Different Colours of Life

Bar Headed Goose

2012-01-21T11:28:00.003+05:30

Last week, we drove down to Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary. This place is around 15 km from Gurgaon and is a good spot for watching birds or having a picnic with family and feeling closer to nature. It is not as established a park as Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary where you can hire guides and take guided rickshaw trips with rickshaw drivers helping you in spotting and identifying different birds. Here, you are on your own and you need to take the trip on foot. We spotted many birds including purple heron, spotted owlets, kingfishers, cormorants, egrets, coots, teals, shovelers, painted storks, greylag geese and bar headed geese.

The one which I really liked was the migratory bar headed goose. Not only is it interesting in its looks with black bars (stripes) on its head, it has interesting facts associated with it. Bar Heade Geese are the world's highest flying birds. These birds can fly at an altitude of 29,500 feet, nearly as high as commercial aircraft. They travel all the way from Mongolia, cross the Himalayas and reach India. They spend the winter in India and in summer, they fly back to their breeding grounds in Central Asia. They are known to be able to cross the Himalayas in one single day. Most passes in the Himalayas are at a height of more than five kilometres where the air is thin and oxygen level low. Scientists have been working on their anatomy to figure out how they sustain their oxygen levels. The studies show that the geese have bigger wings, bigger lungs, a dense network of capillaries surrounding the flight muscle and haemoglobin that more tightly binds oxygen to the lungs work together to sustain oxygen flow throughout the bird's circulatory system, including its flight muscle.

It was nice to look at these birds, who make one of the highest and most-researched trans-mountain migrations in the world.

Bar Headed Geese

A Chapter from My Secret Diary

2012-01-11T18:54:00.003+05:30

Excerpts from the diary of a 10 year old

It's fun going through somebody else' secret diary, isn't it? Guilty pleasures or love for reading, whatever brings you here, makes me happy. It is a step forward in my path of chasing my dream of becoming famous and subsequently rich one day. Not too many people know that I began writing when I was barely seven. Only, I did not get any readers. Unfortunately that included my subject teachers too. All that went on for one full year. And I must tell you I felt quite low about my beginning. It did not help when mom blamed it all on my handwriting sometimes and my lack of imaginative thinking at other times. That was of course as far from truth as it could have been. One fine day, accidentally I overheard a conversation between my English and Maths teacher. It helped put everything in perspective.

Scene - Two teachers giggling and gossiping in the staffroom
Maths Teacher (to English teacher)- I am better off teaching maths (giggle). It is so much easier to correct the assignments. You see all maths problems are solved in one way and have the same answer. But hats off to you for going through 48 sheets of English compositions word by word.

English Teacher (yawning)- Who told you I go through all of them? I go through a few selected ones which appear interesting like the ones which have nice titles. Even then I often focus on the opening and ending lines. The rest of the assignments (yawn), I just glance and give some grade depending on my mood at that time.
End-of-scene

The moment of truth had dawned. The very next day, we were to submit a composition on our thoughts about any farm animal. That day I was so excited that I spent the entire evening watching TV and slept off early at night. I remembered about the assignment only in the morning and I had only ten minutes to work on it. Suddenly I remembered about a ten line essay I had submitted a few months ago on 'The Cow'. Though I was painfully aware that I had managed only a 'C' in that one but I had no choice but to re-use it. All I needed was a catchy title but believe me, coming up with an interesting title about a farm animal in that short a time was not easy. It would be great if the title involved an element of mystery or suspense, I thought. Hurriedly I settled for a new title to be - ~~'The Cow - A farm animal'~~ 'Is Cow really a sacred animal?'I began the composition with 'Everybody likes to worship cow but nobody knows if it truly is a sacred animal'. No, I did not add any research facts. In fact I copied the remaining ten lines directly from the previous essay and added a sentence in the end 'I often wonder if cow is really a sacred animal. Do you?' Guess what, I got my first ever 'A' grade in an assignment.

You must be wondering about which chapter of my secret diary am I going to talk about. Well, I am going to talk about how I screwed my chances for having a grand birthday party last month. After all I was turning a double digit number. Talking about secrets, I have nothing to hide about my age. Unlike my mom whose age is her biggest secret. When I was a small kid, I asked her about her age many times directly and indirectly. But she always avoided the question or would make a funny face and say 'I am just 12'. The more she avoided the question, the more curious I became. A few months ago, one day dad was looking at his important papers and he left his drawer unlocked just to answer the doorbell. Mom was not at home. That was my short opportunity. I sneaked in quickly and checked mom's date of birth in her passport. Boy! what a revelation. For two hours I sat puzzled thinking why she bothers to hide her age when she looks so much older than her real age. But moms are moms, you know.

Today in our English class, we were taught a new word 'adulteration' and after some initial thinking I have concluded it is derived from the word 'adult'. It could be because the adults have adulterated minds - unclear, polluted and with double and sometimes triple standards. Talking about multiple standards, I am reminded of an incident which happened last month when mom scolded me badly for refusing to wear a jacket to school. I was already stuffed with a vest, inner thermal wear, a turtle neck, a full sleeve tee-shirt and a full sleeve sweater. With all the layers, my arm movement was stiffer than a robots'. 'It's December!Look at the temperature', she screamed at me. The very same evening, we were to go for a wedding. Mom wore a saree with a sleeveless blouse and refused to cover her jewellery by wearing a sweater. When Dad reminded her that it was December, she announced she was carrying a shawl. She didn't even open the shawl, forget wrapping it around and carried it folded around her arm. As soon as we reached the venue, she requested Dad to take care of the shawl as it was getting entangled in her new golden bangle. Dad was uneasy but before he could say anything mom put the shawl on his shoulder and proceeded to gossip with her friends. After a little while, Dad requested me to take care of it for sometime. I was reluctant to help but agreed on the condition that he was going to allow me to gorge on my favorite items for dinner and protect me from Mom when she would chase me with healthy vegetables. Mom has this thing about chasing us all with vegetables. For me, food means pleasure and I get it out of eating non-veg food. Left to me, I would start my day with a plate full of chicken nuggets in the morning, a chicken burger and fries for lunch and end it with a chicken sandwich for dinner. I try to reason out with her that non-veg food means no-veg but she does not seem to understand. I tried explaining to her that potato fries take care of the veggies for me, but she does not appreciate. Moms will be moms, you know.

When it was time for dinner, I stuffed my plate with chicken lollipops and chicken wings. After my stomach received the required amount of fire, I decided to switch to desserts. Just when I was finishing with my ninth ice-cream of the evening, I saw a puppy under the catering table. Did I tell you I just adore puppies? It is just coincidental that we have the same interest in life - love for non-veg food. He appeared hungry so I took another serving of chicken snacks to offer to him. After he had his fill, the puppy decided to leave and I followed him. He went and lay down next to his two siblings in a cane basket lying in a roadside corner towards the end of the street. It was a cold night. Without thinking much, I spread the shawl over them so that they could stay warm for sometime. I meant to take it back later. But soon after that Dad called me to introduce me to some relatives and when it was time to leave, I completely forgot about the shawl. So did Dad and Mom too. But that doesn't count, right?And you know what would have happened after we reached home. I must say Dad tried to put my case rather well and referred to me as a kind and considerate animal lover. But mom was really mad at him and me 'No, it was not just a piece of cloth. It was an expensive pashmina shawl..And it was my favorite. How could you two be so irresponsible? blah blah'.

My birthday falls on Christmas day and I tell you it is not really a great day for having a birthday. Mom always tries to club the christmas, new year and my birthday party into one single party. There is a secret I want to share with you. I know very well that there is no Santa Claus. But I am not telling mom and dad. Every year around mid December, I start singing Christmas carols and dropping hints about what I am expecting from Santa for Christmas. Talking about gifts, Mom always accuses of being very greedy as far as toys and gifts are concerned. And you know what, she is right. I love toys and I do not like to miss a single opportunity to have another one. Indeed I am greedy about toys, gifts and all the good things of life. Talk about greed in grown-ups. They have it too and do not even admit it. Take the case of mom's blogging. I have been closely following her behavior and reactions from the time she started blogging. I clearly remember the day mom wrote her first post. For days she kept checking her statistics to see if someone visited. She announced to all her friends and relatives to check out her post. Every morning she would wake up and check her statistics. When her statistics improved, she was happy and was encouraged to write a few more posts. One week later she started complaining she did not get comments. She asked Dad to spread the word to his relatives and his subordinates at work. She even told dad that he should promote only those subordinates who read and commented on her posts. Comments started appearing but her happiness lasted for a few days. Then I heard her telling dad one day that she has joined some indiblogger site. For a few days, I saw her desperately look at how many votes her posts were fetching. I thought her greed was disgusting but I did not dare tell her.

Mom had stopped talking to me after the shawl incident. She even stopped chasing me with healthy stuff. But I made sure to take extra serving of veggies and gulped them down keeping a straight and smiling face. No effect. I kind of lost hope of any gifts this year - neither for Christmas, nor for my birthday. Not that I have been happy with mom's choice of gifts in the last few years. God only knows why she wants the gifts to be practically useful. So she loves gifting clothes, board games, books and brain teasers. I tried complaining to her once but she lectured me for thirty five minutes on how we should spend money judiciously and how much thought she puts in the gifts and how thankful I should be for all those things. This year I thought I had lost chance of even the practical gifts. I did not see mom checking the sizes of my dresses or the stock of my books. A week before the D-day, when it was too much for me to bear, I checked with Dad . "No plans this year" he told me "mom is really upset with us both". So I told myself I was going to turn ten silently and unannounced. One of my ex class mates called up to say she planned to have all her old class friends for a sleep over on 23rd. I had a good time with my friends at her place and gossiped till 4 am in the morning. I was really tired when I returned home and practically slept through the entire day after lunch. Mom did not even wake me for the dinner. Finally at midnight, I woke up to mom and dad singing birthday song for me. I was glad that they remembered to wish me at least. Mom had made a lovely chocolate cake and I really relished it. I looked at the Christmas tree and the stockings hanging there. It did not appear filled with any toys. There weren't any wrapped gifts under the tree either. I decided not to look at the stockings but the greed inside me pushed me to go through the motions anyway. It contained something. An envelope. I quickly took the envelope in my hand. It was sealed and signed by mom and dad wishing me Merry Christmas and a Happy Birthday. 'A greeting card' I told myself 'what else'. I knew mom and dad were watching me and I tried to keep a smiling face. As I opened the envelope, I found two gift vouchers and a greeting card. The first gift voucher was from KFC, worth Rs 5000. The other one was a voucher designed and signed by mom and dad saying they allocate the ten year old i.e. me, an amount of Rs 2000 to buy any product of my choice. This was brilliant. No practical and useful gifts. And the greeting card said 'You are allowed to watch TV and play video games all day. Take your friends out to KFC for the birthday party and a tiny message in a corner in mom's handwriting - Allowed to skip vegetables for the day'. Superb!My day was made. I had a lot of fun with my friends at KFC and we had a heart full of chicken burgers, fiery grilled chicken, fries, pepsi and of course no veggies! You know it is hard to resist a place which offers fried chicken items in buckets!

I suspect that mom had won the KFC voucher in some blogging contest and once again she wore her pragmatic hat by using it for my birthday party. But when it is a gift like this, I am not complaining!

Trees at Dusk

2011-12-12T21:54:00.003+05:30

I enjoy observing the shades, shapes and textures of leaves that adorn trees, but there is something about a bare tree which always makes me stop and observe. Especially when I see such trees in low light times, like at dawn or dusk, their personalities stands out. Each such sight calls for a painting to be created.

I stand tall and bare, With no more leaves to spare

I came across a few lines from a poem by Sara Teasdale, called 'The Tree' and found them very touching.

Oh to be free of myself
With nothing left to remember,
To have my heart as bare
As a tree in December
Resting, as a tree rests
After its leaves are gone,
Waiting no more for a rain at night
Nor for the red at dawn

Over the Moon

2011-12-01T19:12:00.002+05:30

In our daily rush of life, we hardly get time to look at and enjoy the moon. But when we do get a chance, it makes us feel serene and calm. A full moon is indeed a pleasure to watch. There is an interesting quotation I came across by Frederick L. Knowles, which I found very romantic -

The night walked down the sky with the moon in her hand.


Clouds dancing around the moon

Last month, we went to Bharatpur and it was nice to be in a jungle on a full moon night. I have often been mesmerized by sunrise and sunset but on that night, I fell in love with the majestic moon.

Majestic Moon

Soul Mates for Life

2011-11-24T06:58:00.004+05:30

In our recent trip to Bharatpur (Rajasthan, India), we got a chance to look at these beautiful birds by the name 'Sarus Cranes'. They are large non-migratory birds. They are the tallest of the flying birds (remember ostriches don't fly). They can go up to a height of 5.9 feet, that would mean taller than me. The ones we spotted were not as tall as me but certainly looked like 4 feet and that makes for quite a presence for a bird. They are pretty to look at with a long grey colored body contrasted with a red head and upper neck. They have loud trumpeting calls which almost sound like announcements 'I'm here. Come and take a look'. The most amazing fact about them is that they form long-lasting pair-bonds. They mate for life. It is believed that if one of them dies, the other one loses interest in life and mourns the loss so much that it starves itself to death.In India, they are considered symbols of marital fidelity. Apparently in parts of Gujarat, it is a custom to take newly wed couple to see a pair of Sarus cranes.

