Kanha National Park

I have been to Kanha National Park on 30th of April 2010 which is the second biggest National Park in Asia spread around 1985Sq KM (2000 Sq Km to sum up) mainly famous for Tigers.
This place is commonly named as Kanha Kesari and is about 280Kms from Nagpur a part of Madhya Pradesh a central part of India. I have been there for 2 days along with a friend and we preferred to drive straight to Kanha from Nagpur, which took us around four and half hour to reach. The sunny day of summer is considered to be good one to locate animals in forest. I booked the dormitory of MP tourism which provides good services and this was the only resort situated inside the forest wherein other resorts are out of the main area. We reached around 12 pm which is a normal check in time for the dormitory. After getting fresh had good lunch provided by the resort itself and found an shared safari along with a Gujrati family in a Gypsy ( one of my favorite machines) as its not feasible to hire a private drive for two people.
There are two safari timings in Kanha, one is morning 5.30 am (May and June 5 am) and evening 4 pm. The tourism company provides a guide for each safari car so that one can take any preferred rout to explore the wildlife on condition to return not late than 7 pm so that the lights and human presence should not disturb animals. On the first ride have seen hundreds of Deer’s, Bison’s, ten’s of Peacocks which is the national bird of India, Peahens, Black bucks, monkeys and many more birds. These are the commonly viewed animals, as they comprise the maximum population and hardly harmful creatures. There are around 25,000 Deer in this forest, which are rapidly growing in numbers. But I was’t convinced with the view of any of these, as my eyes were curious to see the rare animal in world that was Tiger for this time. We were racing tiger for three hours but were not lucky enough to see one and convinced out heart by looking at Pug marks of the tiger. I finished my day with dinner followed by early sleep as we were scheduled for another safari at 5am.
I got up around 4 am nest day and got ready for the second and last chance to get the glimpse of tiger as I was about to get back to my hometown by evening. We reached the gate to entry and were delayed by 10 minutes to claim the first position to enter the park, which was a bit disappointing. As I believe the theory that everything happens, it happens for good, which was proved this time again. This time we got a guide, who was barely 5 feet in height and looked more like a professor than a guide. As we entered the core area our guide asked immediate attention toward for an animal which he was claiming as Bear. As we followed the different track form all other vehicles we found a full frown male bear, which was running away on the pathway of vehicles. It is said that one can locate and see the tigers easily in this forest where as bear was a rare sight like this one. The reason was we followed him around 20 minutes and were able to see different movements it was making to look for food. The start of the day was fabulous and I immediately started counting our chances to look for tiger this time.
We headed toward the different territories held by tigers to catch it in early morning as this animal makes kill commonly in early morning or late evening. Suddenly we re able to hear the call of Deer, which he makes on the sight of tiger or leopard to aware other group members. There is unique communication held between these animals and wonderful to understand it. After waiting for another 15 minutes we headed ahead to take more chances. Finally decide d to take a break and then search ahead. Guide took information about the possible sight of tiger and took us to the same. I was able to see few vehicles lined up on one side of the road along with few elephants. As soon I stood inside the car I could see a tiger standing between two elephants and was exited to my peak to get the close view. But another disappointment came as it needed coupons to take elephant ride without which neither we can sit on this giant nor can have a close look for this black belt animal.
Finally, the Indian way came to our rescue and our guide managed to bribe few hundreds to the elephant man, which allowed me to take first time elephant ride in my life. It took us inside the meadows where the tiger was sitting and was surrounded by few elephants. It was a young male a bit whitish in color with clear black stripes and very attractive and clearly visible. (video attached). I felt like achieving trophy and a sense of satisfaction came to my mind and heart. I wonder why people kill this astonishing bold creature just for pleasure. Here I understood the true meaning of save tigers champagne which is running thought out nation nowadays. Believe me this animal looks great live than in photographs or fossils. So I could at least plea for people for saving tigers and spread the word for the conservation of this beautiful animal.

Dont be Fool Be an Idiot

Recently I have seen a bollywood movie 3 idiots and I am in love with this movie. I have seen it three times. I am sure that I am not the only idiot in this category being a crazy movie fan. It says don’t be fool be an idiot. In my perspective the movie is about paradigm shift and it starts from the word 'idiot'. Everyone knows that this word signifies curse but now it would be a proud complement for people. Steve Jobs also refers in his speech at Stanford about “stay hungry stay foolish”.

