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.......

Walk like an Egyptian........ & a Thanx giving day

Every person is unique

You may never be a king

But no matter how far

Just reach for your star,

Dreams have ways of coming true

You may be astonished at the things you can do

Whatever others say

may you make it

come true someday......

Another year has chugged past

At this years annual day, with immense help from Kirti didi we performed a play "Walk like an Egyptian". We rehearsed the play for a week, it was fun........

Now we have a weeks break........ i get a chance to go to Bombay to be with my folks.

Till then.....

adios !!

31st Jan 2010

Thanx every one for coming !!

'Mirambika gang' at the Humayan's Tomb

As part of one our school project on the Mughal Empire we headed to Humayun's Tomb last Saturday.

The complex has among many other tombs; a main tomb for Emperor Humayun & for his wife Hamida Begum.

Humayun's Tomb is a show piece of Mughal architecture & Persian gardens. The main architect of of this World Heritage Site was Mirak Mirza Ghayas from Afghanistan.

There are several monuments leading up to Humayun's tomb & one of the most prominent among them is that of the whole family of Isa Khan Niyazi, which predates the main tomb by 20 years, built in 1547 CE.

By the way, this handsome looking man is not one of the Mughals !!!

Infact he is one of our favourite teachers, he is known to us as Kavi bhaiyya & here he is introducing us to all these histories & during one of our breaks he is explaining a few things to us & also reminding us that we have not come here for gallivanting & to be bloody serious !! (& that was in his own words)

These are photographs of the main tomb, please click on it to enlarge.

The stairways are so narrow & steep, I wonder why !!

Even Humayun had died (some where else) when he fell down a stairs when he ran to be on time to attend prayers !!
The Charbagh (four Square) gardens, spread over 13 acres changed rapidly since 1556. The decline of the mughals was a contributing factor, since the capital was already shifted to Agra in 1556, then the upkeep of the garden was costly & almost impossible. Then the British took over, 'though around 1903-1909 the Brits did try to restore a few things.

Again during the Partition of India, Humayun's Tomb was a major refugee camp for almost five years, then again the gardens were unfortunately considerably damaged & also there was serious damage to the water channels & chief structures.
First the Archaeological Survey of India & now Agha Khan Trust for Culture have been trying to restore Humayun's Tomb back to its original glory, with all the gardens & the water channels. Infact there were people from Agha Khan Foundation to guide us during the walk.

We ended the walk with a shared & sumptous lunch (nana had packed some Veg Paella !!) & there was also a birthday cake which was cut for one of my friends !!

I did enjoy the walk.......... so, until next time

au revoir to all !!

Onam........... 2009

A few friends came over for dinner.......... that's Anand & Antara. The menu was :

Tomato rice,

Avial,

Pachadi,

Sambhar,

Ellisseri,

Pulichadu

& fried Surmai (king fish)

all on Banana leaves

till next year..........

My Birthday

Finally .............finally I'm twelve !!

I called a few of my friends and we played in the park, had lots of Margherita's, Brownies, Doughnuts & Ice cream.

Then we watched "Night in the Museum 2" and it was really funny and everyone enjoyed.

To top it all I got an ipod nano & football studs from my parents, some very thoughtful gifts from my friends, phone calls from cousins & relatives and ofcourse good wishes from all of them.

At the movies.......

Yesterday with my friends i went to see Ice Age 3

We enjoyed it very much

Watch the trailer here

By the away an important part of going for this movie was......

For the first time we went for a movie alone,

without any adults accompanying us

nana dropped us at the theatre

but we came back home on our own

by a rick

Yippie.......we want to do it again !!

At Camp Himalayan.......... by Ankit

This is what my friend Ankit had to write about our trip

My review :By Ankit
Day 1
On the first day, mom, dad and I came down from our apartment to the bus at around eight o'clock. It was a night journey.
We were delayed reaching the camp by about 4 hours because of the driver who was driving like a snail. When we got there then we met Sumit uncle and we told him about the journey. We had lovely apple juice.