We mate for life

Click on the picture for better results

Thursday Challenge (Soft) here

A little more

2011-11-16T16:53:00.001+05:30

At times I wish, at times I pray
To have more hours in my day
So much to do, listen and say
To live this life my special way

To walk with him on the shore
Or talk to mom a wee bit more
To help my kids at their studies
And spend more time with my buddies

A new recipe I could try
Or learn the art of growing bonsai
To wipe the dust off my book rack
To re-read an old paperback

To sip my tea at leisure
Would really be a pleasure
I'd sit and watch the rain
Or ride in a scenic train

I'd live life...a little more

To pen down some more words
Or listen to the birds
I'd paint a few more strokes
Or laugh at a few more jokes

I could spend an extra hour
Just to observe a flower
To click another snap
Or just steal a short nap

Look at the blue of the sky
Or just watch a bird fly by
I'd watch the setting sun
Or gaze at stars for fun

I'd live life...a little more

To stop and feed a stray pup
In cold, help it bundle up
I'd talk to little kids in rags
Buy them chocolates or school bags

To feel the breeze in my hair
Or whisper a little prayer
To learn to face my fears
Or wipe a few more tears

Joy to be spread, bonds to be built
Into my cup of life half-filled
I'd look for more magic to pour
And to let my little dreams soar

I'd live life...a little more

Marbles

2011-11-09T10:12:00.005+05:30

When I was a child, little boys used to play with these small balls called marbles, making holes in the ground and aiming to shoot the marble using the crook of the index finger. I did not really play these games much but I have always been fascinated by these small spheres.

These days, kids are much into tennis, skating and even golf.

Coincidentally I also came across an interesting quote by G.K. Chesterton
"I regard golf as an expensive way of playing marbles"

Fascinating Balls called Marbles

I do want to restrict my association with marbles as plain nostalgia, I think it would be a good idea to teach my kids how to play a game of marbles in the park one of these days.

Thursday Challenge here

Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground

2011-11-03T11:03:00.003+05:30

I came across this quote written by Theodore Roosevelt and rather liked it.

This photograph has actually been clicked by my 4 year old son. It is interesting to see how the world appears when you are not tall enough to consider many things around you as unappealing or insignificant.

Thursday Challenge here

Share Happiness, Spread Love

2011-10-27T13:21:00.004+05:30

Thousand candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. ---- The Buddha

The Story of My Hair

2011-10-24T16:39:00.007+05:30

Born with curly hair
Answer to mom's prayer
Who always kept it oiled
So it isn't spoiled

I was...her girl with the curls

The touch of her fingers
rubbing though each hair strand
She adorned my hair with ribbons
colorful clips or a hair band

I was...her girl with the curls

After I left school
I was expected to be cool
My short and trendy hair styles
Always got me smiles

I still was...her girl with the curls

My hair got playful and flirty
When I reached my thirty
My hair tied in a perfect bun, I was a pretty bride
She looked at me and her eyes filled with pride

Life became busy when I became a wife
Then two lovely kids came into my life
I still cared for my tresses
By staying away from stresses

I am a woman of my own
With years I have grown
While my hair has begun to turn grey
To my mother, I want to say

I was and I still am...her girl with the curls

What we think, We become!

2011-10-19T13:55:00.005+05:30

I came across this quotation from Budha's teachings -

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.

A very simple, short but a very profound statement.

Come, let us look for the Buddha within us.

It is not important to be perfect, it is important to be peaceful

I want to spread love and warmth around

We have the same purpose in life - to write

2011-10-14T11:20:00.003+05:30

Sketch pens have the same purpose in life - to write. But each color brings a different effect to the paper.

My daughter is fond of collecting sketch pens in as many colors as she can get. Multiple shades of green, blue, yellow, pink, brown, black - the more the merrier. In one of our trips to stationery shop, she requested me to buy a set of connector pens for her. After I said 'Yes', she picked the biggest pack with 50 pens. Must say, the pens have added a good fun and color to her life.

We bring color to your writing

The entire collection here

United we stand, Divided we fall

Thursday Challenge (writing tools)

These are a few of my Favourite Things

2011-10-10T10:48:00.010+05:30

I open the windows of my mind and look at the beauty all around. There is so much to see, observe, cherish and soak inside.

I peep out from the glass window in the train and welcome the morning sun.

Flowers - They come in different shapes, colors and fragrance. But each one has a beauty of its own.

Looking at animals is a pleasure un-matched.

Birds - They are small in size but not in beauty

I love watching rocks - the different colors, shapes and textures.

Serenity of trees and jungles against the blue skies soothes my soul

I watch the setting sun rays fall over the beautiful river

Thank You Lord for creating such beautiful things around me!

Beautiful Bhedaghat

2011-10-09T19:02:00.018+05:30

Rajasthan was in my mind for the Dussehra break vacation. Ideal time to check out forts and sand-dunes, I thought. However this time we were delayed in planning the holiday and the un-availability of train tickets forced me to evaluate alternate destinations. I guess destiny had different plans for me when I chanced up on this small place called Bhedaghat, while browsing through the MP tourism page (here). Dhuandhar waterfalls and marble rocks appeared promising. So the tickets were booked for the Gondwana Express which departs from Nizammudin station in Delhi at 15:25 pm and reaches Jabalpur next morning at 7:15 am. Bhedaghat is a small village located 22 km from Jabalpur.

We booked the MPSTDC hotel Marble Rocks for 3 nights starting Oct 4, 2011. The online booking page suggested it was a peak season period. Waterfalls must be at their best after monsoons, I thought, I had made a perfect timing for this one. A couple of days letter, I came across information which indicated that November onwards is a better time to visit. I called MPSTDC office and was told that boating in the marble rocks area starts only from Oct 15. Further the water of the falls is likely to be muddy at this time. This made me upset. I found it weird that MPSTDC was charging extra high for the period between Oct 1-10. However, the booking terms indicated cancellation was not possible. So we decided to go ahead with the vacation. Perhaps I will spend more time sightseeing Jabalpur, I thought to myself.

We hired an auto from Jabalpur station to Bhedaghat for Rs 250. The roads were broken in most of the places. As we entered the hotel, I liked the appearance of the place. Entered the lobby and caught a first glimpse of the marble rocks. It was a fascinating sight. We found the place reasonably neat and well maintained. They have all of 11 rooms and have recently added 5 luxury tents. Their swimming pool is nearly done and expected to be operational in a couple of weeks. From the comforts point of view, it was a nice 3-star accommodation, but the location was unbeatable - a picture perfect place.

View from Motel Marble Rocks

In the evening, we went to look at the Dhuandhar falls. We walked to the place though it is possible to get a shared-auto which charges Rs 5 per person. The path to the falls, goes through a shopping area where you can buy things made out of marble stone. My daughter was completely bowled over by the variety, so we did some quick shopping, promising her to do more when we returned back or visited again on the next day. We took the rope-way and went to the other side to get a different view. The kids loved the ride in the rope-way and we enjoyed looking at the falls from a height. The rope-way also helped us transport to the other side of the river, which offered much better views. The falls themselves did not have much height, but the flow was very strong, water was almost violently forcing its way. We saw rainbow getting formed at the waterfall. I am told that the water will become clear green in color and the falls will gain height as the level of water in the river goes down, in the next couple of months. Locals told us that this year the monsoon has been so heavy that the Bargi Dam water had to be released 4-5 times in the last month.

Local guys were selling 'ber' sprinkled with chat masala. Me and my husband picked some. They were lovely.

Smoke from the Dhuandhar Falls

Rainbow formation

In the morning, we spotted a few interesting birds of prey. We suspected they were eagles but were not sure. Later we figured out they were Egyptian vultures. We also spotted grey hornbills, magpie robins, white eye-browed wagtail, green bee-eaters, laughing dove, spotted dove, sparrow lark, kingfishers, yellow bellied sunbirds and some more.

Egyptian Vulture on the tree in the centre

Laughing Dove

Knowing that there was no boat ride available to explore the marble rocks, we took a path down from the hotel. We enjoyed the walk and the scenery from two view-points. The rest of the day was reserved to take a trip to Bargi Dam, which is about 45 km from Bhedaghat.

From the view point of the path

We hired a cab and started at 3 pm. It took us an hour and a half to reach the place, thanks to the broken roads. We took a speed boat ride while waiting for the cruise. Booking for cruise starts only after 20 people show interest in going for the same. At around 5:30 pm, the cruise started. It was a pleasant ride looking at the sun setting behind the Narmada water. By the time we finished, it was getting dark and we decided to get back as we had to cover a long journey in the not-so-good and not-well-lit roads. Thanks to the bad roads, we had a flat tyre on the way back. Luckily a cycle repair shop was close-by and that guy somehow managed to fix the tyre after working on it for 40-45 minutes and we were back on the road again.

Sunset Cruise at Bargi Dam

On the way back to the hotel, I kept sulking about the wrong timing of the trip. I was finding the place nice in general but nothing had touched my soul. Back to the hotel, a surprise awaited. I was told the boating was going to start from next morning. Was it an answer to my prayers?I wondered. Next morning, there was a huge crowd at Panchvati ghat where the boating starts. It is easy to walk down to this place from the hotel. It had become quite hot around 11 am but I was very excited about the boat ride. All we could get to ride in was an ordinary shared boat where everybody was told to pay Rs 41. Somebody told me the actual rate is 31 but they have increased it looking at the huge demand. The boat ride made a huge difference to the vacation. It was lovely looking at the different colors of the marble rocks - white, black, golden, blue and pink. Going through the water with wall like structures made out of marble rocks on both sides was an altogether new experience. Words fail me in describing the beauty of the place. The guide gave an interesting commentary in Hindi, using interesting rhyming words flavored with humor. This is the place where lots of movies have been shot. The song 'Raat Ka Nasha Abhi' from the movie Ashoka has been shot there.

Different colors of the marble - golden, white, black, grey

Another view of the marble rocks

Spotted the Egyptian Vulture again while boating

In the evening, we went to Dhuandhar falls again. Kids wanted to repeat the rope-way experience. But what I was dying for was the sun-set boat ride in the river to look at the marble rocks again.

When we reached the ghats, we were told the last boat for the day was leaving but the seats which were left did not look inviting. I casually asked them if we could get a boat for our family. Yes, the option was available now. He asked us for Rs 400 and we agreed. This boat was much better and even had chairs, we were seated comfortably. Sun was setting and the moon was out already. This was one boat ride, I would remember and cherish for a long time. It was a very pleasant time of the day and I felt completely immersed in the place. We have got the information that this place has boat rides on full moon nights. That would be a terrific experience but this seemed like a close next best option. A couple of months later, the water would no longer be muddy, it would be clear and green in color. We would certainly like to re-visit this place once more, probably a year later in the month of Feb-March. The most ideal time to visit this place is around the time of Purnima (full-moon night) to have the boating experience in the night.

By the time we returned, it was getting slightly dark. We even spotted a few owls on top of the rocks. When we returned close to the ghats, we saw lot of big fruit bats flying around. Sharing the beautiful place with the owls and bats on the ride, made it an even more beautiful experience.

Reflection of Rocks in the water

Flavor of the place at dusk

Next morning, I walked up to the falls again, all by myself. I took long walks and explored the marble rocks even more. The more I saw them, the more I felt charmed by their beauty.

Another view of the marble rocks

So far my perception of natural beauty was limited to the sea, hills and forests. I got introduced to natural beauty in an altogether new form. Geological beauty, as my husband likes to put it. At times, the place looked too beautiful, too perfect to be true.

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, they say. This was one beauty which I feel, is likely to stay in the soul of the beholder.

Where are Perfect Maids Made?

2011-10-02T16:44:00.035+05:30

Maids come in all shapes, sizes, colors and attitudes. Some are thin and some are fat. Some are dark and some are fair. Some are active and fast at their work, others are sloppy and slow. Some are quiet and have a subtle presence while others are loud, noisy and always eager to talk.But whichever one you hire, after a while you end up feeling not-quite-satisfied and wonder if our neighbor has a better, more efficient and more regular maid.

Not really! She has the same sob stories to tell if anybody would care to listen. Care to listen? Of course! From short corridor chats to lively and animated kitty-party discussions, to a serious exchange of strategy tips of managing them at office lunch breaks ... this is one common topic that unites all women.

The fact remains that maids are an extremely important part of our lives. Even the men in the household will swear by this. Who has not been through depressing and almost mournful mornings when the maid has chosen to take leave, unannounced? It is also true that maid management is more complex than project management. However, if you develop a closer understanding on this important matter, you are likely to be able to use your people management soft skills more effectively.

This is what I have figured out:

1. Maids deliver only 70% of what they agree upon.

What You like to think - "She agreed to a set of tasks before we negotiated the salary and she better do them all."

What is the reality - She will take short-cuts whenever possible. If you are not looking, she will skip sweeping under the bed. If you point out and make her do that, she may skip washing the basin in the bathroom. There is a good chance that by the time you enter the bathroom and figure it out, she would have finished the work and left. Next day, when you carefully supervise the bathroom cleaning, she may put the vessels in the drawer without drying them.

What You could do - Accept it, learn to live with mediocrity in life. If you are too particular, hire multiple maids and allocate fewer tasks to each. Are you done? Not really, supervise them closely. Of course you run a risk of earning the reputation of a hard task-master amongst the maids.

2. On an average, a maid will take one day off in a week.

What You like to think - "What? 4 Leaves? I agreed with her that she will take a maximum of 2 days leave. And that too after informing."

What is the Reality - On rare occasions, they inform in advance--maybe during festivals like Diwali, Eid, Holi. Other times, they do not leave us with any clue. The next day, they come up with indisputable problems like 'I had a severe headache', 'My relative was ill' etc. I once had a maid who worked with me for several years. She was unusual in her honesty. One day she said 'I will not come in the evening as I am taking my kids for a mela'. Another time 'I am taking my kid for a birthday party for the first time'. I found the reasons too sweet to dispute. In fact, once she took a day off, and when I asked her next day, she said 'I just did not feel like coming to work'. Acceptable, I thought, there are days like that with everyone. As far as this is not a regular habit.

What You can do - If you can live in a not-so-clean house for a day, try to do as best as you can and then go eat out. It is a deserving excuse with multiple benefits. It will cheer you up and lift your spirits and it will help by not increasing dirty vessels to an already full sink. If this solution does not look acceptable, plan for back-ups. Hire multiple maids for doing different tasks (if you have more money to shell out, hire them for same tasks, it does not hurt getting the house swept once in the morning and another time in the evening too). But if you think otherwise, then one is on leave, you are left with fewer jobs on your head. If you are lucky, the other one will agree to do those job for extra money, and your life will be as smooth as any other day.

3. They love perks at the job.

What You like to think - "Perks? What for? She is getting a good salary."

