I would fork the blog in parts coz TIGER is such a big issue Icannot even use a lower case when I write TIGER.
Well role of tiger in nature is unquestioned majestic and something that everybody knows. He rules the food chain or as nature would say food chain rules him. Either ways for the food chain to be a functional system as it has been for several years everyone would agree Tiger has to be a part of it. If not there is no food chain then there is no law of nature there is no NATURE. I dont think many people understand the magnitude of the previous sentence but my heart weeps when I even imagine myself with a place where there will be no nature. No Trees, No deers hopping around, No grass on which the a young dear can play,No TIGER cub who can learn from catching that fawn and learn to survive because the basic law of nature, SURVIVAL, will be defied. I hope I dont live to see that day because it will be an experience with excruciating pain to see my mom(nature) in such a state where she will give into the bad deeds of her own children especially children like Mr.B.Mujumdar and his team (u will know who i m talking about). Well I cannot stress much on the importance of TIGER because I am not that intelligent to understand it and probably I think with heart when it comes to TIGER or NATURE. But i love mother nature and TIGER is no doubt one of her most favorite sons.
What we do today is what decides how bright and how long our descendants would enjoy the pamper mother nature has to offer. I somewhere feel change is the law of nature and I wish this change that is happening in our mindset is not her way of punishing us for our deeds. We are recently watching news channels and media covering an ordered unplanned unscientific encounter of a TIGER (or as they said first a TIGRESS) at Talodi. I come from a city called TIGER capital of India and a conservator with high post orders for a hunt of a tigress in a city where most of the naturalists are focusing on ways to save this majestic creature. My concern is not over his decision to hunt her down. Even if she was a man-eater there are better ways of handling the situation. Just because you see 100 people losing their near and dearones you cannot possibly lose your mind on a sensitive issue like TIGER. I know and understand that this is easily said by me then experienced by Mr. Mujumdar but I feel not losing his mind in such situation is what he is being paid for. I condemn this step! and would like to emphasize on some quick short points which i felt went wrong during the operation.
Absence of scientists or conservationist with the sharp shooter teams. No attempt being made to tranquilise the tiger. No time taken to confirm if this was the tiger to be shot. No respect for the majestic animal shown firing 38 rounds of ammunition for this single tiger. Skining the TIGER in Public (thats seriously what i say being out of your mind). Expressing no regret over having to kill that TIGER. One of the most important issue bowing down to LOCAL POLITICAL PRESSURE.
What I feel and by what I understand about rural India, this step has triggered serious rather nefarious state of mind in rural India which was on a rise lately and now has been cemented further that in case of a human animal conflict kill the animal. Mr. Mujumdar the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) (ha! made a mockery of that position actually) I hope that people understand that between the animal and human only we can think about saving the animal if the animal could think he would never attack us. He has been commissioned to be on the top of the food chain and survive like that by the supreme power GOD or NATURE or the Oracle who designed this Earth for us. Only we can understand and plan to save her. She has the resilience and if given a chance she will bounce back (sorry Radhika used ur sentence with a bit of change in it but its a marvelous sentence). I m deeply hurt by what Mr. Mujumdar or his team said "We happy and relieved that we killed the tiger". I doubt if he deserves that post anymore. He should have said he regretted that he had to kill the TIGER to say the least of the outcome this horrendous decision. If that was not enough he ordered to skin the tiger publically and then burn him so that he could stuff it up and keep it in Nagpur museum...Sure Mr. Mujumdar and his team, that is where my kids would see him if people like you rule this very important part of the roost and I wont like that, nobody would. I want my children to see TIGER or rather feel his presence when they go in a jungle and see a perfect ecosystem. That was a pathetic statement and I would never ever forget that. Its the most hopeless mindset of a conservator I have come through.
What Can We Do!
As many people we know and discuss this with we should understand that this step has to be condemned sharply. Send him letters not with wrath or anger but with a emotion that tells him that he could have planned it better. I hope someday he realizes what he did was not right.
But my concern is not this wrong decision its the effect it has had on the Rural India and the effect that it is going to have on the most magnificent creature ever to bless Earth, Asia, India, Nagpur. I desperately want to nullify the bad effects of this and i am sure everyone reading this blog does. I would love to see a community and I know they exist in suderbans who live with tigers by adjusting their lifestyles rather than expecting a socially dumb creature like a TIGER to modify himself. Everyone would love to see a Rural India that LIVES with TIGER and can LEAVE the jungle for him if necessary.
May the soul of the Killed Creature rest in peace. Forgive us Mom we did a mistake again!
And please show us a way to live with this reality of being a community which couldn't stop the creature from being skinned. I hope you will give us a chance to make up for it. Please do!
Nyways
keep smiling guys the hope is not dead until the last pair is alive!
keep tryin
Anurag Prabhakar Ghatole
if someone wants to read further!just a short addition
One of my friends who works as a conservationist said the right way that this should have been done was. Having a team of scientists with the sharp shooters. Tranquilizing the creature when spotted. capturing and monitoring him for his behaviour in a cage and then if it was confirmed that he was indeed the maneater or could not survive in a caged environment shoot him down and then burn him publically as it is normally done.
and she also added that the genepool of the tiger is dead the minute you capture and put him in a cage or a zoo. So the tiger would not be a source of the wild genes too, as some of us might think.
I think thats logical enough but I would ask if the community that it was attacking was not a huge one why do we not read of any efforts taken to rehabilitate the village Tiger is a big issue and people would not mind taking issue to relocate the village.
some people might say
Thats not logical coz he might attack them or any other village again well I would say so might anyother Tiger who has turned maneater and if reports were to be believed there are more in the area so do we keep on killing them?? efforts were not taken due to some reasons like the political pressure which shows democracy being defeated. I have started losing my belief in the word democracy. But anyways I think TIGER should on top of the priority list. And it going to be on top of all our lists...I believe we can save HIM! and I will always believe that and work for it anyway possible.
keep smiling
Anurag
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
A GRAND CANYONIANISTIC EXPERIENCE
It is rare in life that you have moments that are so GRAND that you never forget them once u live them.Life just gave me too many of them a few days back and I wont forget them ever in my life this Blog is just an attempt to capture the little moments that I just might forget. As Grand-cayonianistic the trip was, so is going to be this blog its going to be a big one but I recommend(as tim says it, you all will soon know who tim is) reading this till the last word even if it means 3 hrs of your day coz this is something really special and I want all you special people to feel what I felt for it! this is the least I could write about it.
I could have written all of it in one single paragraph but to make it more communicative lets divide it in some titles
1) The people -without whom this trip which is such a special collection of memories in my life would not have been the same.
2) The Journey -The places and the points we visited, each of it was a natural wonder and we saw a manmade wonder too. Hang on to read what that was.
3) Wild life and Avifauna- My favourite part of the trip some amazing experiences and first time encounters
4) Some special moments with some special people who will always be special to me.
So lets get started!!!
It was 6th oct about 5in the morning when Tim picked me up, with Rojhat and Schulle(I hope I spelled that correctly) already in the car we then picked up wendy (yundi shi) and then Sujata.and we were off to our destination "The Grand Canyon".
THE PEOPLE
To start with this is the most fanatastic group of people i could have possibly imagined
TIM (from the u.s),Wendy(from china), Rojhat and Schulle(Husband and Wife from turkey),Sujata and me from(India).
I just have to tell you about all these fantastic people in detail.