After we talked for a few minutes we went to our rooms. After freshening up I went to Kabeer's room and we played name-place-action. Then Kabeer and I took pictures of a few birds. I didn't get any but Kabeer got quite a few. There was a yellow billed blue magpie who made us chase it above the camp and then below and then above again.

Later all of us went for a walk to see the temple and the sunset. I got nice pics of the sunset. Then we came back, had dinner and slept.

Day 2
The next day we went to the national park. Well not exactly the national park we only managed to reach the entrance ! We started by the bus and from a point got off and got on to jeeps and after a point again got off and started to walk. It was quite a long trek but it was fun. We went down to a river bank near the entrance to the national park and ate lunch. There was a very nice waterfall over there. And we came back to the camp freshened and then had dinner and slept.
Day 3
The next day we went for "river walking" near Sumit uncle's house. We left by bus and then we got of a little before his house and start walking along the river the river. It was tough but fun. There were many big and slippery stones so my pants tore. It tore very badly. When we got to Sumit uncle's house to my relief my mother had got an extra pair of pants. After spending fifteen minutes in Sumit uncle's house we started walking along the river again. There it was even tougher and I fell quite a few times so I was totally wet. Then we came back to a place where Gopi bhaiya had got us lunch. After lunch our parents went to Bahu to see the sunset.
We went to the camp. We waited till our parents came back and when they came back we had dinner and slept.
Day 4
We went to Jalori Pass. We went by bus and then we got off at a place and started walking. When we got there we saw a very beautiful view from there. It was great fun. After seeing the fort we came down half way and ate lunch that Hem Raj bhaiya had got. When we got down we ate Maggi at a dhaba. Then we got back freshened up had dinner and slept.
Day 5 (THE FINAL DAY)
On the last day we had breakfast and left for home. We had lunch in Highway Treat instead of having at Highway Restaurant where we were supposed to have lunch. We had dinner at Nik Bakers in Chandigarh. We had trouble finding it. After that we got on to the bus and it was night so half of us slept. In the end we reached home 6 hours late.

------------------------------------
Thanx Ankit for writing & i hope we will have many more trips like this together !!

A song for you........... hope you like it !!

Camp Himalayan........... goodbye for now !!

Well all good things in life have to come to an end............... i guess !!

We left the next day morning after breakfast saying very fond farewells to Gopibhaiya, Hemrajbhaiya and Sumit uncle.

After a long tiresome trip (17 hours) stopping only at a Highway dhaba for lunch and at Nik Bakers, Chandigarh for dinner we reached Delhi finally at 2:30am !!

Now after a couple of days at home.............. 'am off to Mumbai to be with my cousins for a couple of weeks !!

Camp Himalayan........... to Jalori Pass

I had to wake up early again as we were going to Jalori Pass. The drive again was very pretty through shrubs of Wild White Roses & Blue Iris's

We started off and I kind of dozed of on the way but suddenly I wake up with my mother saying: Stop, Stop, Stop to the driver. I got to know it was some kind of a yellow bird she had seen on the road. I then saw it in the tree and it was awesome. I got some pics but they are not totally clear but we all remembered the unique beak. We got back in the bus and I took out the bird book and tried to identify it. It was a black and yellow Grosbeak (male and female).

We reached Jalori Pass and trekked up to Raghupur Fort. It was a tough trek though Ankit and I had done it during the school trip. We spent a lot of time there and we had lunch, trekked back to Jalori Pass and drove back to the Camp where we were greeted by a storm.

We had dinner and went to sleep- our final night in the mountains. (Sigh !!)

Camp Himalayan ...... Thirtan River

Imagine after such an exhausting walk,

to be able to find a spot like this where one can dip one's feet in freezing water

& also actually have a sumptous lunch

It was just awesome.....................

Camp Himalayan........... to the Great Himalayan National Park

I cannot believe it.............

We are going to go to the Great Himalayan National Park today and were all set to leave at 8:00 am with packed lunch and all. Gopi bhaiya and Hemraj bhaiya the caretakers of Camp Himalayan came with us. We went till Gushaini in the bus as then the road became too narrow for a bus to go.

