Ismail Shariff

Erzsebet Lookout, Nagyos Hill

2011-06-01T12:06:00.000+05:30

I have been to Budapest a number of times before. But the way I am exploring this beautiful city now, I am beginning to doubt that I managed even half of it earlier. Budapest holds a really special place in my heart. My friends are all fed up of me telling them about this city, the people i.e, my friends there and not least, the local food there such as Langos, Turo Rudi, Goulash, and the beautiful bridges connecting Buda and Pest.

The bridges are lit up at night and if you happen to be at Gellert Hill, near the Citadel, then the view is to die for. I have been to Gellert Hill every time I visited Budapest, but I am still not satisfied with the pictures I have taken there. I am planning to go at the end of this trip and try my luck again :)

Last week, I came across a few pictures from Nikoletta Gólya's album, of Hungarian Parliament building, which were taken from Nagyos Hill. My immediate reaction was "I should go there". And once I decide, I just about always make it happen :) So I was there, and it was great!!!!! I loved the place. But getting there was not as easy as I had thought.

To go to Erzsebet lookout at Nagyos Hill, I searched on google, but didnt come across anything substantial. The bus numbers mentioned were either not working anymore or were not the right ones. Luckily, the magazine provided by the CEU Conference and Residence Center had a small half page article about the exact place and this is where I found the proper directions.

To reach the lookout, you need to get to Nyugati Palyaudvar (this is where the Trams 4 and 6 go through, and the Blue metro - Metro no 3 has a stop). Once there, you need to go to the bus stop, right in front of the Westend entrance. At one of the corners there is a small general store, and right on front of that is the stop for bus no 291. This is the first stop of the bus, and we need to go to the last. It takes about 45 mins :-s.

Once you get down, you will see the sign for camping and another for Libego (means chairlift). Just get in there and walk right up to the counter. A couple of reviews about the place said that if you want to walk, its a loong and very tiring trek. So to be on a safer side, I took a 2-way ticket (1300HUF = 7USD appx 4.9Euros) to the Erzsebet lookout point. The libego's are continuously moving, and you need to just go and stand on the big coloured circle, and they come and make you sit automatically while the person there will lower the safety rods. These rods also are your foot-rests.

The ride to the top is pretty comfortable and the birds seem to be so used to i that one landed about 3 feet from me and didnt budge from its place. They seem to have gotten used to the libegos, and if you dont move or make a noise they dont move from there. Once I reached the top, I was floored by the view. I started taking pictures of the landscapes with my 24-70 f2.8, but didnt feel like i was doing any justice to the view that I was so lucky to experience. Thats when i thought i should try panoramas, And the results can be seen below.

This is the overall landscape panorama from the lookout.

You can see the Hungarian parliament, Buda Castle and the Citadel in this Panorama.

I must admit, the ride back was a bit scary. You can see the cars from up there which look really small, and then you are going from over the houses of others.

I would definitely suggest everyone who is going to Budapest to go there.
Bus No. 291 from Nyugati Palyaudvar :) :)
And dont forget to share your pictures. :D

Regular blog posts

2011-01-15T16:49:00.001+05:30

Its been more than a year, since i scribbled anything here, for lack of interest in writing and/or I would start to write something, and would eventually loose track of what my intention on writing that was. :-s :(

Hopefully though, I shall try to account for my trips again, in this blog. All thanks to a friend (if i may call that) who happened to visit this blog recently. I received brief insights on how to maintain and keep writing a blog, and hence, would try to adhere to them from now on. So this new year, lets see how many posts eventually turn up on this blog. :)

I just returned from my favourite wildlife place – Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve. Fantastic sighting there, of 3 Tiger cubs. :) :)
Working on a blog post for that, so best of luck to me :)

How’s this for a teaser from the trip ;)

Flickr Tags: Tiger,Bengal Tiger,Tadoba,Ismail,Ismail Shariff,www.ismailshariff.com,www.thejunglecalls.com,Panthera Tigris,Photography,Wildlife photography,Nature

Tadoba – Andhari .. Finale.

2009-05-11T01:05:00.001+05:30

After spotting a Tiger and 2 Tigress’, our trip was already fruitful in respect to the Tiger, but thorough humans that we are, for the last safari we were expecting to see the leopards too :)
We started pretty early, and were greeted with a dimly lit path. Just about 3-400metres inside, and we spotted a Changeable Hawk-Eagle (Spizaetus cirrhatus cirrhatus), perched on top of a tree right in the middle of the jungle path, but this time me made a mistake of going a little too close to scare it away. We couldn't even take a single pic :( Moving forward, we came across a Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus). Then we came across a Pigeon, which i haven't yet been able to ID. Its either the Yellow-footed Green Pigeon (Treron phoenicoptera) or the Wedge-Tailed Green Pigeon (Treron sphenura). Why the wedge-tailed.. because of the wedge-shaped tail and the indistinct yellow edges to its wing coverts. This hasn't been spotted in the forests in here i guess, but I would leave the experts to identify them from below.

From there on, we went further ahead, and were lucky to spot a wild cat hunting a hare, though, because of the thicket again, I wouldn't get any clear shot. I don't even know whether it actually made the kill or not. Just about there, we came across a very high tree which had lines all over it, in a slant profile. Ravi told us that these are the marks made by the Sloth Bear, when it climbs the tree to get access to the numerous bee-hives on its top branches. I wondered what would happen if it looks down from up there :D :D

Further up we came across a Serpent Eagle, which was patiently waiting for its prey to come out of hiding, whatever it was. A few metres from there was a small waterhole, considerably bigger than all the ones we came across till now. It had quite an activity going on there. A lot of spotted deer and birds were out there drinking water and playing around it. The young Stags were improving their fighting skills, by fighting amongst each other. There must have been about 20-25 deer there. We could hear the sound of horns clashing against the other. We also saw Rose-Ringed Parakeets, Mynas, Asian Paradise-Flycatcher, a few doves, and some other small birds, which i couldn't click.

The highlight of the last safari was the guy below. He/she, posed for us for about 10-15 minutes. It gave us about 3-4 profiles of itself, to shoot, and later on it got scared with the extending of my lens and turned away. It was very interesting, and come to think of it, it was Ravi who spotted this one, when we wouldn't even notice where it was, after coming back to the same spot. A really good camouflage i must say, else i need to change my glasses :-s The best part about shooting this little thing was the bokeh.

After that, on our way back, we came across a group of Langoors, and a small patch of green with bright purple flowers all around it.

Nothing eventful, other than spotting the Indian Roller.

From there, we had our lunch, and set out for Hyderabad. All of us were pretty content with the trip, and thanked Ravi for coming along with us. I had packed my stuff and parked it in the boot, so on the way, when these guys stopped to take a few shots of fabulous landscapes, I was a little lazy to take it all out.
Wonderful places to see on the highway. The best was, about 2-300 ducklings, all walking by the side of the road in a line. Suman and Suraj got the shots for that one. It was really cute. Rest of the journey was pretty smooth and we were back in Hyderabad by about 9- 9:30pm.

I would like to thank Ravi Naidu, for his help and support through-out the trip. He was very thoughtful and proved to be a great teacher. Now all I can think of, is where do i go NEXT… :)

Flickr Tags: Tadoba,Tiger Sanctuary,Wildlife Sanctuary,Maharashtra,Tadoba - Andhari Tiger Reserve,Chandrapur,Ismail Shariff,Ismail,HPC,Hyderabad Photography Club,Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi/400D,Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM,Wildlife,Nature

Tadoba – Andhari .. contd.

