was a good trip. saw a few tigers ( ! ), a lot of birds, and had an overall great time.

the jeep safari started early morning. armed with our caps, sunscreens, cameras with frightening lenses and expectations, we jumped in the jeeps to meet the king.

we had to wait for almost half an hour to get into the park, with close to fifteen jeeps lined up ahead of us. the initial level checks happened quick, and they let us in.

the peacock – india’s national bird. it stood tall like a sentinel, greeting us within the first ten minutes of our entry. the blue shone brightly in the sun.

awesome antlers!

looking at some langurs frolicking in a field. no langur snaps

doctor aditya.

the tour inside ended quickly, with no spotting of the tiger. we managed to see some pug marks. but as is repeatedly instructed, you go into the jungle to see the wildlife; seeing the tiger entirely depends on either your stars, or an accident.

on our way out of the jeep round, we were informed that there was a ‘tiger show’ was happening. this involved hopping on to an elephant, which would then wade into slush and overgrowth to show us tigers resting in thick bushes.

i strongly believe all this is a scam. but i’d rather not elaborate. if you ever make a trip and go for a ‘tiger show’, think about what i said.

scam or not, seeing the tiger regaling in its natural habitat is an experience. no wonder it is associated royalty, power and grace.

on the way back, we decided to pick up some beer to have in our rooms and celebrate the tiger. check the spellings on this board -

the next day, we went for a drive to a lake. the drive took us through a village which keeps shifting its position every year, when the river floods. seeing the temporary mud huts, shacks made of coconut fronds and an untouched lifestyle reminded me of my native place.

saw the brilliant ‘indian roller’ or ‘neelkanth’ as it is called by the locals. the blue of its wings is something else.

no pantone, no combination on any machine or anything will ever yield the colours of nature’s palette.

stopped for water at a local’s house.

the one above is easily among the best photos i have clicked. i’m waiting to get a fabulous print on canvas and frame it on my wall.

last pic at bandhavgarh -

next entry – khajuraho.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,300 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 38 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

MP is the tourism capital of the country, with tiger reserves, waterfalls, centuries old temples and palaces…

we started with jabalpur, starting with the marble mountains. my parents had their honeymoon in MP, taking a boat ride on the meandering river that runs through the mountains. the moonlight makes the mountains glow from within. must’ve been quite the sight.

we landed at the station, freshened up at a hotel close by and left for jabalpur.

along the path leading to the boats, as you’d find at every tourist place anywhere, were stalls of people selling the local items. here at jabalpur, they were selling sundry items made of marble and granite.

i bought a mortar pestle which is being used quite regularly at home, given the fact that we use spices in everything we make.

i particularly enjoyed these berries, known as ‘bor’. served on a leaf with a smattering of salt and chaat masala, these are delectable, especially in the hot summer sun.

from jabalpur, we proceeded to the dhuandhar waterfalls. the walk to the falls sapped us of all our energy. the sun was too harsh, and given my shining pate, i sure must’ve blinded some tourists there. but all the tiredness went away once i stood near the falls.

spotted a heron sitting in absolute peace facing the thundering water cascading over rocks. it looked like one of those zen masters in jackie chan’s movies.

from there, we started on our journey to bandhavgarh. it was tiresome, given a non-AC bus. but we soldiered on.

this is one of the best pictures i have taken. though a bit shaky, i like it than many other sharp portraits i have of her.

rohan and ashwini.

the next post will be on bandhavgarh, followed by khajuraho.

this blog was started on the tenth of september 2007. the night i landed in london. it’s been a great four years. struggling to manage in london with single digit balances in my bank account. the cold that threatened to freeze fingers and ear tips. the left shoe sole that creaked. living with the kfc oil smell for almost 6 months.

everything there.

and everything here.

working. not working. travelling. staying up late watching any movie. college students. shweta. going back to the darkroom and spending hours. terrific food. many more films and concerts. struggling to keep a bank balance alive. not cooking so much. rains. words.

almost everything in these four years is here. almost.

almost.

we headed to the sawantwadi palace, which was quite a treat. the queen still stays there. she’s a bit wary of travelers looking through her home. we came to know that she is the only one, probably the last person upholding the art of making ganjifa cards. meticulously painted on thin slices of wood, these are extremely beautiful to look at. a pack would have set us back by about three thousand rupees. better sense prevailed, and we went on to have a look at the queen’s personal art collection. which was again a treat in itself.

found this lovely old typewriter in one of the rooms. the queen was sitting right across the room in the lawn and she saw me fiddle with this thing. she immediately ordered one of her employees to get me out of there, as the room apparently contained some personal, secret documents.

that’s the queen with her husband. absolutely love the depth in these old photographs. so much texture, so much detail, such enigmatic brilliance.

following are pictures from the queen’s personal art collection, carefully assembled from her visits abroad and to the interiors of the country.

.

so that was my trip to sawantwadi. finally managed to finish the post. in two months, it will be a year since we made this journey, sitting in a cramped bus, with horrid a movie on the tv. and everyone getting a bad cold, courtesy of pratima. and the most awesomest prawns ever, glasses of sol kadhi and chicken curry and rice at tarkarli…

shank’s probably coming over this year end. one more trip in the offing, then! this time, i wont take a year to put up the pictures

shweta and i had this sudden urge to have crisp fried bacon and a sunny side up with brown bread lightly toasted on one side with a hot steaming cup of coffee for breakfast.

so off we went to goa.

not too many pics here as we ate enough to last us till dinner.

that would be me. trying to look all gangsta

posting this from work. a trip to bandhavgarh tiger reserve and khajuraho happened. the bandhavgarh pics are up on facebook, with a few from khajuraho yet to be processed. no promises from my side when those will show up here!

continuing where i left, here are pics from vengurla.

stopped at this simple white church with whitewashed walls and bright blue windows. right opposite a lake filled with lotuses (or ‘loti,’ as i prefer).

shank getting posy.

we then went to the ganesh temple at redi. turned out that they are building a bigger one. was drastically different from the last time i’d been there. legend goes that the idol appeared in a man’s dream, asking him to unearth it at a particular spot. the idol that appeared was huge, so they built a temple around it.

it is one of the most beautiful idols of ganesha i’ve seen.

went to vengurla beach and then to the port.

next day – goa!

vijaydurg was very well preserved, in spite of the regular flow of tourists.

the well-informed guide took us around areas of the fort, keeping the best for the last. a turn to the right after the wall in the following picture brought us to the queen’s palace.

doesn’t look like much as its just walls and slots where the mezzanine would have been. but as the guide started telling us about how it used to be, with massive beds, chandeliers and carved windows overlooking the sea, the place started glittering in all its glory, with the sounds and smells of a queen’s resting place wafting through the air mixed with the salty air of the sea.

we looked out of one of the windows and realised why the queen were given this special side of the fort. the view was breathtaking! miles of sea spread out beyond the horizon,  sunset colours skimming the waves in a race to reach the shore and a tranquility that needs no words to describe…

ending this post with some ‘clichéd’ pictures, according to shank.

my brother, mrigank

mom, mrigank and dad

mom

mom’s sister and her husband

mangesh, cousin

medha, cousin

me and mrigank

mom and mrigank

circa 1985

featuring my family and my mom’s sister’s family

our home

one of the many beer sessions that still continue, though not as regularly

recently unearthed at my grandmother’s place

anyway, here are some pictures from the new lens -