We hired a Sumo which went for another 2 kms of motorable road. We then began our trek

to the gate of the Great Himalayan National Park which we thought ( by mistake) was close but actually it turned out to be a long uphill 7 kms walk. The walk was really beautiful through the forests & next to the Thirtan river. But it was exhausting. But when we reached it was really wonderful, as we had lunch on a rock perched in the Thirthan River. It was one of the most beautiful spots one can ever imagine.............................

There was a huge pool and a big waterfall with a water spray cooling us each time there was a breeze. We finished lunch and went on through the gate of the Great Himalayan National Park just 10 meters in and came back out as we had a long way to get back. We saw a lot of birds on the trek- Barbets, Bulbuls, Flycatchers and some Raptors.

On the way back we stopped at a Rainbow Trout fish farm, it was cool and some of the trouts were huge. We reached back at camp at 6pm and had a bonfire with soup and a yummy dinner.

I had a bath and finally sleep......................

At Camp Himalayan...................

I've been to Camp Himalayan before for a school trip & i had thoroughly enjoyed it & had the time of my life.

So this time i was going with my parents, my cousin sister from Mumbai & my friend Ankit and his parents (my grandmother was going to come too but unfortunately she fell ill & did not feel up to the long journey). We set out from Delhi at 8:00pm. We were going in a 9 seater private bus we got really late getting out of Delhi because our driver didn't take the proper route to exit from Delhi. Infact we took 16 hours instead of 12 because of the cartoon of a driver who was driving very slow & he did not know how to drive in the mountains. My father infact wanted to drive many a time !!

Well, we at least reached our destination- Camp Himalayan at 12:30 pm the next day. A Himalayn Griffon swooped below our eye levels as we entered the camp. We met Sumit Uncle and talked to him for a while and went to our rooms. One of the first things which stuck me was that the camp was looking totally green compared to last time i was there because then it was winter and all the apple trees were bare. Whereas now it was summer !!I remember from the lounge I could see all the cottages clearly but now most were submerged in greenery.

We had lunch at 2:30 which was really good especially the daal.

All the parents went to rest but Ankit and I went around the camp with our camera's watching birds. We saw a lot of small birds and we were trying hard to get a clear picture but they kept moving & were so busy all the time (though we finally did and i even found a nest the Grey Tit was using).

Then suddenly the Yellow Billed Magpie popped out of a bush. I call this bird the chalaak dada because it flew up the mountain so we chased up the mountain trying to get a photo and then before we can do anything it happily swoops down the mountain above our heads as if to say "goodbye slowpokes" while we are standing there helplessly. Later when I didn't have the camera, it was sitting on the apple tree next to me happily. But when i do have the camera it flies away.

We finally got our parents up from their slumber and went for a walk which was quite nice. We went around the village we saw the fields full of Jowar, Green Peas, Garlic & Potatoes.

But it started raining and a storm was brewing so we had to hurry back. We had a real good dinner & went back to our rooms and slept well in the lovely mountain.

Infact i am quiet- happy to be here.

Also infact i cannot wait for tomorrow, because we are trekking to the Great Himalayan National Park !!

To Camp Himalayan. Once more !!

14th May was our last day at school before the summer break, tomorrow we leave for the Camp Himalayan................... yet again !!

School trip+Mountains+Friends+Snow = FUN Unplugged. Our visit to Camp Himalayan.

It all started at Old Delhi railway station, though we had to wait an hour or so because the train was late but we could wait. There was enough to talk about (what was going to happen next and after that and so on). Anyway the train came at 12 in the night then we got on, said bye to our parents and eagerly waited for the train to start. It was hard to sleep with the excitement but I finally did in the end.................

Next day morning, i had to get up in a hurry and be ready at the train door and all of us had to be quick because it was like 2 minutes for 24 of us and baggage to get of a train! Anyway so we managed to get off at Kiratpur and got into the car for a 8-10 hour journey up into the mountains. The ride was very nice but long!!!!!!

When we reached Tirthan valley at around 4:00 and soon settled into our tents. After tea everyone was walking around the river that was next door but it was already starting to get cold. We had dinner and then took a small trek in the dark. When i came back I got into my tent and sleeping bag and went to sleep. It was cold in the night at a lowest 1.3 C. I was shivering ...................

