2013
was well spent, travelling overseas to Spain and Portugal. Within the country,
we went to Chikmagaluru, Coonoor, Nainital and Ranikhet in pursuit of Golf. We
went to Gurgaon and Mumbai for weddings. Regular outings provide the much
needed solace to the soul. My take on the subject of travelling is –‘Travel Often’. Travel helps your mind
to remain healthy and fresh – it is akin to sending your trousers to the dry
cleaners. At the end of the sojourn, one feels relaxed and raring to go. Travelling
gives you an opportunity to unwind, bond with friends, explore new cultures and
the list is endless. Choose a place depending upon your purse, health and
convenience and push off. If you knees are not on talking terms with the rest
of your body, choose a place which involves the least amount of walking. Go to
a hill resort and enjoy the view or sit by the beach and watch the never ending
motion of the waves and so on – one must travel.
Come
December, it’s time for a family reunion and bonding with our grandchildren.
Figure 1 – Family reunion – 31 Dec/01 Jan
Book
readers are an endangered species. In the context of the internet, TV and
instant entertainment, there are hardly any takers for reading books. The pace
of life around us is also extremely fast. Adults and children alike find it
difficult to spend long periods of time in reading books. As against the passive
entertainment of watching TV, reading provides a platform for the imagination
and creative thinking. A child’s education is not complete without reading a
few classics.
Ayaan
and Samara have started reading books – in the present day context; this
development is certainly a gift from God. Reading is the cheapest form of edutainment.
No other hobby can provide this high level of personal satisfaction. They
devour Geronimo Stiltons faster than we can buy them. Books by Enid Blyton and
Roald Dahl are extremely popular. Reading books has always been a cherished
pastime with all of us in the family. We enjoy reading. The children have
imbibed this truly wonderful habit. It gives me immense pleasure in seeing
Ayaan reading a book at 6.30 am all by himself.
Apart
from many PG Wodehouse creations, I enjoyed reading Ramachandra Guha’s ‘India after Gandhi’ and ‘Patriots &
Partisans’. I also enjoyed reading ‘Maximum City’ by Suketu Mehta. Unlike the earlier
days when I could get through a Frederick Forsyth or a Tom Clancy in a day or
two, my appetite for reading has slowed down. Between golf, walks, blogging, forays
into the kitchen, a bit of afternoon Zzzzzzz and social commitments – I have to
really push myself to read. I have decided to reorganize my personal time more
carefully and set aside some time for reading. Hopefully 2014 will be a better
year for me – book wise.
The
twins, Agastya and Aarin are growing up real fast. Even at three years each fellow’s
personality is different and unique. They are busy exploring the world of I Pad
and playing games. Agastya has moved on from being Spider Man to T Rex and
Aarin from Super Man to baby Eagle with his nest in Singapore with a ladder to
climb down and as he is small he has no wings and cannot fly. He also says that
baby eagles love sausages J
(his favourite food!)
When
all the four GC meet, the scene is explosive and the place looks like a tornado
has hit it. But nobody cares! Time passes very quickly for both the parties –
us and them. Before you know it, it’s time to hit the bed. One thing is for
sure, their energy is on the ascendancy and ours is waning. They are a bundle
of joy and their stay always gives us immense pleasure.
This
year the accent was on nature, conservation, pollution, the environment etc. Samara
took the lead in organizing a ’Save
Nature’ campaign. They made posters, watered plants and generally kept
themselves busy throughout the day. Saanika and Sambhav, our neighbour’s
children also joined the campaign.
Figure 2 By Saanika and Samara
Figure 3 - By Ayaan and Sambhav
This
year too we had the traditional X’mas
barbeque. Lots of our close friends and relatives came along. Vivek and
Akhila’s friends joined us in large numbers. There’s a special flavour attached
to any barbeque party –good friends, open air, fire, smell of chicken and burning
wood generates a spirit of merriment. This year, I marinated some of the
chicken in red wine, red chili powder, honey, lime and salt. I later on used
Tabasco and Worchestishire sauce along with Olive oil for basting.
Figure 4 – Father and son combo
On 26th Dec we conducted our annual Satyanarayana Pooja. My daughter Akhila
has given me the task of decoding rituals such as Ganesh Pooja to render it
understandable, meaningful and interesting. It is a very huge task indeed. Presently,
we find ourselves just going through the motions without understanding very
much. Both the adults and the young find it difficult to sit through the entire
proceedings. There is an urgent need to juxtapose our rituals in the present
context. My earlier blog also dwells on the same aspect.http://samundarbaba.blogspot.in/2010/09/festivals-ganapati-pooja.html.
On 28th Dec we left for K.Gudi (Kyathadevarayana Gudi) Wilderness Camp run by Jungle Lodges
which is located in the Biligiri Rangana Hill (BR Hill), Karnataka. We covered
a distance of 240 Km from JVV via Mysore, Nanjangud and Chamarajanagar to the
camp. One can also reach the camp via Kanakpura and Malavalli. It took us
approximately 7hrs to reach the place after halts for breakfast and nature
calls. The roads are in a very good state throughout. The game reserve covers
an area of 547 Sq kms. It is a unique blend of wildlife sanctuary and hill
station, set 3500 to 6000 ft above sea level. The weather is very cold
especially during the early hours of the morning and at night. A warm jacket is
a must. The reserve boasts of 33 tigers, 75 leopards, 600 to 700 elephants and
300 different species of birds.