1st and foremost)Tim edgar- Yesterday i didnt even know how to thank him for the huge amount of effort he put in to make this trip a memorable one for us. Istill dont know how a simple thankyou can thank him for all these efforts.and what efforts m i talkin about??well he planned the whole trip from the scratch. The route, the vehicle, the paraphernalia, dinner and lunch ,basically everything. Always looked organised and in control of any kind of situation. I feel i got everything a first timer needs on trips like this.I had so much to learn from him. An adventurer himself he almost knew what all he needed to do and when. Like we do in India we never thank frnds as a sign of respect to their effort coz after all thankyou just has 8 letters for the numerous efforts put in by a friend. But Tim thanks man for everything .deserves a lot more than just the word thankyou .
2) Rojhat- Man from turkey one thing that really strikes u about him is his politeness. Really a good man he too like tim put a lot of effort arranging things like they should be. Has a close bond with his wife schulle,which is just what u look for in
a happy couple. felt like being with a big bro with him around. really appreciative of every small effort I put in. He's surely got a lot of life in him. has a big big appetite ate like double hamburger at IN and OUT burger shop coz they were exceptionally good.haha!3)Wendy- My FAV on the tour......"i dont knowwww" and "i m weird",,,,"i feel cold"....."i want to go to a bathroom".....hahahahaha i can laugh all day on this.One of her kind
on this whole wide earth. really cool!!! I can write a page on her....i think i should do that....Good at skiing, does some mountain biking, at 23 shes already i guess 3rd year into her ph.d that itself speaks of how intelligent she might be , but shes very very funny at times. confused !!! for every question she has a very good answer"i dont know".....feels cold all the time...and is perfectly normal even if she has to visit the bathroom for like 5 times in 5 minutes hehehehe......but her 'i dont know' are so typically wendy words......she liked the eggplant we prepared and once when she had to adjust her sleeping bag. when she was in it she just sat upright and started adjusting it with herself inside it moving in it....which was so funnnnnnnyyyy!!!! wendy do u know something???and she would say......................guess!!!!4)Sujata- one of the few strong indian girls i have ever seen she could canoe 11miles in the colorado with wind against her. A really sweet girl couldnt believe she was there the whole magni
tude of being in that colossal piece of artwork by nature was really unbelievable.something that strikes me about her is that shes such a good listener.i bored her a lot with the birding probably she liked a bit of it but after a limit i could feel i was being cynical but since she was listening to me i kept on being so. and that helped a lot in getting the maximum info of the avifauna and wildlife there. Likes to be in the company of nature, appreciates everything good, loves her father. One thing i admired about her was she was ready to test herself.
5) Schulle- i hope m spelling it right..sweet lady. Rojhat's wife. the chemistry between her and rohjat is so strikingly positive. very much like an Indian girl and its was really a pleasure knowing her. She too canoed the whole 11miles which is quite a distance for a first timer.6) Myself-i better not write anything....forgot spoon and fork wasnt too much of help in the process of makin it a perfect trip. But i guess i learnt a lot from Tim, Rohjat, Wendy, Sujata, Schulle.Th
e only thing is i was pretty excited when i saw wildlife around me that might have been maddening for all . But i had no option, its not everyday that u get to visit places like grand canyon, black canyon.Sorry if i made a mess sometimes. :)THE JOURNEY
It started on 6th and proved to be one of the finest 5days of my life. From salt lake city we started towards Grand Canyon which is in Arizona.The landscape changed so fast we could see the fall colours on our way out. the rocky canyons started and then pics can tell u the story better..
Once we were at the Grand Canyon we saw the desert view point which is what u see below
Then we camped for 2 days at the canyon. The first day was really chilling almost freezing temperature but it was fun wendy was feeling cold internally!! . This national park was so well equipped, well it had to be, but it had all the facilities. The second day we hiked in the canyon for about 3 miles and Tim and wendy hiked about 4.5 miles into it. Though not very difficult but yes it was not something that I always did so was not really able to complete it effortlessly but was pretty easy. loved the hike.
Its almost like we have Vaishno Devi in India. Here people go down to the river to get up close with the SHRINE OF AGES. Its almost a shrine. A 1840 million years old rock formation .and an interesting fact is the oldest stone has t
he name VISHNU ROCK. Its almost unimaginable to think how big this magnanimous river would have been it almost looks like it must have been an ocean flowing there.....the rocks look so beautiful red and deep and colossal and magnificent and many more adjectives to it. I felt lucky that I could see this huge part of history. We next saw the famous "HOOVER DAM" and it is really an engineering marvel i must say...just that a lot of electricity it produces is wasted for facade lightnings in Las Vegas. I also saw the construction crane which failed last year when all the 4 cables tied together snapped. Its a huge bridge and surely is going to be a landmark when completly constructed. Lot of people died when the bridge was being constructed and there is a memorial constructed in the memory of all those who died. This humongous marvel was constructed in just 4 years from 1931 to 1935...a major reason for this might be the huge amount of labour force available after the economic depression here in the U.S before world war 2 .
after t
his we reached our next destination Lake Mead. Here we camped for a night near the lake. There were coyotes around us in the night. I and Sujata prepared some baigan ka bharta (mashed eggplant) which our friends really liked. the sky at lake mead looked beautiful filled with stars. i saw some shooting stars too. In the morning after wrapping the tents up i went for a quick look near the lake and the morning was so beautiful there. Mesmerizing morning.We had to reach near a hotel to be picked by the agency renting the canoes.
It was a the first time for me wasnt sure about whether i will be able to do this or not. but with tim around and wendy had some experience too i felt i should try so we were off to the spectacular ride that it was going to be.we were off to explore the black canyon(which is the name given to the canyon through which the colorado flows We stopped near by for a point called the natural sauna cave. When the construction of the h
oover dam was on they cane across this part which was very very hot. They just left it like that and is now famous as the "NATURAL SAUNA CAVE". In the cave its a 100%humidity and really hot waterand at the end of the 20ft cave is a nice hot natural sauna system working since ages. Amazing how nature treats you with something like this which is so relaxing.
We went further to the boy scout's camping ground. Where we pulled our boats so deep that a funny old man said if u take it half a mile you will reach vegas. But he was not correct. we went for a hike inside the beach and there were some nice hot springs and i had a view of some of the fantastic lizards here which u can read about in the next section. When we came back to say the least we were SHOCKED! the water level had risen sharply washing away one of our canoes. We could see the canoe caught in some stones nearby. So me tim and wendy hopped in one of the canoes and paddled fast to reach the canoe which turned to the other side giving us a kinda hickup! Tim leadership and experience helped us a lot in keepin our calm all the way. so we had our canoe now but guess what we were still missing 
a paddle so we went on looking for it along the way. and somehow found it floating on the water near the edge of the stream. Quite an adventure.
We then reached our camping ground. and there were hotsprings near that too. To start with they were relaxing and natural and so beautiful we all were ther for like 2hours and it got some much needed rest. after the dinner me and sujata decided we were goin to sleep without tents and Wendy as always was not sure! Kept on keeping her sleeping bag in and out of Tim's tent till she finally decided on sleeping outside with us. What a beautiful night it was huge mountains of rocks surrounded us with a sky full of stars as far as you could see. We were tryin to find the polar bear and orion constellations (the only two constellations i know about). Sujata was completly in love with this place. Wendy and sujata kept on searching for shooting stars while i saw about 4 of them. We were lucky the bugs didnt bother us that night. Though a group of mountain sheeps crossed us in the dark scaring us. Wendy did the funniest thing which u will read in the last section.
