Visiting our true homeland - Africa

It is said that the birth of human kind was from Africa - this remotely tickled our senses the day we landed in Africa.

Kampala - the capital of Uganda and our destination for the next 10 days. Its always nice to touch base with basics - the unpolluted air, the greenery around, storks and pied crows as common company, over and above are the people. The simple very gracious Africans who have never lost their touch with their basics.

The spirit and vibrance of the people with their music and age old traditions are found everywhere - on roads, in the structure of houses, people on roads.

Soaking in the spirits of African drumbeats and simplicity of people - we headed for Jinja on the first day. Jinja happens to be the source of Nile. The source itself is mystic with water sprouting from underground and feeding the largest river in the world. We got the first visions of the vastly major fauna in Jinja itself - birds of different kinds gave us the visual treat which was overwhelming. We saw kingfishers, pelicans, storks, comorents and many more in our hour long trip in and around Lake Victoria.

The day 3 was the start of our travel to the African Safari. After a 5 hour drive from Kampala we reached Murchsion Fallls National Park. The park approx. 4000sq kms was home to a wide variety of animals like Girraffe, 4 of Africa's 'Big' - elephants, Lion, Cape Buffolo,Leopards. Keeping our fingers crossed we perched ourselves in the Paraa safari lodge in the park.

The first day was spent in the game drive from about 4 hours which opened the world of African Savanna in all its glory. In the first day itself we got treated to Elephants, Cape Buffolo, Baboons and ofcourse the Hippo. Once back in the lodge to settle for the night which itself was charming with its dim lights and sans technology(no telephones or TV), we realised that we are truly living in the wild since the lodge faces the Nile which had the Hippos and few of them frequented the Lodge scribbling the grass and very much oblivion of human presence.

In the next two days, we went for 2 more game drives encountering different kinds of birds of prey as well as the small cute ones, antelopes and Gazels, wathogs and ofcourse the mighty Lion and Lioness.

Among all of them the Hippos seized to amaze us - we constantly kept watch on our visiting friends. On the third day we were taken on a Nile Cruise which took you to the bottom of Murchison Falls. We had the pleasure of spotting the Nile Crocs which has a major star presence in Nat Geo and Animal Planet.

The whole experience and specially the Savanna itself looked like we were existing in one of the Animal Planet shows - transported to our dream land of Africa.

Back in Kampala, we realised that major parts of Africa was ecnomically controlled by Indians while the locals live a peaceful and simple life. I felt that it was good in one way that the locals were not loosing their basics by getting involved in cut throat rat race, so they were embeded in nature and spiritualism providing the mystic sense which Africa is still holding on.

I pray it holds on and beyond when the whole material world gets destroyed by 2012 - isn't it the Norstadamus prediction??!!!

Country of Liberty

In my trip to US, I covered mid parts which are Minneapolis and Texas and New Orleans; Eastern part of Boston and New York. Although it was over month long trip, I wont take the liberty of commenting much on US culture since that requires furthur observation. Few snippets is all I can offer.

Minneapolis and Rochester - kind of dry place - not much to see although I tried catching up with their much publicised Contemporary Art museum which to my eyes looked ridiculous with wall length canvas with a black stroke in-between (my due apologies to all modern painters). It is supposed to be one of the coldest parts of US so people are not very fast paced or lively. They have sky walks all through to avoid the harsh climate and like the climate - people were bit stony and cold.

Boston - the tea party - did buy some tea with the same tag! Its a historical city with British Architecture and the famous harbour where American Revolution budded. The quincy market reminded me of Calcutta New Market which has its old flavour harmonised neatly with the new generation of marketers. There were street performers with their jiggs and music. Interestingly, contrary to our city setup - US marks the downtown as the city which is mostly the hub of commerce and activity while people live in and around the main downtown. To get the flavour of culture - one has to visit the downtown. MA being the seat of education with MIT, Stanford - the student culture is more vibrant. A old city with young crowd thronging the streets to shop or visit museums or just hang around Quincy Market.

