The Kulagi Nature Camp

Our station from October 7th to the 11th.  A lovely place.

Nestled among the teak trees, south of Dandeli, is the little village of Kulgi, where the Foret dept has located the Kulgi Nature Camp.                    A delightful set of cottages that unobtrusively  exist, their brown colour and thatched roofs looking like camouflage!

The row of cottages that we occupied.  At the far end, is a large open lunch patio, and a good place to hang out since it has a view across a meadow where herds of chital commonly graze.

Our cottage, with the little verandah we used a lot, and where the cats would linger.

The rooms were clean and neat as also the bathrooms.  Hot water was available all the time at a central boiler from where we could fetch steaming buckets!

A wonderfully real tableau that was part of the Interpretation Centre

There was also a little tribal hut.....

....where a grandma sat with a her grandson

....while the mother churned buttermilk.

No TV, minimal night lighting and the lack of cellular networks meant a really blissful existence for a few days when I lost track of the day of the week and the time of the day.  Well not really time of the day, since we all knew our mealtimes well!

I eagerly awaited the food, with the daily round of podis and the interesting payasams, hot chapatis and fresh vegetables.  And our own Mr Shankarnarayan had a second treat for us from Grand Sweets, at every meal!

Pongal at Goa - getting there

11th Jan 2013

Our aim was to get on the 2pm Vasco express bound for Kullem, Goa. This was my first visit ever to this western state, and no, we were not headed for the famed Goan beaches, but to the foothills of the Western Ghats and the Bhagawan Mahaveer Sanctuary. As usual, the getting-on-the-train itself was an event in itself, with us being waitlisted until the last day. Finally, the group of nine that we were in our coach had six berths, 2RACs and one WL who could travel because the other two on her ticket were confirmed!

So, we learnt something new about bookings and reservations on the Indian Railways, as we set out via KR Puram, Hubli and Dharwad, and then on to these unfamiliar names - Londa, Castle Rock and our destination Kullem!!
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What a nice name I thought! 12th Jan, and chugging along in the ghats as we crossed into Goa from Karnataka.

Beautiful, forested mountains brought us all to the doors of the carriage to enjoy the cool air as well.

Our fellow companions included a whole band of little kids, first there seemed to be only a couple of them, then their tribe grew to half a dozen, and by midday, it was close to a dozen, as they ran up and down the corridors trying to amuse themselves.

One little girl was rather distraught and kept yelling, "papa", for her dad at the top of her voice.  The problem was that her dad had a reservation in the next compartment, and she did not look kindly on this forced separation from her beloved papa!

Our favourite was the chubby little fellow who insisted on spreading jam on his bread adn following the other older kids around!  There was a Lay's chips packet "war",  which resulted in the battlefield being spattered with chips, shrugged shoulders and crunches under feet! The kids lost their charm at this point!!

The Dudhsagar falls - a little rivulet now.  Regular passengers on this route remarked that in season, the spray from the falls can be felt in the train!

Another view, as we went around the falls

Several tunnels along the way too

Always good to reconnect with the great Indian train journey, I mused, as I looked at the green hills that passed by.

It was close to noon by the time we arrived at our station, having enjoyed Dharwad pedas and freeh green channa-in-the-pod from the hawkers who got on and off.  Much better than the railway food of ghastly idlis and dosais we had for breakfast.

A short ride in the tempo traveller with Syed and we were at Nature's Nest, Goa!

The resort is located in a coconut, banana and betel nut estate

The place is filled with these powder puff shrubs, which attract sunbirds, bulbuls and parakeets, 

The dining room, where we had our meals.  We arrived for a delicious lunch with a wonderful dhal and vegetable gravy, Goan style.  The food was fresh and yum, though I must admit on day three I was a bit tired of the overdose of coconut milk!

The row of cottages

Our cottage - kaner.  Kaner is the Goan name for the Yellow Oleander

We settled in and wandered around the campus, saw a flying lizard, dipped our feet in the little spring pool they have, and after evening tea, we set off for our first outing to the Tamdi Surla temple area.

Pongal at Pt Calimere - Kodikarai

Click here, for a photo summary

The map that hung in our forest guest house.  Poonarai Illam was where we stayed.

Kodikarai aka Kodiyakarai aka Kodigeri seems to be a fishing hamlet, but with a strong government presence - there is a naval outpost, a BSNL station (so cell phones worked loud and clear, and everyone in the village seemed to have one!), a Customs and Revenue station and also a coast guard presence.  Just south, and across the Palk Straits after all was Sri Lanka.

This was main street, photographed by Sheila, which ran north to south - the roads were in better shape than in our neighbourhood in Chennai!

Western Union money transfer available!

Kodikarai is a plastic-free zone, but there was plastic strewn everywhere.

Take a look at the tariff card that was up on the notice board in our guest house - and pay special attention to the rates that the elected representatives of the people pay!!

Our guest house.

Its a shame, the way we spend money in this country.  There was an old dilapidated building just behind the guest house we stayed in, and group members who had been there earlier said that that was the old guest house.  This Mark 1 guest house still stands but is occupied by bats and has no doors and windows.  We occupied what should be Mark 2, not very old, all tiled and painted.  But maybe between the 13 rooms, we could have had three rooms with everything working - I mean, take the fan from one room, the toilet from another, light bulb from the third, etc etc.  

