The History Musical

What looks like a dilapidated structure here is a stage for the famous Light and Sound show in Udaipur. Conducted every evening at Moti Magri, this show has a pre-recorded voice&sound track and lights to capture the mood of the sound. And when it starts in the darks of evening, this dilapidated structure turns into something magical bringing the essence of Rajputana alive!

This show lasts for about an hour and you do not realize the absence of human actors till the very end. For the people who love excerpts from history and those who understand Hindi, I would surely recommend this one.

Go Green

This is Udaipur indeed. I really took a while to get over the preconceived notion of Udaipur is a Rajasthani desert city and hence it has to have miles of sand dunes all over!

Hardly a day I spent in this city and I think I loved it the most of all the cities I visited on my tour.

Hakim Khan Sur Pathan

Moti Magri also proudly hosts the statue of Hakim Khan Sur Pathan, one of the trusted men of Maharana Pratap. Hakim Khan was a descendant of Sher Shah Suri of the Afghan region and joined Pratap to avenge the fall of his forefathers by the mughals.

Mughals were destroying several Hindu temples among other anti-Hindu activities and Rajputs were fighting Mughals to save Hindu religion. I guess the blessing (or curse) of diversity to India dates really back in history. Where Hakim Khan Sur Pathan of Afghan region was accepted as ‘our man’, a mughal, Akbar was not accepted as a ruler of Hindusthan.

But wasn’t Akbar born and brought up in this very Hindusthan? How was he a less ‘our man’ than a Afghani? And why did Mughal rulers who wanted to rule a Hindusthan start anti-Hindu activities? History sure has some interesting puzzles for everyone.

Maharana Pratap

One of the most beloved names in the history of freedom struggles in India. This 16th century gentleman never approved Akbar – the ruling Mughal Emperor of that time as the Emperor of India. And hence there was no question of approving Akbar as the ruler of Rajputana. Maharana Pratap was probably the only Maharana who spent most of his life without an actual kingdom, fighting Akbar through the Aravali mountain ranges in Rajputana.

A raised front leg of Chetak – probably the only horse from the history whose name is remembered by generations suggests that Rana Pratap’s demise was due tot the injuries received in the battleground. Moti Magri is memorial to Maharana Pratap. If you dig a little deeper into history, you will realize why this man served as an inspiration to the leaders and freedom-lovers of the coming generations.

Descendants of the sun

Rajputs from Rajasthan belong to the Sun Dynasty and hence are proud of their forefathers listed in the history that dates back to many many centuries.

Every royal household usually houses a few decorative emblems of Sun. I shot this one at Moti Magri.

Royal Emblems

Carvings in the stone can be found all over Rajasthan. But if you expect them to be several centuries old then they have to be looked for in the palaces or the old haveli structures.

The one in the picture above, which is installed at Moti Magri, looks fresh. I am sure it is not older than a couple of decades and was carved when Rajasthan government probably developed the Moti Magri as a tourists' spot.

Climbing the past

These steps take you to Moti Magri - The memorial of Rana Pratap, probably the most beloved Maharana of Rajasthan. Situated on a small hill, this memorial gives you a fantastic view of Fateh Sagar surrounded with lush green greenery.

Climbing these few steps suddenly connect you with the pieces of glorious history of Rajasthan written in adventure, desires, persevarance and blood of course.

Enter Moti Magri

I have seen similar stone-works in Indonesia too. But what makes an Indonesian structures different than an Indian one are the details carved all over it. The lotus shaped and other common Hindu symbols, the angles of the carvings declare the Indian authenticity of the work aloud.

Also, the yellow flag you see on the left sets the Indian symbols apart from the Indonesian ones. Indonesians also use the yellows and reds in their flag-like objects which are more umbrella-shaped than what Indians use as the flags.

The Royal Touch

Rajasthan is synonymous to royal. Culture gets developed over many centuries and gets endorsed when the most common person adapts to it. Any average Rajasthani construction sure reflects this culture.

What you see here is what made our stay in Udaipur a pleasurable experience. It was not a heavy-starred palatial affair but the simplicity and yet that special Rajasthani touch all over made it very royal.

Faces, familiar!

If you see people in a picture so up, close and personnel, then you either have a very good zoom lense or you know the people in the picture well enough.

In my case it was the latter case. For the lack of good zoom lense I preferred capturing my travelling companions than getting beaten up in the streets of Udaipur clicking the locals.

Fateh Sagar

We checked into our hotel room with a big window at Udaipur and this was the scene outside. This huge manmade lake dug sometime in seventeenth century is called Fateh Sagar named after then Maharana of Udaipur, Fatehsinghji. And it's really huge.

