Some wild musings

I was looking for inspiration to pen an article on my recent wildlife trips , when I decided to convert my friend my muse. She said a very simple thing - " You owe it to your subjects to write about them..now focus and write. " My immediate response was " Im writing about the denizens of the forest and Im not sure they appreciate mankind coming there to do a peekaboo and stare at them. " Write for the forests at least, " she answered and my thoughts took a different turn.

Instead of writing in my word document that reads 47 words now , I started posting my thoughts here.Do we as tourists, travellers, wildlifers, photographers really care for the forests and its denizens- be it man or animal ? I am part of a wildlife group and every day , my mail box is inundated by mails from the so called experts who preach about their take on wildlife.If lack of awareness is one of the key issues, this holier than thou attitude of the wildlife enthusiasts sometimes gets on my nerves too.

A friend recently remarked on how some photographers unethically disturb nests of birds to take a good photograph. Many times, we get special entries into forests to take pictures. Ive been guilty of it too when I went to Daroji to see sloth bears at close quarters. The animals no wonder ignored us.While writing this post,my intention is not to curtail tourism or photography,because this is the only way we get close to nature. Im just trying to say that we should rather be a bit sensitive to the forests too and understand that animals are tired of being chased. We can sight them in silence, take photographs without flash ,not wear bright clothes and leave as quickly as possible , giving them their space and privacy.For we have encroached into their territory .As my friend said,"The forests need us to survive. Its symbiotic."True, we need the forests to survive as well.

Inside Story - Shivappa Nayaka Palace, Shimoga

At first glance it hardly looks like a palace. But on a second glance it does not seem like a saw mill either. To me , it looks like an exquisitely designed home , carved in rosewood, replete with a Mangalore tiled roof with wooden pillars, an open courtyard, two narrow staircases leading to a hall flanked by rooms and a balcony .

It is well past noon and I am in the Shivappa Nayaka palace in Shimoga or Shivamogga, a town located on the banks of the river Tunga in the Malenadu heartland . We happen to be the only tourists in this sprawling palace. The staircase leads us upstairs and we enter the main durbar or the balcony of the palace . Looking out into the vast expanse , we see that the well manicured lawns have turned into a veritable art gallery with ancient sculptures scattered around them.


We wait patiently for the watchman to finish his lunch and take us on a guided tour. The original palace he says was built by Hiriya Venkatappa Nayak of the Keladi Dynasty in the 16th century. The Vijaynagar empire was declining and the Keladi Nayaks, who were ruling as chieftains under them , had slowly emerged emerging on their own. A local battle fought here between the Nayaks and the Palegars resulted in the former’s victory and hence a fort and a palace were built here. The victory was however shortlived. Soon, Adil Shah of the Bijapur Sultanate destroyed it after a bitter battle and it was later rebuilt by Shivappa Nayak in the Indo sarcenic style. The story however does not end here. When the British took over from the Nayak, they converted the palace into a saw mill to store logs..Finally the monument assumed its current form , after it was restored by the ASI.

Legends say that the Maratha ruler, Rajaram, the son of Chatrapthi Shivaji was hidden in this palace when he was pursued by the Mughal ruler Aurangazeb. The story dates to the later 16th century when the dynasty was ruled by Rani Chennamma, wife of Somashekara Nayaka . Rajaram, along with his confidants apparently entered her court dressed as a monk , seeking alms. They were passing through her kingdom and they sought refuge . The queen , against the advice of her officials, hid Rajaram in this palace for a few days until he carried on with his journey. While Rajaram escaped, an infuriated Aurangazeb sent his army to defeat the queen, but in the battle that followed, the queen’s forces defeated the Mughals, forcing them to sign a treaty with the Nayaks.

As the watchman finished the story, the parakeets screeched , announcing their displeasure at our prolonged presence. Looking up , we saw a tree that was filled with bats, who were probably enjoying their afternoon siesta. Fascinated , we watched them for a while and then continued on our quest to see more places and hear more stories.

A ruthlessly chopped version of this appeared in the Metro Plus today. I have no idea why editors amuse themselves by randomly removing words and paragraphs with no feel for continuity and style. They said it was a space crunch which made them remove 106 words from this story randomly, including the last paragraph

More wildlife from Kabini

When you are in a forest, one of the oft repeated wish is to see a tiger or a leopard. Well, yours truly is not an exception. But my luck has always been rather bad. However what started as a sour grapes attitude has suddenly changed . Today, I am easily satisfied with some sightings of birds. I enjoy looking at smaller mammals and am often rewarded by some quality sighting of the larger ones. During my trip to Kabini , I was staying at the JLR property and I was lucky to have a very good naturalist with me. Yes, I missed the sighting of a leopard and a sloth bear, but was very happy to see gaurs drinking waters and crossing the road in front of us, a smaller pack of dholes or wild dogs threatening a domestic dog, tuskers posing for us and even a threesome elephants dancing for us. In my earlier posts, I had spoken about a mother and a baby having a bath, besides our encounter with another family. So, now tell me , do we really miss a tiger or a leopard here ?

Kabini and her elephants - 2

When I went to Kabini last month, there were plenty of families around .Well, Im not referring to the human kind , but about elephants. We saw herds everywhere and although we did see a few tuskers around , it was interesting to watch the behaviour of these animals. In one of our jungle safaris, we came upon a family of three who just emerged out of the bushes onto the road. We were the only jeep around and we were rather deep into the jungle.

