second himalayan escapade

Coming back from a long wonderful holiday is always a little saddening, the realisation of the things left undone, meetings and work yet to be finished, they loom threateningly on the horizon as you commence your return journey, but if you are returning from the Himalayan holiday- it is much much more than just the concern of returning to everyday busy life. It begins as a small little nagging uneasiness in the pit of your stomach, and then it grows in full blown grief. It is like you are abandoning something precious, which has a special meaning and is very close to your heart, no matter how many hardships you might have suffered during the trip, bad food,odd people, or bad hotelrooms, none matters, you simply hate having to go back.

Or at least that is how it is with me. Himalayas-to me, are the equivalent of ,peace. The places there have a soothing power, really. Though some of the religious places seem a little agitating and crowded , those are not the ones that influence me though.

Oh i can go and on and on about the spiritual and personal importance of the place, as well as the geological and ecological ones.

Let’s get more systematic.

the bridge over ganges out of haridwar

We left early on the 12^th, and landed at delhi airport, took different rides to reach the bus that would take us to Haridwar. First night there, with some interesting results on the photography front when we took the evening walk in the town. the next day we left in the hired taxi for chopta, in the forest which starts after the town of Rishikesh, just on the side of the road, i saw a Khakar deer, though i didn’t know it was that till it gave it’s danger call, actually, i was sitting in front, and had better view, the others saw it after i shouted to stop the car, than we slowly climbed down, saw it again, but than it bolted, and as i followed it a little in the forest, it gave it’s danger signal, Khaaaaakkkkkk....... it went, almost light some one coughing loudly. That was the first time we saw it and heard it, never mind my not being able to take a photo of it, it was all completely wonderful, including the shout and jump of joy that dad performed , throwing both hands in the air,.. even that was worth the whole trip.

we stopped at the dhari mata temple to climb down and visit the temple and the river bank , but than there was some problem in the gear box, which is, of course, not at all safe, so we had to stay the night at Rudraprayag, which resulted in some nice bird watching time. The new birds that i saw and identified that evening include,  slaty backed forktails,blue whisteling thrush,whitecapped and Plumbeous water redstarts,eurasian blackbirds,himalayan bulbuls etc. We stayed in the tourism department resort, and our room faced the confluence of Alakananda and mandakini. A wonderful view to wake up to, we also climbed down , and i and brother ran to the shallow waters of the bank, though we were called up soon after wards as it grew dark there very soon and we had to go back up a considerable way through some woodland. It grew dark at 5 there, and started feeling like evening at 4, it is weird for us plain creatures. But afterwards we grew to accept and expect it and planned our activities accordingly; it was the earliest evenings i have ever experienced. Though, i must say, going to the Himalayas in the winter is a thing to do, you can avoid the crowds and the humidity and the illnesses which can be caused by food which has been mass produced to tackle the traffic etc etc. You get my point.

Early next morning, we started for trijuginarayan, a small town high up on the top of the mountain, adorned by an ancient temple, the road to it winds through pleasant forest, which is beautiful but not as dense and awe inspiring as the untouched forests around chopta, which i went through later on.there is a small school there, and it was meal time when we reached, the kids were just roaming around and we distributed toffees, igniting a lot agitation and excitement, a toffee being one of the rarer forms of pleasure there. There were some lovely dogs there too.

The temple it self was a beautiful old building of stone, beautiful architecture, i saw, for the first time, the concept of everlasting fires inside the temple. And most temples had it in common, though, taking the cold in consideration, it is pretty much understandable. The priests there were rather desperate for some tourists, as not many people go there at the best of times and almost no new person is seen there during winter. The usual traffic being for badarinath, no one really pays much attention to that small settlement out of the way. Still, a picturesque place – where mom and us took part in all sorts of prayers and processes just cause the priests looked like they really could use some money, while dad observed from a safe distance as usual :D  i was like- well, i’ve come all the way here, so why not.

Skipping lunch, we drove down to Kalimath, another small out of the way village with it’s own ancient temple, saw lots of Himalayan cherries blossoming, there was a flour mill there run with the flow of the river water.  An old gentleman there stood talking to us about the things he had seen when he had ones visited Gujarat in his youth, he was still impressed with the size of our cows and their horns, Himalayan cows being considerably  daintier with smaller horns. He said he couldn’t imagine having to face those cows at all times.

I will keep mentioning people here and there, it is always an important part of journeys, the people you meet, some highlight the experiences , some offend you, some you wish you could know better and some you wish you hadn’t encountered, it is a great human need to know more of their fallow creatures, it is the exciting but unknown element of travel- there were particularly 3 cases this time which i wish could have lasted longer and those might grow in to something like good friendships, though, travelling, and things that happen during travelling, always depend on fate, things work in mysterious ways.(so, if by any far off weird chance, anyone who’s mentioned here is reading this, they are welcome to contact me)

We started for the extremely small settlement of chopta after that. The forest surrounding that region could not be seen while i went there as it has already grown dark, we reached at 7 but it felt like anything between  12 to 4. Nothing moved in the small patch of road on which all the 4-5 buildings stood. Two dogs slept on the road, as there was no traffic, and one small hotel was open , the cold was intense.  The night was, not too badly spent, even under the tin roof of the small room, though the bedding was stone cold and it took around 10 minutes for it to get warmer inside.

I woke up at 5, having gone to sleep before 8:30 the night before, as there is nothing to do after it gets dark there, there was no light, so i didn’t even bother to write my travel journal- though there was running water, granted it was ice cold ,still i was thankful for that, though it gave me a total brain freeze when i washed my face one too many times. That was a brand new sensation, my skin seemed to grow hard, both of my hands and face, it was like rubbing two sheets of plywood together, all the water in the skin cells must have frozen or something :D  my eyes and brain hurt and i had to burry my head in my brother’s coat as burying it in the  bed didn’t work at all, it was also cold. A very interesting thing – that. Never thought it could feel like that, the skin freezes over , wow.