What is the Reality - Who does not like perks at work? Those tea-coffee machines in the office are almost a necessity.

What You could do - Each maid has a weakness for something. Indulge in that, at least few days in a month, if not on a daily basis. Some have a deep craving for tea. Some appreciate getting something to eat as they leave early in the morning without eating much. Most of the times, they will be happy with a few slices of bread and pickle. If you feel like pampering them, toast the bread for them. They really appreciate it. Another very common and well-appreciated perk in summer is cold water. Almost all of them love to have a glass of fridge-cooled water.

So coming to 'where are perfect maids made?" The answer is nowhere! Just like there are no perfect husbands, there are no perfect maids. But just as one goes for match-making, one needs to carefully go for maid-matching. The matching of temperament, I mean. If you are a quiet person, a competent but talkative and loud maid may be a nuisance. I may be okay with a trust-worthy, child-friendly mediocre maid than the other way round but my neighbor may not be able to bear a speck of dust in her house.

To each, her own soul-maid!

Where do Babies come from?

2011-10-01T18:05:00.004+05:30

It's amazing how this question tickles the imagination of small kids. When my daughter was 4-5 year old, she was completely fascinated by this thought of where she came from. Once she was browsing through a photo album and came across a picture of mine in Goa, when I was expecting her. She asked me where she was at that time. I told her 'You were in my stomach'. She came across another older picture and asked me 'Was I in your stomach at this time also?". I told her "No". A little while later, she came up to me and asked me very thoughtfully "When I was not in your stomach, where was I". I told her "You were in mind". She was satisfied with this answer.

Fascination with babies was not restricted to her innocent questions, but it was very much a part of her play. My mother-in-law, who was her regular playmate, once came out of the toy room laughing to herself and announced 'Another baby born". In my daughter's imaginative play with her dolls, a baby was getting born every 10 minutes.

Now, it is the turn of my 4 year old son. In good humor, once my husband told him that he came out of papa's tummy while his sister came out of mummy's tummy. My son seems to have taken it seriously. The other day he was telling me that when he grows up, a baby boy will come out of his tummy. He clarified to me that when his didi grows up, a baby girl will come out of her tummy.

Yesterday, he was trying his hand at drawing something in his sketchbook. We had a short conversation.
Me - What are you drawing?
Him - A dinosaur
Me - Let me see. Now what have you drawn in his body?
Him - O this! This is his egg
Me - O really! What will happen to this egg?
Him (Looking at me with surprise at my ignorance) - The egg will come out of his body. Then he will stand on the egg. The egg will break.
Me - And then?
Him - A baby dinosaur will come out

I must say I quite enjoyed his imagination of the dinosaur standing on the egg to break it so that the baby dinosaur could come out.

The Corner Office

2011-09-30T11:17:00.009+05:30

        9 AM sharp. She enters the conference room. She begins with the status meeting. One by one, the points are discussed, status shared by the team and action items assigned. “We can not afford to slip a single day. Remember, the delivery date is 15 February”, she ends with her regular closing remark. Her words are measured and actions prudent.
        As she walks up to the coffee machine, the doctor's words echo in her mind “Restrict your caffeine”. She opts for tea and fills only half a mug. As she stands pinning the project report on the soft board in her cubicle, her eyes fall on her certificate “Most Promising Manager of the Year”. She smiles and sits down. Sipping her tea, she is lost in old memories. Winning prizes was a routine for her. School topper, college topper and a fast tracker at work, she was a complete careerist now. “Success of this project is critical for your promotion”, she remembers her boss's words clearly. She opens the strategy document and tries to concentrate. She closes her eyes to think clearly. Suddenly she feels a movement inside her body. Another one. “Was it a kick” she thinks “Yes, the doctor said it was expected anytime”
         7 PM. She sits helping the engineers in debugging issues. 8 PM. She is having a working dinner in a meeting. 9 PM her husband arrives and forces her to wind up.
        “Take it easy sweetheart, our life is going to change in two months”
        “I can't afford to, honey. You know I am very close. Just six weeks. And then...”
        “And then?”
        “I will be the Group Head. 50 engineers reporting to me. You know, I am going to get the corner office, with a window facing the lawns”
         “What about the baby?”
        “You don't worry about that. Mom is moving in with us”
        “What about you, won't you spend time with the baby?”
        “O, come on. I am not the diaper changing types. I will play with him alright, that too when he grows up to at least speak and call me Mamma. You know, I am not a home body. I am afraid I will go crazy in the maternity leave. Don't like to miss office a single day”.
        Like a complete workaholic, she continues with her long hours at work. There are problems. There are hurdles. There are software bugs and hardware failures. There are customer demands and team's expectations. She handles it all.
        “Slow down now. If your blood pressure shoots up, I will have to advise bed-rest” the doctor tells her in the regular check-up.
         “I need this adrenaline, this rush, to keep me going. I can never slow down” she replies with a smile.
         And finally, the project gets delivered on time. The promotion letter follows.
        “Yes, I am getting the corner office from tomorrow” she screams with excitement over phone“Coming home early”.
        As she enters home, within minutes, her labor pain starts. In the hospital, she tries to manage her pain by doing breathing exercises. “The head is crowned”, the doctor announces “you are doing well”. She closes her eyes. “Yes, push now with all your strength! One last time! Doing well, dear!”. She pushes with all her might and the baby is out. She feels amazed. She feels like she had never felt before. She had delivered many projects as a manager, but nothing like this one. A small creation from her own flesh, her own blood. She holds her carefully in her arms. She touched her fingers and her toes. She presses her cheeks against her's. She nurses her. She kisses her. When she looks at her, she forgets to blink.
        Three months later. “The books said, they do not speak for months. But the baby speaks to me, all the time. She speaks through her eyes, through her little movements and of course through her loud cries” She lay awake on the bed pondering. Days pass. She nurses her. She changes diapers. She bathes her. She massages her. And she sings lullabies.
        Her mother moves in. The maternity leave ends. She joins back at work. As she arrives in her corner office, she feels strange. She had waited for this day for years. She looks at all the congratulatory mails in her computer. Her boss and team come to congratulate her on her successful project, her promotion and of course her corner office. As everyone leaves her office, she sits on her chair and stares at the monitor. She does not feel like having lunch. Hearing a sound of a bird, she stands up and opens the window. Her eyes fall on a nest in a the tree outside her office. A couple of baby mynah sit there making that sound. Mama mynah arrives flying with food in her beak and begins feeding the babies. She smiles and takes a long deep breath. She sits down to type her resignation letter.
        As she reaches home, she holds the baby in her arms again. She had missed her terribly. She is happy again, but with a difference. She does not need the adrenaline to keep going. She is at peace with her baby. She is at peace with herself.
        “You don't have to sacrifice your career for your baby” her mother says “I will take care of her”
        “I am not sacrificing anything. I am doing this for myself” she replies.
        “Hormones at work!” her mother says “you will get to your normal form in six months”.
        Three years later.
        She enters the same office with her three year old. She tells her to sit at the sofa in the reception area and wait for her. She looks at the sign pointing to the right saying 'Engineering'. She stands there for a moment and smiles. Then she turns left following the sign saying 'Administration'. As she enters the office of the Head, Administration, she is greeted with a “Terrific work!You are a wonderful painter”. The meeting is fruitful. She gets a commission for a batch of paintings for the new office branch.
        Together they walk out of the office and move towards the parking. She stops for a moment and peeps in the corner office through the glass window. A big painting of a blooming lotus is adorning the room. Her eyes do not miss looking at her tiny signature on that painting.

Have a Nice Day

2011-09-29T09:47:00.004+05:30

Flowers are the most beautiful creation of God. They never fail to bring a smile to my face.

Golden Yellow Chrysanthemum


Pretty Pink Carnations with lovely yellow flowers in background

The flowers have a lovely way to say

Good morning friend, Have a Nice Day!

Thursday Challenge - Golden here

The Golden Oriole

2011-09-27T10:41:00.006+05:30

The Golden Oriole is my current most favorite bird. It is a sheer beauty to look at. It is also very shy and I had to work extra hard to take its pictures. Let me clarify it is the male golden oriole which has this bright yellow and black plumage, the female is green and not so striking in looks. I sighted these beautiful birds in my trip to Ranthambore in August 2011.

The Gorgeous Golden Oriole

From a different angle

My beak is beautiful too

Thursday Challenge: Golden here
Our World Tuesday here

Green Bee Eater

2011-09-26T11:24:00.004+05:30

I had taken these snaps at Ranthambore, though I have spotted quite a few of them in Gurgaon and Noida. They are easily distinguished by their tail, the central feathers of the tail is elongated, which gives it a very interesting pointed appearance towards the end of the tail. And their beak also looks long and thin.

Chestnut color on its head

Look at the long tail

Three Little Sparrows

2011-09-25T10:39:00.005+05:30

Woke up in the morning and saw little sparrows sitting in my balcony, nibbling at the seeds. Very active and busy small creatures.

One Little

Two Little

Three Little Sparrows

Birthday Surprise

2011-09-20T11:31:00.010+05:30

When August comes, September can not be far behind! I know it rather well because August is the month when my son was born and September, when my daughter was born. So when planning for the first birthday party begins, the other one is already on my mind. This year my son turned 4 and after having been to some of the parties in the last few months, he had been asking for a birthday party. So we held a birthday party for him and invited all his friends. On the day of his birthday, my father-in-law called up in the morning and told me "Make sure my grand-daughter has also a party of the same scale". She is her first and I think his most favorite grand-child. "Of course" I told him "whatever she wants".

After my son's party got over, I asked her how she wanted to go about this year. She said she was still thinking. On 7th September, she went for an outstation school trip for 4 days and came back only on 10th September. Before going, she settled for a camera for a birthday gift from her dad and got it well before the trip. After she was back and well rested, I asked her again "Now tell me where do you want to celebrate your birthday party? Are you inviting only the girls or the entire class?" I was prepared that she may want a grander party this year, considering turning ten, a double digit age is something more special. "I don't want to hold a birthday party this year, not inviting friends" she replied. I was dumbfounded. Last year, the planning and preparations for the birthday party had lasted for a month before the actual date. We had spent days deciding the theme and games and return gifts. "May be a trip hangover" I thought and kept quiet. Two days later I checked again "So shall we book a place for a party or you want to hold the party at home?" She was quick to reply "At home, mom. But only with family". I was puzzled. "Are you sure?"I asked "No kids around. Just the four of us?". She smiled "Well, can I call my cousins over?". I nodded, still feeling confused.

On 17th morning, just a day before her birthday I sat puzzled. "May be I should arrange a surprise party and call all her class friends over". I discussed with my husband and told him that I am feeling odd that she is not having a proper birthday party. He was cool about it "It's nothing odd". In the evening, she casually remarked "So tomorrow is my birthday. I hope you are planning surprises for me". That's when I felt really nervous. "She is expecting surprises?". This was tricky! Planning a normal birthday party was hard work but more straightforward. I was completely clueless. At that time, I really empathized with guys who have to plan surprises for their girlfriends. While she was busy playing, I quickly checked with her "So what is your favorite color these days". I have learned that kids especially girls change their favorite color quite frequently and its always a good idea to check it out regularly. At one time, she almost worshiped pink color. Few years later, in a clothes shop, when I suggested a pink jacket for her, I was told "Come on Mom, Pink is for babies". That is when she bought black jacket and many items in black color. "Lilac. Mom. That light purple shade" she replied.

"Hmm...she wants to be surprised" I thought "A little lady after all". Before going to bed, I decided I would pick flowers for her in the morning before she woke up. "Light purple carnations" I thought "she would love them". In the morning, I was still uneasy about the surprise part. It was like going through an exam. "What if she does not approve of the surprise?" Towards the end of the yoga class, as I lay down in Shavasan, my mind was still working actively "What if the shop does not have lilac colored flowers?". When I entered the flower shop, my fear came true. Lilac carnations were not in stock. I decided to take a chance. Dark pink carnations, not the baby pink color and yellow chrysanthemum. But I specifically asked for a light purple ribbon. That guy made a big flower from that ribbon and decorated the bouquet. I wrote a personal note on a card and he stuck it on the bouquet too. "Chocolate" I thought "would be a good addition". So with a Cadbury Silk chocolate in one hand and the flowers in the other, I rang the bell. She came to open the door and gave me a wonderful smile looking at me carrying the things. I gave her a tight hug, picked her up and took her in my arms. Picking her up (गोदी में लेना) is a difficult task these days, but it was a special occasion and she deserved it.

She liked the flowers and arranged them in a vase, but she loved the purple ribbon flower the most. Her best friend made a surprise visit and she played with her for a couple of hours before her cousins, and other relatives arrived. Unlike other days, she gave an un-inhibited tight hug to her grandmother. He grandmother gave her money this time as she wanted her to spend the way she liked. My daughter appreciated the fact that she was being trusted with taking care of the money and choosing to buy what she wanted.

All the cousins had a great time playing with each other. We ordered pizza for the kids. She cut the cake and celebrated the day at home with extended family.

In the evening, we took her to a mall so that she could pick up birthday presents for herself. She picked a night-dress and a hairband. My son was also enthusiastic about giving a gift to her and getting a return gift. They discussed amongst each other and decided on the gifts from each other. She selected a small pouch meant for keeping traveling toiletries. It also had a few small empty bottles for keeping cream, shampoo. She has a fascination for creams, shampoos and perfumes these days. He selected a toy camera.

At night, she told me this was the best birthday she has had. I know kids tend to exaggerate their feelings but she did look peaceful and contented. I must say, the fact that she chose to spend the day with her family and cousins was very re-assuring at some level. And I also learned that to her a surprise did not mean a big thing, but her parents giving a thought to her interests and desires. A day when they make efforts to make her feel special. And of course lots and lots of love and attention from her mother. I don't know about her, but she certainly gave me a big surprise this year!

