails, Tits & Brahminy Kites. The lake formed by a dam had numbers of terns flying around while common coots were busy finding food.

Soon we reached Kokkare Bellur which, deceptive in looks though, is not an ordinary village. A village with an area of about half a sqaure kilometer has been considered (for over last 500 years) as safe heaven for nesting by spot Billed Pelicans - a specie which has been in decline over the years and is being treated as vulnerable, and Storks. Incidentally, the word Kokkare means storks in Kannada. The village was reverberating with the sound of flapping wings of Painted Storks who were all around busy with courtship rituals & nest building & no senas were around to stop them from exhibiting their love for each other.

Spot Billed Pelicans, lesser in numbers though, kept taking a flight every once in a while as an overhead patrol to safeguard their nests from the Brahminy kites hovering in the sky.

Interestingly, this place is managed, not by any government agency, but by the villagers themselves who have adapted their lifestyle to create a perfect symbiosis. In order to provide a safe environment to the birds, a villager is ready to forego income from his trees, if the same has been selected by a bird for its nesting. In return, the bird's excrement, rich in potassium, due to fish based diet of the birds, proves to be a natural fertiliser. No wonder, this readiness to adapt the lifestyle to protect enviornment, has led to an increase in the numbers of nestings over the years.

Quite possibly, therein lies a lesson, for all the agencies - governmental as well as NGOs & do-gooders, engaged in protecting environment. Ensure that local people understand the issues as well as benefits resulting out of protection of environment and you can achieve better results.

Meanwhile, for us, the day ended with one of the most beautiful sunset.

For more pictures of this trip & of the flwoer show at Bangalore's Lal Bagh, please click on the following link:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/7271923@N06/045U69

Rajasthan - Roads Lesser Traveled (3rd & concluding Part)

2009-02-08T12:19:00.009+05:30

Hello & welcome back to final part of the travelogue to Rajasthan! This part covers our quick trips to Charbhuja Ji, Nathdwara, Haldi Ghati & Udaipur. But before that, thanx once again to all who continued encouraging me with suggestions & positive responses!

Charbhuja Temple

This temple is situated at about 40 km from Kumbhalgarh amidst the hills of Aravali. I had visited this place about 30 years back. Being our family deity and having come this close, we felt it is time to renew the blessings.

Again a very small town with lanes just wide enough to allow one vehicle with people walking on both the sides, chiefly populated around the temple itself. The temple, dedicated to the warrior swarup of Krishna, is said to have been one of the two temples constructed by Pandavas, the other one being Kedarnath. One of the local priest also informed us that only those devotees are allowed to be open the doors of Kedarnath (at the time of re-opening after winter) who have paid their tributes to Charbhuja ji. I wonder though how the records are being maintained for this purpose.

Nathdwara

Nathdwara, though not an architectural marvel, is one of the perfect examples of our temples. Unpretentious in looks from outside, but houses one of the most beautiful idol of Shri Krishna. No wonder people keep revisiting this place again & again just to have a brief glimpse of Krishna.

Alas, one brief glimpse is all one gets at a time. And the reason is the way the temple is managed. In order to change the jhanki of the idol as the day progresses, the darshans are open only for 45 minutes every 2-3 hours. As a result, there is a continuous build up of eager devotees outside the temple gates who rush in the moment doors are open. In fact during this trip, we could not enter the temple on our first visit because in view of large crowd of devotees, the temple authorities had cancelled the 9 Am jhanki – thus making the next one more crowded!

It seems, more than an effort to be the link between the Krishna & his devotees, the temple showcases the importance of persons in control and the VIP guests, who get preference once doors are opened. Having visited this temple twice, years back, as part of the VIP entourage, this time round I realised the pains & frustrations of visiting such places as commoners. Also illogical seemed to be the decision of not allowing mobiles & cameras inside. God seemed to have been imprisoned by a few human beings – so ironical for Krishna who born in a prison, was on earth to liberate oppressed ones. The attitude provided a stark contradiction to Ranakpur temples trust, which is more friendly towards the devotees & the tourists and has tried to balance both.

