A Wandering Mind

“Amma, there is a black, white and red bird!” Samhith exclaimed. He had just ventured to the river , which flowed through the Club Mahindra’s property at Baiguney, Sikkim, and was excited to have seen a bird without me! Shankar, returning after a long walk, said he had seen the bird too. That left me, the only enthusiastic birder among the three of us, to have not seen the bird, during my short walk to the river bed. That had to be rectified, so off I went to the river again, and there it was, sitting on a rock, as if waiting for me. White Capped Water Redstart

Waking up at 4 AM is never an easy task for me. But waking up at that unearthly hour to climb up a mountain to see the sunrise? I wasn’t sure if I would even be able to walk. But the activity guy at Club Mahindra’s Baiguney resort was persuasive. “You will easily be able to walk. Its not really a trek. There are steps too.” He assured me, and I finally gave in. Leaving Samhith to sleep in peace, the two of us managed to be awake, and ready at 4:15, all set to see our first sunrise at Sikkim! We had company from the resort, and all of us huddled into cars, and headed to the place from where we would have to walk. And then began the strenuous climb. The sky was already turning orange, and I didn’t want to miss anything, so I managed to pull myself up the steps, just in time to see the beautiful sight. Without wasting any more words, let me show you the sunrise through my lens… The sky began to turn orange, readying for the sun to rise

On our recent summer vacation, we woke up at Cherai to heavy rains. These weren't the usual summer rains where it rained now and then, but the skies opened up with a vengeance, and made it impossible for us go explore the area. I opted instead, for exploring the resort, and enjoying the peace, since most people were enjoying the cosy comforts of the resort, indoors! Walking towards the backwaters, the sight of these lone fishermen made me stop and watch them for a while, appreciating their hard work, and their perseverance. This isn't a black and white photo, but the dark clouds and the fog make it appear so

Cherai is a beautiful beach near Kochi, relatively clean, and not too crowded. We spent a few days there during our summer vacation, and, instead of the simmering heat and calm sea, we found heavy rain and huge waves that lashed at the shore! While this did restrict our time in the water, the sky put up a beautiful show for us every day...a different one each day. Here is one of the most spectacular sunsets we saw. Honestly, I didn't know where to look.... At the clouds as they gathered, or at the sun which changed its look every minute, or at the sea, with its frothy reflections of the sun and the clouds, or at the changing colours in the sky.. Let me leave the descriptions aside, and allow you to see for yourself, one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen! It all began with the clouds gathering...

Two women and a child , at Goa, in the monsoons – quite an unusual combination, right? That was me, my mom, and my son, making the most of our unexpected monsoon break to take some time off. It was the first time in Goa for my mom, the second for my son, and my third trip to the state…. Expectations were mixed, especially when we were greeted by heavy rains, which continued through our stay there. What did we expect? It was the monsoon after all!! As it turned out, the rains showed us a different side of Goa, which none of us had expected to find. Samhith with my mom on Varca Beach, Goa

Since the last few days, I have been reminiscing on the blog about the year gone by. Today, for the special occasion of Christmas, I am taking the reminiscing a bit further, going back to the wonderful X mas we spent last year, at Shimla! 

Sitting on the balcony of my room at the Club Mahindra Kodagu Valley (Coorg) , I heard this bird long before I saw it. From this pic, can you guess why?

Long, long ago, it is said , a crow overturned a pitcher of water. No, I am not talking of the Aesop’s fable, but instead, the story of the Kaveri. 

When you plan your winter vacation in Shimla, you expect snow, even though you know very well that there hasn't been a white Christmas at Shimla in years!

As trips go , the unplanned ones usually turn out to be the most fun, and our trip to Mahabaleshwar was no different. Looking back, it seems unbelievable that we went at all! The visit was a short one, but we managed to pack quite a bit into the time we had, but what was really memorable was the heavy rain which dominated our stay at the hill station. I have been to Mahabaleshwar before, but never in the monsoon, and the season certainly added an extra bit of gloss to the entire trip! The Venna Lake is the highlight of Mahabaleshwar. I remember going boating on the lake on my first visit there, and it is usually packed with tourists... so packed that the last time I was there, we had to give boating a skip since the queue seemed to be never-ending! And here is my favourite photo of this trip - the Venna Lake in the monsoon! It was amazing how the clouds and the water seemed to merge.... That was just a glimpse of our trip. Read a more detailed account on my post on the Club ...

