sketches series......16. Leopard

My earlier sketch of a leopard is here

& this is my second one........

Onam 2010

Happy Onam to all,

to mark the annual visit of King Mahabali & the rain, we had a small feast at home.......

Untill next year !!

sketches series.......15. Golden Plover

sharing a sketch i made of the Golden Plover recently.....

sketches series...... 14. Football fever is back & this year it will be Arsenal

With the rains pouring & the Simla Youngs ground flooded most of the time, not much football is happening, also been down with a viral.

But to mark the return of good soccer on T.V with EPL & the Spanish Liga.......

a sketch from me for Barca & Arsenal....

sketches series......13. Heron fishing

Sharing a sketch which i made sometime back...... of an Heron fishing

MBK vs Shikshantar

Even though we practiced hard for about 2 weeks

& we had a great team spirit going

i was kind of nervous in the morning

also those guys looked tall & big...

finally its 8.30 am

the whistle is blown.. & the match starts

before we could blink

our lynch pin in attack, Karan strikes

then again & again it just rained goals

after a while it didn't matter what the scoreline was

Shikshantar was pulverised

final score 13 -2 ....

or something like that

They seem relieved to leave the field.....

sorry guys,

we were just too good today

A big thankyou to everyone........

for all the phone calls,

for all the good wishes in face book & through mail

for maasi for the cakes & lasagne

for all the gifts

& for all who came & had a mad time.......

sketches series.....12. Eagle

Very difficult to take a good snap of something which is framed,

because of the reflection & light issues,

anyway a side angled shot of a sketch of an Eagle i had made sometime back !!

I am almost Catalan

A Cesc Fabrigas pass

for Andres Iniesta

a moment worth waiting for

When Spain lost in the opening match against Switzerland all my friends laughed at me.

&

now they want a treat.

Common Iora

My first sighting of an Common Iora.

While walking along my farm, i saw this dash of Yellow & Black in the Karvanda shrubs.

Its a male & may be in breeding plumage

I also saw pair of Short Toed Snake Eagles glide past, then a huge owl (i could not identify) which flew past us while driving back in the evening.

More news from the farm in October.......

SPAIN......my favourite for this years world cup !!!!!

I am an ardent fan of Spanish football team & i support Spain for this years World cup and I'm sure Spain is going to win it!!

But i hope at no time till the finals will there be a clash between Spain & Brazil !! That will be heart wrenching.

I had supported Spain during the Euro 2008 also when no one gave them a chance. Friends & cousins laughed at me & i had the last laugh !!

Fernando Torres & David Villa have been my favourites for a long time.

Actually, infact i like the whole team & just love the way they play, especially their deft triangular passing, the attacking defenders who are always spotted in the rival penalty area, creative midfielders who can keep possession for hours & awesome, clinical finishers...... the goals of David VIlla the other day were just too good, so was Xavi, Navas & Ramos.....

Surely by the next match Torres, Iniesta & Fabregas will get into top flight....

Watch out....... for the Spanish matadors

Viva la Espana !!

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Iker Casillas (captain) 20 May 1981 (age 29) 106 0 Real Madrid 12 GK Víctor Valdés 14 January 1982 (age 28) 1 0 Barcelona 23 GK Pepe Reina 31 August 1982 (age 27) 20 0 Liverpool 2 DF Raúl Albiol 4 September 1985 (age 24) 23 0 Real Madrid 3 DF Gerard Piqué 2 February 1987 (age 23) 18 4 Barcelona 4 DF Carlos Marchena 31 July 1979 (age 30) 59 2 Valencia 5 DF Carles Puyol 13 April 1978 (age 32) 85 2 Barcelona 11 DF Joan Capdevila 3 February 1978 (age 32) 47 4 Villarreal 15 DF Sergio Ramos 30 March 1986 (age 24) 62 5 Real Madrid 17 DF Álvaro Arbeloa 17 January 1983 (age 27) 16 0 Real Madrid 6 MF Andrés Iniesta 11 May 1984 (age 26) 44 6 Barcelona 8 MF Xavi Hernández 25 January 1980 (age 30) 89 8 Barcelona 10 MF Cesc Fàbregas 10 May 1987 (age 23) 51 6 Arsenal 13 MF Juan Manuel Mata 28 April 1988 (age 22) 9 3 Valencia 14 MF Xabi Alonso 25 November 1981 (age 28) 71 9 Real Madrid 16 MF Sergio Busquets 16 July 1988 (age 21) 15 0 Barcelona 20 MF Javi Martínez 2 September 1988 (age 21) 2 0 Athletic Bilbao 21 MF David Silva 8 January 1986 (age 24) 37 7 Valencia 22 MF Jesús Navas November 21, 1985 (age 24) 8 1 Sevilla 7 FW David Villa 3 December 1981 (age 28) 60 40 Barcelona 9 FW Fernando Torres 20 March 1984 (age 26) 75 24 Liverpool 18 FW Pedro Rodríguez 28 July 1987 (age 22) 4 1 Barcelona 19 FW Fernando Llorente 26 February 1985 (age 25) 7 3 Athletic Bilbao

My longest road journey & the end of summer holidays

Within a couple of days of reaching back from Camp Himalayan, we were off to the longest road journey i've taken till now.