Udaipur

A quick tour to Udaipur was part of our plans and with the times lost in travelling to Nathdwara on a day when we could not have a darshan, we actually had a very brief glimpse of Udaipur. Having stopped in Haldi Ghati for about an hour, we really had a paucity of time. Udaipur is a city having rich mix of history & natural beauty and hence it needs to be explored with about 3-4 days in hand and here we were, trying to compress it in few hours.

While Kumbhalgarh is the place to experience how people lived as warriors, Udaipur is the city to experience the lives of rich & famous during peaceful times. Nothing better showcases this than the City Palace – the palace of the Mewar dynasty, which has been converted into a museum. As one walks through the labyrinths of the castle, one can see the rich heritage of Mewar dynasty, boasting of names like Rana Kumbha, Rana Sanga, Rana Udai (founder of the city), Rana Pratap and Meera Bai. A number of functional rooms of those times have been maintained in the same manner as if the time has just stopped there and only the visitors have kept moving on over the centuries. Interestingly, while the clothes of these kings make one visualise their hude physique, most of the walk-ways in the Palace are barely large enough to allow only one person at a time.

Rajasthan had a tradition of painting its capital cities in a uniform colour – Pink for Jaipur, Blue for Jodhpur & so it is White for Udaipur. But curiously, the countless coloured panes of the windows peeping into the city provided a different view to the rulers. The traditions have continued even with the change of times.

City Palace is situated at the bank of Pichola Lake. Far on the right side of the lake, on a cliff of a small hillock one can see Sajangarh, another palace of the dynasty, viewing indulgently the neatly laid out Udai Vilas Palace (now a top of the line hotel), Lake Palace (a hotel in one of the islands in lake, well known for being a location for James Bond’s Octopussy), and Jag Mandir (a garden on an island from the dynasty times now converted into a restaurant). Though dried up in part, a small bridge connecting 2 parts of the lake near City palace, give a feel of the lake resembling Venice in earlier days.

The museum, showcasing the entire history is a pleasure to walk through. The sole irritants were the nose-up-in-the-air guides from various hotels accompanying foreigners, and thus assuming an inherent title to being superior then the large crowd of Indians tourists around. A number of them were pushing & shoving aside even the kids in order to lay down the red-carpet treatment to their clients.

From the city Palace we could see the Pichola Lake, filled with a variety of ducks and decided to take a boat ride into the lake. Apart from observing the city Palace from the waterfront and Lake Palace & Jag Mandir from close quarters, we could also see numerous Common Coots, Common Pochard, Spotbill Ducks and 2-3 varieties of cormorants, one providing us a proper look at its turquoise blue eyes.

We once again returned to Udaipur on the last day to catch our flight back to Mumbai. The journey, through the forests for part of the route, crossing dried up Banas river and part of which is through new highway being laid out to connect Mount Abu with Udaipur, also provided us a chance to visit a temple which is supposed to be original Nathdwara temple & from where the idol was shifted to the present location. We were informed by our taxi driver that even now, once or twice in a year, the idol is shifted to this place on the expressive request of the god which he communicates to the chief priest.

The place was serene due to absence of any devotee and resultant commercial culture with the priest busy in updating himself with the latest news. In contrast with the heavily commercialised approach road to Nathdwara Temple gate, there existed only one artisan whose work, though limited in display, spoke volumes of his capabilities. Though selling the products much superiors in quality, the prices were reasonable and the bargaining was dealt with smiling countenance. We in fact wondered, despite globalization and networked India, how many such small artisans’ talent is unexposed & hence not properly rewarded.

The journey though did not end without a surprise in store in form of a new nice & swanky

airport at Udaipur. But on ground infrastructure availability was not adequate as the journey ended with the customary delay of flight and availability of information being too little & too late.