New York - needs a special mention. Vibrant, positive, multi-cultural and lingual - I felt quite at home. Street are mostly unkempt, people have a maddening pace and its true that the 'city never sleeps'. I can strongly conclude that atleast in the Eastern parts and New Orleans - people are mostly on the street - enjoying live performances, hanging around, eating cuisines like Euthopian one(I tasted myself) more so in the evenings and weekends.

Houston - got the flavour of BIG. Everything was enourmous - from the quantity you order to malls to even people flashing their ornaments and dresses.

New Orleans - party city - Bouboun street where people hang around drunk for days together. The seat of Mardi Gras - the extremely friendly French Quarters. A city undaunted by the havoc and destruction of Katrina.

Interestingly, contrary to popular belief - Americans are not shameless in their dress sense(we believe they are mostly half naked) or showing their emotion publicly and its definitely not true that one can do anything on American Streets. They are pretty conservative and the recent trend is more to be family oriented. They love eating out, travelling and ofcourse shopping. Consumerism is high and responsible and one can easily get lost in the variety although all makes are Chinese!!! Wastage is high - food, water, gas, paper - all comes in such huge quantity that its bound to get wasted. Cities are not that clean as one would love to believe, beggars are plenty - infact, one data says there are about 19000 homeless in LA itself. Crime is very high - they have channels dedicated to crime reporting but one thing is for sure - corruption doesnot affect the basics like education, health system, food which I guess makes living much easier.

People are generally happy go-lucky, friendly(not like Europeans) and inquisitive. I feel their past makes them much more open to different cultures, races, religion - I would say every American has little of every kind of flavour across the world although they are very protective about their individuality too. The race for money keeps up the positive pace but also makes them loose themselves easily to drugs and crime. I found a growing influence of hinduism amongst them in the form of yoga, meditation which although for some are fads.

Capitalism, liberty and freedom makes the Americans grow in their mind and also creates bad sheep - a tough balance to strike.

Last but not the least:

Population of China is under control!!

Obviously - more than 70% reside now in US!!!!

The Himalayas beyond your window

The mighty Himalayas doing a hide and seek with you day in and day out, splatter of rains from time to time, the misty clouds covering your soul, star studded sky and total silence with sounds of cricket.

Day 1
We started from Delhi on the Kathgodam express to Kathgodam from where we took a car to Mukteshwar – our final destination. We had decided on a small dhaba run by one Naveenji as our place of stay for the next 3 days.
Naveenji place happened to be way side dhaba with few rooms – a very basic arrangement which f made us bit jittery to start with. We started wondering about our different electronics like camera, mobiles, laptops which needed to be charged. But the morning breeze, the beauty of the Himalayas, the clouds made us forget all that and diverted us to the beauty and power of nature and how puny we are in front of them and also how detached we are from mother nature.
The whole environment slowly grew on us so profoundly that we didn’t mind the electricity not being there or the basic amenities we the city urchins are used to.

Day 2
Naveenji treated us to home cooked food and the aura of the place made us eat like gluttons which we consciously burnt out on our walks in and around. The walks took us through winding roads uphill and surprisingly none of us felt the pinch of a 16km walk. Un-polluted air, flowers and birds at every nook and corner and the nice cool breeze to add to that made us feel light and athletic. Our walk took us to Jim Corbett’s one time hide out when he was after the man eater of Mukteshwar. The bungalow perched on top of a mountain gave us a clear view of the far away Himalayas which houses greats like Nandagiri. The surrounding jungles made it an eerie environment and with Jim Corbett in our minds we kind of re-lived the stories of the man eaters lurking all around.

The very thought of not running about to meet personal objectives made us so relaxed that we didn’t mind the time ticking away from morning to evening just staring at the mountains far and beyond. In-between we visited the Pashmina Goat farm and the horticulture centres. With such refreshing off the beat intervals, we thoroughly enjoyed the homely hospitality of Naveenji and his family.

As fate would have it, after about 3 days of loosing our soul and mind to the mountains, we were jerked back to reality on our way back to Delhi. But we definitely decided to make more numerous trips in and around the place to soak in the senses of nature in our souls.

rollapadoo+belum caves

A weekend gateway – localities in AP would instantly tell you Nagarjuna Sagar. How about Kurnool?