Birds in my surroundings

2011-09-14T18:15:00.011+05:30

Perhaps I was wrong when I thought one needs a holiday break and visit special places to watch birds. Of course, the leisure of vacations allows you to freely roam around with a pair of binocs hanging in your neck for as long as you want to. And bird sanctuaries are indeed a complete delight for a bird watcher. But sadly, all vacations get over! But what this new hobby has taught me is to have the right eye for spotting birds where ever you are. In Gurgaon itself, I have been rewarded by the sight of so many interesting birds, that I failed to notice earlier. And of course, it helps to see the familiar birds too in a different light.

I am going to try and capture these birds in my lens as and when I get an opportunity. (Please zoom for better results)

A common visitor to our homes, rock pigeon is listed amongst the most intelligent birds, who can remember a lot of images for a long time. They are supposed to have passed mirror test, which tests whether an animal can recognize its own reflection or not. Interestingly, in a famous article written in1995,Watanabe, Sakamoto and Wakita described an experiment which showed that pigeons can be trained to discriminate between painting by Picasso and Monet.


Rock Pigeon - an intelligent bird

Next is the common myna.

Common Myna

Then there is the house sparrow, another common visitor to homes.

House Sparrow - busy eating her lunch

After being fascinated by the Indian roller at Ranthambore for its beautiful colours, I was amazed to spot him in Gurgaon. The bird looks wonderful when in flight, especially the different blues in its wings. It's local name is Neelkanth. It is the state bird of many states including Andra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar and Orissa.

Early bird catches the worm

Happy after a hearty breakfast

Let me see, who's been clicking me?

This is just the beginning! I have spotted quite a few interesting birds on different days, including Greater coucal, rufous treepie, falcons etc. but yet to capture them in my lens.

What are little kids made of?

2011-09-12T10:50:00.003+05:30

There goes a popular nursery ryhme from the early 19th century

What are little boys made of?
Frogs and snails
And puppy dog's tails
That's what little boys are made of

What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice
And everything nice
That's what little girls are made of

Being a mother of a 10 year old daughter and 4 year old son, I have often pondered at what my little kids are made of. Are they similar in their tastes and interests?Are they different because of being a girl or a boy? Or are they different because they are different people?

When my son was about 2 years old, I started taking him to the park in our housing complex. The first revelation of the difference hit me when I saw that he was more interested in the parking that I had to walk through, than in the park. My daughter had never bothered to look at the cars and the two wheelers in the parking . Her main interest was to go the park for the swing. She was not too keen on the slide, but it was hard to convince her to leave the swing to give turn to the next child. While he likes to swing too, he is equally happy with the slide. But what would give him a real high was to to sit on a motorcycle in the parking and pretend to ride.

My daughter loved picking leaves and flowers in the park. She was fascinated by the different colors and the textures of leaves. Another object, which never failed to catch her attention were the bird feathers. Even now, she has the eye to pick interesting feathers. In our trip to Goa, she picked some parrot feathers. When we visited Kufri zoo this year,outside the pheasantry, she found a feather of the Western Tragopan. These are precious objects of her treasure. My son, on the other hand, occasionally picks up stones and sticks.

At 3-4 years age, my daughter used to get completely bored in car journeys, but he has a great time looking at the road, the various cars, trucks, buses, autos, motorcycles and so on. He has a special fascination for the construction trucks.Thanks to his interest, I and my daughter have also got exposed to this new world of interesting vehicles. We also smile and comment when we see excavators, cranes, road rollers and tractors on the road. We now know that excavators and back-hoes are different, as the latter has a front loader basket.

At this age, my daughter loved collecting dolls. In every trip to the market, she would want to pick up a new one. At times, I found the new one identical to what she had at home, but she would quickly clarify the differences 'Mamma, look, her hair is brown and not black. And her dress is so different'. As soon as we would arrive home, she would sit with all her dolls and get started with a dress-exchanging session. I was amazed to see a similar trait in my son. Not with dolls, but with cars. As soon as a car would be home, he would take the tyres out. It hit me one day when he got me a truck and told me to fit a car tyre in that. Of course it won't fit and he was hard to console.

A common love they had while growing up, was for toy animal sets. But again while she would put them outside her doll houses, he would put them on the big trucks and take them for a ride.

Wait, there is a long list of similarities too. After having disposed off my daughter's old toys, which I thought would be irrelevant for him, very soon, I had to bring myself to buy a kitchen set for my son. Infact he already has two sets by now. He loves rolling chappatis as much as she did. Both of them love playing with clay, sand and water. The both have an inherent love for glue and scotch tapes. My son has been made to progress to a scotch tape fitted in a dispenser, so that I can be relieved of the job of cutting the tape for him all day long. My son spends a good amount of time, fixing things using the tapes. Today morning, when I picked my kurta hanging in the bathroom, down came the churidar too, attached to the kurta with a scotch tape! They both love stickers, the common interest being smileys, stars and other shapes. They love magnets, reading lights, torches, umbrellas. They both love messing around and creating an imaginary world of their own.

While the similarities might have made it easier for the siblings to understand each other, I think it is the differences which have made their little worlds so much richer and interesting.

Do you also sometimes stop and wonder at what your little kids are made of?

Picture Story - The Rotten Apple

2011-09-07T07:21:00.068+05:30

This is a short story of the nok-jhok (silly fights) between a parrot couple (Zoom the pictures for better clarity). One fine day, Mr Parrot lovingly offers an apple to Mrs Parrot. But she does not like it and is upset.

Mrs Parrot - That apple was rotten. Couldn't you find a better one?
Mr Parrot - Forget about the apple now. Look at me, don't you like the rose ring around my neck. I have the best one among all my friends.
Mrs Parrot - No, I don't. I am going.

Mr Parrot - Stupid me, I should have tasted the apple beforehand. I am missing her terribly.

Mrs Parrot settles herself on a different tree.
Mrs Parrot (thinking to herself) - Huh, what does he think of himself. The best neck ring! Who cares?

Mrs Parrot - What takes him so long? He should have come by now, chasing me!

Mr Parrot arrives finally.
Mrs Parrot (heaving a sigh of relief) - Here, he comes. Thank God!

They settle themselves on a different branch.
Mr Parrot - I missed you sweetheart. Did you?
Mrs Parrot - Yeah, Alright
(after a few seconds) But how could you...I mean really how could you offer me a rotten apple? And then how come you took so long to find me?

Familiar, No?

The End

_______________________________________________________________________

Ranthambore minus the Tiger

2011-08-25T11:25:00.096+05:30

Ranthambore is an all season destination provided one does not have a single-point agenda of sighting the tiger. While summers are ideal for sighting the tigers, winters offer pleasant weather but it is the monsoons when the forest is at its best in its looks. Lush green, scenic, serene, incredibly beautiful and something beyond words. This is what we felt when we visited RNP (Ranthambore National Park) last week.

We took the Dehradun-Bandra express train from Nizammudin Station around 10 pm and reached Sawai Madhopur station next morning at 5:40 am. The overnight journeys have an element of magic in them, you board the train in the night and while you sleep, you get magically transported to your destination. Once at the station, we walked a few meters and then climbed down a small over-bridge. It was easy to get an auto-rickshaw, the driver asked for Rs 50 to go to the Taj- Sawai Madhopur Lodge.

This hotel used to be a hunting lodge for the Maharajas of Jaipur and was built 80 years ago. We were way too early for a normal 12:00 pm check-in time but we were received warmly and told to wait in the lobby while the room was getting ready. The lobby turned out to be a semicircular drawing room, not big but quite cozy. The walls are decorated with stuffed heads of deer, tigers and leopards. We were served tea and biscuits. The lobby overlooks big, nicely maintained lawns. I took a short walk to the lawns and saw a big bird about a foot long. As it flew over my head I felt something was un-usual about it. Perhaps, the wings? Could it be a bat? I had never seen a bat of that size. I called my husband to check it out too. He confirmed it was a bat. Not just one, there was a colony of bats spread over a few trees. It was amazing to see how the bats would fly for a short distance and on reaching the tree, they would hang upside down. We took a few pictures from my new camera - Canon SX230. I later figured out that they were the Indian flying foxes. An amazing beginning to our trip!

Lawns in front of the lobby

Bats roosting in trees

While we were still waiting, it began to rain. The room was ready and we were driven to the room in a hotel golf cart. Our room was a bit far from the main lobby and the reception area. It was surrounded by trees all around. I loved the setting. While it was still drizzling, I took my umbrella and went for a short walk to explore the surroundings. I had not gone too far when I felt a sudden movement in the grass. Was it a wild animal? For a moment, I was scared. It turned out to be a hare. I saw him hide behind the bushes. When I walked a few steps towards him, he ran and vanished.

From the bats to the hare, all in the premises of the hotel, in the first couple of hours. My excitement level was increasing. I walked around the area. I observed a bird which looked like a partridge. When I walked a little further, I saw some babblers on the ground and also an unfamiliar bird, which appeared vaguely like a chick - but not quite. It was brown in color and had white underparts. I later checked in the birding books and suspect that it was a water hen but I never got an opportunity to see him again in my stay. It began to rain heavily and I came back to the room.

The room was luxurious though not very big. But the bathroom was huge. In retrospect, in this trip I spent very little time in the room. I was outdoors most of the time. The big trees and the lush green surroundings were very inviting.

Lawns in front of our room

During breakfast time, the staff told us that a limited area of the RNP is open and a safari can be arranged. It was clear to us that tiger sighting was out of question and if we took the safari, it would be primarily for the jungle experience. We had missed the slot for the morning safari, which may have been canceled anyway thanks to the rains. We still had some time to decide for the afternoon safari. Mr Nagendra, the Operations Manager of the hotel came around to introduce himself. He was very warm and helpful and gave us personal attention throughout our stay.

After breakfast, I was out again. I spotted a few parrots. Then a few more. Initially I would exclaim and call my children 'Look Parrots'. But within no time, I realized that the place was completely full of parrots. As I took my walk, I saw that a couple of neem trees were absolutely filled with parrots and they made a lot of noise. I have always enjoyed looking at parrots and I got my fill there. I specifically liked the ones with the rose-pink ring around the neck and the plum headed ones. These parrots are lovey-dovey birds. I mostly saw them in pairs and in romantic moods. I got to see Asian Koel, both male and female from very close. Soon, I learned that the Koels had a favorite tree and I could always spot two or three Koel sitting there. An amateur photographer with a new camera in my hand, I was trying to take as many shots as possible, when one staff guy called out to me 'Good morning. An owl there'. Immediately I followed him and he showed me as many as three owls sitting in the trees. I could see one smaller one very clearly while the others were hidden by the leaves. I looked at the owlet and he looked at me. He was simply adorable. My first experience of seeing an owl in the wild. Oh boy, did I need to take a safari! I was already in a jungle.

Adorable Spotted Owlet

The upper one is a male rose-ringed parakeet

After an early lunch, we decided to check out the possibility of a safari.The booking office is at a walking distance from the Taj hotel. This could be a major benefit for the peak season. I believe, even after doing the booking on-line, one needs to go to the office to deposit papers before every safari. A hotel staff member accompanied us to help with the booking formalities. Since it was an off-season, there was no option available of sharing seats in a gypsy. The only option was to hire the complete gypsy (all 6 seats) for Rs 3000. I looked outside. The rain had stopped and the sun was out. We decided to take the safari that very day. I am glad we did! It was great traveling in the open gyspy, comfortably occupying all the seats and entering the jungle. Only three zones are open at this time of the year - zone 6, 7 and 8. The zone 7 and zone 8 belong to the Sawai Mansingh Sanctuary at Balas. We were allocated Zone 6, which was the best of the lot. The trail was broken at most of the places and we had to cross streams at many places. In the summer season, these streams are completely dried out, but in monsoons, they are a challenge for the driver. This is perhaps the reason, the canters do not run in the monsoon season. We had a great driver Mr Mahavir, who knew more about the jungle and the birds than the guide allocated to us. On the way he learned from some forest guards that they have seen a sloth bear. He tried his level best taking us through all the different paths trying to sight the bear but all we spotted were a few holes freshly dug by the bear and more importantly we traversed interesting parts of the park. The forest itself was amazingly beautiful - it was a 360 degrees beauty around us. Lush greenery and lovely water streams all over.


Inside the jungle

Crossing a stream

We spotted many animals- neelagi, sambar, spotted deer, langurs, peacocks and many beautiful birds. My four year old son was completely bowled over by the beautiful peacocks and he kept demanding 'I want to see one more'. We saw painted spurfowl, bush quails, gorgeous golden oriole, Indian blue roller, treepie, drongos, magpie robin, laughing dove, greater coucal and many others. I wished the safari would never end. I could spend the full day inside, the night would be a different matter though.

A small waterfall

Painted Spurfowl

Unfortunately, before the safari ended, my camera started showing low battery. While I am yet to debug the problem with the new camera batteries, it was a let down in the middle of the trip. To make matters worse, we were not carrying the charger. The sales-person had guaranteed 500 shots and we had taken only a 100 odd stills and a couple of short videos. This meant, we had to be very selective in clicking photographs from that time.

When we were back to the hotel, the only bird that had left an impression in my mind was the golden oriole. And guess what, next morning, my husband woke me up to show a golden oriole sitting on the tree, right in front of our room.There could not have been a better way to start the morning. I decided to reserve the remaining battery to click the golden oriole.

We decided to visit the Ranthambore Fort on the second day. The fort is actually open from 6:30 am but we decided to take it easy and left after breakfast. A magnificent fort with an interesting history, standing 700 feet above the plains, in the middle of the RNP, it is known for offering splendid views of the forest. Great! another chance of traveling in the open gypsy and entering the RNP.

The right way to visit a fort is to read the history of the place beforehand. Though I intended to, I did not get time to do so and that is the reason, we decided to hire a guide with us. The fort was founded in 944 AD by Nagil Jats, a branch of Chauhans. The guide told us the story and the legend that go around the most famous king who ruled this fort, Hammir Dev Chauhan. Standing there, I was getting shivers, thinking about the bloodiest battles fought there and the jauhar performed by thousands of ladies. Stairs in the fort have been made for the visitors, originally there were ramps made of stones, to facilitate the horses getting in. Hammir Dev, a direct descendant of Prithvi Raj Chauhan was a brave king who won 12 out of 19 battles he fought during his reign. The reason for the last ill-fated battle was Hammir's givingshelter to Muhammad Shah, who had escaped from the wrath of Allaudin Khilji. This infuriated Khilji, who immediately attacked Ranthambore fort. It was a tough battle. Finally Khlilji won the battle not out of his bravery but essentially with the help of Hammir's treacherous generals Raitpal and Ranmal, who sided with Khilji.