However, for me, it was time to look back at the last 6 days filled with mostly great memories and look forward to here & beyond for another holiday. And for those who want to have a look at more pictures clicked during this part of the trip, can visit following link
http://www.flickr.com/gp/7271923@N06/5mq448

Rajasthan - Roads Lesser traveled (Part 2)

2009-02-02T18:15:00.006+05:30

Ranakpur to Kumbhalgarh

The journey to Kumbhalgarh takes one through the forests of Aravali hills, in stark comparison with Shivaliks which we travelled to in summer. Shivaliks are seductive in nature, with lots of curves, cliffs & deadly turns, shrouded among the tall fir trees. Unlike Shivaliks, Aravali hills are more comforting in nature with terra firma always in sight & within reach, no presence of scary cliffs & deadly turns on the road. The lush green fields including those of Sugarcanes & Mustard mixed with barren fields in-between, was a paradox in itself, and so were the appreance from nowhere of large havelis surrounded by a number of small rural 'kaccha' houses.

Barring a brief halt to change the punctured tyre of our taxi (that gave us a chance to sight an eurasian sparrow-hawk and a couple of grey hornbills) & to have delicious hot mirchi-wada & samosas at Saira, we reached Club Mahindra resort at Kumbhalgarh well in time.

Club Mahindra Kumbhalgarh

Club Mahindra has taken over an existing hotel & converted it into a resort. The style is very much Rajasthani. Exterior in typical Gerua (Reddish Brown) colour and interiors finishing in deep hues of Yellows, Blues & Greens, provide an ambiance that is elegant & regal in style. A mid-size swimming pool providing turquoise blue tinge to the view (though lying empty due to cold weather), couple of big lawns, lots of trees & shrubs within the resort and an ever-crowded activity centre complete the entire picture.

A couple of negative factors though are – one, high priced food (still sold out due to the fact that the nearest alternate available is about 4 kms away in the small town of Kelwara with no vehicles available). The restaurant staff’s excellent service and ever smiley countenance to some extent at least makes up for the high prices of food. The second negative – the exhorbitant rates of Taxi service available from the hotel. Though there is an alternate available right outside the gate by a couple of taxi operators who have pitched a tent across the road, but soon we realised that the service provider to the resort & those guys have cartelized the entire operation. As a result, even though one can hire cheaper taxis from Kelwara, the cartel does not allow it to happen. I hope Club Mahindra management does something to break this cartel soon as it was the only sore point of our entire journey.

Kumbhalgarh Fort

Kumbhalgarh fort was established by Rana Kumbha in 15th Century. Earlier, the place was a bastion belonging to Jain descendents of Mauryan empire in 2nd Century. Under the rule of the king Rana Kumbha, the kingdom of Mewar stretched right from Ranthambore to Gwalior. The kingdom also included vast tracts of Madhya Pradesh as well as Rajasthan. About 84 fortresses were used for defending Mewar from its enemies and of these 32 were established by Rana Kumbha. Kumbhalgarh was one of the best, with massive structure leading to its invincibility. It is not a marvel of architectural beauty but important for functional reason. Set amidst the rugged terrains of Aravali mountains with wild forest all around (difficult to surmount even now without the help of any technology or road), further protected by a wall that runs for about 36 Kms and has a rampart of about 25 ft width (thus becoming the second largest wall of the world after Great wall of China), austere in style, shunning any opulence, with narrow staircase to deter easy access by the enemies - all pointing to the use of this fort as warriors's hideout. No wonder, the fort was conquered only once in history, and that too by the combined forces of Delhi, Jaipur & Marwar.

The top of the fort provides a bird’s eye view of the Mewar region. In fact, the entire lay-out of the complex, from above reminded me of similar lay-outs of the ruins of Greece. The fort complex, with ever-present huge gates ('pols' in local dialects) and massive walls also houses a number of temples dedicated to hindu & jain deities including Shiva & Ganesh. A priest is still employed by the present Maharana to care for the shrines of his ancestors. Twice a day the Priest's family makes the stiff uphill climb to the castle to light the sacred lamps before vermilion-daubed images of Hanuman, Chamunda, and Ekling. A beacon tower at the top was used for lighting up flames that would summon Mewar's chieftains to warFort's another claim to history is an octagonal room where Maharana Pratap was born who went on to fight with Mughals for seeking his self-respect & independence. Another interesting paradox is a room where at a later age his grandson Prince Karan entertained the future Mughal Emperor Shahjahan.