No idea, right? Keeping Kurnool as a base one can do two very interesting places – Belum Caves and Rollapadoo Bird Sanctuary and that also both in a distance not more than 100 kms here and there.

Belum Caves

The thought of our ancestors living 100 feet below ground level in caves is in itself an eerie feeling. Belum Caves are natural caves with stalactites and stalagmite formations. The cave is about 3 km in different levels with few paths narrow enough for people to squeeze in.
Six of us started for Kurnool early Saturday morning and reached the APTDC resort in Kurnool by 4 hrs. After grabbing some breakfast, we started for the cave that was an hr drive. Weather was pretty hot and inside the caves it was a bit suffocating at few places socially few points where one had to crawl. The arrangement of lights and ventilation was good enough to sustain for an hr inside. We winded our way through the caves and every moment reminded us of our humble past sans any kind of luxury. There were meditation regions and shapes and sizes of rocks, which had natural artistic formations.
We had lunch in the APTDC restaurant on the way back from the caves. The all round experience was truly thrilling.


Rollapado Sanctuary

Vast expanse of grasslands, cool breeze blowing the dried grass over 614 sq kms and the quietness being punctuated by the hoof sounds of black bucks.

An hour’s drive is Rollapadu Bird Sanctuary that is made famous by the Great Indian Bustard. Rollapadu is also a home to other different species of birds and animals like Horned Owl, Bee Eaters, Open Billed Storks, Black Bucks, and Wolves etc.
When we reached the sanctuary, there were hardly any forest officials around, few locals showed us the way inside. The beauty of the place struck our eyes at the first sight and the wide grassland expanse welcomed us to explore the nooks and corners of the sanctuary.
We spotted Bee Eaters and Shrikes perched on shrubs, which formed the major parts of the contour. There were few tall trees where we spotted Eagle nests. The most amazing sight were the herds of Black Bucks hopping and prancing to bring the grassland to life.

All round the place we came across the sign of new life in the form of Wolf puppies, Owl and Eagle hatchlings. Every corner reminded us of hope amidst destruction, human intervention in the form of canal constructions, tree and shrub felling.

The main attraction of the region was conspicuously missing – the Great Indian Bustard. On probing we found that those are like history now with a maximum of 3 to 4 of them still left around.
With regards to tourism, Rollapado is not equipped at all. The sanctuary has a few rooms with basic amenities (food can be arranged from a village 9 kms away). The only other way is to stay is either in Kurnool or Nandikotkur village that is around 20 kms away.


Kurnool:

Train: From Hyderabad
Road: About 210 km from Hyderabad
Hotel: APTDC resort. There are few other hotels in Kurnool too.

Bidar

Bidar - the lost artisans of Bidri

Bidar is an important historical and cultural town.

The Bidar fort (Vidarbha, the ancient place mentioned in the Mahabharata) stands tall and high engulfing the whole of the Bidar town, which is about a 2 hours drive, 120kms west of Hyderabad on the AP – Karnataka border.

In the year 977 AD, the Chalukyas established their kingdom in the South and their capital was Kalyani. It was 57 Kilometer from the Bidar Fort, which belonged to them. Later on however, the fort went into the hands of the Yadavas of Devagiri, and then into the hands of the Kalyanas of Warangal in 1322.

However, the real charm and elegance of the Bidar Fort rose to its zenith in the hands of the Muslims. Under the Delhi Sultanate the Bidar Fort was reconstructed and many new fractions were added to make the fort more and more modern and charismatic. It is at a height of 2,200 feet from the sea level and overlooks the Manjira River Valley. The old world charm and aristocracy has been preserved with utmost care and transports oneself to the land of the glorious maharajas. The lush green fields, adorned with aromatic fountains and baths suited to a royal class, and the seraglios, pavilion and the palaces embellish the palace beyond imagination. (India profile)

The other facet of the place is the art lovers’ fantasy in the form of Bidri - sturdy and almost unbreakable objects in various shapes and sizes; jet-black in color, Bidriware comes alive with dazzling silver inlay work. Persian immigrants taught this form of art to locals in Bidar during the reign of the Bahmanis. However, of Persian origin, down the ages, Bidri work has developed its own unique form and style. It is an ancestral art passed down generations, extremely time consuming and labor intensive. Nevertheless, sadly, such skilled artisans are lost in the dingy and dark back lanes of Bidar.