To combat the scarcity of water in this so called desert city, Maharanas of Udaipur dug a few lakes like these which are interconnected to optimize the water operations. And trust me.. When the royals dig it, they dig it BIG!

Destination Rajasthan!

Green! was the only colour my sleepy eyes noticed when we were about to land in Udaipur. There has to be some mistake, I thought. Rajasthan is the desert state was what I was always taught in the school. And here I was, wondering if the pilot had taken some wrong turns up in the air to enter some jungle.

But it was Udaipur indeed. Equally sleepy cabin crew of our ATR flight almost yawned while warning us to tie the seat belts as the flight descended into the greenery of Udaipur.

Funniest part of that morning was when we were told to walk to the airport building after getting off the plane. We were on a vacation hoping it to be an exciting one. And this was not a bad start!

Yet another day break in jungle

Kanha trip was my most successful jungle trip ever.

On the last day, while saying goodbye to this jungle, I shot this picture at sunrise.

Somehow to me, this picture need not be of the sunrise as tries to paint the setting sun also. More than that it has captured the frozen time. The time that you savour forever.

Smoky waters

The smoke you see here is not the product of a fire.

Nor Kanha is a home for hot springs.

I shot this picture at 6.30 in the morning when the lakes try to bask in the morning sun shrugging off the freezing cold of the nights.

Dil Maange More..

The first time we saw the big cat it was for about 15-20 minutes. Then you get addicted so we naturally wanted more.

And the jungle god decided to be kind to us. So the second time we had the rendezvous with this Ms Tiger, it was for about 45-50 minutes. Ms Tiger walked about 2 kilometers in the grass parallel to the road, roaring for pleasure, scaring the shit out of deers, monkeys etc. Then she crossed the road where atleast 25 jeepful of people were thanking their luck. Reaching the other side Ms Tiger again wandred randomly before disappearing into the woods.

Thank you Her Royal Highness Tiger of bengal. (We were in MP, but this species is called Royal Bengal Tiger anywhere it is found.)

Sunset

The road that you see here had the most perfect curve. Perhaps the sunset we saw from here was the most enchanting. The green grass shining with the golden tinge never looked so beatiful.

Maybe the whole affair was not as good. But we were yet to recover from the ecstasy of experiencing the tiger and we were overwhelmed by the supreme presence by that Royal Bengal Tiger.

Yahooooooooo

No. I am not such a great admirer of brand Yahoo.

But after about 6 safaris when I finally finally saw the big royal cat I was extremely happy. Of course the tigress was some half a kilometer away my poor man's camera does not have great zoom. But this picture is not to be flaunted for the great aesthetics or composition of the frame. The black stripes that you see amongst the green, painted on the yellow-brown rich fur that shines golden in the sun is the living proof of I saw the TIGER!!!

And trust me, it's such a pleasure to watch a tiger in his own habitat!

The Jackal

I know it's a bad shot. Mr Jackal was running towards our jeep which itself was at good speed. I spotted him at quite some distance but my calculation on when would the two objects in motion travelling towards each other would meet went wrong and I still regret of having missed of what could have been a great capture.

By the way, after three jungle trips, I can authoritatively say that it is quite likely that you will miss so called great shots quite a few times. But always keep in mind that jungle is about the feel and the experience hence no regrets for not having captured something that I very well witnessed with my naked eyes.

What ya looking at, punk?

This member of the deer family we met while we were passing one of the jungle roads with some tall grass and short trees on the uneven surface on both sides. This dude was grazing on one rock with 'do-I-look-like-I-care-who-you-are' looks on his otherwise unemotional face.

On second thoughts, yeah, we were in his territory, wandering on random roads, messing up the whole of the peace in the area we were passing by. That one look of his made me realize it.

Housing Colony Ltd.

Termites aka white ants are sure hardworking fellas. These usual ant sized white ants build at times such 6-8 feet tall houses made of earth.

And it sure is some interesting piece of engineering. These houses are weather and temprature controlled. Hence white ants are seen seen waterproofing their houses before monsoon. Also, while the jungle is exposed to the scorching summer heat, termites are enjoy the coolness inside their house. Needless to say the houses are warm inside during winters.

Rules of the jungle

Now that I mentioned rules in my last post, let me share the actual rules of the jungle with you.

And read the last rule carefully so that you would believe me that unlike in the city traffic where every vehicle tries to overtake the vehicle next to it, in jungle you have to let the animals pass first. In case you are planning a trip to the jungle, please unlearn some of your habits!

Fox tales

The best part of the jungle is that it is full of surprises. When you accept the fact that things don’t work here according to our own wishes, the jungle pops a surprise for you.