In the morning we were again off to the the hot springs.Relaxing when we met some of the old and enthusiastic people with us. They were all singles had thier own RV's(recreational van)(or caravan as we call it in India) kept on travelling all year around and exploring their surrounding much like nomads, rich ones though.I liked their lifestyle challenging one though. The enthusiasm these guys showed was really an eye opner as to how one should approach life after retirement. Fantastic people and I will never forget the funny old man.
So after packing up we moved further coz we had to cross about 6 miles in 4hrs. Which was going to be tough with the wind blowing in the opposite direction and the water slowing down.
Some how we reached the place we had to in time. But atleast for me it was quite a task towards the end as my hands started paining. But rojhat was a great companion. At one point the water also rushed in our canoe which was scary but nothing happened. With Rohjat appreciating my efforts and neglecting my silly mistakes we finally reached the bank safe and sound. Tim had sunburns, Sujatas hands were paining, schulle was tired so was wendy, and I was hoping i could use my rightshoulder again. But it was fun real fun. We then moved towards Vegas. for just a drive through the facade city as i would call it. Went to famous burger place in vegas the IN and Out shop which is known for its burgers and it really deserved its place we had a nice dinner there a Grilled cheese burger...rojhat had 2 double double(kind of big burgers)...hahaha u should see the size of one burger to imagine what m talkin about. Big man Big stomach..and he say hes always hungry..
So we drove through vegas watching some famous hotels like THE LUXOR,THE CAESAR,THE NEWYORK. They waste a lot of electricity on this city where there are professional gamblers and where what you show is what people think you are...
We reached salt lake in the night at about 3 with some thankyous shake hands and the next plan to meet for a dinner at the Bombay House.We parted!!! Which was kinda sad coz i already started missing the "I DONT KNOW" and "I RECOMMEND"!!!but it was something i will cherish all my life 5 golden days in a perfect group and in a perfect place. isnt it GRAND-CANYONIANISTIC??
WILD-LIFE and AVIFAUNA
To start off with we saw a turkey vulture riding the thermals and it was huge to say the least. then an american kestrel flew by.It was fast i m still not sure if it was a kestrel a merlin or a falcon. It was spotted and brown with a small typical raptor beak. At the grand canyon we saw a florida scrub jay pic below. the a host of warblers a titmouse,black throated gray warbler who was around our camp near the food all the time and they were so humanised u could almost touch them. some of the birds i couldnt identify which i will soon do
We also saw a coyote, A male mountain sheep vowing a female sheep who got very close to us. A common condor in the grand canyon,american crow boy they are really really big ,fish crow. A chipmunk which is smaller than a squirrel, the squirrels here are pretty big and have a diffrent coloration too. some of the unidentified raptors and lizards , interesting behaviour shown by one of the lizards was when it realised i was behind her she just flatened her body and lay in the sand trying to homoginise with the surroundings, and as always confusing warblers are in the pics below.
We also saw very friendly family of Mallard ducks,koots,a colony of cormorants on a rock i guess they were the greater cormorrants and guess what guys the biggest disappointment of the tour was I was waiting to see a peregrine falcon for five days and missed it by a frisker it was sitting some where between the cormmorants which i failed to notice and was told about it by a lady after we completed the canoeing. I wish I had seen that beautiful bird there..But on second thoughts i was happy i couldn't spot it. Coz if i couldnt spot him it means he is safe from the predators to some extent and from the human intervention in its daily routine and i also saaw great blue heron, little blue heron, and guess what i saw 2 OSPREYS huge ones just missed watching them hunting but the were beautiful in flight. I also saw a roughed legged hawk at the canyon and another unidentified hawk(probably red shouldered hawk ) also saw an eagle at the canyon which was too far to be identified without binoculars but was riding the thermals beautifully.....
Nature was in its purest and oldest form in most part of this desert. Felt very humble and lucky to be able to have a part of it for a few moments. though my enthusiasm must have been annoying for the group a bit but as i said i had no choice.
u can see the pics at the link at the bottom of this place.
SPECIAL MOMENTS
The fact that I was in Grand Canyon will really be a special one coz i never ever imagined being there, living there. The funny part of the trip, wendy in her sleeping bag attached to her sleeping pad tryin to adjust it with herself in it hahahaha!!!!The night under the sky was special coz it made me feel so humble about being able to share one whole night under that beautiful sky besides the colorado river and the black canyon stone mountains.The feeling of relaxing in those hot spring pools is so special.Me and Sujata sang Hindi songs in the hot water spring that was special. Tims way of handling things was special. Rojhat and schulle are special. The first canoeing experience was special. The meals were special we tasted marsh mellows,ground turkey with herbs,turkey bacon,scrambled egg the american way. To say the least the trip in itself was so special!!!!I couldnt believe I have experienced those days the next morning I got up.
I still feel i havent written much !!! But you have to be there to experience more guys!!
Now theres a degree above the superlative degree!!thats where the word GRAND-CANYONIANISTIC belongs!!AND that is how I can describe my experience!
Links to pics..
picasaweb.google.com/aghatole
http://flickr.com/photos/7269217@N03/
Monday, May 14, 2007
A TRIP TO MOM'S LAP
It was the 9th of may when i got up early at about 4.30 am to start preparing for a trip to THE TADOBA ANDHERI TIGER RESERVE. Little did i know it could give me something that can help me survive any adversity in life with the fond memories it has given me.The amazing power of nature,its beauty, its colossal look unfolded every minute. It pampered us with everything it had for as many as 3 days.and in the end we were left mesmerized by its ability to understand what her kids wanted without understanding what they speak.Only a mother can do that and our MOTHER NATURE did it every minute.
At about 5 I left for taking our bus (the real devil of the beautiful trip).I was joined by 3 of my friends whom I admire the most for their dedication towards nature. Well i cant stop myself from describing each of them.First the youngest and the most influential Rohit Chakraborty 16yrs of age but has knowledge about any and everything in nature a perfect blend of an innocent naturalist and a youngster with ummmhhmmm I guess he knows what m talkin about hehe..just kiddin ..one of the most fantastic people I have ever met and is like my little brother to me.He is the one who got me the fantastic opportunity of my life to do my bit for what i have always admired.. nature..he has also given me the gateway to fantastic hobby that bird watching is.Then comes his elder brother Rohan Chakraborty also like a little brother to me, this raptor crazy man is really interested in everything that concerns raptors, the best part bout him is he knows how to live the finest moments of one's life..and how to recognise those moments. I know a bit more about him but this blog would be a small place to write about this cartoonist cum photographer cum artist cum casanova cum mistakenly put into the dental profession man.Jay Kulkarni again my bro, has got a fantastic chemistry with his college buddy rohan and has a fantastic sense of humour.He raps and composes songs for his forthcoming films haha just kiddin ..a nature lover a composer and basically a man with a good heart. Bus rohan ke sath reh ke thoda kamina hota ja raha hai hehe just kiddin !u2. and ya we met a new nature interested guy Neeraj Gade in the tour hes crazy bout tigers and m yet to know more about him just that hes equally interested in nature as we all are thats what created the bond.
