Nature – An Indian Bureaucrat's Diary http://binoygupta.com Share the life time experiences of a retired Indian Bureaucrat relating to travel and nature Sat, 16 Mar 2013 19:27:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.1 Carnivorous Plants …the Venus Fly Trap http://binoygupta.com/nature/carnivorous-plants-the-venus-fly-trap-489/ http://binoygupta.com/nature/carnivorous-plants-the-venus-fly-trap-489/#comments Sat, 25 Feb 2012 14:12:50 +0000 http://binoygupta.com/?p=489 Read more ›]]> The  Venus Fly Trap             (   Dionaea muscipula )
                          
I had to hunt around for more than three years before I could acquire my first carnivorous plants and some seeds. Amongst my prized collections was the amazing Venus Fly Trap.

 

 It is a most attractive plant. If you are interested in knowing more about it, you can contact me.

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Canivorous Plants…….. http://binoygupta.com/nature/canivorous-plants-486/ http://binoygupta.com/nature/canivorous-plants-486/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:46:57 +0000 http://binoygupta.com/?p=486 Read more ›]]> Carnivorous Plants are exremely fascinating. They do not stalk and hunt prey like the larger animals, but have remarkable adaptations to attract, capture and digest their prey.

After more than three years of searching, I have succeeded in getting my first carnivorous plants.  Here  is the picture of my Winged Pitcher Plant.
I think it is  Nepenthes Alata but I am not sure.

It has adopted my home and is growing very well.
It has thrown out several beautiful pitchers…
It has two wings and a cap. It looks like an angel…..
I will add more photographs on my blog.

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Terrarium set up your own http://binoygupta.com/nature/terrarium-set-up-your-own-479/ http://binoygupta.com/nature/terrarium-set-up-your-own-479/#comments Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:01:04 +0000 http://binoygupta.com/?p=479 Read more ›]]> Terrariums are beautiful. Terrariums are elegant. And they have played a very important role in our daily lives.
And you can set up a simple inexpensive one like the one in this article.

If you are interested…..you can contact me for more details.

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Butterfly Parks of India http://binoygupta.com/nature/butterfly-parks-of-india-461/ http://binoygupta.com/nature/butterfly-parks-of-india-461/#comments Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:34:44 +0000 http://binoygupta.com/?p=461 Read more ›]]> Butterfly Parks of  India  

Butterflies are so beautiful that I find it difficult to refer to them as insects, but they are insects.

They are attractive and graceful. Vivid and multi coloured – representing nature’s canvas at its finest. The restless butterflies make a fascinating sight flittering around in gardens and parks, hovering over plants, landing on the flowers for a few sips of nectar, before taking off.
Metamorphosis – one of most remarkable phenomenon of nature 

Metamorphosis – the transformation from egg to larva, larva to cocoon, from which emerges a beautiful butterfly – is one of most remarkable phenomenon of nature.

Metamorphosis involves four stages:

  • Egg: The female butterfly lays eggs on the underside of specific plants so that when caterpillars later emerge from the eggs, they can immediately get food from the plant leaves.
  • Larva: Also called caterpillar, emerge from the eggs after a few days. The caterpillar is a eating machine and spends most of its time eating.
  • Pupa: When the caterpillar has finished growing, it stops eating and forms a protective shield called Pupa. Most of the magical transformation into a butterfly takes place inside the Pupa.
  • Butterfly: The pupa undergoes transformation and the caterpillar metamorphoses into a butterfly which emerges from the pupa.

The adult butterfly later mates and lays eggs on plants and the cycle starts all over again.
You can see the video of a butterfly metamorphosis at any of the following sites:

http://vimeo.com/7203408
http://lifecycle.onenessbecomesus.com/

Butterfly Facts

  • There are 1,500,000 insect species in the world.
  • Of these, 200,000 species are of Lepidoptera (the group to which moths and butterflies belong).
  • 17, 050 of these species are butterflies and the rest are moths!
  • Of the17, 050 species world wide, India has 1501 species of butterflies
  • The life cycle of a butterfly is extremely short – mere 30 to 40 days.
     