Looking fool is not about doing foolish things but being foolishly engaged in something what one likes to do. It says that, do what you like and you would be successful. I do follow this philosophy in my life but knowing what you like is not an easy job. One might think about how one could not know that what he/she likes. But here knowing what you like is not doing something once or twice whereas one should find interest in the respective work consistently. If I like to play chess that does not mean it could be necessarily transfer into my profession. To make something profession you should be keen to seek excellence in that particular sector. I always want to excel in my communication skills but again I don’t want change it into some profession. As a matter of fact knowing about what you like is a long term or rather time consuming process. For seeking what you like to do in a long run you might need to apply trial and error method, which is widely used in experiments.

So, in people’s view this process of trial and error is the matter of being idiot or stupidity. I would not say, that everyone has to go through this process as some one would find their goals in early ages and can be in the process from the starting of their carrier. But it is a matter of challenge for them who have chosen a carrier that is forcefully or ignorantly and finds interest in something else. One has to understand that this idiotic process is very difficult at start and looks impossible to get into at half of your life but that is why you are symbolized as an idiot. An idiot does not care about the world and is insanely engaged in his activities. When you combine three D’s of excellence, which are determination, dedication and devotion it results in one word 'Idiot' that insanely involved in the process of excellence.

So, the words that are used by people are not the matter of worry where in those can be the best words to describe your process of excellence in any profession, which you love. So, lets not waste more time in things we don’t want to excel into and start doing what is your area of interest. “Don’t be fool be an IDIOT”.

CoKe StUdiO... I love it

It was recently when my pal Anniruddha suggested to look for this Pakistani band ‘Coke Studio’. I have never heard about it and wanted to have a look what it was. The beautifully designed site itself was a warm welcome to the world of this band. My predefined mind strings were thinking about it might be another band singing filmy song. I started surfing inside and I found it was a complete set of newly composed songs with the retro touch.
After listening few songs I truly fell in love with this band. Someone has wisely said that, ‘music and love has no boundaries’, I wonder this might be the reason I am able to listen to these beautiful compositions. Music is an energy source for me and I like especially Sufi kalam, which is nothing but love and devotion. Presently I am staring my day with Coke Studio and getting back to bed with the same. I hope those who don’t know about it would like it and may become a fan like I do.

Trekking in Himalayan....

This is about my trekking trip, which I have been in the month of May 2009. This is a first time when I have been to trekking and Himalayan of course. I was fortunate to have this wonderful journey because of two elements; one is Vikas uncle who has organized and lead the group. Thanks to recession, which has played role for another reason. The trek itself was decided three months ago and it is planned with subject to holidays and weather conditions, which are the primary factor. But weather and trek rout are the decisive elements.

The trek was scheduled to commence on the date of 25th of May and so everyone has to reach there at least a day before to get acclimatized with surrounding. I have booked my tickets from Himalayan tourism, which runs Volvo’s from Delhi to Manali on 22^nd as I was about to reach Delhi on the same day afternoon. I have got the list of all the needful to carry from Vikas uncle as this is a bit different list from which one carry for regular tours. Each and every item is meant for some purpose and even a gram is counted, as you have to take care of weight of the belongings. It has to be balanced between needful and wishful items, as there is hardly any source to get what you missed at the base. I started discovery of all the particulars required before 15 days. I say it discovery because getting things for trekking in a city like Nagpur is itself a discovery. All this was possible with the help of my friend Sonu bhaiya who has wide knowledge about the market as well as economical and worthiness of the things I wanted to buy. I can say my journey has started well before 15 days, as my mind was completely in planning and surfing over Internet about information related to trekking.

Finally everything has set to go and I closed my wishful list of things to carry. I was carrying a big suitcase with nearly weight of 30 kgs along with a back pack which is must while trekking to take care of your on journey requirements like water, snacks, napkin, poncho ad if possible then a pair of cloths. Sonu bhaiya along with his wife and kid came to see off me, as I would be going for good 18 days. It was difficult time as on the one hand I was leaving my comfort zone to explore new arena and on the other hand you have excitement to experience new world. The train was Kerla express which I boarded at 9.30 pm with full of passengers and settled there within minutes since hardly anyone was awake.