Now to get on with the real trip. so we boarded the bus by about 6.30 because an uncle who was the organizer's close friend couldn't move his fat ass up in time.(sorry uncle but every comment u made has to criticized to the word d). So after the puja of the bus we left Nagpur for tadoba which is about 210kms from Nagpur and is near Chandrapur. The crowd seemed to be a hopeless bunch of people with only a few people interested genuinely in nature.The organizer i felt had lost the naturalist in him to the work he had done in the past, also the crowd had a very rustic flavour to it which was not something new since I was used to it in my father's family. But it made the other group members really uncomfortable. Which should not happen actually coz these are the kind of people we will have to deal with as we grow up as a group.Our journey started and my eyes got glued on the road to see hundreds of black shouldered kites perched on trees, wires, poles in the morning... they looked like wearing a rakish black goggle and wearing a beautiful grey blazer with a white shirt looked like a secret agent on the hunt. It hovers beautifully when it hunts.
Then came the phase when i was talkin openly to this girl who sat in front of me.Whom i hardly knew but her life is definitely a survivor's tale and I will always remember that (before i forget her name madhavi) a girl with a smile on her face very very rustic which was a turnoff but at 18 had already proficiently learned bharatnatyam,kathak. Gone through the worst tragedy that life can give any one she lost her parents at 5 lived with her aunt. Lost her twin sister too,has a heart problem with already 2 heart attacks at 18yrs and to top it all fell from the third floor of a building.But shes lucky to have an aunt and uncle who look after her like her parents. She knows she has little time but lives every moment but she was very irresponsible when it came to behaving with nature and her language was a turnoff too.Had a lot of life and I hope will survive every test of time that her fate puts her through.
So after watching the road listening to some crap by the public and some good humour by jay and ya a near death escape from a dangerous situation the half asleep driver got us into we reached the coal mines area of chandrapur its a very famous area and if i had kept the windows open for a few more seconds I would also have been famous as the blackest man alive coz theres was coal dust all around us big hillocks were formed by the material dug out at the site.we had to reach moharli gate by 11am coz it would then be closed for any traffic till 3pm and that pathetic driver as he proved to be for the rest of the trip for once didn't falter and we reached there at 10:58am whew!!.An elephant was tied and another roaming free near with chains in his legs just made me think how pathetic we humans are but practically its a symbiotic relationship between the man and the elephant but one thing that i found unbalanced was that we needed him to serve us he didn't need us for his food so it was another example of dadagiri(bullying) by us humans.
This is what the road from moharli to tadoba looked like.The scorching heat at 45deg cel had left the landscape scarcely dressed but this is a part of the natural cycle which includes end of the weak and survival of the fittest in nature like the land which looked barren but there were nice green trees in the middle of the dense jungle away from the road which survived the heat.
The noise made by the bus made me wonder whether we were creating a menace in this beautiful forest.
We reached the tadoba checkpost by 12.30 and as soon as I got down in front of the dormitory nature got me a glimpse of a bird which I had only seen and admired and wondered if I could ever see in real life, I saw a BLACK NAPED BLUE MONARCH FLYCATCHER(nilmani).It had this black line on its blue head and neck and blue back had a black cap on its head,white belly looked beautiful but was very flickery I could only manage a good back view of this one.then there was a Browed fantail flycatcher.
I almost forgot i had to take a bed in the dormitry. Rohan got my bags I called upon rohit to take some snaps of the bird and then went to the room to get a bed.I just threw my luggage and came back to the tree we saw another rare bird there BLUE WINGED LEAF BIRD or cloropsis couldnt get a pic but was very satisfied on having a glimpse of the beautiful bird.We then saw white breasted water hen,common wood shrike, oriental honey buzzards,white eyed buzzards ,there were atleast 10 resident males in diffrent plumages, lesser flameback, maratha or yellow crowned woodpecker, great tit, jungle crow,spotted dear,langur families.We then went to a place near the lake where the entry to common people was barred. We had our lunch actually we were in no mood to have lunch we were just too eager to get into the jungle. But then the real problem started the people with whom we were were acting very irresponsibly they gave the leftovers to langurs and washed the plates in the lakes and no one opposed it absolutely no one. Rohit got a secret pic. It was embarassing to see naturalists being so irresponsible.It is this behaviour of ours that has now forced langurs to attack us for food on some places.
Oh I forgot to tell we had a opening cermony to mark beinging of the camp the only nice part in it was they introduced cloth bags to avoid plastics in the forest.
So next we went to the lake to have a glimpse of what was in store for us and nature just told us its gonna be real fun .We spotted a grey headed fish eagle on the bank opposite to us which was too far.
At around 3.30pm we went for our first nature trail in the bus which made a sound that could scare everyone off the forest but luckily we spotted a few birds and animals.Some of them were RED JUNGLE FOWL, which we saw flying and it looked majestic.Just when we were thinkin about it the most dumbest question was asked by the man who is responsible for the garbage dumping in city during festivals the one who was late and the one who like others washed his tiffin in the lake the ques was "ISKA(red jungle fowl ka)SWAD ALAG REHTA HOGA NA?". I felt like cutting his fingers and make him taste that.Stupid question it shocked everyone to the extent that rohan just said isko khana banned hai uncle.Next we saw a booted eagle,crested serpent eagle,barking deer,spotted deer.
We were at an open grassland after an unsuccessful safari to spot a tiger.the grassland looked like something i had seen of masaimarah or savanah grasslands on discovery..and it had some groups of spotted dear with some sunrays which escaped the cloudy cover.
We then came back from the jungle at around 6.30 to watch the mesmerizing view of the lake.Which had its own scent a humid weather which relaxed us.as grew darker we went to the canteen and saw something moving in the dark a black outline and were instantly sure that it was a civet.we regreted not having a powerful torch but couldnt do much bout it see how nature protected her child.Then after having a fantastic dinner we were on our way back tot he dormitory when neeraj flashed the torch in the lake and something reflected the light back it was a crocodile's eye and it was moving smoothly over the water. It would be a nightmare to go near the water now and get a taste of the ambush powers of this big reptile.Who has won the race of time and survived for so many years. Hats off to his adaptability.
So after a long discussion on whether to sleep outside we decided to sleep inside. I had a restless sleep like everyone else I woke up at 1 coz it was too hot went out to fill my water bottle of course with a torch,coz it was pitch dark outside and as i moved the torch around i could see some scattered red spots reflecting the torch lights moving as my torch traced them in the dark they were all spotted deers.
So the second day dawned we woke up early to see rohit's well planned visit to the toilet before anybody else could wakeup, I guess he went to sleep thinking of that haha. After being so fond of any kind of animals I was shocked to both rohan and rohit afraid and almost hysteric of the common tree frogs and house geckos that shared our place. So we were ready by 6 and I went to the tree to see yesterday's black naped blue monarch flycatcher and he was already on a breakfast frenzy. We heard a white breasted waterhen near the lake we then walked along the lake road having torch since it was a bit dark. Suddenly Neeraj spotted a green bird the beautiful Indian Pitta on a tree branch and it swiftly vanished in no time. we also saw great tit, maratha woodpecker. Then it was the time for a second nature or should i say tiger trail. Everyone was interested in spotting the tiger but we were interested in spotting everything else than a tiger coz we felt the more secretive tiger can be the more are the chances of him living longer.so my, rohits rohans jays and neerajs eyes all glued to the windows. We were looking for a glance of the wild. Rohit spotted a painted spurfowl as we reached one of the water hole.and it was great to see that there was no tiger there.We saw some fresh pug marks of tiger along the road though. Next we went on to another water hole before which I spotted a ruddy mongoose bout which rohit had told me a day before on the dinning table it had a fluffy black tail.The joy on rohit's face made my sighting special and as soon as the damn bus wallah was ordered by the ignorant crowd to move on i missed my pic and the mongoose disappeared in the woods.These people were getting more and more irritating.Everytime we would si
ght something they would stop the bus and waiting for not more than 10secs would start the bus my camera took 2.6 secs for a pic and other atleast 8 secs to take it out and focus this irritated us. After the water hole two we passed on to 3rd hole which was a beautiful swamp.We also saw a big and I mean a huge wild boar.