Tourists were much lesser in number as compared to what we saw a couple of days later at Nathdwara & Udaipur. But for those present, the end of the day brought two exclusives - first by nature, one of the most beautiful sunsets;

and second, a man made one- when the entire fort complex was lit up. These lights, which remain on for about 30 mins, everyday, literally transforms the entire fort into an oasis of Gold in the middle of the mountains.

Walk in the wilderness

The resort is situated close to Kumbhalgarh Wildlife sanctuary, which boasts of a number of wild animals including Hyena and wolves. The rides to sanctuary are available through the Taxi operators but I soon realised their lack of adequate knowledge about the sightings of animals as well as the birds. Hence rather than visiting the sanctuary, we decided to take frequent walks in the wilderness around the resort itself, including a lake at a distance of within a kilometer.

Initially we decided to explore the resort for birds and soon my efforts struck pay dirt. A White bellied Drongo, A Brown capped Pygmy woodpecker & an Oriental white-eye provided a warm welcome amidst the sound of ever-flitting numerous tailor-birds. A pair of Rufous treepies were being chased away by the Jungle Babblers (such crowish behaviour!) and an alexandrine parakeet kept surveying the entire scene perched amidst the branches in a Buddha like trance.

The water level in the lake was low due to scant rains this year. The bird activity also seemed to be subdued. While white breasted Kingfisher (back in its avatar of being a fisher) kept flashing its blue in flight, the lake also had a pair of common teal, spot-bill ducks and some cormorants. White wagtail, yellow wagtail, chat alongwith a sandpiper were the other birds at the water level.

The scene was different though on and along the the roadside. Black Redstart, Eureasian Wryneck, Small Minivets, Crested Bunting, Indian Robin, Tawny bellied Babbler, Great Tit, Black Lored Tit, Indian Silverbills, Jungle Quails, Chestnut Shouldered Petronia, White cheek Barbet & Copper Smith Barbet, Purple Rumped & Purple Sunbirds, Spotted & Laughing Doves, Asian Koel, Greater Coucal, Black headed Cuckooshrike were some of those which I could click. The link for these pictures is given below:

Birds in Aravali Region - http://www.flickr.com/gp/7271923@N06/4V7k1M

Despite not visiting the sanctuary, we were still not short of sighting of mammals. While travelling to & from Udaipur we encountered a Hyena and a fox. The encounter with Hyena was after the dark and though we tried to click its pictures, it ran away, scared of the vehicle. The fox, was seen in the morning and curiously it posed for a picture before deciding to get away. Another tourist informed us of his encountering a leopard & its cub just a day before on the same route of Kumbhalgarh – Udaipur. Also, while we were on our walk in the wild, during mid-morning we heard a deep rumbling sound of an animal which kept repeating for some time. The way the sound appreaed to us, fortunately for us, unfortunately for the mammal, we did not encounter this one.

One of the interesting things we noticed were the eagerness of the villagers to be photographed. Soon we realised that the eagerness was for earning a quick buck which most of the foreigner or NRI tourists are ready to disburse. In fact, one old man, who was keen on inviting us at his home and posed readily for a picture, stopped being hospitable and gave us a tongue lashing the moment he realised that his efforts were not going to be fruitful.

After so much of writing ( & patient reading on your part!) I am sure 'ab to break banta hai'.

So again, for all the visitors to this page, await the final chapter about Udaipur for this particular travelogue. Meanwhile, given below are the links to the pictures for:

Ranakpur & Kumbhalgarh - http://www.flickr.com/gp/7271923@N06/7w028a

Birds in Aravali Region - http://www.flickr.com/gp/7271923@N06/4V7k1M

Rajasthan - Roads lesser traveled (Part 1)

2009-02-02T11:16:00.009+05:30

Rajasthan
The name evokes memories of forts, palaces, temples & desserts. Having spent most part of the school vacations in Kota (being the place I was born), I always have had a fascination with the history of the state. One of my favourite books in growing up years was a brief history of various riyasats of Rajasthan. Unfortunately, over the years, the book was lost somehwere. but the fascination was not.