Unfortunately i didn’t experience my very first snow fall, but i was under extreme temperatures, it was a solid, set cold time, way below the required snow fall temperature, just lacking the moisture, so, ice was formed in the morning on the roof and on the car screens next morning, which had to be melted by throwing some hot water on from the burner. Then the dripping started, the ice had started to melt as the sun rose, at first i thought it was raining.

Father and i started our walk down towards a forest path leading off the road at 6, it was of course still much cold and would remain so, but it afforded me some great landscapes, and the whole range of snow-capped mountains was awash in the golden sunshine –glinting, slowly the sun rose, the light still weak and ineffectual in the mist, but the combination of mist, light and a mysterious forest gave a very surrealistic feel.

That’s when we saw our first monal pheasants, two males flew from under in the valley in to a giant tree,  than a bit father away, another. There was a lot of excitement over that. My mother and brother were coming up behind and were much missed.

Then, up on the cliff face on our other side, i saw a movement over the rock out of the corner of my eye, i went “look” – and there they were, the beautiful Himalayan tahrs  , walking over that seemingly inaccessible cliff face as if they were walking on a beach. One after the other, we counted 6 females, than, that was not all, there was one male sitting on the top, under a crooked tree, basking in the intensifying sunlight, big and with thick white fur, it had beautiful curved horns , one female sat besides him, there was one cub too in the climbing party.

So, after some photos,  i decided to run back and call my brother and mom over faster, i made it half way,and to my relief saw that mom had had the presence of mind to not to walk the road part at all, and had come in the car, thus saving time and grasping the opportunity to see those beautiful animals. All i could do was gasp and gesture towards the way- he he, running there is very much ill-advised. We all saw them at leisure. We also heard Monal calls, calls of a leopard and danger calls of a khakar from the dense forest just below. Indeed, i would like to spend some more time at Chopta, it is very rich in biodiversity. There were many unidentified calls , i would like to know them someday. Other interesting thing included footprints of a fox, and dad seeing a red panda when he went  down to look around alone at night.

After obtaining the permit ticket from the forester and drinking some milk, we started the climb towards Tungnath, the route started just opposite the little hotel where we were, and the two dogs accompanied us, though the smaller one went back after a while and sherroo,  the big one, came all the way.(after climbing down he was rewarded with a whole pack of biscuits) Some way up, we started noticing that the trees became more and more sparse, we went off the train quite a few times, watching birds and those small cute guinea pig type creatures, here’s a pic, name it for me?

a friend found the name for me-it's the Himalayan mouse hare- ochotona Roylei

The going off the trail thing was all right at first, exciting and short. Than it dawned on me that moisture had entered my shoes, i use rubber soled heavy hunters for trekking (it has thick fabric), unlike the other members of my family, who use woodlands boots as a rule, thus mine can get wet from the inside if there is ice on the leaves/ground. First the rubber went utterly cold and than it all went through my socks, hmm... so you know, we had to stop and i had the pleasure of having my feet rubbed while i sat on an old tree stump, Worthing having ice cold toes ones in a while.

From next time, Himalayas are to be walked on only in good leather shoes. I knew this time too, of course, just didn’t have the heart to buy those.

Than we continued again, it is indeed unpleasant to have your socks wet. The sun had risen now, and there was some blessedly warm sunshine here and there.  That worked wonders, the trek it self isn’t too hard, though the climb in height is considerable in the 5 km that you have to climb, the real killer was the very thin and cold air. Breathing was hard, it kept feeling like i couldn’t get enough air through no matter how much i breathed, i tried my old trick of slowing down my breathing when i feel out of breath, that only made me feel as if i was chocking, while it seemed as if it turned more colder inside my lungs each time i breathed.

Btw, keep your mouth shut and your lips sealed when you are climbing up, breathing with your mouth will break you sooner.

The feet rubbing delayed us a bit, and a group of 4 caught up with us, there was one sweet girl with a lovely smile from Israel in it (i say girl because she seemed only a little older than me), we chatted a bit, took photos for each other (she wanted a photo of her jumping in front of the snow cap of the mountain, which included a many trials and a lot of laughter-she than offered to take the photo of me and my “husband” – i had to clear that it was my dad not my husband )and played with the dog, and walked together for a while, commenting on the fog and insects and what not, exchanging cameras for comparisons etc.that is case 1, so case 1- that’s your call.

They stopped for another photo shoot and rest while we drudged ahead. So- here is your proof, my mind works slower at times, i didn’t even ask her name.

Case no 2 was just up ahead. A team from Switzerland and their two dogs met us, they were going down, one of them sat down to rest and chat, he was older than dad and had a beard, they had started at 3 am from their stay somewhere below chopta, and they saw 6 himalayan bears near the tungnath temple, which became our main topic of wonder and excitement, they had been pretty scared and had kept their distance, advising us to stay away from the back of the temple complex, but we wanted to see the bears, of course, and than he asked if we weren’t afraid, well, of course- if we got to see those, than- i’d rather encounter them than not. And dad started talking about other jungles and the national parks near Tungnath, the guy than asked us if we had any children, so dad said yes he had,two- missing the meaning, while i again felt pretty old explaining that,indeed, i am one of his children, and not his wife- (horrid  that- understandably. Mom and brother were,again, coming up slowly behind. Serves me right for not insisting on staying with them- the very human question of “Do i look THAT old” remained with me a long while-or was it just my dress? : ( ) he than looked more intensely at me, and said “i want you back down alive” now, that is probably something which i would normally consider quite presumptuous, but it only seemed like a really concerned and sweet thing to say under the circumstances. So i said “ i want my self back down alive too”, he looked like as if he’d like to talk and know more but than we had to hurry up before the fog rolled in. So he sat looking at our climbing backs, so case no 2, this one’s for you.

I sure hope that i don’t look That old :P (having sheroo with us was good)

We saw frozen flowers, dripping ice lines,  (breaking  them from the stone they are under and munching on them like candy is fun.) and stray patches of snow on the grass.i find that this sort of thing is more harder to bear than the actual “full of snow” environment, which is far easier.

Reaching the top was a delight- the village tungnath appeared like a haunted abandoned town where something tragic has happened – mostly because of the thick fog swirling around the broken and battered little stone houses, which really did look as if they were abandoned ages ago, ruins with dark openings, grass growing on the walls and niches- quite spooky really : ) i ran up the last few steps and run the huge bell with great relish, accompanying it with a shout.