We then went to a place in the opposite direction passing our dormitories to spot a tiger. No one seemed to be interested in wildlife other than the tiger.The forest where we went was a dense one with sambhars and cheetals and barking deers everywhere. Unable to spot a tiger we came back and as decided were divided into 2 groups and went in opposite directions for a nature walk and a birdwatching trail.
We had 2 enthusiastic guys kaustubh and aditya in our group and an irritating aunty and 2 kids. We were going to place called panchdhara for the trail it started from a small man made pond from where there was this small stream of water flowing around which a lot of langurs were playing and we disturbed their silence but they excused us and let us share that wonderful dense part of the forest.The water had red algae which I had seen for the first time the place had so many paradise flycatchers white and ruphous both. They literally made the place look like heaven. The arrogant people were shown teeth by the monkeys for looking into their eyes. While we just passed them silently without looking at them. Looking at monkeys into their eyes makes them think we are challenging them same is the case with any wild animal.
Then we went t
o the best part of our walk a densely wooded area and i saw a raptor flying firstly i thought it might be some honey buzzard or serpent eagle but as we moved forward we spotted it. I had a little idea this was going to be the spotting of my life. It was a brown fish owl a nice big about 60 to 70cm in ht bird perched on a green branch.sensed us and flew in about 1 min to another tree where we spotted another owl I guess a juvenile of the same specie.
These guys gave us the opportunity to picture them until our hands pained we literally slept on a wooden log to take its snaps. I felt so humble that nature let us photograph it with such calmness and serenity. My heart was filled with a feeling of reverence for mother nature thats when I realised what I was getting from her.With our heart filled with the great moments we got back to the dormitory speculating what rohit and jay spotted and they gave us some great ne
ws. They had spotted a grey headed fish eagle its nest and its juvenile and even had photographed and they even saw a wood owl.That was a great day. We then came back after a fantastic lunch And it started to drizzle a bit,which was followed by a strom and heavy rains and nature gifted us with the her beauty in rain too. Jay got wet in the rain the kid in him always is a joy to watch. I too got a bit wet and as we told rohan, rohit and neeraj bout how refreshed it feels to get wet rohan uttered the golden sentence of his life , 
he said "maa nehlati hai to aisa hi lagta hai". reverence for nature in every word he uttered was something that will make this sentence something that i will remember for long now. So the rain stopped and the organizer in a hurry told us that there was a good chance to spot(disturb) the tiger and would go on a trail in the jungle. So We went on for a trail it was really getting humid and we wondered why would the tiger head to a waterhole in this wheather. my eyes as usual glued to the window of the bus which was travelling at rocket speed inside the jungle which defied every logic. But ab tangewale ko ghode sabhalte nai aate to hum kya kare to baithe rahe. Hoping to spot anything that we could.As we approached the first water hole I spotted a wild cat sitting beside the bam
boo shrub in a mood to take a nap. everyone was relieved that atleast the saw WAGHACHI MAUSHI(tiger's aunt) as it is called locally. So we moved to the first waterhole to no avail. On road we stopped for something and the organizer said this bus wont stop now until we spot a tiger. Dimag kharab ho gaya humara. we were like ready to burn him down. His logic made us think we have to come to this place one more time. We decided we wont tell about any spotting and prayed they dont see the tiger still thinking what would the tiger do in such environment in a water hole and we also spotted another wildcat in on road but didnt tell anyone bout it. As we approached the second water hole we saw Mr.M.S.R.Shad i have to write about him a lot.waiting at the hole and we also heard some calls we had already visited this hole once in the same trail but we returned to it as we heard dear's call. to everybody's surprise a tailless tigress showed up she looked quite hefty and frightened but was not threatened so drank the water for about 5 mins and disappeared the the woods nearby. We then heard calls of her cubs 2 of them we have heard shad sir led the carvan of vehicles and some other arrogant ignorant people were so bloody excited that they didnt shut their car engines one of them had music in his car. the tigress crossed the road for about 2 times and had to walk about .5 km extra to cross it because of us.
I felt really sorry bout it and wished that the trip would have been the same without a tiger spotting also. I also felt that our practical in field knowledge about animal behaviour was not that good coz the tiger actually showed up in the least favourable conditions as we thought them to be but the organizer was right. They gave undue importance to the tiger sighting actually it was just like watching the tiger in a zoo frightened and used to tourists. Felt bad about it. It would have been better if we could see a the wild part of her rather than the frightened part and her cubs didn't even show up.Then on our way back we scared a group of bisons and saw male dears fight for proving their supremacy in the herd. a great sight. But to irritate us further some aunty in the group threw a plastic from the bus window neeraj saw it an immediately the guide got down and brought it back. These people didn't have the basic education on how to behave in the jungle and what to see. Irritated to the word E we came back from the trail after scaring a herd of dears who went to drink water at the pond near the grassland we visited yesterday. It was about evening time and all of us sat at the lake, where I saw nature at its best as rohit had told us before we saw nightjars coming at the lake getting down near the surface of the water on the lake having a sip and flying over our head felt lucky to see that coz we could only see it at evening time. After the storm there was no electricity in the dormitory so we decided to sit by the lake till dinner and we also had to interact with Mr.M.S.R.Shad.yes i must write about him now.
Mr.M.S.R.Shad a very very very down to earth man even after being amongst the top most photographers in the region and every other pic in tadoba library was taken by him. He has this peculiar sentence which he always uses to puzzle us ,if u compliment him saying "sir apki pics bohot achi hai". He would immediately say "meri nai hai birds ki pics hai maine to bus camera se photo li hai" a role model for any naturalist i would remember the interaction we had with him distinctly for a long time. Fantastic man I feel lucky when i meet people like these. He made a point very clear that the change is happening in people's attitude towards nature the process is slow but its happening all we can do is educate more and more people about it.and take some efforts like gifting a tree on someones birthday.Fantastic man one of the key great things that happened on this trip was interaction with shad sir.
So we had our dinner which was again fantastic in dark and then after a late night interaction with shad sir we went on to sleep coz we had to go birdwatching early next morning.
On the third and final day we got up rohan had a disturbed stomach and his fantastic sounds as soon as he entered the toilet would fill the whole dormitory he asked me to check for frogs in bathroom and made sure there were none there. and then in candle light he let his stomach loose.hehe enough of the gross description now hehe. we got ready quickly and went on a trail along the path which wa
s followed by the other group yesterday.It was early morning and hardly any raptors in the air. along the road we saw a black ibis,and a few other birds before we saw a grey headed fish eagle fly just above the water. It landed on a tree and in the binoculars we could see his white legs and a grey head. It really looked like a strong but worried bird. After admiring it from the distance we moved a bit further to watch it closely and I couldn't control my adrenaline rush and was behaving like a crazy man wanting to go near to the bird going off the trail and near to the lake which was quite embarassing but I really felt I woouldn't get a chance like this again coz the camouflage was perfect there and I even got a bit angry on everybody trying to stop me. But i knew it was fine even if I didnt get a pic and it was fine even if i got one coz mom had already given us all a lot to cheer about. So watching it from there till it again flew to another destination. At the next point where we spotted him rohan got a video of the big guy shiting out probably his dinner. then we moved on to the area where we went yesterday just a few guys who were genuinely intrested accompanied by that irritating uncle and another one.
