Through those Hills..

“The Mountains are calling and I must go…”

Yes hill stations are the beginning and end of the natural sceneries and I was lucky enough to visit one. KODAIKANAL- princess of hill stations is a 21.45 sq. km wide and 2133m high town in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Kodaikanal in Tamil means “The Gift of the Forest”.

The spots of Kodai were no less than any heavenly feel. My bus journey from Bangalore to Kodaikanal was a treat for vision in itself. I went through the eastern zones of Western Ghats with all serpentine roads, lush green hills, waterfalls, lakes, streams, birds chirping, and amidst all these picturesque surrounding our bus zooming through.

It was morning 9 when we reached our hotel in Naidupuram area of the town where the clouds were already entering our room’s window. The view from the window was so amazing with all the tall pines and eucalyptus trees tearing away the clouds, school kids carrying both sweaters and raincoats to school, unplanned drizzles, and a chilling breeze.
Our first place of visit was La Salette Church with many steps and jungle fowls jumping here and there, next was the Coaker’s Walk - it’s basically a few meters walk along the valley which allows you a panoramic view of Kodaikanal and its mixed kind of terrain with mountains and plains all green and fertile. Third stop being Bryant Park, a botanical garden so huge and well maintained. 
Fauna and Flora Museum was a kind of nature museum which showcased many preserved animal specimens which were once found in the town. A variety of falls we saw namely Liril Falls, Silver Cascade Waterfalls, and Bear-Shola Falls. We then visited the great Pine Forest and that view is totally unexplainable. Golf Course, Upper lake View, Pillar Rocks, and the Shopping Streets were our quick scans. Though shopping attracted me a lot I bought few gifts for my friends back at Gujarat and the famous homemade chocolates from kodaikanal's chocolate factory.

Kodai is small yet a very beautiful town and still when I close my eyes and recollect I can only see colourful flowers, green hills and lots of clouds passing by blurring all my vision.

From Kodaikanal we started our journey towards the city of temple – Madurai and the way down the hills was fascinating and adventurous. Many troops of bonnet macaques and birds like red whiskered bulbul, whistling thrush, hill myna, jungle crows were all waiting on the highway to bid me a bye.

And this was my journey through those hills…

The PINE FOREST.

Those HILLS.

A view from that Window..!!

“SET WIDE THE WINDOW AND LET ME DRINK THE DAY…”

We all have that one special window at our homes where we sit down and gaze out aimlessly and just love being alone with that window. Some have a great techno park or mall view outside, some have their luxury car parking, some have a bridge view, some have the sea shore view, while some have mountain views it’s all upon one's personal choice which window to sit at. Well my house too has many windows with many different views but the special window of my choice is the one of living room's which has the garden view.

In a day, often I come here sit all alone with a cup of coffee and watch outside aimlessly, observe things around, just spend some time with the nature outside that window. It’s not just a plain garden it instead is a big life which supports and host many other lives small and big.
Ours is a small, organized and well maintained green garden. We have many plant species nearing to some 70 different pots and plants while few are prominent fruit and flowering plants like Mango, guava, custard apple, pomegranate, lemon, loranthus berry tree and many common flowers like roses, caselpinia, ixora, mogra, lilly, marigold, hibiscus,adendium etc.

The garden doesn't only support these plant lives but also provide shelter to smaller organisms like ants, grasshoppers, cicada, honeybees, many different butterflies, moths and flies, earthworms, millipedes, frogs, wall lizards, garden lizards etc. A number of birds like red vented bulbul, Indian robin, magpie robin, common myna, spotted doves, rufous treepie, tailor birds, purple sunbirds, jungle babblers, greater coucal, asian koel, rose ringed parakeet, black kite, domestic crow, fan-tail flycatcher, green bee-eater, house sparrows, golden oriole and pigeons. Among the small mammal guests we have squirrels, bats, rodents like rats and mouse, domestic cat, and non-human large mammal guests are Hanuman langurs (my frequently visiting friends)

We even have a double sitter swing in our garden which is rarely used by us but more by babblers and doves. It’s just a treat for vision seeing these creatures playing, living, communicating in our garden. We try our best not to disturb them and let them enjoy the natural habitat they found amidst these concrete jungles. I suppose more than them we enjoy watching them in our garden as not many places like this are left out in the town so we take utmost care of all our plants and try to maintain the greenery of the garden so that we have these wanted guests keep visiting.
Looking at all this from that one window is what I love the most. So much things we learn by merely looking and observing things going around in nature. Somebody has rightly said: “Look deep into the nature and then you will understand everything much better.”
We are surrounded by the answers we seek, just an alert watch is what it takes.!

So this is how my window view looks like and how about yours?? Go set out for some lone self time folks..  :)

KEEP FINDING WINDOWS TO NEW THOUGHTS... 

JAMBUGHODA WILDLIFE SANCTUARY...

