A lil bit of tis n a lil bit of tat

Sunday, 12 June 2011

A Visit to the Bondla Zoo

The trek eventually led the feisty, adventurous group to the Bondla Zoo. This was my second visit to the zoo, after five odd years. But my visit this time was more memorable, perhaps the encounters with the wild in their enclosures were more worthwhile.

Our entry to the zoo led us first to the leopard enclosure. But the spotted animal was no where in sight. Our patience did yield dividends, as the wait was not all that long, as he strode confidently in our direction, least bothered to the attention he was getting. While we took the opportunity of capturing the spotted beauty on our cameras, we also did enjoy a few fun pics.

Leopard - smile Pleaseee :)

The Spotted Leopard

With 'The Cats' outside the enclosure :P

This was to continue through the zoo visitations. From the leopard enclosure, moving ahead and on the other side, there were a herd of the stately Gaur, the pride of of Goa and the State animal chewing on tall, leafy green leaves in another enclosure.

Gaur - State Animal of Goa

Gaurs - Video

A little up, was the Royal Bengal Tiger on his rounds. Watching him in admiration up close, was an exhilarating experience.

The Royal Bengal Tiger - Taking his paces

Giving me the look !!

Now, it was time to move on to the reptiles. To start with was, the King Cobra who was quite the recluse.

He did raise his hood a few times when he felt threatened. It reasoned that it had to take the posture of self-defense as it was being provoked by one of my friends, Naresh, who wanted to have a good glimpse of the charming reptile and capture on his lens the majestic anterior portion of its body in his utmost pride.

Am the King of my ilk !!

Reptilian Brethren

This is mah Hood !!

Ahead, was another separate enclosure for the python who was resting, and at a distance from the onlookers, staying in the shadow, thus away from the spotlight.

A resting Python ....

There was also a reptilian residence with a series of small enclosures housing different species of the slithery creatures.

Moving out from the reptilian household, I came across another enclosure with a pair of mugger crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris) in muggy waters. What is interesting to note about crocs is that while they live both in water and land, they are not classed as amphibians but reptiles.

A pair of Mugger Crocs

Nearby, were enclosures for the deers. From the Sambhar to the rare Four-Horned Antelope (Choursingha), they were so beautiful.

A herd of lunching Sambhars

A relaxed Choursingha

The porcupine too was quite a spectacle with its quills taking to one's fancy. I remember one of my friends pick up one of these sharp spines at a private trek at Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary a couple of years back as a souvenir. And I was hoping for one too back then.

Commandment No. 11: Thou shalt not touch !!

There were other marvels in enclosures as the bear and the peafowl which I did not get to see as we were instructed to have our lunch which was ready. Besides, I felt low, as my camera batteries were exhausted and I was unable to borrow a pair of functioning batteries. Also, I have sighted these creatures in the last one year, at the Byculla Zoo and in the wild at Dandeli respectively.

An hour spent at the zoo though was both, enjoyable and educative.

Saturday, 11 June 2011

Bondla brings The Magic of Monsoonal Trekking Back

Been a few months now, as with other avid trekkers, we yearned for trekking in the rains when nature is at its best and the call to the great outdoors is very refreshing. What better than when three of the elements of nature - Earth, Wind and Water intoxicates the senses, and the Fiery Heat melts down to our relief.

Its almost been a week, but the memories of Communing with Nature, while celebrating World Environment Day in its wake at Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary was an unforgettable experience.

The Goa Hiking Association - organised trek which was restricted to those who attended the National Himalayan Expedition organised by them, to my surprise and disappointment elicited not too encouraging a response with only around 30 of the expected 60 odd (there were roughly 100 trekkers who attended the Himalayan Expedition) turning up. The weather may have seen the Rain Gods showering their blessings from the early hours of the day and the few days earlier cancellation of the certificate distribution for the Himalayan trekkers on the particular trek, may have made the others decide otherwise. If this be the case, it is really appalling to say the least. The 'Love of God' that we trekkers realize in 'Mother Nature', this was a blasphemy. I still am chagrined by these so-called trekkers, most of whom I am sure came up North of the country, not to trek really, but to sight-see and say wow we experienced snow.So disgusting. Sheeeesh.