At the place I got a chance to picture black headed golden oriole for the first time on the trip.Next a forest calotes entertained us with his push ups. Then we were in the area where we had spotted the owls yesterday. as i tried to go inside where we were sleeping yesterday i had the scare of my life i saw something moving behing a bamboo shrub and immediately took a photo which looked like there was a tiger behind it.F*** i was so scared and did a terrible mistake as i was pretty nervous showed my back to the so thought tiger. Guide went on to check it and confirmed that there is no tiger. But i felt it was good that I was frightened by it. But felt bad that i didnt act aptly and didnt apply my knowledge that how could it be a tiger it didn't even growl. After all this was my first time in dense forest.Felt like a FATTU..but enjoyed it now i knw how does feel to be watched by a tiger behind the bush, no doubt on why the cheetals are so active always.
K so we left the place as we had to leave by 11am according to the first plan (though we left at around 1).As we went to our dormitories someone had complained we didnt see a snake so mom just drpped it from a tree near by.It was a bronze backed tree snake which i came to recently is a rare sighting.This small snake could maintain perfect balance with 3/4th of his length in the year and it moved its neck so beautifully we could hardly believe our luck. So we had our last lunch in tadoba it was very very good as always. We thanked our guide for his efforts, and ya i felt really sorry for them coz one of them told me he was on daily wages for the last 20yrs and the government didnt even increase the wage. I wonder how these guys maintain their families at rates 20yrs old and the value of the work they do certainly deserves much more than this I would like to do something for such families someday.
So this was the end of our trip to mom's lap "nature's lap". i was filled with a feeling of reverence and satisfaction as we left tadoba. Felt very humble when i thought how co operative nature had been to us it almost took us as her part. Pictures of this trip will always be fresh in my mind and it has also given me the strength to work for the protection of our mother nature.
I would request all of you to gift ur frnds trees and make sure they are planted and looked after with care.Coz after what nature has given to me in 3 days i dont ever want it to be bare without trees that would be a shameful and a heinous crime.
Also I feel some basic education should be given to the people who enter the forest.
lastly
THANK YOU MOM(both of my moms nature and my mommy)
THANKYOU GUYS FOR MAKING IT A MEMORABLE JOURNEY
THANKYOU
Jay,Rohan,Rohit,Neeraj
u can watch my, oh extremly sory, the pics of wildlife at tadoba by me on
http://flickr.com/photos/7269217@N03
At about 5 I left for taking our bus (the real devil of the beautiful trip).I was joined by 3 of my friends whom I admire the most for their dedication towards nature. Well i cant stop myself from describing each of them.First the youngest and the most influential Rohit Chakraborty 16yrs of age but has knowledge about any and everything in nature a perfect blend of an innocent naturalist and a youngster with ummmhhmmm I guess he knows what m talkin about hehe..just kiddin ..one of the most fantastic people I have ever met and is like my little brother to me.He is the one who got me the fantastic opportunity of my life to do my bit for what i have always admired.. nature..he has also given me the gateway to fantastic hobby that bird watching is.Then comes his elder brother Rohan Chakraborty also like a little brother to me, this raptor crazy man is really interested in everything that concerns raptors, the best part bout him is he knows how to live the finest moments of one's life..and how to recognise those moments. I know a bit more about him but this blog would be a small place to write about this cartoonist cum photographer cum artist cum casanova cum mistakenly put into the dental profession man.Jay Kulkarni again my bro, has got a fantastic chemistry with his college buddy rohan and has a fantastic sense of humour.He raps and composes songs for his forthcoming films haha just kiddin ..a nature lover a composer and basically a man with a good heart. Bus rohan ke sath reh ke thoda kamina hota ja raha hai hehe just kiddin !u2. and ya we met a new nature interested guy Neeraj Gade in the tour hes crazy bout tigers and m yet to know more about him just that hes equally interested in nature as we all are thats what created the bond.
Now to get on with the real trip. so we boarded the bus by about 6.30 because an uncle who was the organizer's close friend couldn't move his fat ass up in time.(sorry uncle but every comment u made has to criticized to the word d). So after the puja of the bus we left Nagpur for tadoba which is about 210kms from Nagpur and is near Chandrapur. The crowd seemed to be a hopeless bunch of people with only a few people interested genuinely in nature.The organizer i felt had lost the naturalist in him to the work he had done in the past, also the crowd had a very rustic flavour to it which was not something new since I was used to it in my father's family. But it made the other group members really uncomfortable. Which should not happen actually coz these are the kind of people we will have to deal with as we grow up as a group.Our journey started and my eyes got glued on the road to see hundreds of black shouldered kites perched on trees, wires, poles in the morning... they looked like wearing a rakish black goggle and wearing a beautiful grey blazer with a white shirt looked like a secret agent on the hunt. It hovers beautifully when it hunts.
Then came the phase when i was talkin openly to this girl who sat in front of me.Whom i hardly knew but her life is definitely a survivor's tale and I will always remember that (before i forget her name madhavi) a girl with a smile on her face very very rustic which was a turnoff but at 18 had already proficiently learned bharatnatyam,kathak. Gone through the worst tragedy that life can give any one she lost her parents at 5 lived with her aunt. Lost her twin sister too,has a heart problem with already 2 heart attacks at 18yrs and to top it all fell from the third floor of a building.But shes lucky to have an aunt and uncle who look after her like her parents. She knows she has little time but lives every moment but she was very irresponsible when it came to behaving with nature and her language was a turnoff too.Had a lot of life and I hope will survive every test of time that her fate puts her through.
So after watching the road listening to some crap by the public and some good humour by jay and ya a near death escape from a dangerous situation the half asleep driver got us into we reached the coal mines area of chandrapur its a very famous area and if i had kept the windows open for a few more seconds I would also have been famous as the blackest man alive coz theres was coal dust all around us big hillocks were formed by the material dug out at the site.we had to reach moharli gate by 11am coz it would then be closed for any traffic till 3pm and that pathetic driver as he proved to be for the rest of the trip for once didn't falter and we reached there at 10:58am whew!!.An elephant was tied and another roaming free near with chains in his legs just made me think how pathetic we humans are but practically its a symbiotic relationship between the man and the elephant but one thing that i found unbalanced was that we needed him to serve us he didn't need us for his food so it was another example of dadagiri(bullying) by us humans.
This is what the road from moharli to tadoba looked like.The scorching heat at 45deg cel had left the landscape scarcely dressed but this is a part of the natural cycle which includes end of the weak and survival of the fittest in nature like the land which looked barren but there were nice green trees in the middle of the dense jungle away from the road which survived the heat.The noise made by the bus made me wonder whether we were creating a menace in this beautiful forest.
We reached the tadoba checkpost by 12.30 and as soon as I got down in front of the dormitory nature got me a glimpse of a bird which I had only seen and admired and wondered if I could ever see in real life, I saw a BLACK NAPED BLUE MONARCH FLYCATCHER(nilmani).It had this black line on its blue head and neck and blue back had a black cap on its head,white belly looked beautiful but was very flickery I could only manage a good back view of this one.then there was a Browed fantail flycatcher.