Noor Alam, spends 8 hours in a day to create the intricate work of Bidri. The room is nothing more than 6ft by 6ft and depends much on daylight coming from a small window right on top. He represents one of many unattained, unknown creators of beauty who are not only lost in the back lane but also are poorly paid in lieu of their mighty creations. One can get to see the beauty of the Bidri being created in the lanes of Bidar and can buy such artistry in the small shops that are found in and around Bidar.

The other tourist attractions are King's tombs, Madras Mohammad Gawan, Tombs of Barid Shah, HazaratKhaja Abdul Faiz, Choubara(watch tower )at Bidar. Apart from the Monuments, other important places of religious and pilgrimage significance are Papanasham Shiva temple,Gurunanak Gurudwara and Narasimha Swamy Temple.

It is a small town with lot of rich historical and cultural heritage. A very soothing place to spend a day in artistic warmth and historical glory.How to Reach

By Road: Its just 2 and half hours drive from the airport to Bidar on NH9 till Zaheerabad and a diversion of 28 KMs after Zaheerabad. From Bangalore many Govt Luxury Buses of KSRTC ply daily via Hyderbad, Its 16 hours journey from Bangalore via Hyderabad on NH 7 and NH 9. From Bangalore Via Gulbarga and Bellary its 20 hours journey. From Hyderbad Imaliban bus stand for every 15 minutes a Bus to Bidar is available from Plat form No 36.


By Rail: Rail facility is available from Bangalore and Hyderbad. Bangalore - Nanded Link Express Via Bidar, Departure from Bangalore at 9.50 PM. Secundrabad - Manmad Express from Hyderbad Departure at 6 PM from Secundrabad Station, Hyderbad. Hyderbad - Aurangabad Express from Kachiguda weekly thrice. One can also take Udyan express or KK Express from Bangalore reach Gulbarga and take a bus from there, its 105 KMS from Gulbarga.


Places to Stay: There are very few hotels and lodges in Bidar. Whatever accommodation is available is of mediocre standard. Moreover, due to the non-availability of proper accommodation it is better to make a daylong visit from Hyderabad rather than staying overnight at Bidar.

Konaseema

KONASEEMA…beyond horizon

Living in a concrete jungle for too long kills all the five senses - the scents of nature, the hearing sense of chirping birds, the feel of freshness and the blindness to green as a color..................

To somewhat revive the senses, one needs to fly away from the suffocation of a city and get lost in nature..........surrender to the most overpowering Power.........

We decided to do just that. A drive of 450 kms from Hyderabad towards East Godavari district is a stretch at either side of the river Godavari, the densest population of coconut forest in the world. The place is called Konaseema - the heart of the Godavari delta.

We reached our destination of a small village called Dhindi on the banks of the mighty Godavari after an 8-hour drive. This is the very place where you hop on to the houseboats of AP tourism for a 24hr ride and stay on it. AP tourism also has cottages and hotel rooms to provide hospitality to tourists wanting to feel the fresh air around and see the color green in its purest form. The houseboat has two neat bedrooms and a deck to relax and enjoy the serenity. The tourism people on the boat itself provide food.

The cruise on the river with the dense vegetation around, the pure air and the wonderful light breeze lightens the body and mind from all worldly complications. The cruise happens two times in the day and we were taken up and downstream the river. We ventured to Shivakotilanka, one of the small islands in the middle of the river where we were treated to freshly cut coconuts, which tasted heavenly. As the dusk settles in with all its varied colors making patterns on the water and sky, we felt like kings and queens straight out of history books at leisure on a river cruise sipping on sweet coconut water.