Going back to the trek held on Sunday, June 5, the overcast conditions as I left home at quarter-to- nine that morn, was a foreboding of an ideal monsoonal experience. It was a matter of minutes that thewalker found strides of this fast walker had him reach the Mabai Hotel, Margao pick-up point. In time, few other trekkers came and we all eagerly waited for our bus that was coming from the other side of the State and picking up cheerful trekkers along the way. At 9.30 our bus came, and the few of us boarded the bus to enthusiastic greetings . We made another stop at Ponda to pick up a few more passengers, before we were finally dropped off at Usgao Tisk.

After a breakfast at one of the restaurants near to where our bus halted, our trek began along the asphalted road towards Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary. The rains began to build up as we walked up the road, and the umbrellas opened and the jackets were zipped up. Along the way, we asked the villagers, who directed us along the right path. I was up front with my trek pal, Chandresh Revankar and we were told in the course of the trek to take the middle path as the road forked into three (reminds me of a certain story, where three friends took different paths on a forked road that determined their destiny). Moving along, and in time, we sighted a lovely mountain at the distance that looked mystic and mysterious in the misty air. We were up ahead, with a few other guys who took in this wonderful sight with awe and admiration while the others gradually caught up with us.

With our trek leader catching up with us, our trek eventually resulted in a diversion to the left, off road and into the wild. We steadily made our ascent up a slope that wound its way up and further up as the rains began to measure up and throw up a challenge to us, not quite daunting but challenging nonetheless. At a particular point it became quite risky as the path was narrow and a false step could lead to our peril. The girl a little up ahead stumbled slightly that had me a bit worried about her and self, and take a little more cautious approach. Until then, I was contemplating on taking a picture of the the challenges posed by the treacherous terrain. While we moved up and away from there, safety wise things may have improved but we were now dodging murky, accumulated rain waters by stepping across protruding, larger stones as we could find. But eventually, we had to squelch our foot-wear across the muddy waters. Yuck, the muck, but what the heck !!

The few kilometres stretch of the trek may have not been tiring but a little challenging and a tad risky, but it did give us an opportunity to behold upon the sights and sounds that Mother Nature had to offer us.

The Kulio-Catcher :P

Romancing Milipedes :)

And the actual trekking begins !!

The sweet Girisha leading the way ....

The ever-cheerful Meg leading her pack. I luv her verve :)

Yes, I love to pose alongside trees :D

Isn't that tree a beauty ?

Making their ascent

Taking a chill pill on a tree branch :)

The rains pouring down in all its might ....

That smile would warm the cockles of any heart in this dreary weather :P

A super-enthu trekker, Anoop, who braved the rains or may be he was water-proof :0

Monday, 6 June 2011

Basil Da Bullet - A Case of Mistaken Identity

Something on Facebook earlier this evening had me quite amused and chuckling. It started off with a chat out of the blue, by a young woman whose friend request I had accepted recently and had forgotten about her (hope she pardons me, if she reads this).

Actually, I had accepted her as a pal not just coz she is cute (as is the tendency with most guys befriending girls on social networking sites), but as we had a few mutual pals, I thought why not ?! We may have met somewhere and with my ephemeral memory with names and faces, it was another reason to know this chick or rather befriend her.

Anyway, let me share here the excerpts of our chat. Let me address her by her initials - PN and myself, BDB. She pinged me first ....

PN: hi bazil 8:33pm

BDB: bazil?

hiiii

PN: how r u? n whr r u nw? goa or abroad...

BDB: very much in goa

outside goa is not my thing
luv goa too much

PN: so howz ur wife n howz life?
(this had me startled, curious and chuckling to my self)

Well, that is how our chat begun and I told her,
to her surprise, 'life is good coz im still unmarried ....'

Taken aback, she replied ....
ohhh...shit..i think i hv guessed u wrng... i thought ur another Bazil from santacruz? r u bazil dias from homeopathy medical college.. if not im really sorry.

Santa Cruz .... whoa, there is my namesake there eh, I thought, and who resembles me ?? Wow !! I checked her profile. Mumbai-based hmmm.

Finding her friendly types and I, being always open to new friendships, I told her that it was fine and that we could always get to be frenz.