INTRODUCTION: 

Jambughoda declared as a wildlife sanctuary in 1990 is home for a variety of animal and plant species. It’s a marvelous landscape with two water reservoirs other than forest and hills which further add to the aesthetic settings and habitat diversity. The area was a part of the princely state of Jambughoda prior to independence. The most striking feature of the area is having the valleys nestled in the well-forested hills have always been home to many tribal settlements. There are many places to hike through the forests in the sanctuary and it is one of the marvelous camping sites in Gujarat state. The Jambughoda Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the best areas for nature education and environmental awareness. 

GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION: 

Jambughoda Wildlife sanctuary is located in Panchmahal district of central Gujarat around 70km far from the cosmopolitan city of the state- Vadodara and 20 km from Champaner (A UNESCO World Heritage Site) The area of the sanctuary is made up of undulating hills and uneven areas with vast forest cover. Most of the region of the sanctuary is covered by Teak plantations and is of a typically dry deciduous forest type. The sanctuary spans over a large area of 130.38 square km, including the forest, hills, few tribal villages and few bat caves (originally manganese mines now deserted). The sanctuary plays an important role in creating the ecological and hydrological balance. 

WILDLIFE:

 A.) Flora: It’s a magnificent forest of Teak (Tectona grandis), Bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris) and other miscellaneous species like: Shisham(Dalbergia sisso), Khair(Acacia chundra), Mahuda(Madhuca longifolia) etc. 
B.) Fauna: The sanctuary is extremely rich in terms of wildlife. The top most predators in the area are Leopard (Panthera pardus) and Sloth bear (Ursus ursinus). There are several other mammals sighted which includes: Hyena (Hyaenidae), Jackal (Canis aureus), Porcupine (Hystricomorph hystricidae), Wild boar (Sus scrofa), Civets (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), Grey mongoose (Herpestes edwardsii), Bats (Chiropterans), Barking deers (Muntiacus), Blue bull (Boselaphus tragocamelus). Besides these mammals many other arthropods, rodents, herpetofauna and avifauna are found in quite a good number. 

BAT CAVES IN SURROUNDINGS OF THE SANCTUARY: 

Bats being one of the most neglected species of land mammals given least importance and concern are indeed a very important link in the ecological chains. The chiropteran’s usually habitat caves, crevices, old houses, trees etc. which is far away from human settlements. Surrounding to the Jambughoda Wildlife Sanctuary, on the boundaries there are deserted manganese mines that transverse through the hills and have large number of bat roosting. These caves are of great importance now a day for bats studies, conservation, nature education etc. Three major mines on the fringes of the sanctuary are habitat to a variety of bat species like: Indian false vampire bats (Megaderma lyra lyra), Black bearded tomb bats (Taphozous melanopogon), Lesser mouse tailed bats (Rhinopoma hardwikki), Greater mouse tailed bats (Rhinopoma microphyllum), Flying fox (Pteropus conspicillatus) etc. Hence not only the sanctuary but also its surroundings have a major part contributing in ecological diversities.

 BEST TIME FOR VISIT: 

The winter months are the best time to visit the sanctuary i.e. between the months of November to March, during summers weather can get humid and uncomfortable. A camera and few field guides can be a very good companion. It’s advisable to take a tour guide or a local person along with you. While wandering around alone in the sanctuary can be dangerous. A 

WORD FROM THE WRITER: 

Today there are very few places left in and around our Vadodara which are so good or ecologically diversified. Maybe after some more decades there will hardly be any area left around Vadodara that can provide shelter to such amazing animals. We should be proud because some of the areas around us have been able to retain this biological richness and diversity. If these places are gone, it is impossible to bring them back. Thus, we all should thrive to protect these natural habitats and resources for the generations to come.

 

 

 

A Nature Walk by the banks of TIMBI LAKE...

Place: Timbi Village,Waghodia,Vadodara.
Date: 26th August, 2014.