2009-05-02T15:05:00.001+05:30

After last night’s Tiger ‘show', we were all pretty content about this trip. Now we wanted to explore the other fauna of this heaven, called Tadoba. Our guide, Israel, is one of the most experienced guides available there. He has been taking guests around for quite sometime. His knowledge about the jungle is never-ending. Alert, and always on the lookout for signs of movement and or marks on the trees and ground and any calls from the jungle, he justified the decision of taking him for all our trips. From my side, I would take him for any ride that i have in Tadoba again, after all, its the guide who can make the experience good or bad :)

So the next 3 safaris were also pretty good.
Saturday morning, as soon as we entered the park, we had a model (Indian Bison) waiting for us. A couple of profile shots and all, and we moved on. Just a little further up, there was a Peacock, with with all its feathers up in the air. ooooh what a sight!! Beautiful. We were pretty far, and slowed down, lest it ran away. Slowly we inched forward, and came close enough to take this picture. It went round a couple of times, before it heard another vehicle coming and ran inside the jungle.

Right about then, we heard a call, made by the Stag, about 200metres behind us. This meant that there is a predator around. We turned around and went in that direction. As soon as we entered that path, a few metres inside, and we saw the pugmarks, and impressions in the sand, which meant that a Female Tiger was lying on the ground there, just a few minutes back. We ventured further, and were treated to more pugmarks, coming from the opposite side. This were of a Male Tiger. Its pretty interesting to notice, that you can tell the gender of the animal just by looking at their pugmarks. Haven't learnt how to do that yet :)
While we were still scouring that area, our guide and Ravi, gave us an insight on pugmarks. How to tell which direction it went in, and that pugmarks of Tigers are like fingerprints of humans, completely distinct to each of them. We spent quite sometime there, and then decided to move on, as we were only getting more and more fresh pugmarks, but no sign or sound of the tigers.

Moving on, we came across the Indian Roller (Coracias benghalensis), which sat tight for about 5-6 minutes. Good enough time to take some clear pictures. The others we spotted are Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela), Rose-Ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri), Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis), Laughing Dove (Streptopelia senegalensis), lots of Black Drongos (Dicrurus macrocercus), and near the Tadoba Lake, we spotted Asian Openbill Stork (Anastomus oscitans), Black Ibis (Pseudibis papillosa) and more of Indian Roller and Rose-Ringed Parakeet and Doves. We also came across a family of Langoors, who didn't want to budge from where they were sitting; which was right at the corner of the road, even with passing vehicles. Pretty daring lot :-|

There was a fawn, which reminded me of Bambi :D It was sooo cute, just couldn't help but take a lot of pictures of it. Here is a peek-a-boo for you all.

We came across a waterhole, somewhere inside a small path, which was buzzing with bird activity. There was a constant buzz around, which we later realised, was coming from Honey bees. Not just 10-20 of them, but hundreds of them, alllll over the place, and even on the ground. In that one single place, we saw – Great/Grey Tit (Parus major), Oriental White-Eye (Zosterops palpebrosus), Warblers (have to identify that one), Red-Vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer), Brahminy Starling (Sturnus pagodarum), Leafbird – but it was very far and behind a lot of clutter, to identify which leafbird, Orange-Headed Thrush (Zoothera citrina cyanotus), White Throated Kingfisher (Halcyon Smyrnensis), Rufous Treepie (Dendrocitta vagabunda), Indian Pond Heron (Ardeola grayii), Female Tickell's Blue Flycatcher (Cyornis tickelliae), Plum-Headed Parakeet (Psittacula cyanocephala), and i dont remember any others :) At about the same place, we also came across Dhole – Wild Dogs. They were lazing around and were least bothered about our existence there :D

Moving on, we came across a pond, which was just about completely dry, and had Red-coloured water. I thought there must have been some kill there, and hence, the colour, but supposedly, the water itself is red in colour. There, we saw Black-Headed Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus), Great Egrets (Camerodius albus) and some small ducks, which I couldn't see clearly from the lens, and the Indian Roller (Coracias benghalensis).

Another waterhole greeted us to – a pair of White-Eyed Buzzards (Butastur teesa). Going back to the Lake, we saw Black-Hooded Oriole (Oriolus xanthornus), Lesser Fish Eagle (Ichthyophaga humilis), Juvenile Grey-Headed Fish Eagle (Ichthyophaga ichthyaetus), Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle Rudis), and a few Crocodiles. There was a group of ducks which was again, way too far to get a clear shot.

On our way back from the Saturday evening safari, we saw the same sight again. a group of cars all waiting, and we knew that the tigers whom we were tracking in the morning must be around. What did we do then ? We also joined the lot :) While driving towards the other side, from where we were coming, we saw one Tiger sleeping just a little inside from the road. When we took our position right out in the front, we were told by the other driver, that there are 2 Tigresses inside. In just a few minutes, literally about 12-15 vehicles were waiting on either side of the area, where the tigresses were. A lot of commotion and placement of cars was for sure disturbing the royal animals. There was one person in particular, who was wearing an orange turban and was moving to and fro all the time. He was one of those who was bragging about how many times he has been to forests and the etiquette about it and all, and he was the one ruining it for all of us. He also tried to get into an argument with Ravi, who sensibly ignored him.

That when we thanked the forest official, who happened to drop in at that time, and made all the cars move back, and wait in line. He made enough place for the tigresses to be comfortable enough to come out at the water–hole. He was right there through out the evening, making sure everyone ‘behaves’. Just about then, the DFO of Chandrapur came along, and sat in the vehicle beside ours. A small chit chat session and then we all went back to concentrating on the Tigresses.

About after an hour of waiting, one of the Tigress came out, scanned the area and went back in. In another minute or 2, it came out and went and sat in the waterhole, keeping a watchful eye on us. Just about then, something irked her from the crowd, and she stood up and started growling, and walked past in the other side of the road. She had that angry face, as to “get out of my house” and had a barely audible GRRRR.

That was the last of the Tiger that we got to see. We waited for a bit more, hoping the other Tigress would also come out, but she was sleeping like a log :D
While waiting, we got see some Red-wattled Lapwings, Rufous Treepie, and a Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus).

We came back to the room, realising that there is only one last trip left, and then back to ground-reality.
Nevertheless, the room at the Maharashtra Tourism Department Corporation aka MTDC, was a very comfortable and big room. Slept well, to be ready for the last safari and the drive back home :)

Tadoba – Andhari Tiger Reserve, Chandrapur, Maharashtra

2009-04-27T22:25:00.001+05:30

I have always been fascinated by nature and its creations, hence, it was very obvious that once i got on to photography, my favourite subject was nature and wildlife. The same inclination, resulted in a wonderful experience, at Tadoba.

Before i get into the details, Ravi, thanks a lot for all the help in terms of organising this trip for us, and for coming along with us. It was wonderful and very insightful to have you there. I hope we haven't pestered you so much, that you don't come with us for any other trip :P

So to start with, this wasn't really an impromptu trip, and neither was it planned. It was somewhere in the middle, where in you know you want to go, and you are going, but still are thinking as to whether you will go for it or not. A very weird feeling, yes, i know. But, beating all odds, Ravi, Suman, Suraj and I went ahead with this trip.

We left in the early hours of 24th April, 2009. The 380kms distance was covered as below-

Hyderabad (Banjara Hills) – Ameerpet (picked up Suman) – Malkajgiri (picked up Ravi and Suraj) – Shamirpet - Siddipet - Karimnagar - Ramagundam - Mancherial - Asifabad – Rajura – Balharshah - Chandrapur - Padmapur – Moharli.

Most of the road is pretty good, but when you enter the towns, the autos and the heavy vehicles make you crawl through, which gets your average speed to around 60kmph only :(
The temperature was definitely on the higher side, and I could feel the heat on my hands, while driving. We were all expecting this, and hence, had come aptly prepared with clothing to cover the face, big hats, and full-sleeved shirts and thin cotton pants. By 2 pm we reached Chandrapur, and stopped for lunch. Half hour there, and then we left for the resort. We reached our resort by 3pm, and were ready to go for the evening safari, which starts at 3pm. Even though the journey had got us tired, the prospects of what lies ahead got us excited enough to forget all about it.