Tungnath temple it self is more than a 1000 years old,and is dedicated to lord shiva.The temple was closed and locked, but a smaller idol of lord shiva was outside in the open,i saw some half burned incense sticks and also found a match box, it was hard to get it burning even for a few seconds because of the high wind- that one was for marking our successful climb, than we circled the complex, and that’s when dad showed me the monals. They were on the opposite wall of rock, mixing nicely with the landscape, first we saw the females,3 of them,and than the glorious male.

It was fully foggy up there, thus, visibility was way poor, there were icicles in our hair and the view of the surrounding peaks was nill. But on the way us we did see the spectacular views,the peaks visible include the chaukhamba range as well as nandadevi and Trishul as well as other unnamed peaks. It got colder and colder, so we hurried back.

sheroo and Vidur

On the climb down, more monals – though not seen as nicely as the ones on the top, Himalayan griffin  and other birds.on our way out of chopta we saw a Jackal. That night was in Ukhimath, there is the omkareshwar temple there which dates to the time of Mandhaata, ancestor of Rama. It is the winter seat of all Panch Kedar deities when Kedarnath, Tungnath and Madmaheshwar shrines are under snow.

Next day was for trekking to Devaria taal/lake, from where the whole Chaukhamba range is visible.the trek is rather easy with a small temple just at the start, the priest there insisted that i visit, while i was rather unwilling to remove my shoes just before the trek had started, needless to say, he did induce me to on my way back.

I and brother wandered off from the main trail again, climbing fully from the forest this time, watching the woodpeckers (the Himalayan kind) flying here and there, and the whistling thrushes calling now and again, crossing flowing streams and ravines, was fun. Though we kept going up and down to keep the way in sight, to prevent getting too lost.

The lake is beautiful, surrounded by little hills and knolls , with the chaukhamba providing a majestic background. We were a little late in starting that day, as every one over slept, and the light was deceptive, mom woke up at 7 and thought it must be 6, and i hadn’t put the alarm –as my parents were with me,  i took it for granted that one of them will be up around 5:30.  This, prevented us from reaching the lake in the early morning time, and yes, the Switzerland team was coming back while our car was going towards the little village from the where the trek starts, though we did waved at each other. This also made photography none too spectacular at the top. Never mind : ) at the top, you can have a camp, if you have the time and tent etc. Something to be kept in the “ to do” list?  The wildlife and the views would be worth it.

I want to do white water rafting.

One of our few lunches was after getting down from there (we usually ended up skipping one meal)- a very simple daal chaval and mustard leaf curry. The two young men who served this simple but satisfying food gave me their address, i am to send them their photos.

They also had a very cute kitten!

We decided to go by the chopta- gopeshwar route again, which is longer, but goes through dense and lush – undisturbed forest. We were rewarded with spectacular and haunting views of the forest, waterfalls ,flocks and flocks of kalij pheasants , forktails and magpies, many unidentified birds and a female of monal. The photo of the rump of a wild boar was the cherry on the cake !

That night was in Nundprayag, a miserable town swamped with end of season rush to the badrinath shrine. The locals feel that they must visit the shrine before it closes down, and the day after was the closing day, which would include the closing ceremony and the bringing down of the idols on palakhis (wooden thrones ,balanced on people’s shoulders- i forget what it is exactly called in English) –granted, that procession coming down on foot is a sight to behold, and would afford some great shots. But this only meant, for this time , bad lodgings and food, we became wiser and got our selves some bread butter from the grocers.

Our first really good breakfast was the next morning, in Karnaprayag, they also had a kitten : ) anyway, we proceeded towards lansdowne after some debate, we were indecisive about going to dehradun, as it has a natural history museum and i must study some before i start my thesis, which is on the same topic. I decided, that if need be, i can always visit it alone after wards, why miss out on something better while we are together.

We stopped at Corbett point in Gulabray near Rudraprayag,where he had killed the infamous men eating leopard of Rudraprayag, and also went to meet the old colonel and his wife who we had met on our first ever journey in the region year ago, even before my brother was born, the incident involved a forgotten bag of money at Dhari mata and our being left to wait all the turmoil out at the colonel’s little restaurant. We met them last time too and i sent photos, i’d be doing the same again, the thing to take note of is the joy they felt at our sudden and unexpected visit after another two years (last one being when we went to the valley of flowers)  - they insisted that we should never spent a night in a hotel if near their house, and they might even visit : ) not to mention that i got to taste the Malta fruits of their own garden.

Reaching  lansdowne took the whole day, though it was only 140 km from Karnaprayag. The road was in a poor condition, swamped with hug landslides and  rubble. We reached at 5 and it was already pretty dark, but as you enter, you also get this feeling of having stepped a little back in time, and after spending the night in nandprayag,  i had this immense feeling of contentment and joy at the properly placed roads and buildings.(of which there were not many). The houses were few and far apart, built in the colonial style, this army stronghold was planned in 1912 by the English Raj,it is now the home of the famous Garhwal rifles.

We stayed the night in “fairy dale”, considered by some to be the most beautiful resort in lansdowne, though, i claim that,not having seen all of those present,i’d only say that it was really beautiful, and i and brother played Neverland+ new age battle with captain hook till dinner on the grounds.

The town reminded me a lot of Gandhinagar, though it is considerably small than my home town,and more more more beautiful. If you are walking on a road, chances are that you’d see a small building only after some distance, there are trees on both sides of each road, and you always feel like you are in a peaceful forest, and at nights, you expect magic to happen.

Our room was surrounded by rows and rows of flowers <3

 The next morning dawned rosy and fresh, the food there was delicious and the manager and mom took turn around the garden together talking about the plants, he also gave us some cuttings of plants, the most interesting plant that we have been given is of the round tomato like paper, but he said it’s not edible. While i went around with the macro lens.

