Suresh Nair takes us to Karnala bird sanctuary in Maharashtra- a day trip from Mumbai

 Karnala Bird Sanctuary is one of the three closest sanctuaries you can drive to from Mumbai. The others are the Tungareshwar sanctuary on the western side and the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, right in the heart of the city and a hop, skip and jump from my residence.
The sanctuary is located just 12 km from Panvel, just off the Mumbai-Pune national highway to Goa. It is small with an area of just about 12 sq km but is home to over 150 species of resident and 37 species of migratory birds. 

 

We set off, not so early in the morning, around 8 ish. Being geographically challenged, as usual, I took several detours and finally managed to reach the place after some help from gentlemen, rickshaw and taxi drivers.

There is an entrance fee of Rs.30, and Rs.100 for camera (Rs.250 if it is a video camera). I do not understand these charges that are levied at most tourist places in India. My camera has a video mode with which I can take more than an hour of video but since it looks like a camera, for the officials, it is a camera. In fact, at another place, the alert attendant asked me to open the case and show the camera because he suspected me of carrying a video camera. He had a good look at it, gave it back and apologized. They live so much behind the times when any decent smartphone can store hundreds of images/videos.

From the entrance, begins a trail through dense green ancient forest. At many places, thick branches of very old trees had reached out, hugging adjacent trees, twisting and spreading themselves at random all over the place. There are clear trails that take you higher and higher, culminating at the Karnala fort. We plodded along past huge stones, slippery ground until we reached….no, not the Karnala fort but a small waterfall, one of the many in the area. From where we stood, we could clearly see the Karnala fort and it looked so high and so distant, we felt we needed a helicopter to reach the place. At frequent intervals, there are small, rusty broken benches and chairs, but still good enough to rest our weary bottoms.

the author

Very near the beginning of the trail, there is a small water body cut by a wide concrete path. On one side is almost still looking water but on the other side of the path, it descends and jumps on stones to become a waterfall.

The weather was extremely pleasant with hardly any rain (disappointing my daughter). There are plenty of giant spiders, crabs and monkeys all around. We had lunch at a Kamat joint nearby before heading back, a day well spent. The return drive amidst heavy rain added to the adventure.

Quite possibly, either it is inattention or my poor skills at ‘bird watching’ that, at the Karnala bird sanctuary, we didn’t spot a single bird. This makes me jealous of others who visited the same place and claim to have spotted the red tailed, pink lipsticked, white bearded bulbul (no such bird, please).

To conclude, Karnala bird sanctuary is a nice day trip for people of all ages from Mumbai. The trails are very clear and can be managed by any reasonably fit person. You can choose to go as high as you wish and it is still rewarding. Even if you choose not to climb at all, it is a serene place with dense greenery and you can just hang around the water body or peer into a couple of very dark cages where you can just make out the outline of a rabbit or peacock.

resting the weary bottoms

PashaTuks stumbles upon- Secular India Incredible India!

Subz E Burj

Another Sunday and our souls were itching for an outing.As usual getting leave and giving into our wanderlust seemed impossible and we got the car out and headed out, without  flipping a coin this time. We decided that since this was the holy month of Ramadan we would explore the remnants of the mughal rule in India and savour the delicacies that the muslims dish up.

Delhi has pockets where one can experience Islamic architecture  and cuisine and even though Old Delhi is more popular on the tourist circuit , there are other pockets, equally good, if not better.

Sunderwala Burj

We decided to explore the Nizamuddin area - we earmarked a few monuments to explore- Subz e Burj, Sundarwala Burj, 64 Khamba, Barakhamba tomb, Aga khans tomb, Kha i khanans tomb, to name a few. 

We stayed away from Humayuns tomb intentionally because that monumnet has been covered extensively on the tourist circuit.

A lot of renovation work is going on and most of the tombs are closed to visitors till December 2014.The security posted at Sunderwala burj were kind enough to allow us to click a few photographs of  the place , which we shot from a distance. This monument is situated bang opposite the main entry of Humayuns tomb and yet gets skipped over because it lies within the premises of Sunder nursery , a government owned Nursery.

Khani- Khanas tomb

Once done with  Sunderwala burj we walked into Khan i Khanas tomb- a replica of the Humayun's tomb in structure but not half as grand- we had to pay an entrance of INR 5 per head(its INR 100 for foreign nationals) and a camera fee of INR 25. The vigillant guards came running down to us because our camera was launched on its tripod and apparently  tripods are not allowed on the premises unless there is written permission from the Archeological society of India, the governing body for all these monuments. Weird logic but no one was in a mood to argue - and we deposited the tripod at the gate and walked in.

Its at this tomb we came to know of an emerging trend in middle class weddings.

