Rain Rain Rain

Its amazing how the earth comes back to life once the monsoons are here. India becomes a different country with happiness shining through the wet earth everywhere. Different shades of green emerge through the disappearing brown and birds find new song in their lush surroundings. Staying on a hilltop of a campus in Lavale, Pune I have a first hand experience of the serenity and fury of the rains.

Love happens in the rains.......Hopes surface......playfulness finds a new turf.....and colours gather a new meaning.

When a distant flute's music finds its way to your ears and the winds start caressing your face and you watch the colours play mix and match in the sky, the soul finds its freedom and the heartbeats stop.

Ol' Faithful

On the Way to Rohtang, Himachal Pradesh

When it comes to tasting the freedom of the roads I have always preferred bikes to cars. The thrill of an adventurous ride on bikes is incomparable to any other. Last April was my first encounter with snow in the high hills of Manali & beyond. It was a bike ride that we chose over other forms of transport because we wanted to stay in control of our stops and also understand how the mountains treat the two wheeled machines. The Bullet is the king of the mountains but I've always preferred the Yamaha RX 100 & 135 over it for its easy maneuverability and most of all the sharp rattling sound that gets your adrenaline rushing.

Bikes are easily available for hire in the high hills as well as in the coastal areas of India for reasonable rates on a per day basis.

This photograph was taken at just about 4 km before Rohtang. In April the snows had just started thawing and the road to Rohtang had still not been opened for regular tourist traffic. The last point was a place called Beas Nullah where the tourists enjoyed their share of skiing & paragliding. We, however decided that we had to go beyond and see how far our Yamaha could take us. As we left civilization behind we felt a strange kind of euphoria that is difficult to express in words. We were screaming at the top of our lungs and could hear the echoes that traveled back to us from the icy cold peaks.

This was freedom. I did not want to go back to what regular city life & society had to offer me. I guess I understood at that point why all the sages & hermits came to the Himalayas for their penance & seeking enlightenment. If I ever am able to break free from the bondages and obligations of life as it is you would find me somewhere high up here....Where I belong.

We spent around an hour at this point, beyond which the road was too dangerous for us to continue. As the clouds rushed in and the weather changed we decided that we had to come back downhill and be a part of humanity once again. We faced no problems coming down but once we reached Beas Nullah we realized that the Hub of the motorcycle's chain had broken and we had survived a major disaster. Somehow we managed to reach Manali after a lot of pushes and run, jump & sit exercises. Yet it was a trip I shall remember for all my life. My first encounter with snow on an RX 100.

No Further

Solitary Sunset

Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, Rajasthan, India

My trip to Bharatpur was an unplanned one. Good friends for company, loads of enthusiasm and a keen eye for photography was what got me there. Now known as the Keoladeo National Park (formerly & popularly Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary) this paradise for bird watchers is about three hours from the capital (Delhi) by train. Going by train is the best option, because there are not many private bus services available as we were to later find out.

Coming from Assam, I never considered birds that important when it comes to wildlife but a visit to Bharatpur surely changed my views. We had gone in the beginning of May and since it was not the season we couldn't spot many birds. But even then we had a pretty good time spotting Saurus Cranes, Brahmini Ducks, Hornbills and the common Parrots and Peacocks to name a few.

I got some good shots of varieties of the Avian species of which the one above is my favorite. Taken just before sunset, the little bird was in no hurry at all and posed for a long time for us.

The park boasts of over 230 species of birds (visiting & permanent) and also the highest density of birds in a sanctuary. The best time to visit is from August to November for resident birds and November to March for migratory birds. There are plenty of hotels just outside the gate of the park which are reasonably priced but prices do shoot up during the season.