Next day I reached Delhi an hour late that I was scheduled to, so I gave a call to Abhijeet who was about to meet me at Delhi station to inform about my status. We both then traveled to Himachal tourism office and then followed to Manali. It was a semi sleeper comfortable bus carrying almost the entire tourist for Kullu and Manali. Early morning we reached 100 Kms nearby Manali. The day was cloudy and cold contrary to weather of Delhi, which was dry and hot. I could feel the change of mood within miles; the concrete was replaced with fine wooden structure with green backdrop of different shades. I reached Manali around 9 am in the morning and our tour organizer Kaushal received us at bus stop near Mall road. He is 5 feet and few inches in height with long hair with mountaineer attire. We have then reached to the home of Kaushal to get fresh as directed by him. It was a wooden dwelling, which was cast in mountains of Himalayan. We stayed there until evening as Vikas uncle with others were about to come. Then we have shifted to the cottage for a day where we prepared to start with the Trek.

At last the day has arrived and everyone was set to go. It was 25^th of May. The vehicles dropped us at the base where we started walking for the first day. It was a bright sunny day when we started with the trek. I was nervous by looking at the heights we were at and we wanted to climb. This was first time in my life where I have been so close to nature. I have seen the beauty of nature till time on television and in Schotland but this was somewhat different. Here, you won’t find buildings, roads, shops and none other than chirping of birds, free flowing water, trees, shrubs and few villagers till some point. First few steps were difficult to manage, as one doesn’t know how to retain your energy while trekking, so I followed every detailed instruction by Vikas uncle, which he kept giving on every important aspect. After a short distance we could see the birds, which are of extinct species. Everyone was lining up for binoculars carried by Vikas uncle for which he was very possessive. I could see that every grown up has a kid hiding inside who peeps out at several point and here I could see the evidence for the same. In fact, he is cautious about every tiny thing he carries and will dictate you about the usage, the standardized design and the quality about that, no mater you are convinced or not. But, that is how a perfectionist behavior is, knowing what one wants and then appreciating what one has. The days walk was came to an end after two hours climb as the first base camp was approached and was decided to at short distance only for getting acclimatized with the surrounding. As a matter of fact the first three days are planned in a way that you get used to of the climate and the altitude for avoiding high altitude sickness.

I was exhausted in a short walk; it may be because I am used of walking lateral than inclined climb. I learnt how tents are executed which is of vibrant colors. I could see the technical design of the tents consisting two layers where one is acting as walls of room and other to protect from snow and wind. I slide my body inside it to see my beautiful new habitat for another ten days. I was having two roomettes, Abhijeet and Ishan for the rest of the trek as each tent was meant to accommodate three people. I used to wonder that how you can live without TV, computer, Internet and mobiles which are lifeline for this generation. We are critically engaged in the wired atmosphere where hard disk of our mind has been attacked by the virus called virtual life style. I don’t say that one should not use technology or the luxuries available to us, but somewhere it should be balanced with the ascetic element of living stated in Kuran, gita or Bible. We often forget that these amenities are made for us and not we are meant for them. I found on the journey ahead that, it needs courage to break this fundamental thinking of living as we are born and brought up by these rigid thoughts. While trekking ahead we crossed two passes called The Chandrakhani pass and the Kalirani pass. The optimum height we reached was above fourteen thousand feet and was proud to have this accomplishment. We kept walking for another ten days on an average 7-8 hours daily. Each and every day brought new enthusiasm and the thirst to feel most of the nature and its scenic beauty. Now I wonder, why in religious books it is mentioned that God is living in Himalayan, as if even that almighty could’t resist the beauty of this crown of India.

The entire trek was a learning experience about trees, flowers, mountains, peaks, birds, stars and the geographical elements of the universe. It was the best time for personal introspection one can get with the perfect surrounding. I could feel the wind blowing, could hear the sound of flowing river water; can see the light reflecting on the peaks of Himalayan. My mind was re-energized and transformed by all this enlighten living in nature. I had a key learning about was we often forget to appreciate this beautiful world created by that almighty and keep seeking pleasure in the materials for what we struggle throughout our life. He has already availed it to us for free, but now we need to pay a lot to see even those free gifts given by god.

The beginning...

Hi..
At last after reading so many articles and blogs, finally I decided to begin with my own. In fact i got inspired to write from my friend Aniruddha whose blogs i follow regularly..buddy your writes excellent. I am not very creative at writing nor grammatically perfect but still have decided to go ahead please ignore those two points people.
Hope to keep my blogs updated as its hard to keep me on schedule, but also trying hard to manage it now. Hope to write my next blog soon as possible..