This is called Pre Wedding Photography of the bride and groom, capturing them sharing intimate moments. In this case this couple is all set to tie the knot on 3rd September( the mother proudly told us). This shoot started at 7am. Different locations , different postures,different angles and voila we have filmy moments up for public viewing on large screens commonly put up at the wedding venue on the actual day of wedding

 Pashatuks kept prudently quiet and walked away keeping all personal opinions to themselves. Journeys can be so enlightening and this one defintely was an eye opener

The renowned Karims from the mughal era has a eatery in the bylanes of Nizammuddin- but thats not where we had our lunch. Previous experiences of long waits and food quality not matching the prices had us exploring the place for authentic mughali cuisine and we walked through the very visibly palpatable excitement of the forthcoming EiD, looking for a place to eat. We walked into a reltively smaller but clean place called Iqbals and sat down. Due to the fact that its the month of fasting the place was empty when we walked in and a sombre faced waiter told us that there was just chicken biriyani, mutton biriyani , mutton korma and mutton stew available for lunch. In the evening we would get the rest of the stuff available on their menu. Tough job this guy was doing, staying without a sip of water and serving food. We were okay with his dourness. We ordered mutton biriyani and stew with rotis.The food did absolute justice to our expectations of authentic mughlai cuisine, specially the biryiani whose flavouring was subtle and yet so appealing to the taste buds. We were 4 people and our bill was a reasonable INR 515

 Lunch over we walked into the gulley  trying to control the burps , and looking for 64 Khamba, supposedly the most beautiful and often ignored Sufi monument - a monument said to house Mirza Ghalibs tomb. At the entrance is also the Mirza ghalib academy.
Pashatuks at this time cannot comment much on this spot as this was also closed on account of renovation.
 The vibrancy of this place has to be personally experienced to appreciate really, men in spotless white with skull caps firmly on their heads going about their business, ladies and girls with their heads covered, eyes lowered arguing and haggling with the vendors, the different smells of food and perfumes, vendors selling articles for worship at the dargah, beggars calling out for alms in the name of allah( most even wish you loads of riches and loads of sons to continue the dynasty)
Suddenly, typical Pashatuks style we decided that no one has geen a Gurudwara, the place for worship for Sikhs. So we hit off for Gurudwara Bangla sahib- the only one we knew of and drove into their enormous underground parking( 6 levels of parking underground) and walked into the shrine

Gurudwara Bangla Sahib

The serenity of the place despite the volume of devotees had us very impressed. The concept of "seva" which had an absolutely old gentleman barely able to walk, taking our shoes with both hands and keeping it away. There were high society ladies painted toenails and lips wearing designer outfits with brooms in hand cleaning up the temple complex. No work is too small or too big- we are all equal in the eyes of God- very impressive concept and one feels truly humble in the face of such humility. PashaTuks is not overtly religious and feels all religion takes you to just one destination, yet the clean and organised working of a religious centre does deserve a special mention in our travel travails
A trip to a Gurudwara can be a good outing option even for a non religious person- the clean environs and the serenity of the granthis singing melodiously in front of the religious scriptures, the 24 hour community feeding, the hot halwas as prashad , the water(whixh they call amrit or nectar) the sarovar or pond within the complex can make one spend some time here. Another Sunday well spent and we were ready for home and looking forward to yet another sunday.

PashaTuks at the Gurudwara Bangla Sahib- central Delhi

Weekend Getaway from Mumbai- Nashik(Maharashtra) and Saputara(Gujrat).Sankar Thakur reports.

Another long weekend looms ahead and I am reminded of the last long weekend we had and how we used it up.
Post breakfast we left our home in Thane around 9 am in my car with my family. The 150 kilometers plus drive through the meandering western ghats , full of khais, beautiful bends,lush green foliage was covered in around 3 hours and we drove into the beautiful vineyards producing the white and red wines under the brand names of SULA.

The accommodation for visitors

The facilities at the Vineyards allow a visitor to stay overnight  and there are plenty of people preferring to take off from the hustle bustle of Mumbai life and recharging their tired souls in the tranquil environs of the the Dindori and Nashik Vineyards. These Vineyards boast of a Tasting room atop the winery where one can sample wines free of cost  and a greek styled amphitheater where special events are held.   The vineyard contains on their premises  32 room luxury resort where rooms are available around  INR 6500 per night.