Figure 5 – Along the drive
This region has been the home of the semi-nomadic Soliga tribe.
Close to the camp there is a”Kanyara colony,” housing a few tribals.
The camp is rustic, with bare essentials and merges
well with the local flora and fauna. Fortunately there is no TV, radio, music
and other such gadgets to remind us of urban living. Electricity is available
only for a short duration in the morning and in the evening. Hot water is
provided on request in buckets. A kerosene lamp illuminates the path ways and
the tent. We stayed in a tented accommodation overlooking the forest. All
combined, the camp provides an excellent setting for a holiday in the
wilderness.
Figure 6 – The tented
accommodation.
Surprisingly, there are no mosquitoes.
Figure
7 – Relaxing
Figure
8 – Anirban with Ayaan and Aarin
outside the dining hut
Figure 9 – A good catch
There are two safaris each day, one in the morning at
0620am and one in the evening starting at 1520pm. The safari lasts for two and
a half hours in an open jeep with the driver acting as a forest guide. The
safari criss crosses the kuccha roads within the forest and stops by a popular
watering hole where one can expect to sight the big cats. All along the
children behaved excellently and they indulged in jungle talk – soft whispers –
throughout the safari. We sighted the usual elephants, wild boar, gaur, spotted
deer, sambhar and barking deer. We also sighted pond terrapin turtles, straight
neck mongoose and the malabar giant squirrel. The big cats remained elusive ; however
one safari sighted two tigers in the watering hole, while another spotted a
leopard crossing the road. We had to be content with hearing the tiger’s roar
on the first day.
Figure
10 – All our sightings - Gaur
Figure
11 – Lone tusker
Unlike other forests, the thick undergrowth makes it
difficult to spot any game. Akhila was really good at spotting a lone tusker in
the distance. The forest is full of greenery at this time of the year. The ‘stand
density’ in this forest appears to be very high.
Figure
12 - Sambhar
Figure
13 – Spotted deer
Figure
14 – Ready to charge at us
Figure
15 – Crested arch eagle
Figure
16 – Tiger paw marks. Marking its territory.
Figure
17 - Turtles
Figure
18 – High ‘Stand Density’
Figure
19 – Cancerous growth
Figure
20 – Woodpecker’s home
Figure
21 – Another example of cancerous
growth
Figure
22 - Sunrise
The forest is a birder’s paradise. We sighted an indian
pond heron, malabar parquet, jungle babbler, king fisher, rufous babbler,
bulbul red vented, red-whiskered bulbul, malabar whistling thrush, gray wag tail, woodpecker plain back,
streak throated woodpecker, crested serpent eagle, crested arch eagle, common
rosefinch, wagtail, grey jungle fowl, tree pipit, hill myna etc.
The food is basic but tasty. The service is good with a
host of polite and helpful lodge staff in attendance.
Jai was busy throughout the year with ‘Freedom International
School’ http://www.freedom-international.in/.This
year they conducted an excellent FIS Fest. It was very well received.
Vivek and
Shubhra continue to enjoy their work. Google was looking for companies that had
a “compelling business, web and human story in order to create a video. Chumbak
was selected to be a part of this activity on how companies worldwide used
‘Google Services’. Chumbak was one of the 3 companies worldwide to be selected.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EhsNFOA9ew.This
is a very tall achievement indeed. http://www.chumbak.com/ .
They have increased their range of products and have added their own stores in Bangalore
and Delhi.
Akhila with all her responsibilities at home has found time to
involve herself in the field of education. She has gained expertise in the
field of curriculum frame working and also assists Angel Xpress Foundation - A unique non-profit organization which works
for the progress of underprivileged children. It makes education accessible to
street children by setting up schools on the streets.
Anirban continues to be busy with www.caakwan.com.
He figured in the Hindustan Times, “People who are in positions to change the
way we live, think, work and play in India”. Power to youth.Hindustan Times New Delhi, November 03, 2012.
I have got involved with 3G in a big way –
Golf, Grand Children and God. Apart from Golf - gardening, blogging and cooking
continue to occupy my time. I have had some big culinary achievements in the
past year. I have posted some more interesting recipes in my blog http://recipebaba.wordpress.com/.
We celebrated the New Year at home with the immediate
family. We lit a bonfire and sat around it ushering in the New Year - good
music, drinks and food inclusive. During the day children were kept busy
collecting dry twigs for the bon fire. They had a wonderful time running around
and playing.
Figure
23 – Jai ushering in 2014
Figure
24 – Akhila preparing fools caps
Figure
25 – Bonfire about to be lit
Figure
26 – Shubs very happy with 2013
At 12pm sharp, we lit a paper lamp and let it soar into
the sky. The lamp took away 2013 and
shed light on us, ushering 2014 in.
Another year has come to a close.We look forward to a new year with lots of hope and anticipation.My family and I wish all the readers of 'Samundarbaba' a vey happy 2014 - may god bless you and your family with good health and cheer.
Travel more,read a lot and conserve nature.
Travel more,read a lot and conserve nature.