Next day we had breakfast and the cars took our bags and we trekked 4 kilometres toCamp Himalayan

This was our final destination where we would stay the next 3 nights. We met Sumit uncle , the co-owner of Camp Himalayan.

The rest of the day we settled into our cottages, had lunch and they also had a small lounge so we were playing monopoly the whole time. In the night we had a bonfire and had soup and played atlas till dinner time. Dinner was really really yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The next morning we went to JALORI PASS !!!!! On the way to Jalori pass we stopped at a place called Gyaghi and saw Sumit uncles house and also played with his huge Alsatian dog Badshah. Then after that we got into the cars and carried on to Jalori pass.

We did see snow over there but the snow wouldn't compact into a snowball but it was a slope so it was fun sliding down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the same day after 1 hour of playing we got into the cars and went to Banjara Retreat to have lunch.....

After lunch we went to a rock that was 10 metres high and we did rappelling there. Rappelling was fun and quite cool. In the evening we went back to Camp Himalayan. We had dinner and went to sleep......................

The next day we again went to Jalori pass but this time we trekked higher to 11,000 ft & there we found knee deep snow and it was amazing and somehow this snow we could compact and make into SNOW BALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were playing snowball fights like you couldn't imagine. It was awesome!!!!

We trekked back and had lunch at a dhaba at Jalori pass & then returned to Camp Himalayan. Later in the night we had a party.

First we had to write any question and answer. Then we had to write about our trip & then came the best part we divided ourselves into bands with chits and then we had to act as if we were in a concert with music playing behind us and the theme was the song Socha Hai from Rock On !!!!!!

It was real awesome fun and then for dinner there was yummy Chinese food. Then later after dinner we went to the lounge and had a fun activity. You remember we had to write any question and answer; well now we were randomly given the papers and we and it was like this..... One person said the question in his paper and the other said the answer written whatever it maybe it was really funny & anyway after that we went to sleep..........................

The next morning we had breakfast and sadly we had to leave.

So finally we left and after a rather long journey we reached Anandpur Sahib were we went to the huge Gurudwara and then went shopping then we left and went to Nangal Dam Railway Station and got onto Himachal Express to Delhi. We had a nice sleep and finally back to DELHI!!!!!

THE END..............

Christmas in Sultanpur & the Black Shouldered Kite

When we reached Sultanpur on Christmas day morning it was covered with thick fog, in almost complete whiteout conditions, for the first one hour ( & it was really chill) we began by walking along the wooded area and birding more with ears than the eyes.

Though this pair of Grey Horn Bills kept us entertained.

As the light improved it was the Black-shouldered Kite which made an appearance. We were infact very close to it, but it was hardly bothered about our presence, it was busy preening itself once in a while gave us the looks but mostly ignored our presence.

Then we saw a flock of Small Minivets & a flock of Scarlet Minivets

Then came this Roller Bird which was flashing its brilliant feathers against the sun

Then the visibility slowly improved, there were many small birds which i could not identify. Then we reached the lake for viewing the waterbirds. There were atleast 2-3 thousand water birds with Common Teals, Pintails, Gadwalls, Shovelers, Greylag Geese, Water Hens & many which i could not identify.

The Painted Storks colony was like a market area. We did see three Aquila Eagles, but were too far away to identify. One may have been a Booted Eagle.

Though i was disappointed not been able to identify many birds, i was happy on one count............. i handled a camera, a Canon SX 10 Digital on my own !!

We also had to quickly come back home 'cos i had invited some of my friends over to my place to celebrate Christmas. We had got a small Christmas tree (actually a pine tree), made a few decorations, got some lights et al, my maasi baked an awesome cake with strawberries on it, my mother also baked a cake, generally we had a blast.

Tomorrow night i go for my school trip, we travel to Himachal Pradesh to Shoja for our expedition in the snow................

My Birthday

For my birthday I called three of my friends. We played a lot, we watched the Kung fu Panda then for lunch we went to Subway and ate some awesome sandwiches.

We bought a cake at Rainbows and then had a cool party at home.