We were wandering in one of the safaris with no luck apart from the usual spotted deers, sambhars, monkeys and a bunch of birds. We crossed a turn and this fox was standing in middle of the road. Unfazed by the approaching jeep, he made us stop our car. Rule of the jungle – you cannot disturb the natural course of its inhabitants. So waiting well beyond a couple of minutes, foxy started walking on the road to disappear into tress and only then we could move on.

If you could somehow zoom into this picture, you would notice those cunnings eyes.

Lake Placid

This sight was certainly pretty but there was nothing particularly breathtaking about it. But one thing was sure, undisturbed calmness. We were passing over a bridge when we saw this lake. The noise of the jeep too sounded too cruel to disturb the serenity of this spot.

We promptly stopped our noisy vehicle here and just absorbed the calmness into our nerves.

Spotted deer

Deers are pretty. And you will find lots of them in Kanha. But we sure had spotted more of them in Pench. But then Kanha’s spread is way more so deers would get wider areas to quickly disappear into.

As the noise of the safari jeep approaches, the herd of deers lingering easily on the road jumps into the trees or grass within fraction of a second.

Kanha museum

Madhya Pradesh forest department is too good to be a government entity. Trust me!

What you see here is the Kanha museum situated at a center point of the jungle. Originally a rest house, this nice museum houses several things, models of the prime animals (I wonder if they were made of the real bones), information on the jungle flora & fauna, statistical information on the tigers on Madhya Pradesh, dictionary of the birds and animals found in Kanha. Also, this museum is unbelievably clean to be run by a government entity.

I would an important tip here, when you reach this place around eight in the morning when it’s still freezing cold, don’t miss the superb chai and steamy hot snacks!

Rendezvous with a leopard

The title and the picture won’t really tell you the entire story.

We did spot a leopard while crossing one of the ravines but if you were expecting that the leopard would take a quick stop, pose for us till we got a good shot and all, it doesn’t really happen that way in the jungle. We got a clear but very short glimpse of this leopard while he vanished into the trees. He was probably on a kill as we could hear multiple alert calls, from monkeys and deer as the guide explained us.

So I decided to share the picture of the leopard I shot in the museum but just that it happens to be a post-life one!

Birds and more birds

You would find over hundred species of birds in Kanha. I am a total non-expert in Ornithology and hence preferred to admire the birdies sitting pretty in trees, walking on the roads or flying all over.

Capturing these birds through a poor lense that I had was a big headache. But even if I had a much more powerful lense, this experience explains that wild life photography is not a joke.

Daybreak in jungle

I am sure in love with the jungles. You would also be if you can admire the abundant beauty spread over acres and acres.

I shot this picture at around six in the morning and trust me it was COLD. Later we were told it was less than three degrees centigrade. My fingers were frozen and I really tried hard to capture this heavenly backdrop.

Mr. Bison

This bison walked straight towards our jeep and apart from trying capture this huge thing in my capture I also prayed to god that he should shower mercy over us in case the bison decided to charge.

This ‘in-your-face’ glare of the bison is intimidating and makes you realize why would even tigers avoid this dude for a dinner, unless unavoidable. Especially while in group, bison would be unbeatable for tigers. And now most amazing fact, bisons are vegetarians!!! If eating grass would develop such muscles, I would change my diet right away.

If there ever was any Mr Bison competition, this dude would sure win.

The divine setup

In the first safari in Kanha, tigers ditched us but few other families played like gracious hosts and almost posed for us.

On the way back to the resort we spotted this bison walking in the field close to the safari trail. The evening sun, chilly air and the wholesome freshness of the jungle made the whole mystical. And this bison looks almost divine here!

Tiger Trail!

In this jungle visit, our agenda was very clear, to spot the tiger. All those who have seen tiger only in the zoo, I mind you that spotting the tiger in the jungle is not at all easy. Nobody really cares about your wish and all you need to do is to try your luck.

Since we were all heart-broken after our visit to Pench last year, when we spotted the fresh foot prints of a male tiger in our very first safari in Kanha, we decided to control our joys till we would see owner of that foot print. But as luck would have it, the owners had decided against our wishes in that first safari.

The sea blue skies!

Do you ever try making sense out of the random clouds in the sky? I sure have that weird habit. So let me know if you too notice the Batman sign here.

While you are in a jungle, you feel fresh, miss all kinds of pollution and can’t help but admire the wide, clear and crystal blue sky!

Monkey Business

You would find primates in probably every jungle. And all over the jungle in which they exist.

Surprisingly, in Kanha, monkeys tend to behave pretty much like natural monkeys minding their monkey businesses. And they don’t really chase the tourists to snatch things away from them. If Kanha monkeys are dumb or they really prefer to stick to their jungle routines, I would not be the best person to judge.

