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

sketches series......11.Zitting Cisticola

A sketch i made of the Zitting Cisticola ( Streaked Fantail Warbler)...... in a ballet pose !!

Birding In Basai........ & dancing with the Flamingos

Thousands & thousands of waders .........

But my morning started with my first sighting of an Ashy Crowned Sparrow Lark !

Here's a quick look of the graceful Flamingos

Well, its been a a long time since we had been out birding with the Delhi Birder's, finally we decided to go & what a treat it was !!

Thousands & thousands of waders, Ruffs, Black Tailed Godwits, Black Winged Stilts, Flamingos, Pied Avocets, Black headed & Glossy Ibis's, Sandpipers, Yellow Wattled Lapwings among many others...... Here are some snaps.

Pied Avocets, with the reflection of the Flamingos !

Black Tailed Godwit

Flamingos

Flamingos, Avocets & Godwits

Though i missed seeing another lifer : Indian Courser, thanx to an distraction by a Kestrel & an Spotted Owlet :((

But still a wonderful morning of birding !!

sketches series.....10. Elegant Trogan

This is a sketch i made of an Elegant Trogan

Since i was going to Bombay

I decided to gift this sketch to Ujju mama,

so we got it framed

so this is how it looked after framing

Short Toed Snake Eagle on canvas

This painting of a Short Toed Snake Eagle took a long time to complete, it was difficult to get the eyes right..........

also in between i enjoyed doing a lot of sketches !!

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 !!

Lets celebrate World House Sparrow Day............

Today's World House Sparrow Day and therefore let's celebrate and spare a thought for this tiny bird amidst us which has enlivened our surroundings for millenia.

Whisper of the Wings series.......10. Common Tailorbird

Wiki says The Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) is a songbird found across tropical Asia. Popular for its nest made of leaves "sewn" together and immortalized by Rudyard Kipling in his Jungle Book, it is a common resident in urban gardens...........

This one actually was not bothered by my presence close by.

I also love to watch its tail, i feel the tail is doing the talking !!

Whisper of the Wings series.......9. Purple Sun birds

Sun birds are in full plumage during this season

through out the day i can hear their calls to each other

& they look too good while foraging on the flowers in my balcony

don't they ??

sketches series.....9. A Leopard resting

Here is my sketch of a Leopard resting

its infact one of my favorites

Watchers of the sky....1. Changeable Hawk Eagle

Watchers of the sky is a new series i am starting dedicated to all the raptors i have seen.

This is the first : The Changeable Hawk Eagle is an amazing bird and has a lovely

call.

These pictures that i have taken are from Corbett National Park.

The first is an adult and the second is a juvenile calling.

In Orchha, with the Long billed Vultures

Orchha is a town in Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh state, India. The town was the seat of an eponymous former princely state of central India, in the Bundelkhand region. Orchha lies on the Betwa River, 15 km. from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh.

Mom has been there before & had seen the Long billed Vultures, so during the Holi break we took off to Orchha & i could not wait to see them.

We went by the Bhopal Shatabdi train and reached Orchha by 1:00 in the afternoon. After a sumptous lunch we went to our rooms. The balcony of our rooms looked out upon the river and i couldn't resist the temptation to take a little walk outside. I saw lots of bee-eaters and also a swallow sitting on the wires.

In the evening we had a little swim in the pool there, a very nice dinner and a good night's sleep.

The next morning was finally what i was waiting for, to go to the palace and see the vultures.

At first, I thought there would be a few vultures but by the time i reached the palace it felt as if there were a million of them. Every little ruin around, had at least one vulture sitting on top.

This was seriously vulture paradise. We came to this ruin that was like a courtyard with a tower on each side. As we approached it we saw a vulture on top of one of the towers and i got an amazing view of the bird. We then went to the other side to only find ANOTHER vulture actually sitting on its nest.

But guess what !! That wasn't it, there were two more vultures sitting on that same ruin. This was truly awesome.

I spent my afternoon sitting and taking pics & watching birds in and around the river & in the evening we went down to the river. Well, that is what we did for the next two days, just hanging out around the river, going to Orchha Nature Reserve & also swimming a lot in the pool, thanks to maasi, i learnt how to do the breast stroke

The Betwa river was lovely. We spent a lot of time along the banks, watching the river, the birds, the moon rise etc

Here is the list of some of the birds we saw

Long Billed Vultures…. Lots of them

Egyptian Vultures

Red Headed Vulture

Booted Eagle

Crested Serpent Eagle was always near by

Shikras

Common Kestrel (Female)

Green Bee eater active as ever & catching bees in flight

Cormorants fishing

Black headed Gulls & Swifts

Red Wattled Lapwings with chicks

Olive Backed Pipits

Rufous Tailed Larks

Tailor birds

Three different types of Tits

Blue Rock Thrush

Grey backed Shrikes, though never got it in the classic pose of sitting with its meal nailed in to a tree

Citrine Wagtail

Wagtail

Prinias

Grey Breasted Prinia

Chestnut Shouldered Petronia

A different type of Babbler

Lots of Sunbirds

Grey Hornbills

Pea hens & fowls

Flower peckers

Woolly necked Storks

Night Herons

Egrets

Spotted Owlets on a moon lit night !!

Finally as always all good things in life have to come to an end, so reluctantly we all headed back & me back to school !!