The guide showed us foot marks of Hammirs' horse on the walls of the fort. Apparently, his generals had closed the door to enter the place and the horse magically climbed up the wall. A legend goes that after losing the war, Hammir Dev, severed his head and put it in front of Lord Shiva's idol.

There are many tunnels in the fort, which have now been closed for the safety of the visitors. There are good viewing points, including one from the Badal Mahal.

If interested, in knowing about Hammir Dev Chauhan and the battle, look here.

There is an ancient Ganesh temple in the fort. It has idols of Trinetra Ganesh, his wives Ridhi and Sidhi and his sons Shubh and Labh. The guide told us that the people send the first marriage invitation card to the Ganesh temple by post. People who wish to build a house of their own, build a symbolic house using a few stones outside the Ganesh temple.

We spotted a few more birds including crested bunting, rufous treepie and rockchat inside the fort. Thanks to the low battery, we were not even carrying our camera.

We spent the last day relaxing and with the precious little battery charge, I managed to capture the golden oriole in my lens. The male is extremely attractive to look at, bright yellow and black plumage and an orange beak. It is a rather shy bird and I had to work hard to take its pictures. I also spotted another new bird, called coppersmith barbet, one with a crimson forehead and throat. As the names suggests, his calls have been appropriately likened to a copper smith striking metal with a hammer.

The Beautiful Golden Oriole

Coppersmith Barbet

Before I close, would like to say a few words about the the hotel. The one thing, that really touched us during the stay was the warmth of the complete team. Right from the cleaning guy to the top management, everyone greeted us with respect and genuine smiles. Even as Indians, we felt humbled by the way the staff would bow down and fold their hands in Namaste. The food was good but not great. But the service was outstanding. On the first two days, there were only 2-3 families in the hotel. They asked us what we wanted to eat and planned the meals accordingly. They have not learned to say 'No' and accommodated all our requests, whether it was for a simple item like boiled potato or elaborate Rajasthani specialty like Dal-Bati-Churma. I loved the fresh sweet lime juice, made from the limes in their own orchards.

The hotel has a neat swimming pool. They have TT table and badminton courts too. What was a hit with my family was their small library which had a decent collection of books. Books on bird watching came in real handy.

Visit to the wild forest and the magnificent fort, the bats, owls and birds at the Taj lodge was a great experience. I think I will remember this for a long time.

Thank you mother-in-law

2011-08-24T10:58:00.103+05:30

Thank you mother in law for not helping me bring up my second-born
         And there is no sarcasm in what I say
Thank you for not staying on to take care of my kids
        while I went to work each day
For what you have given me, knowingly or unknowingly, is a blessing
        That my soul needed while I never knew
For what I got to live from that point was a life
        About which I had no clue

I brought my second one up on my own instincts
       Little nervous may be, but no real fear
I did not miss the first smile, the first crawl, the first step and the first babble
        All that there was, to watch and hear
I learned and loved to be hands-on everything
        The divine pleasure of breast-feeding, bathing, cooking, feeding and even singing

Leaving behind the guilt that pierced me while I worked after my first born
        I try my best to compensate what was lost by my first one
Being there to pick them from the school or the bus-stop
        Playing, sleeping, even doing nothing with them is great fun

Covering the journey from the board room meetings to bringing up kids
        I have come a long long way
Traveling, painting, reading, writing and bird-watching came along
       Not a bad deal, what do you say?

No achievements at work to boast about
        My personal bank balance does not rise
But for the guilt-free life and the richness of my soul
        It's not a heavy price

I look back and smile when I remember that time
        And I know the realization may have been slow
But clearly the turning point of my life was
        when you said that 'No'

Priceless Smile

2011-08-17T11:23:00.003+05:30

A few days ago, our car stopped at the traffic light and two girls came close to the window asking for money. My 4 year old son was curious to know 'what they wanted'. He has a lot of questions these days and I told him that they were asking for a 'coin'. I checked my purse but there was no loose change inside. As I was closing the zip of the purse, my son said 'There is a toffee there'. It was a 'dairy shots', which has two small chocolate balls inside the sachet. 'Do you want it?" I asked my son. 'Give this to them if you do not have coins' he suggested. 'Are you sure?" I asked him in case he changed his mind and wanted to keep it for himself. 'Yes, give them', he said generously. I handed it over to the bigger girl and told her to share with the other girl. The smile it brought on her face was something to watch. Together they walked back to a safer place and got busy opening the toffee. No longer were they interested in utilizing the time to beg for more coins. I loved the busy look on their faces, the bigger one trying hard to open using her teeth and the younger one looking at her constantly in anticipation of the treat. 'Good Job' I told my son, feeling thankful to him for the smile he brought to the girls.

Rakshabandhan Rocks

2011-08-17T11:04:00.001+05:30

The concept of 'Mother's Day' and 'Father's Day' is as alien to me as 'Diwali' is to any American. Though these adopted festivals have picked up acceptance in India, the age-old traditional festivals have an exclusive special place in my heart. If I have to explain Rakshabandhan festival in simple words to someone outside India, it can be described as a 'Brother and Sister Day'. But for us Indians, it is much more. It is the 'celebration of the bond' between a brother and a sister. It is not merely sending an 'e-card' or a phone call. There are a lot of 'feel-good' rituals that go with it too.

For my kids, the meaning and depth of the relationship is not yet understood, for them it is about getting a 'mickey mouse rakhi' or a 'car rakhi'. It means eating chocolates and getting gifts. But for us grown-up's it is an entirely different feeling.

Consciously keeping away from the recent commercialization of the festival, I was happy to chose a 'traditional Kurta' to gift to my brother. I know he loves the kurtas from the 'Handloom House', so it was an easy task. I spent sometime selecting from the choice of available designs of Rakhi. I know he is choosy about what to wear and what not to wear even when it comes to a rakhi. That's how he is and I tried my best to select what he would like. I selected a couple of them, before I came across the 'sandalwood' rakhi. I knew he would love it and picked it up too.

Unfortunately, the chocolates that I had picked up got melted by the time I reached his house in Noida. More importantly, he was very disappointed that I had not brought the traditional sweets. I was speechless for a moment. Suddenly a lot of our childhood memories flashed through my mind. When we stayed in Gole Market, my mother used to send us two to the 'Bangla Sweet Shop' to bring the sweets of our choice. I have seen my brother go through the different choices on display with lot of interest and almost always he would decide to buy an assorted collection of as many bengali sweets as possible. 'Buying and eating sweets' was half the fun of the festival. Adulteration in sweets and 'health consciousness' has taken away the biggest pleasure of festivals. But I felt guilty. Next time, I am celebrating the festival with traditional sweets, even if it means making some at home.

My mother advised us to stay away from 'expensive gift exchange' and we agreed. My brother took me out to the Mall to buy me a 'kurta-churidar'. It was lovely to go out with my brother, while my husband and bhabhi took care of the kids at home. This was the perhaps the first time, we went out shopping together after years. I am an un-usual woman who gets stressed even at the idea of shopping and it was such a pleasure to have my brother select the dress for me. I simply went by his choice. The dress he selected is very beautiful white and golden in colour. What is more important for me is that when I will wear it, I will be wearing the 'love' with which he selected the dress for me. I felt like the most special sister on that day. That's the reason, I love this festival. It simply rocks.

Birthday Party Games for kids - What do they teach?

2011-08-12T11:19:00.012+05:30

This post was selected for blogadda Spicy Saturday Picks

Have you ever stopped and looked at the kind of games our children usually play at birthday parties? Fortunate to be in the parent-family of a school, which has a different school of thought, I am learning to question before adopting any standard practices. It amazed me no end to see how these common birthday party games are structured to promote development of qualities like 'Winning', 'Getting Ahead', 'Asserting' and 'Grabbing' too, starting with kids as young as 3 or 4 years old.

I felt especially uncomfortable with the concept of 'elimination' and 'winning'. Come on, competition at this stage! To begin with, it is difficult for a 3 or 4 year old to even grasp the rules of a game like musical chair. And I have found it almost impossible to answer a child 'why he has to go out of the game just because he could not run faster or could not comprehend the game rules or could not grab a chair fast or had to release the chair because someone else pushed him'. I have often seen the parents of the eliminated child desperately struggling to console him/her and trying to reason out, while the game continues with other children. I personally feel scared when the children start running and pushing each other, all to grab a seat as fast as possible. I am not sure what are we teaching the child through this game especially at this stage of life.

Then there is this game where the host throws a lot of straws and children are encouraged to grab as many as possible. The one who can grab the maximum is declared the winner and gets a prize. What did we teach the child- 'Get ahead and Grab'?

There is also this 'Khoi Bag' practice where a paper bag filled with goodies (toffees and small toys) is hung at an upper level. Children gather around the bag and the game organizer pierces the bag. A mad scramble follows, as the children try to collect as many goodies as possible. This is the 'literal loot game' with no pretence. Do I need to say more?

When I celebrated birthday for my son (4 year old) recently at Pizza Hut, I tried to stay away from the competitive games as far as possible. I explained to the host that there will no winners and no prizes. We played many rounds of 'musical statue' with the kids without any elimination. We explained the rules to the kids and helped them to be still for a count of 5. They had lot of fun and I did not feel there was any natural urge in them to win as far as they were having fun. The game helped them participate together, have fun and and also learn to 'concentrate'. Then my sister-in-law suggested a game of 'balloon race'. I would like to rename it to 'balloon walk'. The children were told to place a balloon tucked inside their legs and walk slowly, making sure the balloon does not fall out. The children were allowed as many tries as they wanted. They were having fun as there was a challenge involved. They were also learning to 'concentrate and balance'. After a few minutes, something strange happened. The Pizza Hut host suddenly tried to convert the game into a race and helped one boy walk faster and declared him the winner. Not only this, he gave him a prize on his own. All this happened so fast that I could not intervene to stop him. I was really upset. Luckily too many children did not notice or get concerned. But I could immediately see how difficult it is for society to change. That guy was finding it very hard to digest how a game could be played without declaring a 'winner'. Perhaps he thought I had been sloppy and had not arranged a prize so he went out of the way to give something from his own stock.

I had requested my 10 year old daughter to take charge of arranging other activities for the kids. My kids refused to call in a tattoo-maker, though I could not see why. She asked me to arranged for papers, crayons, stickers and clay for the children. The kids had a good time playing with all of these. The stickers were used in a variety of ways - from decorating the balloons, to making cards and even for making tattoos on their arms, which kids did on their own. All this without any winning, losing, looting or grabbing!

A Trip to Pondicherry

2011-08-10T17:40:00.049+05:30

It's been more than a year we visited Pondicherry but even today, the memories of the trip bring a smile to my face. Such was the charm of the place that I am happy to re-live the trip in my mind while writing this blog. A beach vacation is our family's favorite getaway. Having been to Goa and Kerala earlier, we decided to explore a new place by the sea, this time on the east coast. Situated around 250 kilometer from Chennai, Pondicherry looked suitable for our 'sea-side' vacation. Further, I was intrigued by the spiritual flavor of the place and was enthusiastic about visiting the Aurobindo Ashram. Having been through a couple of bumpy plane rides, my husband has been completely put off the plane journeys and he suggested we travel to Chennai by train. I am not used to such long train journeys, it meant two nights and a full day in the train. But I decided to take the plunge. The train tickets were booked. Surfing the net, we came across Auroville Transport service. It was great, we could book a cab online to pick us up from the Chennai railway station and drive up to Pondicherry. Next step was to book a hotel. After surfing the tripadvisor reviews, we selected Ashok Beach Resort. There were two main points in favor of this place - 1) the proximity to the sea and 2) the rooms were air-conditioned.

Auroville Transport Service - www.aurovilletransport.com
You can fill a form on-line or contact them on phone no mentioned in their site

Ashok Beach Resort - www.ashokresort.com
Online Booking is possible

We traveled by the Tamil Nadu Express which starts at 10:30 pm at night and after a journey of around 33 hours reaches Chennai in the early morning.We booked first A/C . Since the fourth person did not turn up, we had the full cabin to ourselves. I realized it was a lovely opportunity for the family to spend the time together chatting, playing cards, telling stories and reading books. The meeting point for the Auroville Transport Service guy had been set up as the Higgin Botham Book Stall at the station. At the end of a long tiring journey, it was nice to be received by somebody waiting for you and all set to drive you to your destination. The journey from Chennai to Pondicherry is on the East Coast Road and is a pleasant and scenic drive. We stopped on the way at Motel Mamalla for a hearty breakfast comprising of Pongal, idli and vadas. The pongal served was heavenly in taste.

It took us nearly 2.5 hours to reach our destination, the hotel Ashok Beach Resort. When I walked around the place, I could not help noticing that the wall paint was fading at places and the swings in the children area were partially broken. In the uncomfortable hot and humid weather of the month of June, the absence of a swimming pool was also hurting. Did we do the right thing by booking Askok, there were more luxurious choices available? Our room was a sea-facing air-conditioned room on the ground floor. It wasn't luxurious but very comfortable. The view of the sea from the room was refreshing and inviting. The sea being so close, we immediately walked up to the beach. Standing by the vast sea, I felt the wind in my hair and watched the waves taking form and breaking rhythmically. Just looking at the waves brought a sense of tranquility to my soul.

We went to the restaurant for lunch. The food was delicious. We especially enjoyed their soft chapatis 'phulkas'. Makhani Paneer was a big hit with my kids and they wanted it practically at every meal we had there. We also liked their sea-food preparations.