It was Tuesday’s cloudy, cold morning when I and my colleagues Anjani, Sayani, Hiren, Avnish, Naisargi and Himani headed towards Timbi Lake. 6:30 in the morning when we were all set to leave on our two wheelers only excitement and adventure were the feelings that stroke us. On our way via the Gujarat state Highway we all were not sure whether what all are we going to see or experience there but we had decided only one thing that we’ll spend our day there in that serene, quit, naturally beautified place away from all the materialistic worries of our so called modernized livelihood.
We reached the place by 7 am, parked our vehicles far out there and just started walking through the village and fields observing the best of the God’s creation - The Nature. As we walked through slowly and slowly the zoologists in us came alive and started noticing all the organisms right from small insects to birds till reptiles and mammals. It was so fascinating to hear the calls of various birds flowing all through the air around. Seeing some movements in the lake from far, the curiosity made us wander more and go nearer to the water body. And to our surprise we saw not only pretty water birds but also mammals like cows, buffaloes and bulls swimming and bathing in the lake. Seeing that none of these birds and animals disturbed each other and just happily shared their spaces amazed us (–so called Civilians) the most. And then to add on our adventures one of the bulls went mad observing us so near to lake and charged at us. “Oh God! What do we do now” was what going in our minds at the moment. After running quite far in this mini marathon we realized that one of our companions Himani is missing and there we found her fallen in the small pond near the field. Fortunately she wasn’t injured much but was all drenched with muddy water and experiencing the frogs from quite near. This incident was not just funny but it also left us with some amazing experiences of animal behaviors.
The group which came to Timbi for just a simple bird watching and trekking was now ready to leave the place with some of the amazing experiences, laughter, beautiful bird sighting and a contented day out amidst NATURE, far away from the hustles of city life.
Following is the list of the Birds sighted:
1. White Brested Kingfisher
2. Wire tailed Swallow
3. Red wattled Lapwing
4. Ashy Drongo
5. Green Bee eater
6. Laughing Dove
7. Spotted Dove
8. White ibis
9. Black ibis
10. Little cormorant
11. House Swift
12. Purple Moorhen
13. White breasted Water Hen
14. Cattle egrets
15. Pond Herons
16. Bay Back Shrike
17. Ruddy Shield Duck
18. Common Indian Robin
19. Jungle Crow
20. Jungle Babblers
21. Common Coot
22. Indian Roller

A DAY OF JOY GIVING...

Swami Vivekanda (Swamiji) or Narendra Nath Datta the man of service, the man of giving, a lesson in himself was an Indian Hindu monk and the chief discipline of the 19th century saint Ramakrishna Paramhamsa. He was born on 12th January 1863 and this day is not just celebrated in India but across the world. Today on this auspicious occasion of 152nd Birth anniversary of swamiji and the national youth day we decided to celebrate the day uniquely yet following swamiji’s teachings.

Well, I believe that “hunger is not an issue of charity but justice…” and on this note me and few of my friends agreed to support a noble cause for donating food to the needy on this day. I would like to mention here that 36meals (Bangalore) is doing a wonderful job of filling the empty poor stomachs. The day just started well when my friends showed faith in me and came up helping. The overwhelming response, donations and food grains which we received was commendable (all these came from college students i.e. Indian Youth itself).

We started with receiving all these donations and articles at around 11am. By 12:30pm we got rich enough with some 1,650 rupees, 10 kg of grocery (rice grains, wheat grains, and tuvar dal grains) and around 100-120 clothes. We than went to market nearby for buying some: 18kg of Oranges, 14kg of Potatoes, 4kg of Laddus (Sweets), 100 pieces of Samosas (Snacks), few paper dishes and bags in all spending those 1,650 rupees we received. By 1:30pm we were all set to leave with sorted food packs.

We selected three slum areas nearby our college: (i) Parshuram Bhatta Slum (Sayajigunj, Vadodara), (ii) Slum Behind Railways Station (Sayajigunj, Vadodara), (iii) Slum Opposite University Office (Fatehgunj, Vadodara). We went one by one to all these places and distributed samosas, laddus, and oranges to all kids, adults and oldies. We distributed grain and potato packets to the females of the slum, and gave clothes to the kids and oldies according to their need and size. In these three slums we covered in all some 100-150 individuals and tried to fulfill their needs.

Those incredible smiles, thank you and blessings which these needy people showered on us was all what I wished for. While they had shiny eyes, I had watery eyes. I lately realized that today we unknowingly have earned 150 smiles, I realized we were the reason for someone’s happiness today, and all these thoughts made me wonder is it fair on my part that being brought up in a well to do Guajarati family and seeing the comforts all alone when I need it the least?? Can’t I share a bit of it with these people?? And Yes I did shared a bit today.

No, this event was not just for today. From today I have started towards a better and better India. I promise to serve the society the needy rather in any of the ways I can from today onwards. Today I haven’t done CHARITY in fact I have EARNED blessings for me and smiles for them.

I would like to say proudly that it was only and only because of my friends (Anurita Harshe, Avnish Raval, Dhaval Bhatt, Tarlin Bajwa, Hiren Patel, and Riti Mukherjee) that I could execute this event successfully. Though things seemed very difficult and almost impossible in the beginning with we all having all sorts of difference in opinions but then you all deserve the loudest applause for being the greatest support of this event.

Last but never the least I heartily congratulate Mr. Sujit Lalwani (founder of 36meals) for having such a wonderful plan for today’s occasion and a lot of thanks to Arun Chikkamarappa for involving me in this noble cause.

I wish for many more events, many more smiles, many more enlightened lives and a better India tomorrow.

Satisfaction

Being Human

The Collection

Those Smiles

Co-ordination

Distributing Happiness