First Safari

As soon as we entered the park, we were greeted by a common Buzzard (Buteo buteo), perched right on top of a tree. It was behind a lot of foliage, hence, did not get any complete body shot. A little further ahead, there was a waterhole, which was a busy spot for a lot of birds. Adult White-throated Fantail (Rhipidura albicollis), a lot of White-rumped Munias (I think, not sure on this. Will correct when i get the precise id), beautiful Asian Paradise-Flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi), Red-Wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus), Red-vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus cafer), Jungle Babblers (Turdoides striatus), Orange-headed Thrush (Zoothera citrina), and a couple of small grey birds, which flew away as soon as we stopped there.

Moving on we came to another water-hole. Here we happened to see Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher (Cyornis tickelliae), Oriental Magpie Robins (Copsychus saularis), and another looked like a Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea). Just then, we heard calls of a predator being around, and turned about to see a Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus) cross the road, just about 20 metres from us. It walked out from behind the bamboo trees and come onto the road, gave us a quizzical/inquisitive look, and walked slowly across the road. What a sight :D :D My first bear sighting in a jungle :) All this while, the only other thing i noticed, was the clicks of about 3 cameras and the beeps of a video camera.

The rest of the trip went on the same note. Lots more of birds, Rufous Treepie (Dendrocitta vagabunda), Drongos – Black and Racket-tailed, more of Red-wattled Lapwings, Orange-headed thrush, and those lark/sparrow looking birds. It was close to 5:30pm, when we spotted a deer, which didnt completely look like one. Ravi also got confused with it, as it was the first time he saw something like this. Looked like a cross between 2 different deer families. Do let me know if you know what this is (Albino Deer ??)

To make it even more exciting, we happened to see fresh pug marks. Even though, it was getting dark, hopes of getting a glimpse of the tiger were not washed out :D We moved out from that area, and headed to waterhole no2, if i remember it right. On the way, we came across another waterhole which was buzzing with activity. Langurs groomng themselves, and drinking water, alongside the winking-Gaurs (Indian Bison) and a Barking Deer (Muntiacus muntjak). Further ahead, we saw a group of cars all lined up on either side of the road. It was already dark by then, and we were on our way out of the jungle. We caught up with them, and asked as to what is happening, and were we glad to hear about a fully grown male tiger being around. We drove very slowly, and then came the noise of the rustling leaves, from the dark side into the jungle behind the bamboo shoots. A couple of cars switched on the lights and tried to look at the source of the noise. About 15-20 seconds later, came out a large Tiger, walking majestically out of his hiding, least bothered about the number of people around, though, looked a little pissed about the lights on his face. Oooooh waht a sight!! The orange fur glowing in the light, and the black stripes looked as it they were slithering over his body. Just then, some driver started the engine of his car, and moved forward, which made the Tiger leave the path and go back inside the jungle, on the opposite side of where it came from.

As it was very dark, I could not focus on the tiger, with the light falling on it. My lens was searching for the Tiger in that light. Once the tiger went in, I thought to myself need a new lens, but then, … I’d better ‘watch’ it walk, than capture it in the picture. The scene still is fresh in my mind and makes my eyes go wide with excitement. My first Tiger sighting at Tadoba Tiger Reserve, thanks to Ravi for taking us there, and driving the vehicle out in front, to be the first in line, from in front of which, walked the magnificent Tiger.

Time to go back and eat, and get ready for an early morning. We went back to our rooms, and were definitely not happy with what it was. A small room, with plastic walls; YES, no cement, or bricks or mud, just plastic sheets covered with thin wooden sheets for walls. In the heat, it was like living in a Greenhouse. We went to the MTDS resort, for dinner, and Ravi spoke to the manager there, to get an air-conditioned room, where we all could get extra mattresses to sleep. But we had to wait till the next day, as it was not available at that moment. We finished our dinner in the open area outside the resort. It was a starry night, and very pleasant compared to the afternoon. Much cooler for sure. We went back to the rooms at Tadoba Resort, and slept early, as we had to get up by 5am for the morning safari.

Next… Second Safari (coming up)

Trip to the Zoo :)

2009-03-20T16:27:00.001+05:30

On 15th March 2009, a few of Hyderabad Photography Club (HPC) members, teamed up with Birdwatchers Society of Andhra Pradesh (BSAP), for BSAP’s monthly outing. This was to take place at the Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad. A very famous place per se, but I had not been there for ages now.

After getting up by 5:30am, made a couple of calls to wake the others up. Got ready and was waiting for Suman to pick up Aditya and come over to my place. From there, we went to pick up my cousin Abrar, and headed towards the zoo. It was about 6:25am, and by the time we reached there it was 6:40am.

As we entered, we saw a long lineup of cars, must have about 8-9 of them, and the typical crowd with binoculars and cameras. In a few minutes and a couple of ‘Hellos’ we went inside the zoo, in the cars. We had to go to the Lion safari, and be done with the birdwatching/bird-photograph’ing’ by 8:30am, as thats the time to let the lions loose. Im sure they would have loved the sumptuous breakfast, but we had other plans :D

We walked down the trail and came across a herd of Deer, who were very inquisitive about the new species of ‘chattering animals'. Moving on, we came across a group of black Kites, close to 12 or 15 of them, all perched up on the metal fence. By now I had seen a few birds here and there, but the list with one of the BSAP member, showed about 18 different bird sightings. As always, that was no surprise for us photographers.

Just after we crossed that, we were informed that its just a few minutes to 8:30am, and we all hurried out to the exit.

The fun started AFTER getting out of the Lion Safari. There was a small pond, right across where we parked our cars. This happened to be the nesting grounds, rather waters, for Grey Herons, Painted Storks, Black-Crowned Night Herons, and Great Egrets, while on the other side, we had Ruddy Shelducks, Common Sandpiper and a Black Bittern.

All pictures of the birds sighted are available here Zoo Bird Pics.

Some examples -

Do check out the other pictures too, and please leave feedback for me to improve on. Nehru Zoological Park pictures.

Bylakuppe, Karnataka

2009-02-27T00:43:00.001+05:30

Saturday the 21st, I left for Bangalore, as from there, we were to go to Bylakuppe. Bylakuppe is a Tibetan settlement, about 85 kms from Mysore. It also houses 13 Monasteries, from which the famous ones are The Golden Temple, Sera Monastery and Tashi Lhunpo, amongst others.

The Journey

I boarded the bus for Bangalore, at about 9pm. A very nice vehicle, and the best part was that it was clean and was smelling a lot better than the normal buses i have traveled in before. Thanked Neel for the suggestion to get into this one. It had 2 seats on either side of the walkway, and I got comfortable at the aisle seat. We moved on, and they played a comedy movie on board. Once the movie finished, and the speakers went dud, all of us prepared to go to sleep. i tried to push my chair back, but it just wont budge. I tried again, but nothing. I told to myself, this is why you shouldnt stop working out :D

Well, a few minutes passed, and slowly different types of rhythms started surfacing. Im sure, if Beethoven would have heard it, he would have created another masterpiece. The guy beside me had started snoring, though, it wasn't that loud. only whent he guy in front of me started his heavy snoring, that the competition began. Sometime my neighbor was loud, and was ahead of the one in front of me,with his series of snores, and sometime vice-versa. In between, some background music was thrown in by a couple of ppl behind me, somewhere there.It went on for sometime, before i checked the time. It was just about 11pm yet. I couldn't sleep, as my seat was upright. Hence, went out in front and told the bus cleaner, about the problem with the chair. He came along, and tried it once - didn't happen.The second time, he literally stood on that lever, and behold!! It went straight down :) aaaaahhhh at last i can get some sleep now :) Next thing i remember, I was in Bangalore.

