Sulpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, Gujarat

Sulpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, Gujarat

(11^th to 13^th April 2015)

Taking advantage of the long weekend coming soon, I decided to join the 3 days summer camp organized by YHAI. I asked Chaitali, one of my friends from Jodhpur, who showed interest and agreed to join. As Sweta, my roomie also offered to come along at last moment, we decided to go by train, as she doesn’t feel comfortable bin a bus. We tried to book tatkal at last moment, and as we didn’t get AC tickets, we had to go for sleeper class tickets. As I had travelled by sleeper on two occasions, I thought it would be kind of cool. But all my assumptions went wrong, when we boarded the train, Avadh Express. Oh ghosh! It was no less than Mumbai Local; People in huge numbers, piling up like luaggages, as it later became difficult to identify people and their luggage. Someone was busy putting his luggage on our seat at which Sweta got angry and shouted at him, and I was just dumbstruck. She was like,”Yahan chillana padta hai, aise khade khade apni seat bhi nhi milti hai!” Wonder what! After lot of struggle we both climbed to our sleeper seats and just lied down, trying to sleep. But the noises of the crowd, shouting, chatting and arguing with each other, gave a disturbed sleep to us. It was another kind of experience though. Hmm India- the wonderland!

Thus after some troublesome journey, we alighted at Ankleshwar, and took to waiting room, waiting for Chaitali, whose train was late than the scheduled time and reached Ankleshwar at 8:30 am.

The moment she arrived, we started walking towards Bus depot, which was at a walking distance from Railway station and after waiting for another 5-10 minutes we boarded the bus to Rajpipla which was another 65 kms from there.

 

(Sitlamata Temple, Rajpipla; the fun begins)

We reported to YHAI camp leader at Sitlamata Mandir, Rajpipla, from where the yhai jeeps took us to our destination; Sulpanehswar wildlife sanctuary at satpura-vindya ranges. All three of us, from the name and from its description and location on Map, expected Sulpaneshwar wildlife sanctuary to be a forest area, full of flora, fona with lush green jungle on some hill, thinking it would be an escape from the heat of Mumbai. But on the contrary, though it was hilly and huge in area, it was not at all lush green. At this season of the summer, it was almost barren, with few trees of Mango and bamboos with some beautiful flowers. I just realized then that it was God’s way of showing us the other aspects of life. As I have this craving for greenery, especially lush green, I always avoid going to barren and desert areas. And for long I have been turning off one of my friends’ invitation to visit Ladakh for the fear of encountering desert only. My trip to Sulpaneshwar was a wakeup call. ‘May be I need to visit deserts as well” I just felt. And from now onwards, I won’t resist any opportunity to visit any place of the world just for some psychological fear; that’s my learning and resolution from this trip.

Leaving apart the feelings thing, we had complete fun, taking part in all the activities. Just go through the pictures:

 

(I just thought that I won’t fit into that space due to my small height, but bravo I did and did it well!)

(The shortest route from on tree to another is a ‘Burma Bridge’)

(Let’s do some boating and play with the fresh waves)

Picture perfect)

(Junaraj, the Tribal village at its purest form)

(Let’s rappel down; hip hip hurray) Vertical Limits!

(That’s river crossing)

(kuchh rest toh banta hai guys; with a power nap)

(The evenings at the campsite, were blessings)

The overall experience amidst of super hitting sun and hard wind in the evening was super cool. We had fun and enjoyed these three days like anything. The return journey by Shatabdi Express from vadodara to Mumbai was also different, as it again was my first ever experience by a chair car. So, with so many firsts, this was an A-Awesome trip! J

 

(Tada Gujarat; would love to see you again)

Chandigarh-Delhi; My instant Spring Break!!!

Chandigarh-Delhi; My instant Spring Break

(1^st April to 5^th April 2015)

Well, the Month of March had been quite hectic and hard; both professionally and personally. I won’t go into the details though. But let me tell you one thing that I didn’t take even a single day off from work, and on weekends I did usual stuffs, like visiting friends, going out for movies and dinners, sleeping and lazing around. Amidst the hard march, I felt lost in a big city like Mumbai, like many of my friends, and I needed an instant break out of this commotion; and then came April, when I flew home to Chandigarh. It’s been quite long since I updated my note, all thanks to my laziness and lost soul. Lol! So, here I share some of the pictures of my instant break to Chandigarh and Delhi and some lively moments with my family and friends:

 

"I have every reason to smile and to be thankful!!!))

I felt so different when I landed at Chandigarh. It never was as peaceful and soothing as it felt then; maybe I got so used to the noises of the Metro that even the loudest shout of people around in Chandigarh just felt like slight whispers. And in midst of that I could take some inner journey as well, getting my senses to work again. The weather also was so pleasant. It was cloudy and breezy and at night it rained as well. To quote me,” I could hear the rock music of season’s first thunderstorm at night, and could see splashes of rain drops dancing on the floor. I could hear the melodious songs sung by a band of beautiful birds in the morning. I could feel the familial love showering all around. Oh yeah!  My senses had started working again, for I was home again!”” J

My friends Anju and Annie came in the morning, and then what along with them and my niece Rinzin, I went out for an instant outing to Morni Hills, which is just about 45 kms from my home and which is the nearest hilly escape to the people of Chandigarh and Panchkula. The day was quite fun-filled and lively. We did all the fun stuffs there, without caring for anything, for we all were back to our carefree and innocent Childhood. It was my third visit to Morni hills, and wonders what, on every visit, I found it different and fresh. J

 

(Nature and its Creatures; Being Natural ;-)

(Pagal-panthi or Bachpan-panthi; for us it’s Heaven-panthi)

Just a few kms ahead of Morni, we have this beautiful and serene lake, Tikkartal; that adorns the beauty of the hills with its freshness and stillness. :-)

 

We need no words when stillness speaks the language of our hearts while touching our souls

On the way back to home, we visited Nadda Saheb Gurudwara, which is one of the biggest of Chandigarh.

Wahe Guru ji ki Fateh, wahe guru ji ki khalsa

Soon it was evening, and our day ended with a dinner treat by Annie on completing her Doctors degree. All cheers and smiles! J

(Happy and satisfied faces; CHEERS to this life)

On 3^rd evening, I travelled to Delhi to visit my friends, Nini and Monty, whom I hadn’t seen since last October. They had been insisting me to ‘come to Delhi’ for quite some time, but I hardly could, so this time I booked my return flight ticket from Delhi, so that I could drop by and spend few beautiful moments with them too. After all friends are for life! J

 

"Moments for life!"

On 4^th evening, as Nini still had not reached from her exam centre, Monty and I took a quick stroll at India Gate. I just wondered when Mumbai had been burning in scorching heat for quite a long time, Chandigarh and Delhi on the contrary had to offer such a pleasant and cool weather, for then at least we could think of going outdoors. Hmm

When Nini finally reached, we went to watch ‘fast and Furious at PVR in Connaught Place and enjoyed every bits and pieces of it. J

 

(Its’ Never a Good bye!) :-)

Oh, it was already 5^th of April; the day for my departure. But before I flew again, we paid quick visits to Jama Masjid and Lal Qila, which I had not seen earlier. Yes, I am smart enough to book a late evening flight to Mumbai so that I could spend some more quality time with my friends. ;-)

 

I had to put that dupatta as I was wearing a sleeveless Tee. So if you go next time, be careful to put on full clothes; upper as well as lower)

I never imagined that Red Fort had a Shopping Complex inside it

So, that’s the end of my 4 days instant break, and to share with you truly, I literally squeezed each and every moment of those 4 days. All smiles JJJ