I almost forgot i had to take a bed in the dormitry. Rohan got my bags I called upon rohit to take some snaps of the bird and then went to the room to get a bed.I just threw my luggage and came back to the tree we saw another rare bird there BLUE WINGED LEAF BIRD or cloropsis couldnt get a pic but was very satisfied on having a glimpse of the beautiful bird.We then saw white breasted water hen,common wood shrike, oriental honey buzzards,white eyed buzzards ,there were atleast 10 resident males in diffrent plumages, lesser flameback, maratha or yellow crowned woodpecker, great tit, jungle crow,spotted dear,langur families.We then went to a place near the lake where the entry to common people was barred. We had our lunch actually we were in no mood to have lunch we were just too eager to get into the jungle. But then the real problem started the people with whom we were were acting very irresponsibly they gave the leftovers to langurs and washed the plates in the lakes and no one opposed it absolutely no one. Rohit got a secret pic. It was embarassing to see naturalists being so irresponsible.It is this behaviour of ours that has now forced langurs to attack us for food on some places.Oh I forgot to tell we had a opening cermony to mark beinging of the camp the only nice part in it was they introduced cloth bags to avoid plastics in the forest.
So next we went to the lake to have a glimpse of what was in store for us and nature just told us its gonna be real fun .We spotted a grey headed fish eagle on the bank opposite to us which was too far.
At around 3.30pm we went for our first nature trail in the bus which made a sound that could scare everyone off the forest but luckily we spotted a few birds and animals.Some of them were RED JUNGLE FOWL, which we saw flying and it looked majestic.Just when we were thinkin about it the most dumbest question was asked by the man who is responsible for the garbage dumping in city during festivals the one who was late and the one who like others washed his tiffin in the lake the ques was "ISKA(red jungle fowl ka)SWAD ALAG REHTA HOGA NA?". I felt like cutting his fingers and make him taste that.Stupid question it shocked everyone to the extent that rohan just said isko khana banned hai uncle.Next we saw a booted eagle,crested serpent eagle,barking deer,spotted deer.
We were at an open grassland after an unsuccessful safari to spot a tiger.the grassland looked like something i had seen of masaimarah or savanah grasslands on discovery..and it had some groups of spotted dear with some sunrays which escaped the cloudy cover.
We then came back from the jungle at around 6.30 to watch the mesmerizing view of the lake.Which had its own scent a humid weather which relaxed us.as grew darker we went to the canteen and saw something moving in the dark a black outline and were instantly sure that it was a civet.we regreted not having a powerful torch but couldnt do much bout it see how nature protected her child.Then after having a fantastic dinner we were on our way back tot he dormitory when neeraj flashed the torch in the lake and something reflected the light back it was a crocodile's eye and it was moving smoothly over the water. It would be a nightmare to go near the water now and get a taste of the ambush powers of this big reptile.Who has won the race of time and survived for so many years. Hats off to his adaptability.
So after a long discussion on whether to sleep outside we decided to sleep inside. I had a restless sleep like everyone else I woke up at 1 coz it was too hot went out to fill my water bottle of course with a torch,coz it was pitch dark outside and as i moved the torch around i could see some scattered red spots reflecting the torch lights moving as my torch traced them in the dark they were all spotted deers.
So the second day dawned we woke up early to see rohit's well planned visit to the toilet before anybody else could wakeup, I guess he went to sleep thinking of that haha. After being so fond of any kind of animals I was shocked to both rohan and rohit afraid and almost hysteric of the common tree frogs and house geckos that shared our place. So we were ready by 6 and I went to the tree to see yesterday's black naped blue monarch flycatcher and he was already on a breakfast frenzy. We heard a white breasted waterhen near the lake we then walked along the lake road having torch since it was a bit dark. Suddenly Neeraj spotted a green bird the beautiful Indian Pitta on a tree branch and it swiftly vanished in no time. we also saw great tit, maratha woodpecker. Then it was the time for a second nature or should i say tiger trail. Everyone was interested in spotting the tiger but we were interested in spotting everything else than a tiger coz we felt the more secretive tiger can be the more are the chances of him living longer.so my, rohits rohans jays and neerajs eyes all glued to the windows. We were looking for a glance of the wild. Rohit spotted a painted spurfowl as we reached one of the water hole.and it was great to see that there was no tiger there.We saw some fresh pug marks of tiger along the road though. Next we went on to another water hole before which I spotted a ruddy mongoose bout which rohit had told me a day before on the dinning table it had a fluffy black tail.The joy on rohit's face made my sighting special and as soon as the damn bus wallah was ordered by the ignorant crowd to move on i missed my pic and the mongoose disappeared in the woods.These people were getting more and more irritating.Everytime we would si
ght something they would stop the bus and waiting for not more than 10secs would start the bus my camera took 2.6 secs for a pic and other atleast 8 secs to take it out and focus this irritated us. After the water hole two we passed on to 3rd hole which was a beautiful swamp.We also saw a big and I mean a huge wild boar.We then went to a place in the opposite direction passing our dormitories to spot a tiger. No one seemed to be interested in wildlife other than the tiger.The forest where we went was a dense one with sambhars and cheetals and barking deers everywhere. Unable to spot a tiger we came back and as decided were divided into 2 groups and went in opposite directions for a nature walk and a birdwatching trail.
We had 2 enthusiastic guys kaustubh and aditya in our group and an irritating aunty and 2 kids. We were going to place called panchdhara for the trail it started from a small man made pond from where there was this small stream of water flowing around which a lot of langurs were playing and we disturbed their silence but they excused us and let us share that wonderful dense part of the forest.The water had red algae which I had seen for the first time the place had so many paradise flycatchers white and ruphous both. They literally made the place look like heaven. The arrogant people were shown teeth by the monkeys for looking into their eyes. While we just passed them silently without looking at them. Looking at monkeys into their eyes makes them think we are challenging them same is the case with any wild animal.