Bangalore

I reached Bangalore by 6:30am, and Neel came over to pick me up. We went to his place, I got ready, and Sethu, Neel and I, left for the Pixetra Store, at Cunningham Road. Thats where, the rest of the group was. We all got to meet each other and left for Bylakuppe.

On the way, there were brief introductions, and a stopover at Lemon Tree restaurant. After that, i dont know what happened, as I was zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz :D

Bylakuppe

We had to search a bit, for the monastery, but we landed up at The Golden Temple.

A very serene place, and I must say – very colorful. Especially the blues, they stand out. As soon as you enter the gate, you are welcomed by the huge open space, and then another gate leads you to the temple. We loitered around a little, and went off to the other Monastery, where we have a friend in a monk, who goes by the name Lobsang Nyima (meaning – Beloved/Gentle Sun).

Tashi Lhunpo Monastery

We reached Tashi Lhunpo Monastery (TLM) by evening time. Yannick took us around the Monastery, and told us about the dance rituals and how its going to proceed.

This dance ritual takes place, just before the Tibetan New Year, to prepare for the new year, and to get rid of the evil from the last year (Please correct me here, if I understood wrong). The dance has different forms to it, and different ppl perform it in different ways. Eventually, the effigy, which is covered by white cloth given by the local ppl, and the money donated by the people, all goes up in flames, signifying the burning of evil for the coming new year.

We were there in time to see their practice dance. But it was too dark for proper pictures. Hence, after a few pics, we bid farewell to Yannick, and went over to our home-stay, for a fabulous home-cooked meal and a good night’s sleep, in preparation for a very early morning.

The next morning, we were up by 5, and by 6, 6 of us were ready to leave for the TLM. When I got out of the room, i couldn't see the ground, from my first floor room. No, i hadn't turned out to be blind, but it was the thickest fog i have ever see yet. When we went out of the house, it seemed like there is a huge white wall behind our minibus, as nothing at all was visible. After reaching the monastery, we walked around a bit, as everyone was busy with the preparations for the day to follow. There again, fog gave us some really good opportunities to click.

The experience of being there with those kids, for the first half of the way was amazing. There was a completely different feeling in the air. Of course cold, but something which was very pleasing and comforting. Comforting from the hustle bustle of the city-life i presume. But felt really nice. The kids had their duties to carry out, and those who knew English, always passed by with a simple and smiling “Hi/Hello/Good Morning”. There were so many happy faces around, that me, not being a people photographer, wanted to click so many ppl/kids out there. They were like any other kid, just that they were without those heavy bags, without the stress about exams and schools, without having to worry about what their parents or teachers are going to scold them for, when they get to school today.They were all playing amongst themselves, and soccer seemed to be the leading game there.Pulling each others’ legs, having fun around the monastery, and there was so much bonding between themselves, I dont know how to explain it.

By about 8am, it was time for the dance to begin. I didn't even realise, that one and a half hour had passed, and all I was doing, was looking at these kids play. We went in and the dance started, and so did the inflow of people and tourists.

The dancers had very colorful masks on, and one of them was Dharmaraja, who was spoken about for a lot of times, while being explained about the dance.

The dance consisted of slow rhythmic movements, with huge Trombones (see pic) and Cymbals and Drums.

The dances went on till about 12, and then the effigy was taken outside, behind the temple, to burn it, and to start the new year a fresh. As soon as the effigy was burnt, all the people started clapping and dispersed with all the good wishes.

With this, the complete rituals were over, and we all were invited to the sumptuous vegetarian lunch, which we ate like we had never seen food before :)

We left for Bangalore that same afternoon, and I came back home, to Hyderabad by 25th morning. All in all, it was a very good experience, to have spent such time with the monks, especially the kids. Would love to do that again sometime.

Technorati Tags: Ismail Shariff,Monastery,Bylakuppe,Pixetra,Monks,Kids,Buddhists,Traditions,Rituals,New Year

Volvo Ocean Race

2009-02-19T22:13:00.001+05:30

My friend and MD of Pixetra, Sreekanth came to Hyderabad around October last year. He called me and we agreed to meet for lunch. Sreekanth mentioned about an international event to be held at Cochin in Kerala in the south of India. He asked me to come to the event, and I gladly agreed. How was I to know that I would actually become a part of this amazing sports event, The Volvo Ocean Race.

Based on what I had read and understood, this was a once in four years event where the participants would race across the world in Yachts, and that they were going to have a stopover at Cochin for 10 days starting December 3. I was very excited. Another travel plan, another shoot, a new place, more new people, and an uncertainty about what’s in store.

In due course of time, it materialised and I was scheduled to be there by 2 December. But things don't always happen as planned, do they? I was informed about the first yacht arriving three days before schedule. So, I had to fly down to Cochin by the 29th of November. By 8pm I was outside Sreekanth and his wife Fiona’s apartment.

The race

The Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) started in 1973 as Whitbread Round the World Race. There were 17 yachts aligned up to sail on 8th of September, 1973, from Portsmouth, United Kingdom, for the first of its kind sailing event. In 1998, Volvo managed to strike a deal for the ownership of this event, and since 2001, it's been called the Volvo Ocean Race.

Sailing for 1 year, with a team of around 11 people, and least or no proximity to the rest of humanity, is like a hardcore jail-term. But not for the brave sailors who have been participating in this event. For them, it’s the challenge that actually drives them to the extreme, and hence their slogan – “Life at the EXTREME”.

For the 2008-2009 race, VOR had a stopover in India, at Cochin, Kerala for the first time in its 45 years history. This was the opportunity of a lifetime, and no excuse would have sufficed for missing it. Also, a doubt as to whether it will ever come back to India had made it even more desirable to be a part of.

There were 8 yachts viz. Delta Lloyd, Ericsson 3, Ericsson 4, Green Dragon Team, Puma, Team Russia, Telefonica Black, and Telefonica Blue. The race started at Alicante, Spain and takes the following route:

Alicante -> Cape Town, South Africa -> Cochin, India -> Singapore -> Qingdao, China -> Riode Janeiro, Brazil -> Boston, USA -> Galway, Ireland -> Marstrand, Sweden -> Stockholm, Sweden, and finish at -> St. Petersburg, Russia.

The stopover at Cochin was for 10 days, from December, 3rd – 13th.

Every team that landed at the port was greeted with much fervour and fanfare. The team members were all exhausted, and the relief at meeting their family members was palpable. The kids waiting for their fathers, friends of the team members anxiously waiting to meet up with their buddies, restless wives who could no longer take the suspense of when their husbands would set foot on land. It was all very dramatic and very emotional. Be it at 12 midnight or 12 noon, or even four in the morning they were all there. A truly heart-melting moment.

The Port Trust Authority of Cochin, had organised a bunch of events, for the VOR sailors, their family and friends, and all the VOR crew members.

To name a few -

Mini Pooram

Fusion Music Programme by
Shri Mattannur Sankaran Kutty Marar,
Shri Fazal Qureishi, Shri Luiz Banks
Shri Carl Petes & Shri Bala Bhaskar

Naval Band organized by Southern Navy

Snake Boat Race

And on 13th there was a multi-religious event to bless the fleet for their forward journey.

All in all, it was a culture rich festival, for the guests.

The Memories

Before I went for this event as an official photographer, I had no clue what to expect. I had said to myself - a bunch of sailors, going around the world, and their friends and family members. But I never expected such an overwhelming experience.