The land of warriors, well-known tales of bravery of kings like Rana Sanga & Rana Pratap and of treacheries of those who sided with enemies to bring down their own kith & kins, Mira Bai’s devotion to Krishna, Rani Padmini’s beauty & immolation - everything to me has added to the Romance that is Rajasthan. For the modern generation, Rajasthan probably is the only link to a crucial part of history of the country itself.

The beauty of Amber Fort & Hawa Mahal of Jaipur, Sonar Killa and romance of Desert at Jaisalmer, Jodhpur’s palaces & enigma of Zubeida, Udaipur’s natural beauty and its palaces (converted to well known top-of-the line hotels) and Chittor’s fortress, Bharatpur & Ranthambhor’s wilderness have all contributed to the mystic of Rajasthan.

So when we decided to travel to Rajasthan for a short trip, Kumbhalgarh was not even on the list of our preferred destinations. After all so little is known about Kumbhalgarh. A state that is full of glamorous and well traveled tourist hot-spots, the name of Kumbhalgarh hardly evoked any reactions.

To be fair, had it not been a Club Mahindra location, we might not have had thought of travelling to this place too. Even friends in Rajasthan were unaware about the place. To everyone it looked like one of the relics of a forgotten history. By the end of our trip we had realised that it was not a relics rather the place where history was actually made.

But before the detinations comes the journey. After all while it is essential to keep a destination in mind, one needs to enjoy the journey. In losing the journey, we lose beauty. We lose experience. We lose the essence of life.

Journey to Kumbhalgarh

One can travel to Kumbhalgarh through railway via either Falna or Udaipur (equidistant from Kumbhalgarh at about 80 Kms distance by road). Unlike the railway journey we have had to North in summer at the height of Gujjar agitation, this time round it was the planning & ticketing that was hectic & chaotic. However, once the train started from Bandra Terminus, the journey was uneventful and peaceful. The only excitement during the journey was provided by the small rats in the train who, while plundering through the passengers luggage, also found time enough to have fights in the gangways.

We reached Falna, early morning. The weather outside was cold, crisp & delightful, perfect one for a good masala tea. The road to Kumbhalgarh from Falna goes via Ranakpur & Saira and through the forests of Aravali range. The road is well maintained and cool weather around made the drive very enjoyable. As the sun rays started making the horizon gold and life in the village started stirring, we left a hoarding stating "Moonlight" behind. Soon, the rays of sun peeping in through the hills & the bushes, providing the surreal effect to the drive. Within some time, we reached our first halt – Ranakpur temples.

Ranakpur Temples

I had first visited the place when I was in 9th and then again while I was in college. At that time I had found Ranakpur quintessentially what can be termed as a “one horse town”. I remember having walked in the forest in the middle of the night with the RTDC hotel manager because my father wanted to interview an old sadhu who was one of the oldest resident of the area.

Now, after 20-25 years too, there does not seem to be any increase in the population. Apart from the RTDC hotel, it is only the temple premise which has any semblance of being populated. The years have also aged the façade of temple a bit but the grandeur of these temples has remained intact.

Ranakpur Jain temples were constructed about 600 years ago during the regin of Rana Kumbha. These temples are perfect examples of the creative splandour of those times. Having been constructed with light coloured marble (a more porous and brittle stone and hence difficult to carve), the temples lie amidst the forests with hills around providing further protection. Perhaps that has been the reason that while other temples faced rampaging during the reign of fanatic Mughal king Aurangzeb, inaccessibility to these temples kept them safe.

Designed with face to all four directions, temple’s numerous shikhars are supported by about 1444 marble pillars, each exquisitely carved. Unlike temples of Nathdwara & other Hindu temples, the Ranakpur temple trust is more accommodating in nature towards tourists. One can view it through out the day except restriction on photography inside the temple premise during morning hours. Having reached there early morning, we realised that photography in the temple is permitted only during mid-day and hence had to be satisfied with whatever pictures we could click of the façade.