We had a lovely lunch at the resort after satiating our senses on the wine  sampling spree and we were ready to hit for our destination Suputara- the only hill station in Dang district of Gujarat around 70 kms from Nasik. The road condition was not very good as we wove our way through Manora, Warvandi,Vani and Ghagbaari before reaching the hill station. It took us almost 2 hours to reach the Gujrat tourism hotel we were booked into. Lovely  fields of flowers being harvested at various points greeted our eyes making the drive soothing to the eyes. A relaxed 2 days stay there connecting and bonding with loved ones , getting rides on the ropeway, trekking taking camel cart rides and generally relaxing was rejuvenating for the soul and we came back to Mumbai promising ourselves more such trips.

Saputara Vistas 

North Bengal and beyond- Uma Daga shows us all..

Doesn’t take much to turn a poet in these environs

why does the imaginative mind find traces of mark twain in this picture?

And serenely flows the river..

the heart bursts into a folk song on this road

In less than 24 hours, I get to see a leopard bounding across the highway (barely 4 feet in front), hundreds of butterflies and birds, brilliant cloud formations, miles of pebbles scattered on the shallow beds of River Murti, the well manicured greens of my golf course, rocky meandering paths that took me to the sprightly River Chel, an amazing night right next to the dense jungles of Gorumara, stunning views from a height of 3000 feet,green jute fields rubbing shoulders with lush tea bushes beyond.....and yes, the mighty Kanchanjungha peak on my early morning walk. North Bengal is not exciting--says who?

Guess whats growing here

Our handsome celebrity for this post

Higher and higher the heart soars

no human hand can recreate this masterpiece

PashaTuks stumbles upon- a quick drive into Haryana for lunch

Nomads and explorers under the thinly veiled veneer of respectability, travellers by choice PashaTuks needed to get out of Delhi to beat the monotony of civilized living. Not having too much time in hand,out came the car and the co travellers were ready to join PashaTuks into yet another adventure. Travellers who are ready to move at the drop of a hat.
The coin was flipped to decide the direction and North it was - so we took the outer ring road to get out of Delhi  and to get onto the Delhi Chandigarh Highway.
Despite the number of times one has traversed on this route, there's something about this 6 lane,  well laid out, devoid of potholes,fast moving traffic highway, lined with trees on both sides and profuse bougainvillea flowers in full bloom growing in the lane separators , that makes a traveller want to make repeat journeys on this highway. Peppy music being belted out from the car stereo, happy mutts tongue lolling out in gratitude and three close  travel happy friends in the car, can be close to nirvana actually.
We stopped when the stomach sent out hunger pangs and realised that we had reached Sonepat some 65 odd kilometers from home. Driving into a relatively client free Dhaba,we are welcomed by the effusive chubby owner who seated us and brings the customary welcome drink of chilled water. Even Neuton our pooch's pail gets a fill.  Team PashaTuks is primarily carnivore but the yummy Palak Paneer,Dal Makhni and Aloo Gobhi served with piping hot tandoori rotis with rich layers of white butter, satiated our food pangs and we confidently claim that the hospitality quotient of these small dhabas can give many a fine dine, a run for their money. And all this food, warmth and love for a bill of INR 326!

@ Neelkanth Dhaba,Sonepat

A pashatuks trip is never complete without something off beat and instead of coming back on the highway we take a turn and drive back on the banks of river Yamuna. The river upstream is a full bodied river with overflowing banks in monsoon-not quite the apology of a river that we get in Delhi. Narrower roads, but in good condition (Haryana has an excellent road network) - lush fields all around growing millets, paddy and corn formed a perfect back drop to the hardworking ladies walking home from the fields the faces covered in purdah but the bosoms not having the customary dupatta"stole" (another Haryana trait).
Since its the monsoon month of sawan the road was dotted with flashes of saffron-kawariyas chanting "bole bam,har har mahadev"- pilgrims walking back from Haridwar on Ganges to  Shiva temples in their localities, where they would pour the water from the Ganges river on the Shivling and attain salvation.
From  Baghpat,Haryana we crossed over to UttarPradesh and felt the difference immediately on the roads which needed repairs as of yesterday. All too soon another border at Loni and we were in Delhi- the senses satiated and the wanderlust temporarily satiated. Till the next time..

Pan Asian travels--Indonesia through the eyes of a friend

no words needed here

I have known Kamalika Jhum Chattaraj since I was 4..she was my first best friend in this lifetime. We lost touch after our families moved to different towns. A school reunion in Bombay brought us back together in 2010. We have been meeting at least once a year since then for a couple of days. However, this is the first time ever that both of us really connected as adults and as children …so much synergy, so much understanding, so much laughter, so much heart to heart, so much listening to the same song throughout the trip…..(Raabta is scintillating!)…am so glad I found you Kamalika Jhum Chattaraj
Indonesia…a country with friendly, soft spoken and really nice people...clean country,huge traffic jams on great roads and absolutely no honking…..for a person from Bombay…this was so peaceful. Some stuff I was fascinated by are the beautiful batik paintings, the volcano called Tanguban Perahu, the gorgeous houses at Bali, the color of the sea, the amazing Kecak dance program, the so very graceful Ramayana ballet and the Borodudur temple at Jogjakarta.