In the evening, we were back to the sea. Gradually I realized what a bliss it was to be so close to the sea.In the next four days, I got a chance to watch the sea at different times of the day - under the early-morning rays of the sun, in different hours of the day, at dusk and even under the moonlight. At the end of my beach holidays, I have always felt I did not have enough of the sea. Here, I was, soaking the sea inside my soul all through the day. We took bath in the sea, we played with the water, we collected shells and we made sand castles. When we were not inside the water, we lazed around in the hammocks reading books and hearing the sound of the waves in the background. The hammocks had been placed under the tall coconut trees. One doesn't really get around to looking at a tree from its bottom - it is lovely to look at the the blue sky peeping through the green leaves.

Hotel Lawns

The Beautiful Sea

Hammock under coconut tree

View of the coconut tree while lying in the hammock

On the second day, we decided to visited the Aurobindo Ashram. Children below 3 years are not allowed inside, so I took my 9 year old daughter inside, while my husband roamed around outside the ashram, with my 2 year old son. A very calm and quiet place, filled with the fragrance of the hundreds of flowers laid on the samadhi. Having seen the samadhi, I stood there wondering, what next. One volunteer walked up to me and said 'There isn't very much to see here. Just feel the place". I did find the place very quiet and serene. "Very peaceful" I replied. "It is a paradise on earth" he said "Believe me". I was amazed to hear his feelings about the place. I spent some time inside, talking to another volunteer who advised me to include a visit to Matramandir (at Auroville) in my trip. I picked a book on the life of the Mother before leaving the place. Coming out of the ashram, we took a short stroll in the promenade area.

Next day, my husband volunteered to take care of the kids at the hotel and suggested that I make a short visit to Matramandir. Whatever little I had learned about Auroville, it appeared to be a very unique concept. Auroville is a univeral township in the making for around 50,000 people around the world. The current population is around 2000 people.This idea originated in the mind of the Mother in the 1930s. The township is divided into multiple zones. The meditation place is in the Peace Center, comprising the Matramandir and its gardens, the amphitheater with the Urn of Human Unity that contains the soil of 121 nations and 23 Indian sates.

The hotel staff helped in arranging an auto for me. It took me about half an hour to reach the place. It is around 10 km north of Pondicherry. At the information center, I figured out that it was mandatory to see a short video presentation about Auroville. Thereafter you have to walk for half an hour, pass through a very old banyan tree on the way and go through a forested area. I must have walked for about half an hour before I reached the place where I climbed a small hill and there, I could see it, the very beautiful Matramandir. A golden metallic sphere, appeared like an architecture marvel. The visitors are allowed to view it from a distance only. You need to visit Auroville information centre a second time if you want a visitor's pass to see the Matramandir from inside. I could not get to see the township or explore any other parts of Auroville and to be honest, I came back feeling confused.

A staff guy at the hotel had casually remarked that on some days it was possible to see dolphins while sitting in the hotel room. Whenever I looked at the sea, I wondered if this could really happen. May be it would happen on a cloudy day. May be on an early morning. Secretly my eyes would be on the look-out but no such luck. On the fourth day, we were taking bath in the sea almost like a routine. It was a bright sunny day. By now, I had learned to get a little deeper in water rather than getting wet only up to my knees. My son was still trying to come over his fear of water and by the fourth day he was ready to let his feet get soaked in the water. After an hour or so, I came out with my daughter and she requested me to join her in making hills and tunnels out of the sand. After a few minutes, when I looked up, I felt a sudden movement in the water. Was it the dolphins? I screamed and my husband looked in that direction too. A school of dolphins was around, they were getting in and out of water, causing a good deal of commotion in the water. Though they were not very close, we could see them clearly. It was an amazing feeling, sharing the sea with the dolphins. I could not have asked for more on my last day.

In the evening as I sat with my kids, with my feet deep in the sand, watching the rhythmical sea waves form and break, I had only one thought in my mind 'Paradise on earth, Believe me"

Green Valley, Amboli and The Leela Kempinski, Goa

2011-07-28T10:49:00.027+05:30

Almost all the women I know, love the idea of trips away from home, especially to break the monotony of running the house-hold. It is lovely not to worry about planning and cooking meals, cleaning the house and especially getting up in the morning with a subtle subconscious worry whether the maid will turn-up or not. Even though we know that the fun will last for only a few days, these breaks are very essential for our sanity.

My latest rule in life is 'Never let go of any opportunity to take a trip – even if it means repeating the destination.' In fact holidays to repeat destinations allow me to laze out completely: getting the sightseeing neatly out of the picture. But when one lazy Sunday morning in April, my husband Avijit announced that he had booked the train tickets to Goa for a six night break, I got thinking. Six days by the beach might be too much. I looked at his face, I saw an expression of triumph for having booked the tickets well before the kids' vacations had started. I decided to keep quiet at that time. Goa is Aviji't favourite destination and the rest of the family (me and our two kids) loves it too. It is one repeat destination I do not really mind, but six nights opened the possibility of including an additional place, somewhere close-by. After surfing the net for a few days, I came across this small hill station by the name of Amboli. It is in south Maharashtra. Situated 690 metres above the sea level, it is the last hill station before the coastal highlands of Goa.The more I read about Amboli, the more I began to get charmed by the place. After a few discussions, the decision to include this place in the trip was made and the hotel booking done for 2 days in Amboli and 4 days in Goa. The place boasted of 130 species of birds . Though I have not really been an avid bird-watcher, I have had sporadic spurts of interest in these small yet smart creatures of God – their sounds, their colors and the way they confidently flap their wings and soar high in the skies. Looking at the pictures on the net, the interest revived once again – more strongly this time. I thought of going equipped with a professional binoculars. Only problem, the idea came just two days before we had to leave for the vacation. It is easy to buy a laptop at the last minute, it is even possible to order a refrigerator and request to get it delivered in a day – but binoculars? None of the shops in the fancy malls in Gurgaon seemed to keep and sell this object. I gave up hope but fortunately Avijit came across Space Arcades on the net. This is a pat of a research based organization, which aims to provide astronomy in India. You can get a site of all the dealers of astronomical instruments in India. The Gurgaon dealer is Leo Toys in Mega Mall. The owner promised to deliver it in couple of days after getting the order. Of these two days, one was Sunday and his dealer in Delhi was closed on that day. Anyway, we decided to take a chance and ordered a Celestron 8x40 model. The owner of the shop went out of the way and arranged it for us at 8 pm in the evening and we were to leave early next morning. In retrospect I thought it was a much faster purchase than it would have been if it was a freely available object and I would have then hopped from shop to shop comparing the features and the prices.

Space Arcade (for purchasing all kinds of astronomical products)
http://www.spacearcade.in/index.html

Travelling by train is a very relaxing experience and these days I have started to relish it. The train trip from Delhi to Goa is interesting. I like the way scenery changes from rocky mountains in Rajasthan to a complete green look as we approach the Konkan region. There are streams and rivers on the way. There are bridges and tunnels. I like to look at the little stations on the way – each with a character of its own. By now, I have realized that if there is a right way to learn geography – it is to travel by train and visit the places. It would be a good idea to keep a handy atlas and a railway time-table. When I was a child, I had hard time remembering the names of the five rivers in Punjab or the location of the Cauvery river. It was all to be memorized from the text books. That was a rather boring way to learn something which is actually so live and interesting. It took me so many years to realize that you got to see it to remember it. If I have seen a river once, I associate with it and do not forget it easily. Seeing, knowing and discovering is the way to go, not memorizing from a book.

For going to Amboli, we got down at Sawantwadi Road, the last stop the Trivandrum Rajdhani Express makes before entering the state of Goa . It is another of those cute little stations, three platforms and hardly a soul in sight. From outside the station, we hired an auto-rickshaw to go to Amboli. The driver settled for Rs 500. I have travelled in Delhi autos a number of times but never paid such a high amount. The first part of the ride was to reach the Sawantwadi city from the station.We stopped to pick a few mangoes and jamuns. Unlike Gurgaon, they sell mangoes by dozens and not by weight. The next part of the journey was the climb to the hills. That is when I realized how different this auto ride was from the Delhi autos and how the guy truly deserved the money. The views on the way were very pleasant. The advantage with the slow auto-ride was that the kids did not get motion-sickness. I sampled a few jamuns on the way -- they were lovely.

It took us an hour or so to reach our destination, and we checked into the MTDC Green Valley Resort. Amboli is a cute little hill-station which has not been commercialized much. The flip side is that it does not boast of many great places to stay. No five star hotels here. I was a bit skeptical of what we were getting into. The check in was smooth though I would not classify it as a warm welcome. The rooms had a tired look – the furniture was faded and worn-out. But the location of the hotel was great. When we booked the hotel, we were not sure of the weather and the temperature of Amboli, so we had booked an A/C room. Soon we realized that the A/c was not needed. But the deluxe room was bigger and better than the standard rooms with an additional window facing the forest. The lawns of the hotel were nicely maintained and the benches simply invited one to sit down, relax, and maybe read a book. All the rooms were on the ground floor and that gave the place a resort-like look. The kids had a great time going in and out of the room, or just running around in the lawns. In the evening, we walked up to the sunset point for some pleasant views.

Next morning we woke up to find the place filled with mist, which was a bit unexpected in the month of May. We waited for the mist to clear up. At around 8 am, we went for a walk in the forest behind the hotel. I was desperate to put my binoculars to use and get started with bird-watching. Unfortunately we could not spot too many birds. The hotel guard told us that we need to be there at 5 am. We were warned not to go too deep into the forest alone as there are wild bisons there. Sitting inside the lawns of the hotel, I spotted magpie robins and red-whiskered bulbuls. Lazing around in the lawns, my attention was diverted to a commotion in the hotel – new fancy mattresses were being brought in. Were they going for that much-deserved change-over of the furnishings? Not true. One of the staff guys told me the furniture and new mattresses were being brought for a VIP who was expected to come in the evening. Who could it be? Apparently, it was Mr Sharad Pawar! During the day, I watched many new items of furniture being brought in to replace the old ones. A few times I peeped inside the allocated rooms to see them getting a change-over. All the furniture – the mattresses, sofa and chairs were changed, however they could not do much about the chipped tiles on the floor.

Many of the staying options in Amboli seemed to be of the B&B kind, so having the restaurant in the hotel was a blessing. The food was very reasonably priced but none of the meals we had there, can be called delicious or sumptuous in any way. I took a look at a couple of other hotels close-by. I was specifically interested in checking the Whistling Woods, which was at a short walking distance from our hotel. The place is cute but much smaller in comparison.There wasn't much space for children to run around. Moreover they do not have any restaurant. Another hotel in vicinity was the Shiv Malhar hotel. From the outward appearance, our hotel looked much better. In the evening, we took an auto to see the source of the Hiranyakeshi river. Again, very pleasant views on the way. We even spotted some rare birds here, but sadly I was not carrying my binoculars and the reference book. The thought of where a river originates from was intriguing. It was interesting to see the river originate from inside a cave.There is a small temple of Hiranyakeshi devi at this place. I thought the origin of river must be associated with Shiva and did observe a shiv-ling in the temple. Later I learned that Hiranyakeshi Devi is really the Goddess Parvati. When we returned to the hotel, it appeared like a completely different place. There was a big crowd there, many policemen on duty, press-reporters and other important people. The place was lined with cars and even an ambulance was parked outside. A separate buffet had been arranged for the VIP and their team and the area was cordoned off. Here, I must say a word for the hotel staff – in spite of their busy and hectic schedule that evening, they tried their best to accommodate our orders although with a little delay but with a smile on their faces.

Origin of Hiranayakeshi River

We checked out from the hotel next morning around 11 am and hired a taxi to go to Goa. We took a brief stop at the Mahadevgarh view point to take a look at the magnificent 360 degree views.

Amboli is normally known to be a monsoon destination. It gets a large amount of rainfall and is known for its beautiful waterfalls. Before the rains, however, the waterfalls currently had no water, or had just a trickle. Nevertheless, for somebody coming from a place like Gurgaon, the place has its own sweet charm. I was glad to have visited this quaint little hill station.

The taxi ride on the twisty roads down from Amboli made the kids motion-sick and we were relieved to reach Sawantwadi. There were a few shops selling cashews and other specialty products.The driver advised us to pick the stuff from here as it is cheaper than Goa. In addition to the cashew nuts, they also sold interesting products like cashew ladoos and cashew bars. Then we proceeded to buy the the wooden toys which this place is famous for. There selection available was tremendous. We have been to Lakkad bazaar in Shimla and seen this kind of stuff, but the variety this place offered was huge. I must confess that being a grown-up has not taken away the fascination for toys from my heart and I end up having as much fun and blast going through the various choices as my kids do. There were wooden toy-houses, fish, crocodile, cars, trucks, tops, kitchen sets and many many more. When the kids were done with their shopping, we resumed the next part of the journey. This part was free of twists and we all had a comfortable time. The ride on the national highway was a scenic and relaxing drive. Apart from the usual coconut trees, there were plenty of mango trees.

We reached Panjim in an hour and a half but our destination in Goa was the hotel Leela beyond Margao, which took us another hour and a half. We got a warm welcome with garlands and coconut water. The kids loved it – there were big smiles on their faces. The indulgence in pampering had already begun. We have stayed in the Leela 10 years ago and the place has not changed much, though at this time there was some construction and renovation work in progress. My daughter who has been spoiled by her dad loves to enjoy luxurious stays in vacations. (To be honest, who doesn't? But once in a while it is a good idea to stay in government accommodations too – more often than not, they have the best locations to boast of.) We had booked a Conservatory Premiere room. I found it big, spacious, luxurious and very classy. Perhaps, it was the contrast with the Amboli hotel, which made us all appreciate and love the luxury even more. The room was divided into two areas – a bedroom and a sitting room. There was a wooden sliding door between the two. The sitting room overlooked a 'lagoon' through a glass wall, into which was set a large sliding window which could be opened. (OK, the actual structure was a bit more complicated, but this is as good a description as any.)