Sun having risen, the shikhars of temple were being used as perching ground by a number of birds, including Rufous treepie, white-breasted kingfisher (having seen it most of the times now-a-days near the fields, shouldn’t it be renamed as Kingfarmer?), a fowl which soon disappeared in the foliage, plum headed and alexandrine parakeets, a number of rock pigeons & spotted doves, peacocks & peahens, Black-headed Ibis and Pond herons. Langurs (Black faced monkeys) balancing themselves on various branches & using early morning sunrays to warm themselves were though a subdued. However, they were compensated more than by the ever-chattering jungle babblers. The good news is that the crows were largely absent but the bad news is that the jungle babblers have usurped the place of crows in most of these towns & villages. Sounding equally shrill most of the times, these flocks of jungle babblers were everywhere like scavengers and scaring away other birds.

Here I end first part of my travelogue, partly in roder to givea brief respite to myself but more to provide much needed break to those who have got tired of reading it but are just being nice. The second part shall be dealing with the time spent at Kumbhalgarh & around. Meanwhile, for those who would like to check out the pictures clicked in Ranakpur & Kumbhalgarh can click on the following link.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/7271923@N06/7w028a

Those wondering about absence of birds, well, I have not turned a new leaf. The birds were there and so was my camera. The report shall be in part 2 and so would be the link to their pix.

Are we ready for taking responsibilities?

2009-01-05T07:55:00.000+05:30

The initial shock over, after the war waged against us, most of us are now seething with anger and taking various routes to show our new-found zeal and solidarity. These vigils and rallies have a common thread – down with politicians & war with Pakistan.

While, these rallies & gatherings were necessary, what we saw then was a reactive emotional response wherein we vomited our anger out in an easy way by criticizing. But after the initial anger gets dissipated, & it boils down to taking harsher steps, it would also amount to disciplining self, most of us shy away! And that’s where I feel we always let ourselves down because on one hand, we the middle educated class is ready to ask for its right, we do not own up to our responsibilities.

It is essential that we make the politicians, bureaucrats & opinion-makers accountable. But in order to make someone accountable, we need to be responsible ourselves & that needs to start from local level. Most of us do not even participate in managing our own housing societies. Each annual election in most of the societies, one gets to hear the general cribbing & dissatisfaction from the residents present in the meetings (normally not more than 40% of the total numbers) but when it comes to taking a responsibility, we all claim we are too busy in our life.

When it comes to corporation election we do not bother to meet the local candidates to spell their agenda to us. As if this was not enough, using the excuse that all politicians are same, most of us do not even bother to vote. In fact, if one really taken 60% as the normal voting trend, most of those who have not voted are from the middle & upper middle class. And then we wonder why no government bothers about middle class.

For tackling local issues, we do not bother to visit the local BMC offices & hold BMC officers accountable. If at all, we visit a BMC office or meet an officer, it is because we intend to bribe him to get certain things out-of-turn or get some irregularity overlooked.

Except the salaried class, most of us try to evade taxes. In case of salaried class also, we try to convince employers to distribute part of the amount on vouchers.

We are ready to buy products like gold jewellery in cash as we do not need to pay VAT on that. But do we ever think that this cash is thus becoming un-accounted money in the hands of the seller.

We buy flats in high-priced residential localities in order to enjoy better amenities but do nothing when the same locality gets further exploited by builders & developers for their own profit.

We jump a signal or are caught talking on cell while driving, our initial reaction is to bribe the traffic police. Even as a pedestrian, we are not ready to stop at the red signal & wait for the green signal to cross the road.

I travel through Aarey every day & notice that people in expensive vehicles are bribing the toll attendant by paying him Rs. 5 less than the normal toll without collecting the receipt.

We do not mind, as a motor-biker, to use footpaths, to get ahead in the rush hour, without bothering it may lead to an accident & hurt someone innocent.