Udaipur is the lake city of Rajasthan.  Most of the state might be a desert, but Udaipur, with its five huge interconnected lakes is blessed with not just a perennial water supply, but the lakes also keep the city and its environment cool, even in the sweltering heat of summer! The city draws not just crowds of tourists coming from across the world for a glimpse of its magnificent palaces, but also droves of migratory birds drawn by the lakes! The city is thus an interesting blend of history and nature, well worth a leisurely visit.  To read the full article, click here .  This article was published on the Club Mahindra Blog . To read my other articles on the blog, click here . 

While on a vacation, I usually don't like to stay in a resort, preferring instead to wander and discover the area I am visiting. On my recent visit to Corbett, there were so many things planned that we spent very little time in our rooms, which is just the way I liked it! However, there are some things about the Club Mahindra Safari Resort which I shall always remember.... such as the towel art.....

In the year 1936 , under the influence of the then governor of the United Provinces, Sir Malcom Hailey, India got its first national park. Aptly, the new sanctuary was named after its founder as Hailey National Park, and so it remained for the next twenty years. There were others involved in the formation of the sanctuary, but none more so than Edward James Corbett, or Jim Corbett, as he was more popularly known. Born and raised in the area, Corbett had an intimate relationship with the reserve and its animals. A keen naturalist and photographer, Corbett knew the forest as well or even better than the locals, and he is most well known for ridding the area of some of its most notorious man eaters. It was through his efforts that the national park took shape, and after his death in 1955, the park was renamed after him as Corbett National Park. Corbett was well aware, and extremely concerned about the need to safeguard the tiger population, and fittingly, it was here that Project Tiger...

On my recent visit   to Corbett as part of the Club Mahindra Bloggers Trip , we spent some time at Nainital. After roaming around the streets for a while, we took the ropeway to get a glimpse of the snow covered peaks of the Himalayas. The ropeway idea was just a lark, to spend some extra time at Nainital, but it turned out to be full of surprises - from the beautiful aerial view of the Naini Lake.....

The Kosi river forms the eastern boundary of the Corbett National Park, and Club Mahindra’s Corbett Safari Resort is located on its banks. The winter had begun to set in, and the river was just a narrow stream, though flowing quite deep and fast at some stretches. The rest of the river was just a bed of stones worn smooth by the flow over the years, a tempting sight for me, since as you all know, I love to collect stones! On the very first day of our Bloggers trip at the Club Mahindra Corbett Safari Resort, we went upstream to an old bridge to try out some adventure sports.

Our school library had a system where we were only allowed to choose among books that were considered ‘suitable’ for us to read. Raised on a steady diet of Enid Blyton books, I still remember the first time we were given one of Jim Corbett’s books to read. Our teachers had kept these books away from us, because they worried that our young and innocent female minds would be affected by tales of man eaters. They seemed to be partly right, because, for the first week, many of us spent sleepless nights imagining man eaters instead of monsters under our bed! I was fascinated by these tales though, and continued to read his books, in spite of the occasional nightmare! It took a long time for me to discover that not all of Corbett’s books were about man eaters! There was so much more! He wrote about the people who made up ‘His India’ as he called it, about the villages, the customs and traditions, their beliefs and faiths, their fear and their superstitions….. and above all,...

  Trekking is something I am least enthusiastic about, while Shankar loves to! No matter where we go, he manages to explore the place on foot every morning, sometimes even going seriously trekking with a guide. This time though, I was the one who wanted to go, when I saw that there was a bird watching trek on the anvil. Shankar, as usual, was sceptical about seeing any birds, but consented, especially since he knew that I wouldn’t be able to manage Samhith on my own while walking. I had expected to walk around the resort, maybe a short trek, and it was short, just 2 Kms one way, but the route took us over the hill and into the valley towards the villages and I was out of breath by the time we were even halfway through! To my surprise, we weren’t the only people on the trek, there were five others, one a solo traveller and the four others in a group, but all from Bombay ! Even more interestingly, two of them were science teachers in coaching classes, and we had some very interest...