We switched off the engine and waited. I hesitated to use my camera , but then I took a couple of pictures just as they posed for us . As I closed the lens, the father shielded the mother and the calf from our view and then he led the group as they crossed the road. While keeping an eye on us, he shepherded them into the bushes and that is when I took out the camera again and even while his family was safely into the forests, he gave us one last look before exiting from our view.





In another scene, we were privy to the bathing scene of a mother and baby elephant who were enjoying a mud bath in the tiger's pool. The mother was extremely weak and we could see her bones..probably she had a hard time getting herself and her calf to kabini . We didnt see the leopard or the tiger , but we spent a good 20 mins watching them enjoy the water.I made a slide show on You Tube and you can watch the pair here

I'm just a bird in the sky ..

And no one can take my freedom away..so sing the river terns over the Bhadra backwaters in Lakkavalli where they come to breed every year

Here are a pair of cormorants singing the same song as they return home. To see more fascinating skies across the world, click here

India through my eyes - In the days of twitter and FB statuses

I saw this quaint little postbox just before I entered the portals of the Hoysala temple, Somnathpur .One day I told myself, I will shut myself from the digital world and return here , just to send a real post card to myself at least .I did that during my first international trip, when I was 21 and all excited to cover South East Asia and Australia. I sent a post card to my parents from every country and each post card was a souvenir . I didnt have money to buy anything and my memories lie in those post cards

When people turn wild..

This is not a post on travel, but a post on travelling . My husband says Ive become anti social. In a way I agree. My tolerance is rather very low and I blame it largely on the new breed of tourists who follow me wherever I go.

I have nothing against tourists in particular, but I seem to find a huge disconnect in the way they travel. I often travel to escape from the madding crowd and merge with the silence of the valleys . I choose monuments and forests that are off the tourist track and many a time, a new year's eve has been spent in a silent jungle resort which is not yet in the tourist map. But then travelling soon became a fad and travel stories have become conversation currency.

I understand that most tourists believe in letting their hair down when they travel and holidaying is all about relaxing and having fun. But I wonder if it is at the expense of a fellow traveller's peace and quiet ! "Notice me" says the brand of these new tourists, but I wish to tell them that they are an assault on my senses. They speak loudly, dress loudly , listen to loud music and crave for attention when they travel. Why cant they let a nondescript traveller like me enjoy my anonymity ?

I was recently in Kabini and I couldnt recognize it when I landed. It seemed to be a national park and a zoo rolled into one. Almost a 100 people and bulk of them were noisy loud children throwing tantrums with their parents screaming louder than the kids to be heard. One hip young mother told her son that she would throw a hot cup of coffee on the child if he didnt drink his milk. Another hyperactive kid was gargling water at the tap and spitting all over . She said sorry when I walked away in disgust.

And the most exciting sighting for these tourists was Rahul Dravid and his family. A tourist even had his picture clicked with him. " How about one with the leopard also?" asked a fellow traveller, but the joke of course was lost in the din. People still shout when they see spotted deer and of course get very excited when they spot elephants. As a tusker approaches the jeep, it is the perfect timing for a kid to cringe and cry. The excitement is always more if its a tiger. At Tyreguppe , in the tiger safari, a bunch of grown up men got into a nervous fit when they saw the home grown tigers - they started teasing it , while taking pictures on their mobile. The tiger just walked away ..

Tourists have hugely misunderstood the word " adventure " . In a recent trip to Bhadra, a bold young mother forgot that her 11 month baby would be hungry at 5 pm in the evening. So when the winds were making it difficult for the boat man to veer his vehicle and the boat was rocking in the waters ,wetting our feet inside, her daughter let out a loud wail announcing she was hungry.The adventurous mother didnt mind that the boat was extremely shaky , but went on to mix milk in the bottle and started silencing the baby by walking in the boat and feeding her, while we watched the scene with more attention than looking at the elephants on the opposite bank.

Food has always been the most important aspect of any trip. We all gorge on every delicious morsel and of course not just live to eat, but also travel to eat. However there are some who only eat ! While we were at a home stay in Masinagudi , a couple of families with teenaged kids dropped in as well. They made sure they didnt move beyond the dining room. they stood around the table attacking every dish with more vigour and patting their stomach after every meal. In fact they were least concerned that there were more guests at the property - after all, they have paid for the meal. while the kids protested after eating a dozen puris and an equal number of bread and other delicacies, the mother stacked away a few more for the journey , but before that she coaxed her daughter to eat more of the bananas.." You will feel hungry and we will not stop on the way..after all, we have paid na .."

I am tired of running away from such people. I am also tired of tolerating them. All I am hoping is that these families would enjoy travelling as much as I do and yet be more non intrusive . Am I asking for too much ?

Kabini and her elephants -1

I had taken my parents to Kabini to escape the Madras heat and the river was kind to us. A tributary of the Cauvery, the river has its origins in Wayanad . A dam built on it in the 1970s helped form the backwaters which has the Bandipur forests on one end of its bank and the Nagarhole on the other.




In summer, the waters recede, but the river and the forests on either banks play host to herds of elephants who migrate here looking for food.They grace the banks or enjoy a swim or even have a mud bath sometimes.





We were unlucky with the sightings of leopard and tiger, but were rewarded with quality sightings of elephants as we saw herds shepherding their young ones or tuskers locking horns.

Sometimes they are taking a bath or enjoying a swim while a lone tusker that let us watch him for a while.

These are some of the pictures from the banks. Coming up are the elephants from the Nagarhole forests