We go to big temples in order to pray & then try to jump the queue by either paying officially or unofficially.

We all criticise politicians like Raj Thackeray etc. for dividing people. We see numbers of people in their rally & smirk saying all these were brought in by paying cash. But when a few NGOs hold a rally at Shivaji Park against such divisive politics, we do not bother to even think about making to such rallies.

We criticise politicians for amassing wealth and becoming arrogant, but are we not doing the same? Just look at the road outside any school catering to upper middle class and you would see vehicles wanting to drop the kids right at the doorstep of the school, without bothering a bit about the traffic snarls they are creating.

The business class always blames CAs & advocates for breeding corruption in various government departments but refuses to pay actual taxes. They would rather bribe the officials then be honest themselves.

While we have been talking about Deshmukhs. Patils, Modis, Singhs, Naqvis etc about making wrong statements at such tragic moments, our opinion makers were no different:

We hear Simi Grewal generalising that all slums that can be seen next to high-rise building have allegience to Pakistan.

A well known developer is quoted as calling the entire system rotten. No one better then such people to know this. After all, this rotten system has allowed people like him to flout rules & still stay unpunished, despite allegation against him of major irregularities including, PF evasion, or selling flats which he was supposed to have built for Middle Income Group but actually are affordable only by billionaires.

We have Tendulkar, darling of the masses (and deservingly so) who gets a ferrari as a gift, requests government to waive the custom duty, and succeeds. This is from a person who earns in crores every year through Brand endorsements alone.

Essentially, we have become a nation of large mass, bereft of ideology, being led at all level by small minded people who may make right noise when required but do not want us to take any action. This lack of ideology helps any politician to defect from one party to another because he knows his constituency has no loyalty to an ideology but is loyal to him alone.

We talk about developing our own agency akin to FBI. If having an FBI means having an agency like FBI, we have our IB & RAW etc. But if we really want all of them, including our state police, to function like FBI, we need to invest in professional equipments & pay these guys an amount equivalent to professionals from any other field, and not allow the politicians to use them based on their whims & fancies.

I am glad though that not everything is in despairs. We still have people who are ready to take a hard way to arrive a solution rather than taking easy way out. That’s where a cricketer like M S Dhoni would count who is ready to donate part of his fees for the martyrs of 26/11. That’s where Shailesh Gandhi, an ex-IITian, would count who gives up his successful business & become part of the Right to Information initiative. This is where the Juhu’s ALM would count which decides to elect a candidate with no affiliation to the political parties but who is ready to work for his constituency. This is where people participating in Teach India movement would be counted.

What I am arriving at is that if we want the world to be better, less corrupt & more efficient, we should start that from ourselves. In Mahatma Gandhi's words - be the change that you want world to be.

I feel, we need to fight back but in a manner that ensures that there is no chaos that allows the corrupt & inefficient people to bounce back. My suggestions are:

a. It has to be a fight right from the grass root level, wherein we need to participate in an active manner. It means not only making people accountable, but wherever required taking on responsibilities. Call your local councilor to brief you about his performance since the time he was elected, set an agenda for him for next 6 months and review it at the end of 6 months. Similar exercises need to be coductde (though through a different mechanism) for MLAs & MPs too.

b. Say no to corruption at all levels, irrespective of the facts that other may be indulging into it or irrespective of the fact that it may take us longer to do something. Let us make a beginning ourselves first. So either do not break the rules, or if you have broken one intentionally or unintentionally, do not bribe the authorities to regularise it.

c. Ask the judiciary to clear the backlogs by waiving away long vacations that a court enjoys. After all, the tradition of these long vacations was from colonial times when the british judges needed to go back to their own country every few months. The faster the system delivers justice, more legally compliant people would be.

d. Decide to teach at least 5 lesser privileged kids / adults so as to imbibe among them the right values. After all, the change needs to be carried to all levels of the societies, and unless educated, the lesser privileged sections of the society can never be a catalyst for such changes.

e. Rather then keeping quite, reject all divisive politics in a vocal & active manner.

f. Assert our right but also respect someone else's right.