The whole weekend we were there (yes it was Pongal I know), there was not a single maintenance staff around - so, no sweeping, cleaning of any sort happened, and only good old Razzak bhai to answer questions and man the desk!  Another couple of years and Mark 2 will resemble Mark 1.

It looks like Mark 3 is also up - a more swank airconditioned guest house behind ours, which was given to an Austrian couple who just strolled in off the street looking for a room.  These were middle-aged, not hippy like or anything and later the man admitted he knew nothing about birds, so what on earth were they doing prowling around Kodikarai, and eating in our "restaurant"?

Ramar's mess was run by a family of four brothers, it seemed.  It was a shack with a couple of tables, wood burning stoves and was obviously the best address in town.  There would be crowds of people always at their door, and a "queue" to get in.

There were vadais with morning tea/coffee, then breakfast was idly with sambar and chutney, lunch was sambhar, poriyal, rasam and kootu and curds.  (Actually, it was meen kozhambu but we got "shaiva" kootu.)  Dinner was always parotta and kurma.  Vijay told us that they had landed a permit to make parottas in Singapore, for the summer of 2012!

Puris made for us on Pongal day! 

It was about 300m south of the rest house, and the first evening we were taken aback at the evening/night life of Kodikarai.  It seems that the street light outside the resthouse was the gathering place for the returning fishermen.  These fishermen come from other hamlets, for the season, and work on a commission basis, bringing larger boats and better equipment.

So, the street light was where they gathered and got into high spirits quite literally.  There was not a woman in sight after dusk, and many of the men, by nightfall, could not walk a straight line.

After the refreshments, dinner was at Ramar's, and they would need that parotta urgently.  So Ramar & Co decided to make them (who were after all their regular clientele) takeaway packs of their parottas and kurma, and we were served inside.  I thought I would get high just off the alcohol on their breaths!!

There was much curiosity as to who we were and where we came from, quite obviously.  But the amazing thing was when we visited the boat jetty or the fishing harbour the morning after, these men would be returning from sea or be busy with their catch, and operating quite normally - no effects of a hangover it seemed!

The story continues - Feral horses.

Rann riders reviewed

United colours of breaking even | CSR | wildlife resort | The New Indian Express

Mad Madrasis - stuck on the train!

Continued from here.

11th & 12th January 2009

Am off in dreamland when there's a lot of yelling and shouting, scraping and pulling. Passengers getting on at some other station I thought, sleepily and tried to go back to sleep, but they created quite a racket for quite a while. Morning came, and I peeped down to see Sheila sitting up in her berth with a scowl on her face - being closer to the racket, I think her night's sleep had been ruined somewhat!

Anyway, got some chai and looked out of the window to discover to our horror that our window was completely messed up, and we could see nothing through it. the grime was in-between the outer and inner windows and so there was no redemption for us. We looked to the other side, and the noisy lot were firmly ensconced behind curtains that never opened that whole day!

I am sure you will not believe this, but the lady on that berth did not show her face that whole day. So what, you say? Well, she had a three-year old son who was busy running the corridors and she kept shouting instructions to him all the time, from behind that curtain! Our faces were not that bad looking, we thought!! AND WE HAD NO VIEW OF THE COUNTRYSIDE!!

So, I took refuge in Rushdie's Enchantress of Florence, and was magically transported to Fatehpur Sikri and the land of Akbar. Lunch time and we were at Nagpur, and did the customary thing of buying santras - oranges. Lovely, juicy ones though they did not look promising from the outside.

Itarsi in the evening, and then we ground to a halt....and the bad news percolated through the coaches. Goods train derailed...train being rerouted....long delays...Even then we did not realise what it would mean. We groaned at the thought of maybe a four hour delay, but also were secretly pleased since it meant that we did not have to get off at Mathura at the scheduled 2:45am, but at a more civilised, warmer hour.

It turned out that we were being re-routed around Hoshangabad in a kind of rectangle, going east to Khatni (where we stood for four hours), before coming back to Bina (which is on the original GT line.   So we trundled along for the whole of 12th, when we should have been inside the sanctuary. We had all the time in the world to be social.  There was a family also returning to Mathura, where the couple had jobs currently.  They could not believe that we were travelling all this distance to go to see some birds. The man looked at me pityingly and remarked how he had gone last winter, and only saw crows!

By afternoon desperation had set in. I purchased a Rs 20 version of Ludo, and we foursome played for something like 2 hours, with Arun very deliberately esuring that we were all sent back to the starting blocks again and again. The delay was so long that even the lady-behind-the-screen emerged! Her little boy, noisy and full of josh, was alternatively khatti with us and meeti!  But we got so fond of him, that we bid him a fond farewell that night before he went to bed!

Finally, when we did get to MTJ, it was 12:30 am on 13th - a 22 hour delay, which meant that we had been on that train for something like 53 hours! An aromatic, sleepy and relieved bunch we were when we did get off.