The one you see in this picture chose to ignore the four evolved primates in the open jeep that stood still 5 feet away and I got this shot. If you notice the shine on the fur, you would wonder if Loreal has started making stuff for monkeys too.

How thick is thick?

You would naturally think that how thick is thick, if I keep repeating that Kanha is a thick jungle. Of course words would always be short of explaining you the density of this forest to the hilt. But what if I say there are areas where the ground has not seen sun light in quite some time. Would that give you some idea?

Indeed there are several such areas in Kanha. You don’t even get to go to most of them. We were lucky to pass through probably one or two of that kind. And January is of course winter time. The morning safari that would commence at six in the morning almost killed me due to frozen blood. Awlrity, I am exaggerating. But for a boy who lived all his life in Mumbai, roaming around in an open jeep when the temperature was some one or two degrees centigrade and chilly winds were in the face, Kanha was as cold as Antarctica!

And the funny part is when the sun rises you feel blessed while you actually get the sun. Like you would get if you are on the sunny road as seen in the picture. But you reach the turn where again those thick layers of Sal trees don’t let the sunlight reach the ground, the cold gets worse.

The Jungle Book

When we visited Pench National Park in January 2009, we almost swore that the jungle trips are a must in life! They must happen at least once a year. So to keep up this promise and to start the 2010 on a refreshing note, we planned to visit Kanha National Park situated in Madhya Pradesh.

Spread over 1,945 square kilometers, this picturesque national park came into existence in 1955 by a special law. Since then it has dedicated itself in becoming an ideal home for both predators and preys. The lush Sal and Bamboo forests, grassy meadows and ravines of Kanha homes uncountable wild life species. And we were there to spot the prime one, the Royal Bengal Tiger. No, I am not at all underestimating the beauty and wide variety of the wild life you can find in Kanha. But after all, watching a tiger in its natural habitat is a treat. (All those who have seen tigers only in zoos, I feel sorry for you! Honestly!!)

And the fact that deserves special mention here is that this national park (or jungle that it is) was the inspiration behind Rudyard Kipling’s unforgettable classic The Jungle Book! Few may debate if it was Kanha or Pench. But guys, trust me, this jungle is an eternal inspiration from the mother Earth to whatever that is alive.

Bangla Saahib

I have been to Delhi plenty a times and enroute our office exists Bangla Saahib. You don't really get any glimpse of the structure inside while passing by but somehow I always wanted to visit this Gurudwara. Today morning when we landed in Delhi, the first SMS upon switching the mobile phone on was about the postponed meeting. Great!

So we had atleast a couple of hours to kill before the next meeting. And Delhi can't be any better than it is in winter. I mean travelling from Mumbai when you reach a place where 15 degrees celsius is the during the day temperature, the fun sure has begun. Even before exploring the several choices on how to kill the time, I was very sure of visiting the Bangla Ssahib to start my day in the capital city. So we reached the place on this chilly morning and first handed over our shoes to team of people who sure hailed from very decent families. Faith puts you in a position where you are neither ashamed nor trying to show off while respecting your belief.

Walking on the cold marble floor to the shrine, listening to the chants in Punjabi gave a touch of divinity to the whole ambiance. We passed the water channel and again noticed the not the cleaner type but some middle aged gentleman wiping the floor off the water that people cause, without realising the trouble they cause walking religiously to their faith. Off a few steps and we picked up the colourful pieces of cloth to cover heads. And trust me, in that whole ambiance, covering your with that colourful cloth does not give you the cool feeling of sporting a bandana! Head covered in a red I crossed the final steps of the cold marble and entered Gurudwara with floors covered in thick carpets. The warm feeling sure suggests the presence of the divine.

The decor of the shrine is not overdone, fancy neither. But it sure has a commanding personality. The attending priest was waving the breeze with the traditional fan. The other three priests who sat across the shrine sang heartfully. I could not understand the Punjabi diction but their words and the symphony it created filled the whole area with undescribable tranquility. Being a first timer in Gurudwara, I was not very sure of the Sikh ways of paying homage to Babaji. Following crowd could sure be one easy way out but the faithful air in there made me bow down in front shrine. It felt so calm and complete, like I had been recharged. I asked one of the priests if I could take pictures. He smiled and said, you sure can. More than this picture, I will have this episode printed on my mind for long, I am sure.

We got the glimpse of the sarovar next to the Gurudwara but time did not permit us the round around it. We accepted the palmful of prasad outside and started back towards the routine.

Where the faith rules the belief, my friend, you feel just the joy!