I was all geared up for catching them in action. The first yacht that came in was spotted at about 4in the morning, two days ahead of its scheduled arrival, at about 25-30 nautical miles, out at sea. As a photographer, taking the first shot of the arriving yacht was like getting a glimpse of the elusive Tiger, in a thick jungle. All those expensive lenses that I had taken along for the shoot seemed to fail miserably at capturing the yacht in the pitch dark. After trying everything I could, I decided to use the cheapest lens in my bag, the Canon 50mm f/1.8. Two shots; and I knew I had got what I had come for. For all the photographers reading this, 50mm 1.8 is a must-have lens in everybody’s kit.

The whole event was very well-organised, and a few people from VOR team were very helpful. I must mention Marcus Hutchinson, Beatrice and Sophie, who were a great help to all the media persons there. Even though, at times, they had to fight with some people, they did a wonderful job, at managing so many media persons.

This event will go down as one of the most memorable ones I have attended so far and I would surely like to be a part of this again. It has been a pleasure to be a part of the Pixetra team (www.pixetra.com), and to work with Sreekanth, Fiona, Sethu, Judy, Roel, Neel, Balan, and the other members of the Pixetra club, who have helped me learn and achieve the best from this event.

Volvo Ocean Race 1

2008-12-08T23:35:00.002+05:30

Even though i am still in the middle of this event, i think i'd better start this blog, before I forget about this all. So, what is this about now? what is volvo? Ocean? and some race too ?
And why on Earth, am I in a race??

So lets start :)

Sreekanth, MD of Pixetra, came to Hyderabad, I don't even remember when. I think it was October. He called me up and we happened to meet for lunch. Surprisingly Sethu was also there. Sreekanth happened to mention about an international event that is going to be held at Cochin, Kerala, South of India. How was I to know, that it would actually become a reality, and that I would get to be a part of it. And, this IT being the Volvo Ocean Race.

As per what I had read and understood, this was a sport, which used to happen once in 4 years, and the participants, would race each other, across the world, in Yachts, and that they were going to have a stopover at Cochin for 10 days, starting 3Dec. Very exciting, and as usual, like always, I was thrilled. Another travel plan, another shoot, a new place, more new people, and uncertainity about whats in store :)
In due course of time, it materialised, and I was scheduled to be there by 2 December (very few would know the significance of this date). But as always, things dont really happen as planned do they? Soooo, well, it so happened, that the first yacht was way ahead of its arrival date, and was about to reach in 3 days. So I had to fly down to Cochin, by the 29th of November. By 8pm I am outside Sreekanth and Judy's appartment. Judy comes out to greet me, with her 'Ever-ready' smile :)

While we are walking towards the lift and to Sreekanth's flat, I get updated about the present situation with the Yacht. I will have to leave on the media boat tonight, as the Ericsson 4, is expected to come down by 12am. When we reach his flat, Sreekant and Fiona (his wife), greet me at the door, and I am welcomed by them. We all settle down, and I get to know that I will be staying in the adjoining flat. I was asked for dinner, and do I ever say no to food - NEVER :D :D
While i am at the table, Sethu and Roel (Judy's husband), join us, and in another few minutes Neel. I have a quick bite, and leave with Sreekanth to go and get my media pass from the Race Village. On the way, i get more details about the race, and we talk a little bit about politics (soooo unlike me ) :)

We get the pass and get home. I get fresh and get back to Sreekanth's flat. By about 10:30pm, we get a call that we would need to be at the media boat by 11pm. As per our strategy, 2 ppl will be on the ground, and the rest will go on board, and try to click as many pictures of the yacht, as possible.

The drive to Hampi

2008-08-19T18:33:00.003+05:30

Well yeah, so we leave for Hampi at about 10:30pm on the 14th of August.
The route we were to take was
Hyderabad - Shamshabad - Shadnagar - Jadcherla - Mahboobnagar - Raichur - Gangavati - Hospet - Hampi.

As we started and came close to Mehdipatnam, it started drizzling, and really picked up from near the Shamshabad Airport. Till about Jadcherla, we had pretty heavy rain. From there onwards it was drizzling, till i dont know when. I realised that the wiper was running, but there was no rain, and hence switched it off.

The night drive was pretty good, calm and the scarcity of traffic was making it a wonderful drive.
We stopped about 3 times on the way for tea, and once for pee :P
Azam was the DJ for the night, and I dont know what all he played. There was English and Hindi songs for sure, and some which i didnt even understand. ummmm well, I didnt understand most of them. Alright, alright. I didnt understand ANY of them.
Sandeep, the one who missed his train, and Suman, were at the back-seat, enjoying all the good moments, in terms of the night photography and clicking each other kind of way, of course.

The night was eventless and by morning we were near the Tungabhadra Dam.
Wow!! What a sight. All the gates were opened for the water to flow out of the dam, and the river, below the bridge we were standing on, was flowing like a class 10 rapid. In short, the flow was very hard, and you could see the water splashing on to the rocks around and on itself. The thundering noise of the gushing water was enough to get us all on our feet, and cameras at hand. We went around the length of the bridge, frantically taking as many pictures as possible. In about half hour, when our excitement wore down a little, we thought of driving on. When we reached the car, I saw the hordes of mosquitoes, smashed all over the windshield. After cleaning the mess, we start again, to stop right in front of our guest house.

A small lane, with just about enough place for 2 cars to go in or some out or either way, together.
At the end of the lane, is a right, where our room was booked. But we didnt like the a/c room there, and hence, shifted to the other guest house. Padma Guest House - Hampi
Address : Near Govt. School, Hampi(p) Hospet(tq) Bellary, Hampi, Karnataka, 593239
Distance : Railway - 12 Km, Airport - 350 Km, Bus Terminus - 12 K. The lane housed entrances to the other guest houses there, and small restaurants. Actually, these were just houses, where in the owners were renting out the rooms. After having breakfast at some place opposite to the lane, in the open parking area, we went back to our room, and dozed off,.

Hampi - Day1

2008-08-18T00:12:00.010+05:30

At about 5pm, on the 14th August 2008, I just got done with my packing, and was ready to leave.
All set. The bag with the clothes is in the car - Yes
The monopod - Yes
The cool-box for keeping the drinks cool - Yes
The tent - Yes
The sleeping bag - Yes
All set :)
Ohhhh the camera bag. the most important baggage of all - Yes, NOW it is.

At about 5:40pm, I get a call from Suman, one of the other 2 people I am to go with. At about 5'5", Indian Brown color, and straight hair falling on his forehead most of the time, but with a receding hairline, and a thick beard (he thinks he looks 'hot' witht he beard, yeah riiiiiiiggghhhttt!!!), he is an ever smiling, sober person with a very creative driving sense.
He is about to reach his Restaurant (Cafe Irani Chai - tried searching for a link detailing about this place, to promote it a little more, but nothing available online, yet!!). ummmm yeah, he is about to reach his restaurant (now you know why i had to write good about him :D), and I would be meeting up with him there. I set out in my loyal mode of transport, Toyota Innova. After reaching there, I get to know the further plan, in which, Suman would drop his mom at a function, go to his place, take a shower, pack his bag, and drive back to Irani Chai. And like a dork, I was thinking that we would be leaving by 7pm, thats in an hours' time, whereas, all of Suman's chores is going to take about a couple of hours. Nevertheless, I thought I will get an Irani Chai, in compensation to that :D

I went upstairs at his restaurant, and ordered the chai, while I waited for Suman to finish his work and come back, and for the restaurant staff to change the sports channel to a movie channel or something. In sometime, I was accompanied by the other restaurant partners of Suman, Pramod and Ashwin. We chit chat for sometime, and just then I get a call. It must have been about 7:30pm, when Dr. Azam calls me up, after his meeting with Satyam (no time to explain what this is). Dr. Azam, at about an inch taller than Suman, a Sports Physio by profession, very well built physique, with a never ending zest for tightening his muscles with even the slightest touch, and everready for trekking, FINALLY found time for trekking with us, in the last 6 years. He was to go home, change, pack and meet us up somewhere on the way to the highway. I get back to chit chatting with Pramod and Ashwin.