Without a reply really to the offer of friendship, she told me that she just went thru my pictures n got to know that I was not that bazil ... but basil. Oh well, so I am being investigated now. A journo who has dabbled in investigative journalism in the past is now clearly impressed :P

I then went on to tell her we had a few common pals like pramod, milli n vijayshree & how she had known em ? To which she replied, that milli was her classmate and when she saw me in one of her comments, she thought I was that Bazil Dias who was milli's n her senior in college. She also went on to add, that she was surprised to find that Basil on FB ...who she used to consider as her bro in college. And felt apologetic at the mistaken identity. Now this was really funny. I have known strange things happen online, but this was LMAO.

To her apology, 'I was like it is ok. My name is not common either. And being particular about my name spelling said it is Basil not Bazil, and a variant. I told her how I felt all about this as being kinna amusing and that it was a novel way to be frenz if she was fine with it. Also told her the reason I accepted her friend request at this point.

Then what she had to tell me stunned me and made me laugh to share it with my mom and much later with FB friends on my wall. She told me that when she had sent me a friend request, I had a pic that looked very similar to Bazil's who was a great fan of bullets and owned one in college. And thus had surmised, he addressed himself on FB as Basil Da Bullet.

Now, I was really very curious and remarked,
o thats interesting

which pic r u referring too?

She replied,

da one in black tshirt i guess...ur face is not seen clearly... n believe u juz luk like bazil dias in that pic...u can ask milli tooo...

Now Milli is a mutual pal who brought this vague

acquaintanceship about unknowingly and when I told her about this (she was online then too), she could not stop laughing the incident off either and admitted it was crazy.

I then told PN, how I got to know Milli online through a common pal as well, and that we had subsequently met. Just thought I would tell her that as such unique friendships do arise and tend to blossom in certain cases. How would mine is another matter and time would tell. I also did ask which of my pics she was referring too that bore a strong resemblance to Bazil, and this was when we had a power failure .... DARN. It had to happen of all times NOWWW ):

A while later, I was back online and she had disappeared. Now am all ears to know more about this other guy - Bazil - what we may have in common - how he actually looks like and which pic of mine she was talking about. And of course, get to know PN herself better and be friends with.

More to follow ....

Thursday, 2 June 2011

And the Rain Gods Showers its Blessings, as the Monsoons Approach ....

The sweetening of the mud of the first rains brings a fragrance so romantic that even the poets would not find it easy to describe. Such was the joy of the pre-monsoon showers that I experienced a while ago, that quickly had me putting up statuses on Facebook - Good-bye Summer. Here are the rains :) and Raining Heavily in Margao. Anyone wanna join me for a Rain Bath ? within minutes of each other.

Shortly afterwards, I took my digicam and went to the corridors to take pics and vids of the downpour. Not just that, the roof-top in the Goan kitchen inside as well which was leaking and that messed up the floor.

The shower lasted for around half an hour but in its wake left parts of our old house in a mess.

Near the Well

At the passage leading indoors

The Leaking Roof-top in the Goan Kitchen

Wednesday, 1 June 2011

With the shops opening, it was time for a bite or a drink ....

As the shops opened that morning, the stranded group took every opportunity to have something to survive on. Until then, it was a heartening sight to see some share whatever munchies they may have carried with them. That was the only good attribute I was to discover in the otherwise irritating Michael, who shared his edibles with us in the ill-fated stationary bus.

Anyway, with the shops opening, it was time to fuel our parched throats and ravenous tummies. There was a fruit market and an eatery not too far behind our bus. From a typical strong Punjabi lassi to bananas, the group sustained themselves. And it was really nice of GHA Member, Mangurish Pai to share among the large group buttered slices of bread, which I gratefully accepted.

Five long hours later, our replacement bus came in sight much to our sighs of relief to the end of our plight and hope that this bus driver would be a lot better (read: safe) than the previous one.

Bus Breakdown WTF, but I still had a decent time rite ?!

It may have been hours that we were stuck in Brahmpur, Punjab, and an alternative arrangement was on its way from Dharmashala (our eventual destination). In the interim, I made my time spent here worthwhile. From enjoying the unique cuppa chai experience near the Gurudwara to having a taste of a kisan's life, were experiences to savour. And also exploring the area, engaging myself to some offbeat photography and doing what I like best - being up to my antics.