We saw two churches, first was St.Johns, which was open but there was no one there.the second one was St.Mary’s , established in 1895 i think. There you can see a tape of the gharwal rifles, spanning from it’s establishment, the founding of Lansdowne,world war 1, their royal status and the second world war and their role in the wars of independent india. Impressive history.  A soldier sits there all day, and would leave you to watch the video in the church.

Now, we had an extremely silly driver, though he drove well, and that it all that should matter in all practicality, and he didn’t smoke, a bit benefit, as none of us can endure the smoke. Though he was a little obsessive about taking my photos and leery, but the thing that really got to me was his habit of throwing plastic waste everywhere and anywhere. In most places in India, the right disposal of trash is not particularly thought of, and it has happened many times that one fails to find a dust bit no matter how much they try, the best option is, to keep  your trash in your bag till you get home, if you are not likely to get home on the day it self, you have to throw it somewhere, we ,as a rule, throw it where it is already trashy, so obviously , in a dirty street of a town. But he would always ignore me when i tell him to give me anything he wished to get rid of, and threw stuff in the forest.

That, to say it in Bryan’s words “cuts like a knife”. More so when those are those pristine, unspoilt Himalayan forests high up!

Lansdowne was very clean, thru the military discipline and the understanding of the people, there were sign boards for visitors telling them not to litter, and he said, “ it is election time that is why- or else no one gives a damn about cleanliness, hypocrites, they cannot stop me from doing as i like”

I had to give him some tongue lashing, i just can’t help it.

After all,it is because of this mentality that our great nation is also the most littered one.

They think the ganges the holiest of rivers, even this silly driver (who, as a rule,had an opinion about everything , but wouldn’t accept someone else’s) used to go to the ganga ghat (shore) every morning to touch the holy waters before he would partake of any food.

How can they, than, bear to dirty it?

Do they not see what they are doing?

I have seen, till now, that blind religion drives people to do thoughtless acts, be it as small as being uninterested in the hygiene and beauty of your surroundings to killing others for having different views.

Back to Lansdowne.  We visited the army museum with lots of firearms, costumes and historical papers. So of course my brother was ecstatic, he was in ammunition heaven! He could name them all, almost. He treasures the photos taken there, of him holding a few big  guns , i can’t name those. He took one of mine too. Only that i don’t look at all military.

The soldiers there thought dad was from the army. They always do that.

In front of the museum,were the army training grounds, the training was on going.

I tasted my first momos there. They were nice, and the sauce with it was really hot. I am sure i could get better ones somewhere too.

There was one army shop there, brother bought two army t shirts with the gharwal rifles logo, and i got one too : ), we can wear them in the forests, any how, they’d look cool.he also got a cap and a trouser, and we bought a glacial sleeping bag, i hope to be able to put it to some good use.

Now starts the case no 3, we met a soldier there in the shop, who had just finished his training as a recruit, he must be below 25, there with his friends, he looked on longingly at our happy activities in the shop. Than he came over and commented on my mom’s love for us. (she was in a sort of shopping frenzy, as we are always looking for military outfit for brother here and rarely find anything remotely close)so, in between shopping and looking at things, every one chatted, he was from somewhere near Abu in rajasthan, so of course he missed home and family. I guess he missed his mother as he looked on mine. Mom still claims she saw a sheen of tears in his eyes. Well, he bought me a gharwal rifles logo keychain, so mom bought him a wallet, and he also asked for my number, though i didn’t give my personal number, we hope he’d call. (update on 24th of Nov- He did call :)- and my first exam went nicely too )

Cheers to travelling!

Well, than there was the sad sad drive down to haridwar, with unshed tears in my eyes- that is the usual state i am in when i am forced to come down from the Himalayas, can’t help it.the night In Haridwar, the dreary town, how i wish i could have spent that night in Rishikesh, the happening place, wonderful for food and shopping, and more cleaner and diverse.  And more higher.

But we had a train from Haridwar to delhi at 6:10, so. Delhi arrived at 12 noon, meanwhile, we searched out the existence of two natural history museums in Delhi, with the help of some calls to friends and family, and a fallow passenger who very kindly did some searching on his phone. We could visit one of the two, it was under renovation but had magnificent display, we could now relate to so many Himalayan birds in display and could identify some of the jungle calls playing, it was at Mandi house,delhi

We had fast journeys in the city through the nice metro train system, though dad was a little apprehensive about that, he functions better in jungles, while he can not handle much public transport in the cities. Skipped lunch in all the running about, saw the infamous palica Bazaar, it really is bewildering, the most notable thing is, i saw a huge 600 mm canon prime lens there. Not to mention some cute shoes and oh so many cloths.

Back to the airport in the special train, goofed around there with my brother, we played at the drinking water fountain, at the shoe shiner, and tried going down on a climbing escalator (btw don’t do it in public, we abandoned it after the first try, if you value your dignity)and marched around trying to connect to the free and privet wi fis available , i don’t know why people are  so serious at airports? We ate silly airport food because dad was in a hurry to get there , i mean, what is so amazing that it has to cost so much? Any how, it was still fun, and i tried out “run raisin” ice cream, something new for me as it obviously isn’t available in Gujarat. I felt proud walking around in hunters , flanked by pencil heels and ballerinas. Shoes.... there was one perfume store with prada and Gucci and all, the bright side, i got to sniff some and tried on Gucci for free, good .

Landed in ahmedabad at 11, got home at 12..

Finished the book “a walk to remember” , and i have my furniture design exam the day after tomorrow.

Girl, start studying!

Bye people, and greetings to the cases.
more photos on-  

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-: I oppose the use of asbestos in India:-

Of Things big and small- a mostly picture blog

hmm,... i've tried and tried and tried.. and have fallen asleep on my efforts.
so i won't beat up my self about it , no no, i will only try and make it easier if it isn't coming on as it should have-we'll make it different won't we?


so -i think i should put out the mighty efforts i have made on sleepy nights after sweating away the whole day, i have to say,each night, my sleep is well earned and deserved. now that isn't something everyone can boast of :)

1st

 I am tired, i am sleepy. I am thinking of the placement of the rainwater pipe on the terrace of my current studio project,which is taking more time to finish than it should.