4.30 am...... New Delhi to Udaipur. We reach Udaipur at 3.30 pm. Swim in the pool & chill & night stay in Udaipur

next day.....

Leave Udaipur at 9am for Ahmedabad.

Break for lunch for a sumptuous guju thaali & meeting vinay kaka& charul maasi.

Leave Ahmedabad at 5 pm

Destination for night stay is in my old house in Dahanu.

We reach at 1 am

We crash to sleep.

2nd day

Wake up in the morning, a ride on our 'ole scooter, check out the stuff at the good 'ole Agni Bakery, meet my 'ole friend Pehzaan & a quick hello to Brian Kaka & Farida aunty......

10 am Dahanu to Bombay.....we reach for lunch in Bombay, which is our destination.

A total of almost 2,500 kms on road, & in a space of 5 days we weaved through Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat & Maharashtra & surprisingly it was not stressful at all. ( Yes, except for the Traffic cops at Ahmedabad city who kept extorting bribes out of us like a mafia gang)

I spend the rest of of my summer holidays with my cousins in Bombay. Watched movies, football matches, played, laughed, cried, fought, enjoyed, had kulfis, ice creams, pav bhaaji, bhel puri's, paani puri's, doughnuts, enjoyed the company of my aunts & uncles & my maternal grand mother, i saw & received the first rains, visited my farm near Pune .........

& now i am back to the grind.

Time & days seemed to have moved fast......

Lots of school work to complete before it re opens on the 28th.

Wish me luck........

Back from Camp Himalayan...... wth stories of the Brown Dipper & the Crested Bunting

Three of us took our trip up to the Shoja valley by bus, after an overnight journey, a jeep was waiting to take us to the Camp Himalayan.

We had a great time playing with the ever green Badshah & getting thrown into the ice cold waters of Thirtan river....

One day morning we were just fooling around the river, when suddenly i spotted the Brown Dipper....... a lifer for me

Had good sightings of Verditer flycatchers

Here are some of the other birds we saw like the Himalayan Griffon, actually up close eating a carcass, the Streaked whistling Thrush, Rock Buntings, Rufous Naped Tit, Himalayan Treepies, Blue whistling Thrush among others.

The Green backed Tits looked stunning in their colours

The snow peaked mountains were sometimes visible on a clear day, though there was torrential rains also.

Finally it was time to leave & bid good bye..... Due to many reasons we did not do much trekking this time, once we went up to Jalori pass, luckily we came back in the night, it hail stormed heavily in the night. But yet again a great stay & a lovely time at Camp Himalayan

.

As we started our long drive back

yet another lifer for me a Crested Bunting was sitting on the wires....... yippie

adios,

will be back again !!

off to Camp Himalayan yet again...........

Welcoming the holidays

escaping from the sweltering heat

welcoming my cousin brothers

three of us

just three of us

are off......

yet again

to Camp Himalayan

this will be my third visit in as many years

looking forward to the treks up Jalori pass, to see the Himalayan griffons up close & up into the Great Himalayan National Park, to all the exciting river crossings & for the general peace & quiet which the mountains offer.

Will i get to see the Western Tragopan, or the Snow Leopard.........

Even otherwise 'am sure once again my visit to Camp Himalayan will be memorable !!

See you guys on the other side.....

Dwight Yorke visits my soccer coaching at Simla Youngs

Dwight Eversley Yorke (born 3 November 1971 in Canaan, Tobago) is a Trinidad and Tobago former football player.

He played for Aston Villa for most of his career, followed by stints with Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Birmingham City, Sydney FC and Sunderland.

He was the assistant manager of the Trinidad and Tobago national team ...until the completion of the qualifying matches for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Along with compatriot Russell Latapy and Pat Jennings, the former Northern Ireland goalkeeper, Dwight Yorke holds the record number of participations in different World Cup competitions, including qualifying stages - six in total (1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010).

Dwight Yorke was nicknamed The Smiling Assassin because of his goal scoring abilities and his constant smile.

Mr Yorke visited simla youngs training centre on 19th April 2010.

Thank you, Dwight Yorke

Do come again