At 8:53pm, Suman calls up and tells me that he is on his way here. In another 5 minutes, Azam calls up and says the same. Suman turns up earlier than expected, and we shift his stuff in my car and leave, to pick up Azam on the way. Yeah, I had to pay for the chai as well. At about 300mts from the restaurant, I ask him about the cans of Red Bull, as I would be driving through out the night, and was expecting those cans to keep me awake :) He had forgotten, and hence we turn back to pick it up from Irani Chai, and head out again, to meet Azam at a small eatery close to his place.

This is where the drama starts. Sandeep (a fellow member/colleague at the Hyderabad Photography Club) calls up and is like, the train is about to leave in 5 minutes, and he hasnt yet reached the station. Well, obviously, my answer was, "then go to the station, what are you doing, calling me". errrr seems like he was stuck in traffic, and wouldnt be able to make it to the station, and was asking whether he could join us in the car. A person is asking me to join in, and reduce our costs, Of Course you can join in. Come to the eatery and we will all leave together. Somehow, we all meet up at the place, eat the rolls and leave. Hmm, this all cannot be so easy. Not so precisely timed, and not exactly as I had hoped that we would leave by 10pm. No, no, no. There has to be a catch. OOOOOh yes. I forgot to take the money from home. And off we go there, to startle mom, as to why we are back in less than 5 hours of our journey. I pick up the money, and Finally, we leave for Hampi. Hampi is about 360-400kms down south of Hyderabad. It is a city of ruins from the bygone era, and is supposedly - Worlds Largest Ruin City, ever excavated. What we expected to do there ?? Go for trekking and perhaps even take some pics, Though the folks who were coming in the train, were all coming only for photography. Lets see where this journey takes us, is all I muttered and started driving.

Trip to Hampi, Karnataka

2008-08-14T17:18:00.002+05:30

Well, unfortunately i couldnt complete writing about the HMI experience, but this time,
I will make sure, that this trip doesnt just vanish.

So keep checking.

We leave tonight, by car, and would be travelling about 360kms, overnight.

Best of luck to us, and you all pray,
that we come back to complete this :D :D

Take care all, ciao.

HMI Day 2

2008-05-03T11:27:00.003+05:30

Trring!! The alarm goes off again. Yes, this time its not as long as the previous morning, as nobody is in the mood to get up. It 4:45am, and I seem to be the only one brushing my teeth. I call out for everyone to get up and go to the washroom to get ready. After about 5 mins, when i get back, nobody seems to have moved a muscle. After another round of the wake up call by me, Dada and Amit get up. Yaseen and Rahul are still sleeping. At 5am, then bell rings, and Yaseen is still sleeping, but Rahul is rushing out to the bathroom. It was tea time :)

15-20 minutes into the tea time, and we all realise that the 1 hour of physical training is about to begin. Cursing about it at the top of our voices, we all leave the hall, and go out to get ready for it. 6am and reluctantly, we all assemble again, at the square. Damn, why why why.... ?? The running starts, we go down the slope, and then start climbing another. After some distance, I stop again. Realising where I had stopped, I was glad that I improved from the previous day. Yesterday, I had stopped 2 steps behind my present position. Smiling at that, I start walking, and hear a voice from behind. "Chalo, chalo, chalo. Rukna naii" (Cmon, Cmon, Cmon. Dont stop). Aaaaargh. Brisk walking and then the same routine starts again. I run, I stop, I walk, I am made to run again. Finally, I finish the run again, and am back in the room. Cursing ourselves for coming for this training, we prepare and wait for the breakfast bell.

By 8am, we are ready to go to the classes. After assembling at the square again, we are given a brief about the equipment that we were given yesterday. A backpack full of mountaineering equipment, and weighing between 20-25 kgs. Here I realised, that having big feet will increase the weight, coz of the bigger shoes. No choice at that now :(

Today was a good start, as we were to learn Face Climbing and Chimney ascent and descent. Now this is what I thought mountaineering would be, not running. We left the campus, and walked down about 3kms to the Tenzing Rock site. This is where we would be learning anything and everything about Rock Climbing. The Tenzing Rock was a pretty high boulder of Rock, with an inclination of about 70 degrees from the ground. It had cracks, slippery places, and what not. We all gethered in fron of it, and sat down while the instructor told us on how to climb up and come down. The way they were doing it, looked as easy as walking on plain ground. We were to be proved wrong pretty soon. We all started ascending the rock, and we were greeted with a breathtaking view of Kanchanjunga mountain range. All white, and shining under the sunlight, which was being filtered by the clouds above it. Amazing view. Just then, someone held my hand, making me come back to the present situation. We had a small place on top of the rock, where we all could manage to stand, but not too many of them.

I freaked out a little there, by the way everybody was swaying, and that to soo close to me. I told everyone to fall alone, and not pull the others along with them. One side was a fall right on the road, and the other side was an even longer fall, down in the trees and bushes and what not. Well nevertheless, we all did a good job there, and all of us completed the training. We all had a good time laughing at the faces made by us, at different heights of ascent and descent. In the chimney, I scraped my left hand pretty bad, and somehow felt good. Thought to myself, "ok NOW I am doing something in life :D". By afternoon, we were all back for lunch.

HMI Day 1

2008-04-07T14:24:00.005+05:30

4:00am and the alarm rings, as we had decided to get up by then and get ready for the 5:00am tea. By 04:15am all 5 of us are up, and getting ready for the tea, and the first day at the institute. The excitement is very much visible on our faces. Went out of the room and the cold wind sent a shiver. A few more excited faces greeted us at the packed bathroom. Its 4:40am and we are all ready to go. Waiting for the bell, we had our hands in our pockets, trying all that we can, to keep them warm.

TRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNGGGGGGG, and you see everyone rushing down to the cafeteria. A big hall with 4 pillars dividing it in two. At the farther side, we had two long benches. One side was the non-vegetarian, and the other side was the vegetarian. The other side of the hall, had a very small table, for about 10 people. This was for the instructors. The first day, and literally everyone was there for this tea session, with their tea glasses in hand. A little chit chat, and some more tea, then back to the room. 5:30am and we are all set to go for the morning jog, which was to sitart at 6:00am. Yaseen or Mrithunjoy, suggested the warm up session, so that we are all prepared for what we have to take in terms of physical aspect. A little bit of Yoga was also thrown in by Mrithunjoy.

By 6:00am, all happy faces were assembled at the square, in front of the office. A brief pep-talk from one of the instructors, and we set out to run. Little bit of stretching, again, and down the slope we go. After about 300-400 meters, we got out the main gate, and here comes the slope again, but this time, its going up. While jogging we were instructed to raise our hands in the front, side up and what not. In just a few minutes, I am done. Stopped to catch my breath and instructors are shouting from all over the place, to keep going. We stop a little further up, and wait for people like me to catch up. While waiting, they all are excercising. We somehow reach there, and are made to go right in front. We start again. The same procedure, of us running, few others and me stopping, then the rest of the group stopping for us to join in, and then again running, carried on 3 more times. Somehow, an hour passes, and we see the gate of HMI again.