But i am no longer afraid, i love the work i have done, and they will probably find it alright.which is as much as you can expect from them anyhow. I am happy, though i still have one through section and one elevation to go, i am happy and i feel very blessed, and that is one feeling – if none other- which must be mentioned and the universe much be thanked for giving me that.

Who’d have known that i would know such wonderful people?  Am i not truly lucky to have a wonderful family, and the peace i know i can generate, even during the times of great distress only with a glance at the towering trees, isn’t that something very precious?

Why would men wish to make and live in huge cities?

Now,it is ironic and funny. I am an architect about to be made.

May be that is to rediscover good living. I am not sure i can ever fall in love with concrete alone.

Neither do i want to.

Diwali is on the 26^th

I am sitting in the fading light, the sun has set sometime ago and the western sky is  orange and navy blue, i have to go to college tomorrow, it is the first of the holy days of Diwali,the smoke and smell of fire crackers is very much distinctively there, it smells and sounds like Diwali but never mind, it is for my own good because the professor has got a whim,that she wants me to show up that day, no other reason,but she has to give the marks so i am going.

Let me drop the mundane problems , they are not of much consequence really. I am sitting out here, in this rather last century like dress with strawberries on it,and marvelling at the beauty of everyday life. My brother has gone to Savar Kundala, it seems i have all the time on my hand- or it is just that there is not a constant talk source around. So i am  the youngest in the house, that is good for a change. Though i do miss him, alot.

Winter is in the air, life will get more interesting as the cold increases, with hot food and new vegetables in the market, the dishes will be more lush and tempting. And of course, before that, there is Diwali to celebrate!

 

So let me talk of the big and small pleasures of splurging sometimes- of the pleasure of browsing and selecting, of liking and gifting.it is pretty much like how it is for Christmas in the western world.

So,here is one pleasant thing -i have been wishing to tell every one, that i DID NOT buy some amazing shoes that i saw yesterday in Ahmedabad.

Here is the pic

any wonder that i lusted after these?

ok so not very subtle or graceful,but it's high fashion :D

So of course i did try it on and told the shopkeeper to take me a photo, so please don’t be ashamed if i act rather oddly when shopping shoes with you, i am like that, i can not buy what is not needed, cause if i do i am usually  feeling the guilt of it each time i see the thing.

I have under taken a daunting task, that of writing a blog entry before it is 1 am here, it is 12 already, and as you know my posts are such long rambling accounts of everyday things.
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 31st October 2011

you know, failing at finishing my blog posts doesn't discourage me much, it happens and it is fine. it just means that i am a healthily busy person,who has a good appetite for sleep. it is 11:30 right now, than it will be the 1st. let me try and finish this as soon as i can, this is going to be what it comes to be really, i am not planning on any romantic flourishes and touches of literary genius,(supposing the i ever do get those) - i am just going to write,as nicely and neatly as i can, about my trip and life in general in the last few days.


so....we left on the 25th morning, Vidur wasn't with us,having reached Savarkundala before us with my uncle,it was a rather boring ride, one gets used to having him arguing and talking unceasingly about his games till your eyes hurt, and to have him to cuddle at all times. reached Bhavnagar, had a crazy- giggling and group hugged reunion with my two cousin sisters.gave the diwali gifts,had fun,explored the new macro lens, etc, than left for S.K. with my youngest sister, gosh, this description sounds so awfully silly, if i must say it all like this why do  i not just declare this the most boring blog of the world and be over with it?  
human limitations of a sleepy mind?


so..my stay there included some marvellous things, the precious time with my cousins,heart to heart talks,swims in the farm swimming pool with the trees overshadowing it,early morning walks and picnics in the near by forest frequented by lions and leopards, simple but delicious food, diwali celebrations,the famous ingoria (fire crackers) fight, giving an interview,new year celebrations,night safaris and star studded skies trying unsuccessfully to light our walks,( OMG i almost fell asleep)


i am officially making this a photo post, bite me!


we made some hugely brilliant rangolies 
one the night of Diwali,
(i know,very childish)

and this one is vidur's creation- original isn't it :D

and here is the one we made on the night of the new year

 

work in progress-initial stage

that's the finished design.

We spent the day of diwali at the farm, started off by an early morning hike in the nearby forest which is now inhabited by a group of lions and of course leopards, but encountered only an antelope, and an unidentified bird.had a picnic, came back, played with the dog, swum for hours , had simple but lovely lunch ,and lazed under the shade of trees.than when every one succumbed to sleep,but my cousin and i didn’t , we did a photoshoot. I rather like the results : )

Fireworks and Diyas or divas are the main features of diwali, i will give you an example of the most fun thing you could do with them, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HgE-rDJE_g

Though, only lumos seemed to work as it should, but i won!! See, i am meant as the most powerful witch of the Muni family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DJ-qmfxKLM

Here is the video we took off the tv screen of the interview- during the fire cracker fight in savar kundala- it’s been going on from almost 100 years, and it is nasty, but full of energy, adrenalin, burns, and obviously –smoke.it started as a friendly fight between the two towns on both the sides of the river navali, savar and kundala, now it’s a joined town, but the tradition continues, it really is like a war zone+ a gang fight- but fortunately, they don’t get agitated or start fighting with anything other than fire. their main feature is to spook away spectators, and they seem to derive evil fun out of trying to target any lady who’s been bold enough to come in their midst, as you can seen during the interview, they did manage to catch us on the backs –but to be truthful ,none of us screamed,we just laughed, as you can see from the behind the scenes video here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlKSUN3tx_w

We are braver souls than that,but we do mind burn marks, and ruined dresses, so don’t make me punch your nose in with your fireworks bag. So i ended up giving the interview in my night cloths,with smoke in my nose and my hair in utter disarray :P

Anyhow, it was fun, we were- for the most part, in the police station, it is not advisable to stand outside, the crackers even entered the room it self, but we got interviewed because we were the only ladies there, here is the video of last year, my aunt giving the interview and us all smiling behind her :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QzLKBlayok&feature=colike

The walk back to the car from the police station was strewn with missiles launched at our heads:P but i have to say the dodging was fun and can make you feel like matrix- lean back, side, that side, gosh it caught me  almost in my hair but burnt the back of my neck a bit.