The most difficult part was coming out of the magical trance of the cruise experience next day and starting back for the city. With a heavy heart, we started our journey back home. However, the green surroundings and the thought of adventure propelled us to think otherwise. We spotted on our road map a place called Papikondalu – the hill range that overlooks the course of the Godavari. We ventured towards Papikondalu – a 150 kms drive from Dhindi. The route proceeds to Papikondalu via Rajahmundry, the largest town and headquarters of East Godavari district. We met some locals on the way to Rajmundhry and took directions to our destination. The aim was to reach a small hamlet of 20 odd families called Koraturu. The road was rough and rocky but worth all the pain – the highest point seemed like near to heaven. We were looking down upon the river winding its way through the hills and jungles around through a narrow gorge. We all felt like ‘we were at the top of the world…..’’

Places: Konaseema – AP tourism houseboats
Papikondalu: One cottage but no provision of food
Road: 450 kms from Hyderabad by car
Train: To Rajmundhry and then by road
Best Time to visit is September to March

Tadoba

Taboda – tiger, tiger burning bright…..

Tables are turned - we the so-called superior human species find ourselves in the mercy of all-powerful Nature. Unknown territory, suspense at every corner, mere existence is on luck is what is in store for us when we visit the forest - Forest in real terms not the one which we live in - urban jungle.


Tadoba-Andhari Tiger reserve has an area of 625.40 sq. km. This includes Tadoba National Park, created in 1955 with an area of 116.55 sq. km. and Andhari Wildlife Sanctuary created in 1986 with an area of 508.85 sq. km. Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve is the pristine and unique eco-system situated in the Chandrapur district of the Maharashtra State of India. The reserve contains some of the best of forest tracks and endowed with rich biodiversity.

7hrs drive 450 kms from Hyderabad. We a gang of eight equipped with our jungle gears started for an adventure-filled vacation at 2.30 in the morning by road and made our way to Tadoba through the NH 7 highway.

The name it seems originated from a local tribesman named Tadoba who as the story goes had fought bravely with a tiger and hence the name to the forest reserve. With uniqueness of the fable in mind, we entered the forest with the main gate housing the Maharashtra tourism lodges.
We had arranged for the MLA bungalow at the core area of the forest (not available anymore). The drive from the main gate of the reserve until the core area, which is ideally termed as buffer zone, is through a dense vegetation of evergreen trees and shrubs making it impossible to gage more than 20 feet inside on both sides of the road.

The forest tourism is not as well organized as the other parks with very minimalist lodging arrangements but the beauty lies in the diverse options from lake to dense shrubs which houses tigers, Leopard, Sloth Bear, Gaur or Indian Bison, Rusty Spotted Cat, Ratel, Indian mouse deer, Spotted deer, Sambar, Wild Boar, Four horned antelope, Wild dog, Flying Squirrel and crocodiles to name few.

Tadoba-Andhari Tiger reserve was created in 1995 and declared a national park as part of the project tiger campaign. Protection is most important management input in the Reserve. A novel method of protecting the forest with the help of tribal youth from the six villages within the Andhari Sanctuary has been initiated. The success lies in the figures of 43 tigers as counted in 1998 from the 37 that were there at its beginning.

After the initial settling down we straight headed to the forest in our own cars (one open safari jeep is available too) for a safari to feel the almighty forest engulfing us in its pure embrace.

The density, unknown sounds punctuated with numbness overpowers the mind and soul and for the first time you bow down to the enormous power of Mother Nature engulfing you to the last drop of your blood.

Every minute builds up to a suspense thriller when nature tries out your patience and luck with sudden glimpses of the beauties in the form of birds, deer, bison, sambhar, sloth bear until you come across the mighty power of nature embodied in one form - the Tiger. The eyes stare at you taking in all the candid shots much before you take out your camera for one click.

Tadoba-Andhari Tiger reserve is part of the sustained efforts to save the pride of India – Tiger. It seems as experts’ comment, one of the success factors for project tiger is increased tourism, which brings in fame and money for conservation work. This also helps in creating the right kind of awareness about wildlife in India especially for children – they are integral part of saving this beautiful animal from extinction.

By road: 450 kms drive from Hyderabad on the HN7\Karimnagar or Asifabad. Reach Chandrapur and then about 40 kms drive to the park
By Train: Nagpur bound train. Station Hinganghat and cab to the reserve
Lodging: Maharashtra Tourism resort