Butterfly Parks

All over the world, butterflies have suffered extensive damage due to habitat destruction – urbanisation, felling of trees, construction, etc.
In many areas, they have been almost exterminated.

Butterfly parks have been set up in several countries ….to conserve them, to breed them, to allow visitors to see them and to conduct research.
There are quite a few well maintained butterfly parks in different countries of south-east Asia which display quite a large selection of different species.
But unknown to most of us, there are a few good butterfly parks in India, too.

India’s First Butterfly Park – Butterfly Park, Bangalore

India’s first Butterfly Park was opened on November 25, 2006 in Bangalore to promote butterfly ecotourism.

The Butterfly Park, near the Bannerghatta Zoo, cost Rs 50 millions and covers an area of over 7.5 acres.

The centre of attraction is the 10,000 sq. feet circular Conservatory with polycarbonate roof which has on display more than 20 species of butterflies.

The next dome houses a museum. Here you learn about the 4 stages of lifecycle of the butterfly – the egg, larva or caterpillar, pupa or chrysalis, and the adult.
You learn about different species of butterflies – from the smallest Eastern Pygmy Blue, Brephidium isophthalma with a wingspan of about 5/8 of an inch to large Bird-Wing butterflies from New Guinea, with wingspans of up to 12 inches.

The third and last dome is a theatre where you can watch a 20 minute movie about butterflies. Besides giving information about butterflies, the movie focuses on conservation. The movie explains how the fate of man and butterflies are interlinked and conservation of the environment is in our mutual interest.

The Butterfly Park also has an artificial waterfall. It is quite well maintained and has become a popular week end attraction amongst localites.

India’s Second Butterfly Park – Butterfly Park, Shimla

 

 

India’s second Butterfly Park was established at Shimla in Himachal Pradesh. It cost Rs. 60 millions and spreads over an area of 10 acres.

Himachal Pradesh has more than 300 species of butterflies. The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) found 14 species of butterflies in the cold deserts of Lahaul and Spiti district.

The Butterfly Park which includes a conservatory, a museum and a nature park has a larger collection of butterflies.

Butterfly Park in Pune

 

The Butterfly Park in Pune was inaugurated by actress Dimple Kapadia on Women’s Day – March 8, 2011.

The Pune Municipal Corporation funded the park with Rs. 50 million. The Park covers an area of two acres. The project has transformed a dirty drain into a beautiful park.

The Butterfly Park has about 80 species of butterflies. It also has a rock garden, waterfalls and a jogging track.

Butterfly Park in Chandigarh

The Environment Society of India inaugurated a Butterfly Park at the Commonwealth Youth Programme Asia Centre in Sector 26 of Chandigarh on Biodiversity Day – 23 May 2011.

The Park costing Rs. 70 lakh covers an area of 7.5 acres.

India’s first Open-air Butterfly Park in Sikkim

India’s first Open-air Butterfly Park was established at Rangrang, Sikkim. It cost Rs. 60 millions and extends over an area of 14 acres

Some nature lovers have started their own private Butterfly Parks.

Butterfly Conservatory of Goa, Rajnagar, Pisgal – Priol, Ponda, Goa.

The Butterfly Conservatory of Goa. situated in Ponda , the Spice and temple town is quite good

This private Butterfly Park is spread over 4000 square metres.  A few common people, without too much money and resources, got together and have converted the place, which was once barren and without any natural source of water, into a beautiful park with streams, endemic plants and a lot of butterflies. If you go to Goa, you must visit this Butterfly Park.

http://www.bcogoa.org/

 Ovalekar Butterfly Farm at Wadi, Thane

Closer to Mumbai, Rajendra Ovalekar, started a Butterfly Park on his own 2 acres of land at Ovalekar Wadi, off Ghodbunder Road, in Thane (near Mumbai).

This small place has about 100 different species of butterflies. And Ovalekar personally escorts you around the place and explains to you all about butterflies.
Very few people in Mumbai even know about this Butterfly Park.

http://www.wikimapia.org/14420146/Butterfly-Farm

Protecting our Butterflies

A total of 450 species of butterflies have been given protection under The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972;
128 species under  Schedule-I,

303 species under Schedule- II and

19 species under Schedules- IV.
Butterflies have also been given protection under the Biodiversity Act of 2002.
 