I am thankful i bent down low enough.

view from inside the police station

Hmm so,enough of that,

Than there was the new year, so happy new year :)

The day after that was bhai bij, the day for brother and sister, we swam a lot in the pool that day, had a “ who does the most laps” competition,and i learnt a bit about how to dive, i always jump, diving freaks me out, but i learnt it. Not perfectly of course.

Than after almost 2 hours, when i floated – watching the pale blue sky framed by leaves, and the skylark swooping and swirling in the heated air, i thanked the universe for this life, and i said goodbye to the blessed place, for that particular trip, as i knew this would be the last swim before i went away. I had a habit of remembering special people on such occasions, what if we could communicate with our minds when we think of the people we want to include in that moment?

I love to float while staring at the sky ,it’s like sleeping, the water is so gentle and caring when you surrender fully. So relaxing.

Though, it does make me panic : )

Another mentionable episode, is our second night jaunt in the forest, the first one having been utterly disappointing, with only night jars and hares to add to the list, the second one was far more better, though it is a pity we had to be accompanied by some silly people without any jungle understanding- the kind who keep talking and walk slowly, stare in to mobiles and tell you not to take photos because the shutter makes a sound, assuming that you do not know anything at all,and they know everything- they also insist on seeming like the brave hearts and sit with you on the open part of the jeep, insist on keeping the search light in their hands, and always point at the passing tree tops because they are utterly freaked that something will jump down on them, while you despair of ever finding the lioness that you are sure has come somewhere along this road- because, naturally, she IS on land and not on a tree top. Though, not all of them were silly, just two. Enough to make me fume.

We left the car and decided to walk, i and my accomplices walked at our pace, a bit ahead of the noisy followers- giving them over in the care of my mom,she can handle the annoyance, i can’t-and as we were going ahead,they wouldn’t need to fear anything from the wildlife, because, of course if we walked with them , we wouldn’t even see the night jars that evening, while to our horror they raised voices to make us go slow. But thankfully, only moments after that we spotted the gleaming eyes of a lioness on the little hill besides the little dirt way we were walking on, beautiful. Gesturing them to shut up, we showed her to them –blending so well in the landscape, with only half of her head visible, she did look rather awesome. There was one forest guard with us, and hurried in- may be just to get away from the noisy presence, you know, it does grate on everyone who’s sensible-s nerves. so, if you are ever walking with me in the forest, whisper or keep quiet. Which, of course was a wrong move, it made the lioness move back at a greater pace than we could cover, so when we reached the top of the hill where she had been, she had hurried down in the grass and i could just see her tail behind a big thorn bush.  We should have waited for her to relax and come out, but the “new bees” moved in with the confidence of the people moving near a dog, they seemed to find the lack of a mane a deterrent in her ferocity, and thought that ,ofcourse, if the forest guard with 10 years worth of experience in the field can stalk her, so could they, yey!! So they moved in,, and i had to move in behind them, with the children and mom- they were so unstoppable without a shout. It is always advisable to stay in a group when there are more people,and well, they were kind of our responsibility, and they were moving from one side of the bush – likely they’d annoy the lioness and than she would make a circuit of the bush and emerge from the other side, and make for the opposite direction,that put us and our retreat way, both in her line of retreat- that’s a big NO. You don’t put your self in that dilemma.

Thus, they made the lioness change bush again , she moved farther left , and they followed, now and than i’d spot her moving tail, her eyes flashing –judging us and forgiving. Though, people like these could get you killed, and through no fault of the lion or the beast concerned. I couldn’t make them fear her unless she growled , i almost wished she would.a growling lion would make most people shiver and stop breathing. Or do something else. But than,if she did, they’d be sure to run, and that’s the last thing you want to do, you don’t run unless you must, that is why i said that that kind of people could get you killed, they can not stand still if the lion gets annoyed, that is the basic part of on foot stalking, you have to have the heart of standing your ground, when the fire spitting eyes of the lion is pointed on you, when they twirl their tails in just that way, when their ears twitch like that, you hold your ground, you make them realise that you are not afraid, you look them in the eyes,and pray to God that you could fool them. It usually works, after all, if a lion wanted to kill you, you won’t make it by running anyhow, you’ll just make him sure that you are afraid, afraid is easy to kill. Believe me, standing like that is very HARD! You need discipline and self control, not only courage. Even if your eyes water. Even than, if you think it will charge, your only hope is a near by tree.

No question of them having any such qualities, i mean the new bees – they’d probably get us killed if they listened to the lioness growl, they’d flee like a flock of chicken- shocking her more.

Well- here is the video of the blissful night when we were unbothered by chance guests

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRNH-IIEulY

so.. the saving thing was when i spotted the bones of a carcass. I thought- yey! If you haven’t seen a carcass , the white bones gleaming faintly in the night, the flash having been gnawed by the sharp teeth of the lion, with the lion him self hiding somewhere near by – you do not know the cold fear that grips the most bravest of hearts. It gripped mine too, for a second you do stop breathing. So showing that to those idiots was like a treat, it cured them of their new found enthusiasm of lion stalking, made them realise that, it was not a stray dog they were following but a majestic animal that could easily turn them in to a carcass.. fun fun eh?

Then they hurried back behind us in the waist high grass back to the car.

But it did disturb the animal, it disturbed and stressed us.it put on the shelf every possibility of the leisurely lioness viewing i had been hoping for, which also mean i lost lots of potentially good shots.

I only have one to show : (

That was taken before that idiot put his hand in between to tell me not to shoot.

On our way out, we crossed a deep raving (in Jeep) with huge trees and dark shadows ,even darker than the moonless night, we sad the green gleam –potentially of a leopard, but that idiot was still pointing at tree tops, now more freaked than ever but still proving his maleness by staying on the open area of the jeep.

I am saddened that i missed it. 

But..... my dad took the flash light by almost force, than i got to take the wonderful pics (to my mind) of the posing fox, such a beauty. Thank you. That has to be the highlight of the trip. I love foxe.