By the time i reached the room, I was as close to being dead, as a surfer is to the water he is surfing on. One fall and gone. Trying to catch my breath, even after about 10 mins of rest, I go to the room and lay down on the bed. Only one thought beside my spinning head. "Why the hell did I come for this course? Its just day 1, and 28 similar days to go. What in the world was I thinking, when i applied for this course? Why didnt I listen to my folks and cancel my trip? I am being punished for not litening to them. Yes, thats it, it can e nothing else. Why didnt I train keeping the slopes in mind? Why? WHY?? WHHYYY ??

Another bell, and it was time for breakfast. Somehow I reached the cafeteria, walking with legs I couldnt feel. Eyes, which couldnt see straight and head, which was going round and round and round. By the time we finished the breakfast, I felt a LOT better, coming back to being sane again. Got ready for the day, and went ahead for the course. We had theory classes about mountaineering, the terms, risks, precautions, etc. The course got really interesting, and I forgot about the pains in different parts of the body. Well, as long as we were seated at least.

Lunch followed by classes, concluding by 6:00pm. Dinner at 7:00pm and we are back in our rooms. The course and the way of instruction ignited a new zest for learning and in fact, completing this 28 day course. I am already here. I got a chance, which many would die to get it. I would rather make good use of it, and complete this course. There was another aspect of it too. The fact that we were all staying in a dormitory, going for meals and tea together, and going to the classes together, reminded me a lot of my Budapest days. Those great memories and those fabulous people I met there. A little nostalgic in a way, and then back to relaity. The reality being - another hour of jogging tomorrrow. Thinking about that, and cursing that, we all went to bed, but this time, the alarm was not for 4:00am, but 4:30am. Lets see how many wake up now :)

Journey to HMI ... part 3 - HMI - AT LAST!!

2008-03-25T00:01:00.009+05:30

3rd March morning 7:30am and here comes NJP :) The train is slowing down and the excitement is growing like never before. The train is moving slowly, .... now why doesnt it stop. While we are all waiting for the train to stop, my co-passengers - a couple with their son (the family), an Asst. Regional Manager and another couple - and I, are all getting ready with our luggage. Exchanged telephone numbers with the family and the manager, while the other couple was anxious enough to get down and hence least bothered about who is around them.

After getting down we all bid farewell to each other. The family offered to take me to Darjeeling along with them, which was about 80kms from the station. I was told that there will be an Army bus which would come to pick us up, and I didnt want to lose the chance of driving in that one. I thanked them for the offer and declined explaining them the reason. Finally the train stopped and we all got out and went our way. It was just about 7:45am and the bus was to come by 10am. I went out of the station and sat down at the bench out there.

Not a very busy station I thought, but gradually the number of kids started growing, and behind them came their parents with big bags and lots of luggage. In about half hour, all I could see from my sitting place was huge bags stacked right in front, and kids making a ruckus out there. Making even more noise were their parents, shouting at them to talk softly. The kids least bothered about what their parents were saying, were jumping around, over other people's luggage, only to stop after hearing some loud voice from one of those parents. In front of me, there were about 5 members who had come to leave one kid (about 9 years old) of their family. Everyone was holding a bag, which I presume had the kids luggage, as I could see a small pair of socks, peeking out of one of the bags.

Thankfully, one by one, they all filled up in the waiting cabs and left. I checked the time, and it was about 9am. Got up with a sore butt, strolled around a little, bought a bottle of water, and went back to my seat.

I wanted to let the HMI know that I am here, and waiting for the bus. Hence, messaged the only mobile number I had from there, who had called up to tell me that there will be a bus at 10am, to pick us up. In response, I got to know, that the bus was to come only if there were any protests for Gorkhaland. As that had ended, I was to go there by myself. Damn!! I should have gone with that family. Nevertheless, asked around for the fare to Darjeeling, and the taxi drivers there started with Rs 800. Now I SHOULD have gone with those folks. It would have saved me Rs. 800. Anyways, whats done is done. I asked the driver as to what would he charge finally. He said Rs. 600, and we will pick up a couple of passengers on the way. I wanted to make sure whether that price was fair enough. I messaged the person at HMI, and he replied "it should take about 4 hours and not more than Rs. 100". 500% extra :O :O
Along came a Rickshaw puller, and he said he will drop me at some distance, from where I can get a shared taxi. I should give him Rs 80, and the taxi will charge Rs. 150, altogether, that would come to Rs. 230. Now I wasnt ready to pay that much extra, even though it was way too less than the Rs. 600. I went around looking for a prepaid taxi, offered at the station. At the counter, there were taxi drivers ready to take me to Darjeeling for Rs. 110. Done.
Went over to one of the taxis there. There was another guy my age, who was keeping his rcksack up on the carrier. I got my luggage up there too, and we both sat at the back of the 10 seater (3 + 3 + 4) TATA Sumo. The first 2 seats were vertical and parallel to each other, and at the back, there were 2 seats again parallel to each other, but horizontal, with open space between the 2.

There were 2 guys right in front, 4 in the middle seat - 3 of them from Tamil Nadu, and both of us at the rear. The guy with me, was about 5 feet 9inches. Small eyes which had gone in the sockets a little, standing hair and a light beard. A little healthier than thin body-frame, but hands definitely looked tough. "Stay away from that fist", I thought to myself.
We were waiting for 2 more people before we could leave for Darjeeling. In about another 10 mins, there was one more, who joined us at the back. After another 20 mins, we decided that each of us will pay Rs 10 extra, and leave right away. We payed the amount and again waited.

The guy beside me asked, if I was here for holiday or to meet someone. I told him about HMI and the course, and it turned out that he was also there for the same. That was Rahul Bhatt, from Baroda, rahul bhatt, who also happned to be my roommate. From then on, we started chatting about the course, each other, why this course, blah blah blah blah blah. While driving uphill, we came across a lot of picture perfect landscape views of the valley below, and the houses at the edges of the roads, the trees, flowers, and the narrow escapes from falling off the road, down the hill. For us it was a little scary, but the driver knew what he was doing, and probably he goes up and down the same route 'n' number of times everyday. It was an experience in itself. We drove in sunlight, which later turned into cloudy area, and then we drove into the rain, later, we stopped at a place from where in we could see the clouds right above us. At the pit stop, we refreshed ourselves with some juice and left again. This time we were driving INSIDE the clouds. It was awesome, yet a little scary, just so that the lightning doesnt strike us :)

The first 3 hours of the journey were great, but then, my head started spinning a little, and I just couldnt wait for this drive to get over. Eventually, after thousands of bumps, hundreds of bends, a number of head-banging session with the taxi, we reached Darjeeling. Got down from the taxi, and got our wet luggage from the top. Both of us took our luggages and asked for directions to HMI. Had to go straight down the road. We started walking, and walked and walked and walked, but no sign of the institute. Walked just a little more and we were told to take the stairs just across to the other side. Took the stairs and from then on, it was all uphill. Again, we started walking. Walked a little and waited to catch our breath. I told Rahul, the way we are going up, I think its better, if we just walk back right away. Then came a sign, which said HMI, and pointed the direction further uphill, after taking a 'U' turn. Went up there, and to our relief, after about 200 metres, we saw the sing which said - "Himalayan Mountaineering Institute". Went over and told the guard at the entrance, that we are here for HMI. He directed us to go straight in, and the second gate would lead us to HMI, as this entrance was also for the Darjeeling Zoo. As we entered the gate, up ahead was another uphill, and this time steeper than what we had come from, plus there was no sign of the second gate at all. I was dead tired, and sweating profusely in that cold weather there. We started walking yet again, and crossed the Black Bear, Snow Leopard, Barking Deer, Yaks, Musk Deer, and what not, to eventually reach the second gate, which thankfully was the entrance for HMI.