For a moment, I had a fleeting thought 'How unfair. Wouldn't I rather have had it facing the sea? This lagoon is after all, an artificial water body'. But I decided to take it in good stride. Little did I know at that moment, that in the next couple of days, I was going to fall in love with this very artificial body of water. I took a chair, sat down, and looked at the lagoon. I saw many water birds – they were black in colour and looked like ducks but had long slender necks. I checked with Avijit. 'Oh, snake birds', he said. I quickly checked in my reference book – they are indeed called darters or snake birds. It is very interesting to see them swim with that long neck in water which does appear like a snake inside. But it is even more remarkable to watch them sitting on a branch with their wings completely spread out. They can stay almost still like that for a long time – waiting for the wings to dry. It appeared as if they had decided to strike a pose for someone to click a picture. When we went for a stroll to the beach, I saw a board put up by the hotel listing the birds we were likely to spot there. For the rest of our stay, I spent a large part of my trip with my binoculars hanging around my neck.

Snake Birds

Day 2 – I got up at 7:30 am and went for an early morning walk. I spotted magpie robins, white eyebrowed wagtails, cattle egrets and red-whiskered bulbuls. Slowly I was learning to identify birds. The bulbul we see in Gurgaon is the red-vented bulbul. The red-whiskered bulbul is far more handsome in looks, with the bright red whiskers on its face and a distinctive black crest on its head. Slowly I was learning to point the differences between apparently similar looking birds. The male white eyebrowed wagtail and the male oriental magpie robin were both black and white in colour. But the wagtail had a white patch over the eye which looked like a white eyebrow while the head of the magpie robin was completely black. At times, I was able to get very close to the birds, almost looking into their eyes. Were the birds in that environment less afraid of the humans? I wondered. Unfortunately I was not equipped with a proper camera. That would be the next item in my shopping list now. With a little time I realized that the bird-watching walks were not really necessary to spot birds: I could simply sit in the room and look out over the lagoon and the trees on the island. Within no time, I spotted a common kingfisher, a white throated kingfisher, several pied kingfishers, a few red wattled lapwings and a couple of brahminy kites. Over a period of time, I have come to think that the most common colours of birds are green, brown and black. This must be to help them camouflage with the environment. But one colour I love to see in a bird is the colour blue. That is why the kingfishers grabbed all my attention. Not to forget their long attractive bills which they put to use for catching fish. Take the case of common kingfisher, I bet if it was brown or black – it would not have looked so beautiful. It is a sparrow-sized bird with blue upper-parts, orange under-parts and a long bill. The white throated kingfisher is larger than the common kingfisher. It has a bright blue back, wings and tail. The head, shoulders and lower belly are chestnut coloured. The throat and breast are white. That is why it is also called white-breasted kingfisher. The most handsome of the lot was the stork-billed kingfisher. It is rather large, about a foot in length and with a great combination of colours. It has a green back, blue wings and tail and grey head. Its underparts and neck are light yellow. The bill is bright red, very big and attractive. Its legs are red in colour. The call is unique, repetitive and can be heard from a distance. Of all the birds I saw in Goa, this was the one I really fell in love with.

The Lagoon

A few days ago, I was not familiar with these birds and did not know their names. I wonder if the identification was really important! Could I not enjoy them for what they were and not what they were called? But the mind was happy to be occupied exploring the knowledge of their names, their characteristics, calls and so on. Like an excited child, I would often sit struggling to match what I saw to the pictures in the book. I spotted a new green coloured bird with a long beak, sitting on a branch. I passed the binoculars to my daughter to take a look. Immediately she remarked "They are bee-eaters. I saw the picture in the book". I was amazed, she was absolutely correct. Slowly the interest was rubbing on the entire family. My 3.5 year old son also borrowed my binoculars to watch birds. During one of my walks to the 'honeymoon island' in the hotel, I spotted a red flameback woodpecker. This was the first time I saw a woodpecker in wild. I also saw a Greater coucal (crow pheasant) and looked through the binoculars to see its red eyes.

There was a big frog in the lagoon water under our room. We were amazed to see that it stayed in the same position, looking completely still, for hours.

There were lovely lotus in the lagoons on the way to the restaurant– pink, purple and lovely yellow ones. We were on on one end of the hotel, far away from the restaurants and the pool area. The hotel has battery operated golf carts which came in handy for covering the distance. Coming to the food, this time we had not gone for an all-meals package. Though the food was expensive and the choice limited in the coffee shop, I must say the food was absolutely delicious and satisfying. We especially liked their red Thai curry with prawns. I remember when I was initially introduced to the five star hotels, I was very impressed with the buffet spreads – the variety and the choices would be overwhelming. Gradually I realized I spent more time in trying out the various dishes than in relishing them. Slowly I learned to focus on a few select dishes and tried to savour them. These days, I am much happier ordering a-la-carte, a few select dishes that I am feeling like eating, rather than going by the chef's choice in the buffet.

Lovely Lotus in the Lagoon

Day 3, I got up very early (5:45 am) for the latest interest of my life – bird watching. A hobby brings out the child out in you – you are eager to get started as soon as you are up. There is a thrill in life. I settled myself in the chair and noticed a large number of ducks in the water. It was still dark. After about 15 minutes - all the ducks began to come out of the water one by one and started flying. For a few minutes, I saw them fly in a group making a 'V' formation. Few rounds of the lagoon and they disappeared. While I was looking at the lagoon to spot our familiar frog, I saw something moving in the water. It was a snake! I quickly woke up Avijit. He has no interest in birds but snakes are a different matter altogether. He quickly got up and stood beside me following the movement of the snake in the water. It was about one feet long. After a minute or so, the snake went into the weeds under the surface again. I spotted another smaller frog. Within a few minutes, Avijit spotted another water snake. As I saw through the binoculars, I saw it take its tongue in and bring it out. Avijit told me this indicated the snake was hungry. Slowly, it moved in the direction of the frog – closer and closer it went, and then suddenly it darted towards the frog, who jumped away in a flash and vanished from the scene. The commotion in the water at that time was something to watch. While I was still recovering from the thrill, we spotted a much bigger snake – about two feet long. We could see the pattern on his body very clearly. Avijit looked up the web on his mobile, and told me it was 'checkered kneelback' – a non venomous variety.

During the day, we did not see any more snakes. In fact by the time our kids were up, there was no sign of either the ducks or the snakes.

Though I was very excited and thrilled to have seen the snakes from close, I must confess I was afraid too. From that time, I ensured the glass doors overlooking the lagoon were properly closed any time we stepped out. I have a major fear of snakes right from my childhood. Having stayed in Delhi, I have never seen a snake in my surroundings. Practically, I have seen more snakes in my nightmares than in real. In my childhood, my maternal aunt used to tell us scary stories about how in her ancestral home in Gwalior, she would go to the store room to take rice from a sack and would find a snake sitting inside the sack. Having looked at the snakes on that day brought me face-to-face with my childhood fears. At some level, it helped me make a little peace with my fears.

During the day, my time was getting split into three water bodies – watching the lagoon, dip in the swimming pool and enjoying the sea. Each one of them was working on refreshing and rejuvenating my soul. And there was also the river Sal. While the beach was pristine clear on the first day, for the next two days it got filled with an oil residue. Apparently a ship had leaked oil into the sea. We even found a dead turtle while walking along the beach. I am not sure if it was related to the oil residue, but it was sad to see such a beautiful environment getting polluted by human errors.

The Beach

The best part of repeating a destination, as I said earlier, is that you don't have to bother about sightseeing. There was only one place we wanted to repeat in Goa and that was Dona Paula. We took a bus to Madgaon and a taxi from there. In my view, the best way to look at the people or culture of a place is to travel in local transport. I was travelling in a public transport bus after a really long time and had good fun. I love looking at people getting up and down from a bus. I also take pleasure in observing what they are wearing. The first time I came to Goa , I was amused to see an old lady, roughly of the age of my grand-mother, wearing a top and a skirt. My own grandmother never wore anything in her life other than sarees and salwar kameez. At that time, I had secretly taken pleasure in imagining how she would have looked, dressed up in a top and skirt and perhaps a hat too.

Day 4, I woke up while it was still dark. I wanted to check out the ducks. Indeed they were back there happily swimming. As soon as the day light appeared, like a press of a button, the ducks began to come out of the water. Did the first ray of light appear like an alarm for them? I wondered. One by one, they came out and began flying. Few rounds of the lagoon, in the standard 'V' formation and they disappeared somewhere. When I spotted a water snake, I woke up my daughter who was keen to look at a snake. Avijit was up too. We spotted another couple of snakes roughly 1.5 feet in length. This was our last morning there and we had to leave around 9:30 am. When the packing was done, I thought of spending a few more minutes watching the lagoon with a secret desire to add a new bird to my list. Lost in my thoughts I was trying to soak the scenery in my mind, when my eyes suddenly fell on the land below our room where I felt something move. It was a big snake, another ckeckered keelback, but much bigger: about 3.5-4 feet long. This one was not in the water, it was on land directly below our room. I was stunned. The patterns were all clearly visible – more clearly through the binoculars. I was dumbfounded looking at a wild snake from so close. Our excitement and noise level probably scared him and he slipped away from our sight soon.

When we were on our way Amboli, my 3 year old son had spotted a monkey and he asked me 'Why has the monkey come here?" I had told him "He came to say Hello to you". Having seen the big snake on the last day, I felt as if he had decided to show up and say Hello or Bye to us. I took that last walk to the beach that I always do before leaving, it is important for me to say 'Bye' to the sea. In my earlier vacations to the beaches, this has often been a very sad and emotional moment for me – parting from the sea. In addition to the sea, I had developed a love for the lagoons and the wild-life living there. With time, we have figured out a way to handle the sadness of ending a vacation. It is simple! Just start planning for the next one. It does not matter when or whether the vacation plan will materialize or not – it is important to begin dreaming all over again. . The greatest pleasure of a vacation in not in the destination, but in the dreams, the plans, the journey and the way you explore a place.

Last few times we had flown out of Goa, but we had taken the train from here six or seven years ago. When we reached Madgaon station, it looked the same familiar cute self. As the train started, I was still thinking about the lagoons that I had left behind. I thought about the snake birds, the kingfishers, brahminy kites and the other birds who would be sitting on the trees near the lagoon. Next morning the ducks will be back in the lagoon again while it will be dark and will disappear with the daylight. The snakes will be visible only in the early morning hours. When exactly did the ducks come for swimming in the lagoon? Why did they leave at daylight? Where did they go? Why were the snakes visible only in the early morning hours? There were several un-answered questions in my mind. I pondered for a while and smiled. 'Every lagoon has a story to tell – if you care to listen and explore'

Hills, Rains and Birds

2011-07-18T21:47:00.000+05:30

Over the years, I have come to think that there are two kinds of travellers. The first kind like to travel at impulse. Friday afternoon is not too late for them to take a trip over the weekend. They believe in minimizing the journey time. They are open to the idea of looking out for a hotel after reaching the place. More often that not, they swear by a long list of sightseeing activities that are required to be done to make the vacation a success. The second kind are the laid-back kind. They like to travel even when they are not traveling by engaging themselves in planning the trip. They are not in a hurry to reach the destination – the leisurely journey is as much a part of the vacation as the actual holiday destination in. They take time in knowing about the accommodation choices the place offers and they like to book well in advance. They are okay with doing nothing or have a select few activities as part of the vacations. Mind you, the two are as different as salt and sugar. Instinctively, we all know which category we belong to. And if you ever happen to travel with the other kind, you will be surprised at how completely different a vacation to the same place and same time can turn out to be. My family belongs to the second category and we are the laid-back vacationers.

Our trip to Goa finished in May end and the kids were still left with 6 weeks of summer vacations. My husband suggested we take a second short vacation to Shimla in June. Shimla, capital of Himachal Pradesh, popularly known as 'the queen of hills', is around 350 kilometres from Delhi. There are various options for traveling from Delhi/NCR. You can fly all the way. You can drive (or hire a car so that someone else does the driving), this would take you anything between 7 to 9 hours. You could opt to take a train up to Kalka and then hire a car for the remaining hundred kilometres or so. This would also take you a total of around 9 hours to reach Shimla. The third option is to take a take a train to Kalka and then connect to narrow gauge toy-train to Shimla. The last option is the longest but a rather scenic and pleasant one. But this would mean planning a trip well-in-advance for booking the trains, especially if you are traveling in the peak season (May-June).

As I said, we are the laid-back vacationers. We like to plan the trip, book the trains even if it means a month in advance and consider the journey to be as much a part of the vacation as the stay at the destination. May-June is the peak season for Shimla, no train tickets were available until the 28th of June. So the train tickets were booked. With this also began our virtual travelling – net surfing and reading the reviews of the place, finding out about the places close-by, checking out the local weather and finally deciding on the exact location and the hotel. Having stayed in Chail and Shimla in our earlier trips, it was time to explore a different place away from the city. Our two kids (3.5 years and 9.5 years) tend to have motion sickness traveling on the twisty roads of the hills. Keeping that in mind, we decided to be within 30 kilometres radius of Shimla. Naldehra and Fagu emerged as the best two options. Unfortunately the rains in Shimla had arrived early this year and end-June appeared to be more like the beginning of the off-season period. We were checking on the weather sites everyday to view the rain situation. With every passing day, it appeared that the entire trip could be a wash-out. Shall we proceed or shall we cancel the reservations?And then we thought if the choice was to sit and watch the rains either at the hills or at Gurgaon, it was a no-brainer. After some initial debate, we finalized for Fagu and booked the HPTDC Apple Blossom on-line. This hotel was earlier known as Peach Blossom and was re-named to Apple Blossom in the year 2010. By the time we closed the matter, their top room Blossom Suite was available only for the first night. For the other two nights, we had to settle for their second best option, which was their super deluxe bedroom.