Though we did see anelopes,spotted deer (i have a wonderful recording of them giving the distinct alarm call as the lioness moved – that was recorded later when we stood apart and away from the other group, contemplating the night, watching satellites and planes, and the milky way, oh so beautiful in it’s milky white glory, as the fireflies zoomed by, As we made out the constellations, as the horned owl gave it’s hooting call,as the chilly air and the thrill made Goosebumps stand out on my skin,as i remembered special people who would really appreciate the beauty of it all, the sheer wonder of it. The spotted deer started to bark and gave it’s alarm call –i have the clear recording of the still night : ) <3

The day after that, was spent in seeing a movie, the ninth gate, well  rather disappointing, though i did see- eat , pray , love. Better. Could be watched ones. Then , at mid day, we left for Bhavnagar, had a fun evening there with my other cousin sister, talked long in to the night, with the giggly girly way of ours, of things big  and small, we talked.

Brilliant Instances.

I breathed, deep. As the cool night air caressed. there are scattered white clouds in the sky, effectively covering up most of the smaller stars, accompanied by the town lights effect, the stars are not making a grand show of it.

The insistent urging sound, made by a scooter refusing to start, while its owner sweated and sweated, and at last, the noise of the engine whirring fills the almost still atmosphere. i  am happy that it started, it is not desirable that any one should be kept from home any longer than is necessary. 

The night insects are going on with their monotonous but beautiful lullaby, while the few mosquitoes can not be heard but are only felt by me, as i am sitting on the steps of our terrace. Inspiration, comes quickly to me if i am here, witnessed by the treetops, the stars, and the almost navy blue sky. I realise i haven’t been up here often enough these past few months. I pray , i am determined, that i shall never be too busy to get sometime out to talk with my self,  to converse with nature, to converse with God. I promise me this, that i shall always have time for the really important people in life, the near and dear ones, and always there will be reserved moments, for peace and self exploration, to admire the miracles of everyday life.

Have you ever found the night air to be scented, in that oh so subtle way? Utterly romantically beautifully. Amazingly loving is the breeze. I Find solace and comfort in the night, i need the music that is always playing in the night.

Silly me – why didn’t i come up here the first day i got a laptop? Aren’t we just foolish.

Any how....let me become my talkative self, i’ve been on a small trip! As we all know, i love our sudden, unplanned and unpredictable trips. Not to say that all our meticulously planned trips usually never happen , the unplanned ones are the best.

We went to Abu, the hill station, the town, of course, was carefully avoided, and we put our selves in the hands of nature. The arravallies were breathtaking at this time of the year, covered in a coat of lush green, it’s big bad boulders which were formed once by lava, where looking almost timid. Small and big waterfalls intercepted the curving road here and there. The grandfather of Himalayas was looking pretty pleased with everything, what with the green capped by a brilliant summer sky with soft, cotton wool clouds fluttering here and there.

It is not a long story, it is a story of a girl ( so i am 22:P ),her beloved family, and a bear. An Indian sloth bear.

Plus, lots of flowers, and moss, and orchids, and birds and palm civets, and late night stories and history lessons and treasure hunts and lots of fun.

finding clues in the treasure hunt.

rock faces-how many do you see?

shadows shadows,let us play.
as the caterpillars munch away.

moss flowers i call these

beloved

orchid

 

 

 

 

peace

the pretty bachelor.

It is just as well that i am accompanied by the insects and stars right now, down there i would have probably succumbed to sleep by now.

It was me,mom,dad,brother and granny. We reached there at 2:30 p.m. while every one indulged in their chosen past time, i proceeded to fool around with the camera alone, than I and brother went on out usual tracks of exploration here and there, while weaving wild fantasy stories featuring us two, naturally. Took more photos, played treasure hunt, saved a few caterpillars, though not sure they wanted to be. Went to dad and did some more official bird watching. Than went to mom and grandma, talked and talked and worried about the world.ran after dad as he called us orchid hunting, up the slippery slopes and boulders, and found some : ) took some more photos and saw butterflies. Than my brother became sleepy, so I and father set watching the birds go to roosts, in the tranquil  place facing the beautiful lush forest in front.and were joined by mom. We also took turns counting face formations in a big rock in front, i had the highest count, of 10. : )

At night, we went around in a 4 wheel, to may be see a bear, in that still night, as we set waiting on its usual path, slowly a darker spot emerged on the dark landscape, though it was still early in the night. it moved and kept moving towards us. I had seen 3 bears on my previous visit to this jungle, but this sighting was one brilliant happenstance, i had to keep focusing manually on him, as the guide was very particular about not frightening him by any sudden moves/noises and light, so the powerful torch was kept off.but as it inched close, the dim flash light of my mobile, which was on thanks to my brother in the covered back of the car,i was able to keep the focus more accurate. Well, one can’t focus while being perpetually blind! I was leaning out a little, and slowly, and slowly, we came near, or say, he did, he was a young male, around 5 years, just attaining adulthood. searching for more food he happened up to try sniffing under the car a little, and that brought us pretty much nose to nose, only separated by some 3 feet, or  so .I , of course, stopped taking photos, while every one else pressed on me to have a closer look, i tried to lean back inside the car body as i was pretty much out and my upper body in full clear hit able range. He grunted once ferociously, it was something that would make your heart leap, it made my brother drop the mobile, while i just continued to stare at him, he remained in easy reach distance for quite a while, so i did take a few shots, and he very generously provided me with this full front one. I remember thinking at the time that he  was giving it to me because i hadn’t been annoying and hadn’t  taken his photos while he was too near. ( i could have worked with my portrait lens, he was THAT near).

Ah ....isn’t life fascinating?

Tonight the night is not still and silent, tonight is the first night of the auspicious festival of dance, Navaratri. So till the ninth night from tonight, the music and the dance will go on till the early wisps of the light of dawn gathers in the eastern sky. A great tribute will be paid to the forces of nature for nine long nights,the 9 forms of the goddess will be worshipped.

 Lots of love affairs will start as well, as it always does each year at this time. Well, well,well- you know, will all the excitements and late nights and dancing and getting dressed,it’s just natural :D who am i to comment.