Saras at Bharatpur

A huge bus carried us all to Bharatpur, about an hour away, and we dozed fitfully, unable to see anything out of the windows. e stumbled out and into the hotel, as Vijay had already allotted rooms and roommates. I was to share with Divya, while Raji and Sheila occupied the room next door.

Saras is an RTDC hotel, and given some of the places we have stayed in earlier, this was the height of luxury, a nice large room, and more importantly, a clean bathroom!
The hotel from across the road, as seen in the morning light
A standard, non-AC room

Our bathroom!
Determinedly, Divya and I braved the cold and had a warm bath at
2am!! The warmth of the bath deceived me, and I got into bed insufficiently covered, and had to get up, shivering, put on more layers before sneaking back under the rug.

6am: Thud, thud thud went someone on the door. Open up to find a smiling Rajput with a tray full of steaming tea, "Good morning madam, aapki chai!" Sigh! I envied Divya as she slept through all of it, and woke up only on my persistent and vigorous efforts!

The only good thing was that we were bathed and clean, and so felt very virtuous as compared to the other sleepyheads who were looking to have a morning bath before we set off for the sanctuary at 8:30. A late start was the concession for the first day.

Biking adventures, up next!

A weekend in Dungarpur

I have lost my voice.  I have to either whisper or talk in harsh croaks like a dying crow.  So, I have taken to silence (much to the relief of my immediate family I can see).  Writing about my experiences of the last month seem a more dignified option to squawking.

A few months ago,my husband casually mentioned a weekend reunion with his old boarding school buddies. I was quick and gracious in my "permission" to him to go without me - I mean how many times have we wives heard the same completely incredible (but true) stories? Then he sent me the link to the place of the intended visit - Udai Bilas Palace in Dungarpur. Hmmm, I could put up with a few story-reruns for this, I thought to myself. And, so it appears, did half a dozen other wives!

And so, there we were one Friday evening, after a three hour ride from Ahmedabad at the gates of the palace, my first visit to the state of Rajasthan, my first stay at a palace and my first live glimpse of turbaned Rajputs..... not to mention my first live view of the Fevicol ad - you know the one with all the turbaned, mustached, "stuck" to the bus, on the roof, sides and bonnet?!

My first glimpse of the palaceWe entered and walked through to the lakeside, and in the fading evening light these were our first views.
The large Ghaibsagar lake, full of ducks - mainly spot-billed - cormorants, egrets and moorhens!

At the far shore of the lake was a large Jain temple, highlighted by that little hillock behind it.

As we walked along the lakeshore to our room, we saw this little temple in the lake.  To be visited by boat, unless you fancy a swim across, that is.

Our host was suddenly excited, pointing to the little flock of ducks at the base of the temple wall.  Amongst the spot-billed ducks was a lone pair of migratory mallard ducks!  Next morning, they were gone, and I didn't see them at all after that first sighting.

The lake view of the palace. Our room was in the wing on the left, entering through the archway on the lakefront.

As we were to discover, the palace had many hidden, winding staircases, narrow and steep, and one of these led to our room.
The stairway to room No 5!
It curved away to more steps! This is the view from the top of the stairs! So, despite all the wining and dining we did, the stair climb to and from our room was a good calorie-burner!

The only hitch was if  one had heavy or large luggage - we didn't - I wonder how they would have carried it up.

One enters near the archway in the background into this large and spacious room, with a lovely view - through the windows on the left - of the lake.
The charming bathroom, which also had a view!
Dropped our bags here, and set off to explore.

The central courtyard
These are the older parts of the palace. Dates back to the mid 19th century, we were told.  (Udai Bilas is actually the new palace.  The original and older one, now unused, is the Juna Mahal.)

I have not seen any other Rajput palace up close, but from what the others said this palace was a fine example of Rajput architecture of that period, with these lovely pillars, finely carved little alcoves and verandahs and intricate panelling.

The hihglights in green-grey are a local stone called pareva. I really liked the texture of this stone.  The night was a full-moon night, and as we women sat around the courtyard chatting and laughing, the moon came into the space and cast a lovely light on the stone.  

It was quite magical.  I wonder if the men actually noticed, they were so busy catching up indoors with horror stories of their past, that I think they just missed the play of light and night on the palace!
The Ek Thambia Mahal sat in the middle of the courtyard, and looked like it was surrounded by water fountains and a moat in the old days. On the other side, there was a little walkway across the moat, so we could wander around the base of this little one-pillared mahal.  And guess what, there were little ceramic, English looking dolls nestled in niches in the pillars!

If you click on the picture and zoom in, you will notice that each pillar and the hanging eaves (I hope that's what they're called) have so much workmanship on them, all the way up and down the structure.

New additions
The swimming pool overlooking the lake..
..and this absolutely magical dining table!
Quite marvellous!  Open to the skies, above, with a water pool in the middle, which could be still and strewn with rose petals or have water bubbling through it.  All quite magical.  And the food...I have not had such good rasmalais anywhere I tell you.  And the special local rotis - lets just say I ate a fair amount!  
And as we trooped off to bed, this is what we saw.

More, on the Juna Mahal and the birds of Dungarpur, to follow.

Continued here.