Commercial Butterfly farming

Commercial Butterfly Farming has been adopted as a viable occupation in several countries. In India, too, Butterfly Farming can help the rural people play an active role in the conservation of butterflies as well as help them earn some good money.

Bombay Natural History Society in Mumbai

The Bombay Natural History Society, founded on 15 September 1883, is one of the largest non-governmental organizations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research.

It is also doing a lot of work in relation to butterflies. Its museum has a huge collection of 25,000 butterflies collected over the years. It conducts regular programmes like Breakfast with Butterflies and Butterfly watch camps allowing any one to see and learn about butterflies.
It also conducts distance learning courses in Basic Entomology.

Butterfly Migration

 

Many animals, birds and other animals migrate….sometimes over long distances. Butterflies also migrate.

A few, like the Monarch Butterfly, migrate long distances. There are no other insects in the world that migrate twice each year for close to 3,000 miles.

But the there is one difference between the migration of butterflies and the other animals. The butterflies who migrate, because of their short life spans, do not live to return to the originating place.
They perish. Only their off springs return. What guides the off springs to the same locations?
Well, this is one of Nature’s unsolved riddles.

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Vanishing Vultures http://binoygupta.com/nature/vanishing-vultures-450/ http://binoygupta.com/nature/vanishing-vultures-450/#respond Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:01:06 +0000 http://binoygupta.com/?p=450 Read more ›]]>  


Vanishing Vultures 

Nature’s Scavengers
 
 

 

 

Perhaps you have noticed that at present there are considerably less vultures in our skies than there were a few years back.

In the early eighties, there were about 40 million vultures in India. The Oriental white-backed vulture was so abundant in India, that it was probably the most common large bird of prey in the world.
The vulture population has declined…….. by more than 97%……. in the last few years and their numbers are decreasing at an alarming rate.

Vultures endangered

Of the nine species of vultures found in India, three species – the white-backed, long-billed and slender-billed vultures have been categorised by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as critically endangered.
These three species are also listed in Schedule I species in the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, along with the tiger and one-horned rhino.

A survey by the Bombay Natural History Society in 2007 estimated that there were about:

  • 1000 slender-billed vultures,
  • 11,000 white-backed vultures, and
  • 44,000 long-billed vultures in the country.

Reasons for the decline

The main reasons for the decline in vulture population in the entire South and Southeast Asia are:

  • Rapid urbanization which has caused habitat destruction – felling of the high-rise trees, where the vultures nest;
  • Aeroplanes and other moving objects in the sky;
  • Electric power lines;
  • Rampant use of pesticides like DDT, and to a great extent diclofenac.

Diclofenac

Many experts believe that the drug diclofenac is the main culprit for the decline of vultures in India.
India introduced the diclofenac in 1993. The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has been campaigning against diclofenac since 2003 because diclofenac, which is used to treat cattle, is toxic to any vulture that feeds on the carcass of recently treated cattle.

In 2006, the Government of India banned the manufacture and import of diclofenac – but only for veterinary purposes. Nepal and Pakistan followed the ban.

In 2008, the Government of India placed more stringent restrictions on diclofenac for animal use, making contravention punishable with imprisonment.

But diclofenac, which continues to be legally used and sold for humans, is available across the counter in most medicine shops, and is illegally used for animals.

Dr. Vibhu Prakash, the principal scientist for the vulture conservation breeding programme at BNHS, Mumbai found that, over 75% of vultures which were discovered dead or died of visceral gout had diclofenac in their tissues.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/supporting/campaigns/vultures/ 

The Indian Veterinary Research Institute also conducted tests and detected heavy content of diclofenac, in samples of dead vultures.

Diet of the vultures

Vultures usually feed on carcasses of livestock and wildlife.
They do not hunt living animals, though sometimes, they attack and  kill wounded or sick animals.