We packed a couple of light woolens for ourselves and the warm inner-wear and jackets for the kids . The Howrah-Kalka mail was late by 2.5 hours on that day but made up for the delay in the night and it arrived at 5:10 am, instead of its scheduled time of 4:45 am. We reached Kalka – a cute little station, different from the big-crowded, noisy and messy stations of Delhi. Cuter than the station, there stood the majestic bright red toy train Shivalik Deluxe. This was not our first travel by this train, however it has sustained the charm in our minds. The Kalka -Shimla railway is a narrow gauge railway and is listed in the UNESCO world heritage site 'Mountain Railways of India'. The other two listed in the site are the Darjeeling Himalayan railway and the Nilgiri mountain railway. The train connects Kalka, which is at a height of 656 m above sea-level to Shimla which is 2076 m above sea level. This train travels along a mostly mountainous route and passes through 102 tunnels on the way. The longest tunnel is at Barog and it is more than a kilometre long. A tragic story suggests that the Barog station is named after an engineer by the name Barog who had committed a mistake of digging a tunnel from both ends of the hill. When the two ends could not be aligned, he was penalized by the British authorities for his mistake. The engineer could not bear the humiliation and committed suicide.

Toy Train

The toy train takes around 5 hours to cover a distance of 96 kilometres. The train speed varies from 10 to 25 Km/hour. There is a talk of the railway being keen on increasing the speed to 45 km/hr, which would decrease the journey time to 3 hours. The fare for the Shivalik Deluxe is around Rs 300 either side. The seats are comfortable but not very spacious and my husband did a smart thing by reserving a separate seat for my 3.5 year old son. The interesting part is that the seats are reversible. There is a toilet in every coach. The rail-car which is a single compartment toy-train does not have a toilet and this could become an issue while travelling with kids. There is a provision for small attached fold-able tables for having meals. Tea was served at Kalka station and breakfast was served at Barog. For the breakfast, there is a choice between omelette and vegetable cutlets. The potato cutlets at Barog are really tasty and we even remembered them from our last trip. Travelling in air-conditioned compartments of trains has taken away the fun of sitting beside open windows. Here we sat beside open windows, had a chat with fellow passengers and could occasionally get down at a station to pick a food item like cutlets, juices or even unexpected stuff like cherry plums. As the train climbed upward, the air got cooler and cooler. An important tip to remember is that the valley falls on the right side of the train. A few birds sitting on the tree-tops and the telephone wires caught my attention. Having recently taken to bird-watching, I was trying to identify them. That is when I realized that I had left my reference book at home. The train reached Shimla at 11:15 am. The children were already wearing their jackets by this time and I wrapped myself in a shawl too.

If Kalka station was small and cute, Shimla station was smaller and even cuter. I went to the information desk and checked if they had any book on birding. Quite unexpectedly and fortunately, they had one on birds of the Kangra by Jan Willem den Besten and I immediately purchased it. The gentlemen at the desk gave me complimentary copies of the Himachal Tourism magazine 'Monal'. There was a picture of the monal bird on it, which looked interesting.

We hired a cab to go to Fagu. For a distance of 22 kilometres, the fare of Rs 800 looked on the higher side but possibility of negotiations looked lean. It took us around an hour on the Hindustan-Tibet road (National Highway 22) to reach Fagu. On the way, we passed Kufri. We stopped on the roadside to pick a few bhuttas (roasted corn). I am a bit skeptical about the government run hotels and kept my fingers crossed till we reached the place. As we reached the place, I immediately developed a liking for it. The combination of white and green colours on the exterior looked neat. The check in process was smooth and immediately we were escorted to the room number 405 – the Blossom suite. What strikes you first is the sheer size of the room. It was really big and spacious. With two comfortable beds, side tables, sofa chairs, built in ward-robe and TV in place, there was still a lot of floor space. The bathroom was big and clean. The most attractive part was the setting of the four sofa chairs against the long window overlooking the valley and layers after layers of hills and mountains. For a moment, I was speechless. The views were simply magnificent. At that moment itself, I guess I fell in love with Fagu. I was ready to overlook a few faults and shortcomings like the worn-out carpet in the room.

HPTDC Apple Blossom

I spent a good deal of time just sitting near the window looking at the un-commercialized raw nature, which was very appealing. There was a small school close-by. Little children adorned in school uniforms – some running and others walking at a leisurely place. They wore full-sleeves sweaters and long pants. We could see the apple orchards and a few small houses. We looked at a big field where a man was diligently digging the soil and sowing what appeared like cabbages. My daughter immediately commented 'Step farming'. I was not sure if that was the correct technical term but it seemed appropriate. I checked later that the technical term for this is 'terrace farming'. Graduated terrace steps are used to farm on hilly or mountainous terrain, giving a stepped appearance. Crop cultivation in hills is not an easy affair and the state of Himachal is deficit in food grains. But the state boasts in the production of potato, ginger, mushrooms, olives and figs etc. The state also abounds in fruit cultivation, which does not add to the problem of soil erosion. Apples yield the maximum income for the state. This is the reason why Himachal is called the 'Apple State of India'.

In the evening, we went out to explore the hotel surroundings. There is a temple close-by, which is quite a climb. There is a well defined path with comfortable stairs, only they are too many. There are marked rest-areas on the way. Me and my husband began the climb with a lot of enthusiasm. We had not gone too far before our bodies showed their current forms. Having been out of exercise was quite evident, every 20-30 steps, we would stop for a minute on the pretext of looking at the views but in reality to catch our breaths. We saw many slugs on the way – some were really big and healthy but slow as usual. Around mid-way of the climb, we reached the 'Snow King Retreat' hotel. Technically, situated at a higher altitude, it should promise better views. However, I was not impressed with the ambience of the place. The HPTDC Apple Blossoms has big open lawns in front of the hotel, which was missing in this hotel and it had a congested look. In addition, the access to Apple Blossoms is easier and shorter. After a short stop-over to look at the resort, we resumed the climb. The temple was at a height of 2600 metres and the views from up there were excellent. It is a Maa Kali temple – small, cute and operational. We were given prasad by the priest in the temple. The downward climb was a 'piece of cake' in comparison. Our tired legs were delighted to reach the comforts of the hotel room. As I resumed my sofa seat and looked out, I felt I was seeing many more layers of mountains compared to what I saw in the afternoon. I called my husband to take a look. He looked and screamed excitedly "That is the Kinnaur Kailash". His enthusiasm rubbed on me and for the next fifteen minutes, we kept looking at the range, sometimes through naked eyes and sometimes through my 8x40 binoculars. Through the binoculars, we could see the snow on the mountains. A staff member confirmed for us that it was the Kinnaur Kailash indeed. He also pointed us to look at the Churdhar peak. I told my husband "The next 2 days may be a wash-out but we can consider the trip made already".

The next morning was cloudy. The entire place was filled with complete mist and fog. It appeared as if the whole open space had constricted and that no valleys or mountains even existed. The previous night we had checked out the best super deluxe rooms in the hotel – they were room 401 and room 303. The hotel was entirely booked in the first two days, but we were lucky to have been allocated room 303. The room, smaller than the suite, was still quite spacious and comfortable. A corner room with two windows, giving us an additional view of the hotel lawns. It rained on and off the whole day and there was not much to do, except watch the rains. The children were glued to the Cbeebies on the TV. By evening, I was feeling so sick of the fog that I wanted to rename the place to 'Fog-u'. Desperate to get out of the hotel, we made use of a short break in the rain to check out the local shops. There are quiet a few shops, which can meet the daily needs of the locals there. One of the sweet shops even arranges for a taxi for sightseeing/dropping to railway station. It began to pour heavily and we took shelter in a shop there. The shop-keeper was a middle aged man and we got talking. He did not appear enthusiastic about the climate of the place and told us 'We wear sweaters all year round. May-June is the warmest period for us, which means we wear only one sweater in this month. We need hot geyser water for bath all year around" He also told us that he had bought a second house in Chandigarh and his family shifts the household to Chandigarh when the winter in Shimla/Fagu becomes severe. Isn't it strange that when people from Delhi would hear about snowfall in Shimla and pack their bags to come here for skiing, there would be local families shifting to Chandigarh to avoid the severe climate and the hassles cause by snowfall?

The weather in the hills is strange. One moment, it would be rainy and foggy and a few minutes later, the skies will start clearing out. One good thing with the sloped roads was that in spite of the continuous rains, there was no water-clogging issues. By late evening, the skies were so clear that we could see the stars. 'We may be able to catch a view of the Kinnaur Kailash next morning" my husband said before we went to bed. He was right. We got a good view of the range at around 5 am next morning. We could not see the snow, but the outlines were very clear. After the sun-rise, the views became hazy again. I decided to go for an early morning walk for birding. Our current room was on the first floor and it was great for observing birds. At the first sight, the common birds appeared very similar to the Gurgaon birds, but a closer look brought the differences out. For instance, the jungle crow looks quite similar to our house crow. Take a close look, its neck and breast region are not grey but completely black and it has a larger beak. The Jungle crow is sometimes also known by the name 'Large billed crow' or 'Thick billed crow'. Their call is similar but the voice is much deeper and louder. Talk about the other common bird,the bulbul.The common bulbul we see in Gurgaon is the 'red-vented' bulbul. That means, you will see a red color patch under its body. The Himalayan bulbul has a yellow vent. It has white cheeks and predominant crest on the head. It looks healthier in comparison to the ones in Gurgaon. Then there were these birds which looked similar to house sparrows – but they had a reddish-brown colour on their crown and on their back. They were actually Russet Sparrows. In my birding walk, I saw a few more birds which I have not seen in Gurgaon. In the quiet of the morning, I followed the sounds of different birds. There was this bird with a very distinct voice with a sweet whistle when it ended the call. It was a small grey-black bird with white under-parts and white lines close to the eyebrows. It was a male grey bushchat. The female is brown and white. Another very good looking bird we saw was a Tit – a green backed tit. It was a beautiful combination of olive green, blue, black and white. It has a black head, white cheeks, black throat, green body and wings with blue, black and white colours. I also happened to spot a hoopoe, which is considered a common bird. But I saw it for the first time in wild and I was thrilled to see its beauty – interesting crown, long beak and zebra-patterned wings. Another common visitor in the lawns was the rock bunting which also had a sweet 'sweep sweep' call. The bird has some similarities to a sparrow but it is bigger and has a longer tail. The male has chestnut upper parts and a striking head which has black stripes. I also liked the sound of the streaked laughing thrush. It is a very musical bird and I heard at least two completely different calls made by the same bird. Its size is of the order of common mynah, appearance dull brown in colour and has red-brown colour on it cheeks and in the wings. If the birds in Himachal looked healthier, the butterflies looked much bigger than the ones at Gurgaon. I heard my daughter tell her grandmother on phone 'I saw a butterfly which was green, blue, orange and black. And it was as big as my hand'.

The day was partly cloudy. We hired a taxi to go to Kufri to make use of the break from rain. Kufri is popular for its horse and yak rides to the scenic spots. There was an amazingly large number of horses standing there. None of us were inclined to go for the horse ride. Instead we were keen on checking out the zoo first. After all, we could not predict how much time the rain gods would permit us. The Kufri zoo, called 'Himalayan Nature Park' is much smaller than the Delhi zoo. There aren't too many animals but I liked the way the place is arranged. It appeared like a visit to a forest lined with large trees including oak, pine, spruce and deodar trees. We saw various kind of deer, bears, leopard and snow leopard. Snow leopard is the state animal of Himachal. It is an endangered species. There were two birds in their pheasantry which grabbed my attention completely. One was the Himalayan Monal. Standing proudly, the male monal looked like a riot of colours. Apparently it has nine colours on its body. The female looked dull in comparison. Himalayan Monal is the national bird of Nepal and is the state bird of Uttarakhand. It used to be the state bird of HP too but since 2007 it has been changed to Western Tragopan. This was the second interesting looking bird I mentioned above. Both the birds are pretty big in size. Monal is about 70 cm in length and Tragopan male is around 55-60 cm. The Western Tragopan is again a very unique combination of colours. The male is large bright coloured with black crown, blue throat, red face and the body is black with numerous white spots, each spot bordered with black and deep crimson patches. The Western Traogpan is considered the rarest of all living pheasants and the entire world population is estimated at less than 5000 individuals. There are 19 of these rare birds in captivity at the breeding centre in Sarahan Aviary, 160 Km from Shimla, however the bird were infected with e-coli last year and the authorities have given them rest from breeding this year. Last season, the birds had laid 17 fertilized eggs, of which only one hatched, but the chick died within a week. The government has put in a lot of funding for conservation plan for this bird. Regular hunting for its bright plumage has lead to a near extinction state of this bird. What a price to be paid for the beauty, I wondered.

Before leaving Kufri, we picked a lot of fresh fruits – apricots, plums, apples and nectarines. They were lovely fruits. The shopkeeper sold the nectarine as a 'three-in-one' fruit, one with a taste of peach, plum and apple. The nectarines were simply luscious – good looking and very tasty. Nectarines are erroneously believed to be a cross-breed between peaches and plums, but they actually belong to the same species as peaches. They are often referred to as "shaved peaches" due to their lack of fuzz or short hairs. I was left with no wonder why Himachal is called the 'fruit bowl' of our country.

The day we had to return, was especially sunny and bright. The views were clearing out layer by layer. I could see a few eagles in the sky through my binoculars. The weather was lovely, I removed my sweater and the shawl. I went for my morning walk passing the apple orchards on the way. The apples were mostly green, though some were partly pink. Once the apples would get ripe and become red in colour, the orchards would be quite a sight. But for us, it was time to say goodbye to the place. At some level, I felt cheated to be leaving on the brightest day of our stay. Ironically, at checkout, the manager gave us a discount for the last night as the official off-season had started from July 1. We requested the manager to pack some food for us which they gladly did. Leaving the place was very difficult for me, a part of me wanted to stay on and extend the vacation. My husband had to literally push me out of the hotel.

Train travel had a special advantage that even when the hotel stay had ended, there was still a part of the vacation left - the leisurely scenic travel. At Shimla station, we picked up HPMC Apple Jam. We opened it in the train itself and used it with the parathas. The jam was amazingly different in colour as well as taste from the apple jams I have been eating so far. Sitting by the window side, I enjoyed the beautiful scenery pass-by. My soul was internally aware of the gradual rejuvenation it had gone through in the last four days. The fresh air, the open space, the hills and the valleys, the birds, butterflies and the animals, the nectarines and the plums – all the colours and flavours of Himachal had truly reinvigorated my mind and soul.