Went in, and as we walked on, we came at the open square, right in front of the administrative office. Went over, took our registration slips, and went over to the dormitory/hostel. Both Rahul and I got assigned to room no 6. Went there to find 3 other people already there. Amit, a teenager from Delhi, Mrithunjoy from Kolkatta and Leutenant Yaseen Mohammed from Vizag which is close to Hyderabad, my city. After formal introductions, we got our metalglass and a spoon, which we are to take care of, until the end of the course. We were called in for the briefing and we got to know that our day is to start at 5am.
After deciding the other day, starting at 4am, we all planned to go to sleep. We were all tired from the long journey, and definitely wanted to lay down. At about 9pm, we all were getting on the bed, and we all mentioned in unison, about how cold the bed was. No heater in the room, and beds at freezing temperature - now this would be hard to sleep in. After all the efforts of rolling on the bed to get it warm, I dont remember when we actually fell asleep.

Journey to HMI ... part 2 - Reached NJP

2008-03-22T13:46:00.003+05:30

The weather seems to be pretty humid. Not very hot for a 12:30pm afternoon, but humid. Streets are different than in Hyderabad. They have a very old historical feeling to them. People and vendors are all self-engrosed and humidity doesnt seem to bother them at all. Aah yes, there is the station. As I walk towards the entrance of the station, I see loads of people all over the place. Some of them are all laying around at the entrance, some are just walking aroung with their luggage tightly held. All in groups and waiting for their trains. A lot of noise, a wierd smell, and the porters in red walking aorund to get hold of some customers.
Now it struck me, that its just 1pm and my train is at 7:35pm. Went inside the station and asked a station employee for the waiting room. Went up to the room, and started writing about the journey, which hasnt even started yet.

The waiting room is pretty decent. Surprisingly, a clean big hall, with about 30 red metal chairs and one big table right in the middle of the room. It seemed as if that table was kept there for us to keep our feet on top of that, what with 4 men already making use of it that way. 5 out of 6 fans working in that room. I checked the temperature from the temperature gauge given to me by a friend. 26°C and so humid. A lot of noise around, from the people, the regular announcements and voical advertisements. Plus the occasional warning from the caretaker lady of that room, to take care of our belongings, especially if you are charging your cell pohones there.

The room was pretty busy, with people coming and going, changing clothes, laying down newspaper on the floor and taking a nap wherever there is place, a group of friends chit-chatting at the top of their vocal capacity, some of them taking a shower in the adjoined bathrooms. In short, a pretty busy and self occupied room.

After moving around here and there, walking up and down the station, somehow, it was time for me to board my train. Thankfully, had some decent ppl around in the compartment, and the journey started off on a happy note, with a kid trying to do all sorts of antics. Had not packed any food with me, hence ordered it at the train restaurant. It tunred out to be the sweetest rice I had ever had, with more raisins in it, than i had ever had in my life. Nevertheless, in about another hour, I was al settled in to doze off to sleep, anxiously waiting for the next part of my journey, which was to start from New Jalpaiguri Station (NJP).

Journey to HMI ... part 1

2008-03-20T17:00:00.005+05:30

Morning of 2 March 2008, and I am all packed and ready to leave.
Took a flight to Kolkatta in the morning and reached Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport there. It was past 11 am if I remember it right. After picking up my luggage, I was looking for a sort of secluded corner. Reason - coz I wanted to remove those huge mountaineering boots that I was wearing, as they were about 6-8kgs, and I didnt want to keep them in my luggage and reduce my luggage carrying capacity. Instead I kept my puny sports shoes in the check-in luggage. WHEW!! What a relief. It was tooo hot in the shoes there :D
Now, time for a call home and to a couple of friends there in Kolkatta.

Mom - Mom I reached the airport, all fine, will keep calling you time and again. Take care, bye bye.

Unfortunately, the friends in Kolkatta were on a holiday, so now what do i do till the time I need to catch the train at 7?? Go to the station and wait.
I walked over to the prepaid taxi counter and asked for the Howrah station tariff. He said Rs 210. I moved back and pondered as to whether i should take it or leave it, when I heard another gentleman, asking for the same taxi. I called out to him, and asked if he wouldnt mind sharing the cab and the cost. To my relief, he was happier than I was. "Saved some money", I thought.
He paid for the cab, and when I offered my half, he said, lets settle it later.

Got into the cab, and here we go. From petty conversations to full fledged discussions, and in justa few minutes, I got to know that this gentleman, in his early-to-mid forties, is from Punjab, born and brought up in Kolkatta, and working at a place 3 hours from Kolkatta, his wife is from Mumbai and hence his children are studying there. I told him about my mountaineering trip and photography, and he also turned out to be one of those early bird photography enthusiasts, who had spent a lot of money in buying camera equipment :) He said he has a Canon, honeywell something which i didnt understand, Yashica and some lenses which he was very proud to own :)
He made a call to his "madam" (wife) and asked his kid about the cricket score about some India vs Australia match.

After the call, he asked me which station was I to board the train from. I told him Sealdah, and it tunred out, that Howrah and Sealdah stations are 2 different ones, unlike what another gentleman had told me earlier. He spoke to the driver, and we decided that, as today is a Sunday, there wont be much traffic. So for an extra Rs 100, he will drop me to Sealdah and move on to Howrah. And there, I got dropped off at the Sealdah Station.

Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI)

2008-03-18T13:30:00.005+05:30

Here starts another chapter in my travelogue. Now how did I end up here at the institute?
Was talking to a friend Gopi, who is in Singapore now, about going for rock climbing, and googled for some institutes here in India. One of the first few institutes had HMI site there. Went over, read its elegant history about its foundation, its patrons et all. Pretty impressed with it, I wrote to them. Got the reply in a couple of days, and the thought about joining it was always knocking my head. Eventually I did apply for the March 2008 course. Went over to the hospital for my mandatory medical tests. Thankfully all were perfect and fine. After a couple of weeks of snail-mailing the application, got the acceptance email. Now completely excited and thrilled, started preparing for the list I was to take with me. Bothered a couple of friends in US for the shoes, was looking out for sales/discounts for some necessary track suits and other warm clothing. Now all set, I was to leave on 2 March, and reach the institute by the 3rd.

So many ... Too many

2008-01-12T10:45:00.000+05:30

Irony of life and nature.
Nature has given us all soo much, but not the time to explore even a little bit of it.
We have so many wishes, so many thougts, so many aspirations, and what not,
but the regular run of the mill lifestyle doesnt allow us to do any (for most of us at least) ;)

Im sure there are many who want to go to the fields, run around in it, smell that earthy fragrance of water on the earth,
move around in the jungles to satisfy our adrenaline after finding those 'hidden' waterfalls, climb up to the top of that hill, however small it might be, and relish the fact that you thought you could, and now you have reached the top of the hill,
test yourself to the limit, climb a mountain, drink the cold water from the pond you find right on top,
play in snow at the mountain top,
watch the stars at night from your tent,
sit around a bonfire with your friends talking about everything and nothing.

Well, too many things to do, and yet, so little time to do it.
So many resources to do what you want, yet too many commitments to make use of those resources.
So many dreams, but even more responsibilities.
Have we stopped living life, and are just existing?
Have we given up with all our dreams, wishes, aspirations, just to be a part of the rat race?

Lets hope not. Lets hope that there is still hope for those who hope to hopefully do what they want to do.Lets hope, that we still are a part of nature too, and not just meet with your regular "nature's call".
And i surely hope, that i dont get in such moods often :)
and I didnt know how to finish writing this one :)

Here I am ...

2007-10-12T06:44:00.000+05:30

Its about 6:45am, dont know what got into me, and here I am.
Doing what none of my friends would have ever given a weirdest thought to.
Here I am, doing what even I never ever imagined myself doing.
Here I am - creating/writing a blog :)

I think this is a little too much writing for today.
So .... La Revedere.
(aaah yes, I like Romanian language)