One does hope for some splendid raas performances though, why not remember lord Krishna and his late night dances with the gopies and Radha.  My, i do love our festivals, i love everything here. If i were to leave here, i don’t know how i shall do it.

Some one is letting out some pretty evil laugh out on the next road,while the blare of music is rather tiresome, they used to sing better songs in the past.

I sound soo like a granny right now.

Talking of being a granny, my grandma told me about her childhood and how tings have changed since, she was born in 1944, and the English left India in 1947.she used to dream a lot about Gandhiji, as she had a strong desire to meet him, well my grandfather had had that opportunity, i wish i had interrogated him more thoroughly about it when i had the chance, though we had talked about it ,i had just let it slip by. It is a year, this month, since he passed away.

We miss you grandfather. May be you met some amazing souls out there though.

Grandmom told me about the incident with the king of Bhavnagar, and a small farmer, as india was a democratic nation,the first king to merge his kingdom was Krishna Kumarsinhji, of Bhavnagar state of that time. Than he was appointed the governor of madras, so, a farmer, had lost a bullock(most probably it had been stolen),  he didn’t know anything about there being a government now,a different rule, he only knew that if he had a problem, he should go and see the king, he went to Bhavnagar,(being from a small village in that state)found that the king was in madras and collecting the address, went there, laying open his problem. The king did have a mighty time making him understand the situation, but he did it, than bought him a return ticket, also gave him a letter to be given to some staff of his back home, and the farmer was given a brand new bullock for all that freedom the country had. See- we kind of had some great kings. Who actually did something, the politicians seem like a hopeless lot now.

The king of vadodara, the famous Sayajirav Gaekwad,the great patron of knowledge, had made it compulsory for everyone in his state to have basic 7-8 years of studies, in the time before freedom,so even the girls in the most rural villages knew how to read and write.the enlightened kings did do a lot, though, i can not say that there weren’t some pretty weird and odd ones. After all,there were 580 princely states here, they all can’t be good.

She also told me about her trips in a train engine,in the last compartment of a goods train with the guard,and in the ferries that towed the maharaja-a- bhavnagar’s luggage to and fro when he went to his summer retreat on the shiyal island near pipavav, as well as truck lifts used to give chase to buses that left without you, in those good old times when you could trust people,and the khadi cloths induced some respect in people.

A dear friend asked me,not long ago, about the situation between India and Pakistan, the question that seemed to torment his gentle soul being why we couldn’t look at each other in the way the outsiders did,wouldn’t it make things better? Perhaps the people of the two countries should take an outsiders perspective and focus on the their similarities than their differences. 

Well, one wishes to, it is not as if the civilians of the two nations want to keep barking at each other like mad dogs after one rabbit. We have a similar language, clothing, food and mannerisms. Actually, the people, are not so much opposed to each other as the politics would have you believe. The dirty gamer here is the Pakistani government, untrustworthy all around, now that America is learning it too, i don’t really need to elaborate, India had told them- over and over again, to not give such alot of financial support with a free hand, they’ve just gone and snuggled up with China, the dragon that lives to swallow everything up if given half a chance. What did anyone do when it ate up Tibet? All talk, while India still plays a glad host to the Dalai Lama. It has it’s eyes on Indian land, has had from a long time. Honestly, the weasel like ways of China are more worrying to me than the clumsy manoeuvres of Pakistan.Pakistan does have to be more careful about who it befriends.

While, it is not honestly possible for us to not look askance at Pak. Just consider- at this moment, right now, a  gun battle is raging on between our army and 2 remaining terrorists in Kashmir ,came over from Pak, of the total gang of 7.they have taken a huge chunk of Kashmir under them, and we’ve not taken it forcefully because we seem to be the only ones who listen to what UN says.with all the wars in the past, and than the dirty terror tactics that keep turning up everytime India initiates peace talks, really does make it easy for us to take any milder perspective on the situation. The thing is this, we are not out siders,we live as their neighbours. It does give you every first hand information which is never on international media, the millions of fake rupees that are inserted in to our economy each year by them, the fisher men captured from the shared ocean borders and kept in inhuman conditions in their cells, not to mention their almost blatant support to terror groups which constantly keep harassing us is not something that will induce any sort of liking for them. As it is out cities that are plunged in to upheavals, it is our solders that die in gun battles each month. Those are Indian kashmiri girls who are threatened on way to their schools to leave studying or they’d be killed, rape, murder and plunder, it is all happening to our people. It is not just some brief line in some news.

I have all sympathy with the Pakistani people, actually. India helped Pak, in the recent flood situation, and it keeps trying to solve things out, though their cosy ing up with china is ominous-i do not care for the amount of nuclear power there between the two, who didn’t notice the Pak nuk scientist’s letter to his wife in Sweden in news today?

They are banning Indian films there, saying it steals all of their profit and makes people neglect watching their own movies. I have sympathy for that, i understand that they have a rather valid reason and it can’t be held against them,though they could have asked for some sort of a fee and prevented the drastic measures . as the people of pak protest saying the only  other outside entertainment is eating out, why they should be prevented from watching good movies, (their words not mine) as the pak film industry doesn’t sprout up a good enough movie in anything less than 10 years.

The point is, we are not against everything that is Pakistan, we are against all that is Against India, that wishes it harm, and no , it is not possible to take an outsider’s view on the political situation, as long as greed is there, there will be conflict. Some might hold the impersonal opinion that if India gave up Kashmir,everything will be solved, no, it won’t be, it will just make us look weak,and they’d keep wanting more, after all,India doesn’t have to behave like the most nicest boy in the school, doing just right and not making any one sad. Well, they always said- in each war- that they’d reach Delhi by the next day..hello.. yeah,like  we’d let you.

But, personally, i hate wars.

So, can’t they just stop turning beautiful Kashmir in hell, and make it an amazing tourist destination and split the earnings! Yey!

Err... sorry,..... just that, i shouldn’t get started on politics, i have a big opinion about everything.

I hope you enjoyed the different tones of this post. Now back to worrying about those exams!

Good night people : ) a bat is shrieking out side.good luck to every one, including me.