A mature vulture eats almost half a kg meat everyday. Vultures detect dead animals faster than any other animal, and follow migrating predators and other large animals feeding on the dead and help in keeping the environment clean.

Captive Breeding

The BNHS advocated the captive breeding of vultures as the only viable option to save the creatures

“By bringing some vultures in captivity, the life of these vultures is saved and once they start breeding, they would augment their population. The vultures will be released back in the wild once we are sure that there is no diclofenac available in system,”

The Govt. of India permitted BNHS to run three vulture conservation breeding centres at Pinjore of Haryana, Rajabhatkhawa of West Bengal and Rani of Assam. BNHS is supported by a number of international organizations like the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (UK), Zoological Society of London , Peregrine Fund (US), and the newly-formed consortium Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction (SAVE).
(There are conservation breeding centres linked to the SAVE programme also in Nepal and Pakistan.)

The three conservation breeding centres in India have 271 vultures. And they have successfully bred of all the three endangered species.

2011 has been the most successful year for the Indian captive breeding centres.
The number of fledged chicks is almost double than last year’s.
Eighteen vulture chicks were successfully reared, 15 at the Pinjore centre in Haryana, and the remaining three at Rajabhat Khawa in West Bengal.

Four fledged birds were a direct result of ‘double clutches’: some pairs produced a second egg after the first was removed, hatched in incubators and reared by BNHS staff.

Some experts are against captive breeding of vultures. But the three breeding centres are making very good progress.

An exclusive sanctuary for the Vultures

The Tamil Nadu Government is now examining a proposal  to set up a home for vultures in the Sigur Plateau in the Nilgiris. This would be the first of its kind in the country.

Why should we be concerned about vultures

 

About a year back, I saw a large group of vultures flying over the Fort in Jodhpur. Someone explained that this place was one of the biggest nesting and breeding places of these vultures.

Why should we be concerned about vultures?
For one, they are nature’s scavengers.
There are other scavengers, but they are not as efficient as the vultures.  The vultures are usually the first to detect dead carcasses and others follow them. Besides  they carry a host of diseases like rabies, which can easily be transmitted to humans.

Love them or hate them, vultures are uniquely adapted scavengers and their loss would have numerous negative repercussions for other species inhabiting our planet, including us.
http://blogs.peregrinefund.org/pages/article.php?eid=683

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Munnar – a cuppa of British Tea http://binoygupta.com/travel_india/munnar-a-cuppa-of-british-tea-374/ http://binoygupta.com/travel_india/munnar-a-cuppa-of-british-tea-374/#comments Sun, 12 Jun 2011 18:22:27 +0000 http://binoygupta.com/?p=374 Read more ›]]> Kashmir of South India

Manicured Tea Gardens

I had heard a lot about Munnar, the beautiful hill station in South India.
And although I had visited places very close to Munnar, such as Theni (Tamil Nadu) – only about an hour’s drive from Munnar – due to shortage of time, I could not visit the place.

So, in early 2011, I decided to visit Munnar,

Munnar is a wonderful getaway in Kerala, nestling at an altitude of 1,829 metres, amidst luscious tea and coffee plantations, hills, valleys, lakes, waterfalls, forests, exhilarating walks, birds and animals. It is nicknamed the Kashmir of South India.
I booked a small suite in one of the finest resorts there. My RCI membership comes in handy on such occasions. I had to pay only nominal charges. I also booked return flights from Mumbai to Kochi three months in advance. So those too were cheap.

A two hour drive (120 kms) from Kochi airport took me into the heart of tea country. I was passing through beautiful tea gardens on all sides.

Tea

I recently read an article that tea drinking originated in India. Much as I would love to believe this,  this is not true.
Tea drinking originated in China almost 4750 years ago. It was known there as Ch’a. The word has been copied by India, Japan, Russia, Iran and the Middle East.

In A.D. 780, the Chinese tea expert Lu Yu published the first exclusive book on tea ‘Ch’a Ching’ meaning ‘Tea classic’. In this book, he has described various kinds of tea, their cultivation and manufacturing in China.
Though we had indigenous tea plants in India, commercial cultivation of tea entered India much later. In 1834, Lord William Bentinck, then Governor General of British India, appointed a Tea Committee to advise him on the feasibility of commercial tea cultivation in India. The first experimental samples of tea from indigenous tea plants were sent to Calcutta in 1836.
The rest is history.