You would be surprised to know that outside the airports in Indonesia, NOBODY, absolutely NOBODY speaks any English or any other language than their own..Bahasaa. If it hadn’t been for Kamalika and her mastery over Bahasaa in the short time that she has been there, we would have been so stuck. This advert is so contextual and am sure teaching English in Indonesia will be profitable…alternative career option .

I was carrying a lot of rupiah (Indonesian currency) on me...this is 100000 rupiah (IDR) equivalent to approximately 500 INR. But in the first couple of days my heart would skip many beats when I had to pay for something like dinner in some lakhs…took me a couple of days to get  oriented.

All you really need to connect is a smile

 

Beautiful batik masks at the Tanguban Perahu. Indonesian batik has been designated Indonesian batik as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO

The Denpasar airport, Bali is just by the sea and is a lovely landing

The itinerary..Jakarata-Purwarkarta-Bandung-Bali-Yogyakarta-Puwarkarta-Jakarta 

 

Some images of Jakarta that I carried back are these women with flawless skin in really really high heels, huge malls, crazy traffic jams…and of course Kopi Luwak…I was horrified when Kamalika pointed out at this coffee joint and shared the story behind it: Kopi luwak / civet coffee, refers to the seeds of coffee berries once they have been eaten and egested by civets ). Also known as cat shit coffee. Producers of the coffee beans argue that the process may improve coffee through two mechanisms, selection and digestion. Selection occurs if the civets choose to eat coffee berries containing better beans. Digestive mechanisms may improve the flavor profile of the coffee beans that have been eaten. The civet eats the berries for the beans' fleshy pulp, then in the digestive tract, fermentation occurs. I have tried different types of food in Indonesia..this one was just not my cup of tea..err sorry…coffee

Ramada Bintang Hotel, Bali…beautiful resort styled hotel. Unfortunately we were so busy exploring Bali, that we did not have the time to explore this beautiful sprawling property. The musical instrument is called Rindik.This is a traditional instrument built from bamboo. It’s sound comes from beating the bamboo with a small stick (thought this is somewhat similar to a xylophone?). Used by hotels to welcome guests to the restaurant or celebrations 

This is a typical type of wood that we came across…a natural design…the locals create lovely handicrafts with this wood..you can also see a musical instrument called the Angklung made of bamboo tubes. Each of three or more performers in an angklung ensemble play just one note or more, but altogether complete melodies are produced. A popular musical instrument in SE Asia that originated in Indonesia

 

The Caladera of the volcano — at Tangkuban Perhau

Borobudur is one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world. Borobudur means monastery on the hill. The Borobudur Buddhist temple dates back to the 8th/9th century. The temple was used as a Buddhist temple from its construction until sometime between the 10th and 15th centuries when it was abandoned. It was re-discovered in the 19th century and restored in the 20th century. The ten mounting terraces of the entire structure correspond to the successive stages that the Bodhisattva has to achieve before attaining enlightenment.

 

The Ramayana Ballet Performance is in front of the Prambanan temple…the temple is beautifully lit up at night. Graceful Javanese dance movements accompanied by an orchestra. We were mesmerized — at Prambanan Temple

Started the day by dressing up like local

Balinese flower girls….great fun at the photo shoot

At the kecak dance performance…at Ubud…a dance form where a set of 50 or more men sit around and chant to create music to which the other performers dance to…enacting the Ramayana …there is no other music and this is for a good 1 hour...the performance ended with a fire dance and this performer jumped on wooden logs that we burning bright not just once but many times over….we were mesmerized

 

Time to multi task…shopping and exploring traditional Balinese homes…the entrances are beautifully done up and the entire home including the guest house, temple etc. We could multi task because most the traditional homes have been converted into business places for selling jewellery, gorgeous paintings, wood craft et al

Perfect example of a traditional Balinese house being converted into a studio…seen some stunning paintings.

Getting onto the Flying Fish…a water sport where the inflatable rubber boat will be dragged by a speed boat and at some point the rubber boat (where we are holding on for our dear lives) will fly in the sky…once you get over the fear of a the boat bobbing at top speed on the rough sea, you will really feel great when the boat is in the air…amazing experience…Jhum thanks for continuously asking me to keep my eyes open to enjoy the feeling

Nasi Goreng the traditional Indonesian meal tasted distinctly different and delicious and the full moon night as seen from the hotel room made sure that yet another holiday gets a perfect ending