Then we went t
o the best part of our walk a densely wooded area and i saw a raptor flying firstly i thought it might be some honey buzzard or serpent eagle but as we moved forward we spotted it. I had a little idea this was going to be the spotting of my life. It was a brown fish owl a nice big about 60 to 70cm in ht bird perched on a green branch.sensed us and flew in about 1 min to another tree where we spotted another owl I guess a juvenile of the same specie.These guys gave us the opportunity to picture them until our hands pained we literally slept on a wooden log to take its snaps. I felt so humble that nature let us photograph it with such calmness and serenity. My heart was filled with a feeling of reverence for mother nature thats when I realised what I was getting from her.With our heart filled with the great moments we got back to the dormitory speculating what rohit and jay spotted and they gave us some great ne
ws. They had spotted a grey headed fish eagle its nest and its juvenile and even had photographed and they even saw a wood owl.That was a great day. We then came back after a fantastic lunch And it started to drizzle a bit,which was followed by a strom and heavy rains and nature gifted us with the her beauty in rain too. Jay got wet in the rain the kid in him always is a joy to watch. I too got a bit wet and as we told rohan, rohit and neeraj bout how refreshed it feels to get wet rohan uttered the golden sentence of his life , 
he said "maa nehlati hai to aisa hi lagta hai". reverence for nature in every word he uttered was something that will make this sentence something that i will remember for long now. So the rain stopped and the organizer in a hurry told us that there was a good chance to spot(disturb) the tiger and would go on a trail in the jungle. So We went on for a trail it was really getting humid and we wondered why would the tiger head to a waterhole in this wheather. my eyes as usual glued to the window of the bus which was travelling at rocket speed inside the jungle which defied every logic. But ab tangewale ko ghode sabhalte nai aate to hum kya kare to baithe rahe. Hoping to spot anything that we could.As we approached the first water hole I spotted a wild cat sitting beside the bam
boo shrub in a mood to take a nap. everyone was relieved that atleast the saw WAGHACHI MAUSHI(tiger's aunt) as it is called locally. So we moved to the first waterhole to no avail. On road we stopped for something and the organizer said this bus wont stop now until we spot a tiger. Dimag kharab ho gaya humara. we were like ready to burn him down. His logic made us think we have to come to this place one more time. We decided we wont tell about any spotting and prayed they dont see the tiger still thinking what would the tiger do in such environment in a water hole and we also spotted another wildcat in on road but didnt tell anyone bout it. As we approached the second water hole we saw Mr.M.S.R.Shad i have to write about him a lot.waiting at the hole and we also heard some calls we had already visited this hole once in the same trail but we returned to it as we heard dear's call. to everybody's surprise a tailless tigress showed up she looked quite hefty and frightened but was not threatened so drank the water for about 5 mins and disappeared the the woods nearby. We then heard calls of her cubs 2 of them we have heard shad sir led the carvan of vehicles and some other arrogant ignorant people were so bloody excited that they didnt shut their car engines one of them had music in his car. the tigress crossed the road for about 2 times and had to walk about .5 km extra to cross it because of us.I felt really sorry bout it and wished that the trip would have been the same without a tiger spotting also. I also felt that our practical in field knowledge about animal behaviour was not that good coz the tiger actually showed up in the least favourable conditions as we thought them to be but the organizer was right. They gave undue importance to the tiger sighting actually it was just like watching the tiger in a zoo frightened and used to tourists. Felt bad about it. It would have been better if we could see a the wild part of her rather than the frightened part and her cubs didn't even show up.Then on our way back we scared a group of bisons and saw male dears fight for proving their supremacy in the herd. a great sight. But to irritate us further some aunty in the group threw a plastic from the bus window neeraj saw it an immediately the guide got down and brought it back. These people didn't have the basic education on how to behave in the jungle and what to see. Irritated to the word E we came back from the trail after scaring a herd of dears who went to drink water at the pond near the grassland we visited yesterday. It was about evening time and all of us sat at the lake, where I saw nature at its best as rohit had told us before we saw nightjars coming at the lake getting down near the surface of the water on the lake having a sip and flying over our head felt lucky to see that coz we could only see it at evening time. After the storm there was no electricity in the dormitory so we decided to sit by the lake till dinner and we also had to interact with Mr.M.S.R.Shad.yes i must write about him now.
Mr.M.S.R.Shad a very very very down to earth man even after being amongst the top most photographers in the region and every other pic in tadoba library was taken by him. He has this peculiar sentence which he always uses to puzzle us ,if u compliment him saying "sir apki pics bohot achi hai". He would immediately say "meri nai hai birds ki pics hai maine to bus camera se photo li hai" a role model for any naturalist i would remember the interaction we had with him distinctly for a long time. Fantastic man I feel lucky when i meet people like these. He made a point very clear that the change is happening in people's attitude towards nature the process is slow but its happening all we can do is educate more and more people about it.and take some efforts like gifting a tree on someones birthday.Fantastic man one of the key great things that happened on this trip was interaction with shad sir.
So we had our dinner which was again fantastic in dark and then after a late night interaction with shad sir we went on to sleep coz we had to go birdwatching early next morning.
On the third and final day we got up rohan had a disturbed stomach and his fantastic sounds as soon as he entered the toilet would fill the whole dormitory he asked me to check for frogs in bathroom and made sure there were none there. and then in candle light he let his stomach loose.hehe enough of the gross description now hehe. we got ready quickly and went on a trail along the path which wa
s followed by the other group yesterday.It was early morning and hardly any raptors in the air. along the road we saw a black ibis,and a few other birds before we saw a grey headed fish eagle fly just above the water. It landed on a tree and in the binoculars we could see his white legs and a grey head. It really looked like a strong but worried bird. After admiring it from the distance we moved a bit further to watch it closely and I couldn't control my adrenaline rush and was behaving like a crazy man wanting to go near to the bird going off the trail and near to the lake which was quite embarassing but I really felt I woouldn't get a chance like this again coz the camouflage was perfect there and I even got a bit angry on everybody trying to stop me. But i knew it was fine even if I didnt get a pic and it was fine even if i got one coz mom had already given us all a lot to cheer about. So watching it from there till it again flew to another destination. At the next point where we spotted him rohan got a video of the big guy shiting out probably his dinner. then we moved on to the area where we went yesterday just a few guys who were genuinely intrested accompanied by that irritating uncle and another one.At the place I got a chance to picture black headed golden oriole for the first time on the trip.Next a forest calotes entertained us with his push ups. Then we were in the area where we had spotted the owls yesterday. as i tried to go inside where we were sleeping yesterday i had the scare of my life i saw something moving behing a bamboo shrub and immediately took a photo which looked like there was a tiger behind it.F*** i was so scared and did a terrible mistake as i was pretty nervous showed my back to the so thought tiger. Guide went on to check it and confirmed that there is no tiger. But i felt it was good that I was frightened by it. But felt bad that i didnt act aptly and didnt apply my knowledge that how could it be a tiger it didn't even growl. After all this was my first time in dense forest.Felt like a FATTU..but enjoyed it now i knw how does feel to be watched by a tiger behind the bush, no doubt on why the cheetals are so active always.
K so we left the place as we had to leave by 11am according to the first plan (though we left at around 1).As we went to our dormitories someone had complained we didnt see a snake so mom just drpped it from a tree near by.It was a bronze backed tree snake which i came to recently is a rare sighting.This small snake could maintain perfect balance with 3/4th of his length in the year and it moved its neck so beautifully we could hardly believe our luck. So we had our last lunch in tadoba it was very very good as always. We thanked our guide for his efforts, and ya i felt really sorry for them coz one of them told me he was on daily wages for the last 20yrs and the government didnt even increase the wage. I wonder how these guys maintain their families at rates 20yrs old and the value of the work they do certainly deserves much more than this I would like to do something for such families someday.
So this was the end of our trip to mom's lap "nature's lap". i was filled with a feeling of reverence and satisfaction as we left tadoba. Felt very humble when i thought how co operative nature had been to us it almost took us as her part. Pictures of this trip will always be fresh in my mind and it has also given me the strength to work for the protection of our mother nature.
I would request all of you to gift ur frnds trees and make sure they are planted and looked after with care.Coz after what nature has given to me in 3 days i dont ever want it to be bare without trees that would be a shameful and a heinous crime.
Also I feel some basic education should be given to the people who enter the forest.
lastly
THANK YOU MOM(both of my moms nature and my mommy)
THANKYOU GUYS FOR MAKING IT A MEMORABLE JOURNEY
THANKYOU
Jay,Rohan,Rohit,Neeraj
u can watch my, oh extremly sory, the pics of wildlife at tadoba by me on
http://flickr.com/photos/7269217@N03
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)