There is something about Talawa……

2009-01-04T18:52:00.000+05:30

My each visit to Talawa has been a last moment decision – mostly because no other birding plan has materialized. And every time, like a true friend, despite being the last choice, Talawa has not disappointed. In fact, this Christmas, it really poured its offerings like Santa Claus.

As stated earlier, the visit to Talawa was a last moment decision, the proverbial eleventh hour literally, by myself & Amit Gupta. Minoo was intending to join but decided to attend to the chores as we were also setting out to travel to Rajasthan to spend the year end.

Keeping in mind the winter mornings and last nights festivities, we decided to start a bit late & reached Talawa at about 8 in the morning. While the days were hotter till 24th, the morning of 25th was definitely crisper & colder. It being the high tide time, we decided to take a slow stroll towards the shore. The pond was calm with very little bird activity around. The trees at the far end from the road & closer to the shore, wearing different hues & colours ranging from Green to dried-up brown to Rust, looked like aloof watchers.

As we started walking, a Greater Coucal flew in from the road into the bushes and the sight of the goodluck bird itself seemed to be a good omen for our walk. Soon a pair of very curious & alert common stonechat came closer to scrutinise us. Also seen flying across hunting for pastures to settle down was a flock of Black-tailed Godwits, a few egrets, cormorants & lapwings and a very swift Peregrine Falcon.

Closer to us, but at a distance from each other, was a lone Red Shank & a slightly injured Green Shank, the distinction between whom was very patiently explained to me by Amit. As if to underline whatever Amit was explaining, both the birds decided to get together and allowed us to click them in one frame.

Also hovering around were a pair of Blue Throats, a few stonechats, a few red munias and plain prinias. While black-winged stilts were rummaging through water, and very patiently biding its time to catch its grub were a white Breasted Kingfisher and a common Kingfisher, a Marsh Harrier was eagerly patrolling the area for the same purpose. A White Stork flew over us while black drongos & long-tailed shrike kept watching a black kite being chased away by a crow.

Closer to the trees, we noticed a shroud of mist moving rapidly in from right of the shore and soon realised that it was a flock of what seemed to be common sandpipers or stints who were frolicking and waiting for tide to recede before settling down. Closer to the shore our friend Coucal once again decided to make its presence felt before disappearing among the mangroves. The shore was teeming with waders including common sandpipers, Curlews, Stints and Plovers. At a distance, few large & median egrets could be seen alongwith a couple of Black headed Ibis using the receding water to find their food, while a Caspian tern was hovering around. As the water receded & the day started getting warmer, the flock of flying waders also settled down at a distance indicating to us probably that it was time to move on and we started our walk back to the shore thinking about the absence of the raptors – apart from black kite & marsh harrier.

But as the phrase goes now-a-days “picture abhi baki hai mere dost”. Little were we aware of the treat that was in store for us. Within next 10-15 minutes, one after the other, we could see Common Kestrel, Shikra & Osprey from very close quarters. Also, while we were busy taking their pictures, a couple of raptors started hovering above us, which latter were identified as Juvenile Brahmny Kites.

Most interesting part about clicking the pictures of Kestrel was the boundary line that it had determined for us. It seemed okay till the time we were about 35-40 feet away but the moment we would overstep that boundary, it would fly away to another tree close by and would remain there allowing us to approach only till we overstep another such boundary. On the other hand The Shikra, after initially maintaining a similar line-of-control, decided to waive it away.

In all, it turned out to be a very fruitful morning, just a perfect way to begin the holidays, wherein we could see about 40 odd species within about 2 and a half hour. No wonder, there is something about Talawa which makes me return to it again & again.

For all those interested in seeing the pictures clicked during this walk can use the following link:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/7271923@N06/gmc02s

A Video that may help us in fighting back!

2008-12-08T10:43:00.000+05:30

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!

Bhoj - Pristine Nature so close to Concrete Jungle

2008-10-16T14:59:00.000+05:30

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 temple (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