Today, India is the world’s second largest producer (India was number one, but China overtook India to become the number one). And we have all kinds of tea….from the good old time tested orthodox “Britisher’s….cuppa tea” to all kinds of delicately flavoured exotic concoctions.

History of Munnar and its tea plantations

Munnar was discovered by John Daniel Manro, a British lawyer and planter, in the 1870s, when he visited the area on a hunting expedition. He immediately recognised the agricultural potential of the region.

In July 1877, Manro leased 581.12 sq kms (125,000 acres) of land from the Raja of Poonjar and formed a co-operative society called ‘North Travancore Land Planting and Agricultural Society’. The members of the society started farming coffee, sisal and cardamom.
Another European, A.H. Sharp, experimented with different crops such as coffee, cinchona, sisal and cardamom and concluded that the area was best suited for tea. He started tea plantations. Over the years, more and more tea plantations grew up.

In 1964, the Tata Group entered Munnar.  By 1980s, Tata Tea Ltd. had acquired most of the tea plantations to become the second largest integrated tea manufacturing facility in the world.

On 1st April 2005, Tata Tea Ltd. exited most of its plantations in Munnar and were succeeded by Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company Private Limited which now owns 7 extensive gardens covering 24,000 hectares, with an annual production of 21 million kgs of tea.
An interesting feature of this company is that its 12,000 plus employees are its shareholders.

What to see

There are a number of places in and around Munnar which you can visit. During the rains, the place becomes a fairyland enveloped in fog and mist andfull of cascading waterfalls.

But where ever you go, when ever you go, you will see beautifully manicured tea gardens. Left to nature, the tea plants grow quite tall. But for tea cultivation, they have to be continuously cut to 1 metre or so to encourage the growth of new shoots. The fresh tea shoots are pinched or clipped every three or four days from which tea is made.

The tangled leftovers of dead tea plants make wonderful show pieces. They are dried, sand papered and given a coat of varnish. You can put a sheet of glass on them and use them as beautiful ornamental tables.

Tea Museum  (2 kms from Munnar)

The Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company Private Limited maintains India’s first tea museum which is a must visit site for all visitors.
Here, you can learn about the growth of the tea industry – from the simple tea roller to the present fully automated tea factory of Madupatty.
You can learn about various aspects of tea processing and the operations that go into the making of black tea. You can also do some tea tasting.

You can see old-time bungalow furniture, iron safe, magneto phone, wooden bathtub, iron oven that used firewood, etc., and antique office equipments such as antiquated typewriters and PBX.
The museum has an iron-age burial urn from the 2nd century B.C. exhumed in the 1970s.

Near the entrance of the museum is a granite sundial, made in 1913 by the Art Industrial School at Nazareth in Tamil Nadu.

Mattupetty (13 kms from Munnar)

The Mattupetty lake and dam are situated at a height of 1700 mts. You can do some boating here.
You can visit the Indo-swiss dairy farm, which is close by. It has over 100 varieties of high yielding cattle.
Eravikulam National Park (15 km from Munnar)
PEERMEDE

There are other national parks around Munnar,  but the 97 sq. kms. Eravikulam National Park is the home of the endangered Nilgiri Tahr, a rare mountain goat. Originally established to protect the Nilgiri Tahr, the Park was declared a sanctuary in 1975. Its status was elevated to National Park in 1978.
The total number of Niligiri Tahrs here is estimated to be over 1300 – about half the world’s population.

The park is breathtakingly beautiful. The Anamudi peak (2695 mts), the highest peak in South India, is located in the Southern region of the park.
If you have the time and inclination, you can walk up to the top.

Marayoor (40 kms from Munnar)

Marayoor is the only place in Kerala that has a natural growth of sandalwood trees.
I visited the sandalwood factory of the forest department, the caves (muniyaras) with murals and relics from the New stone age civilization and the children’s park spread across a hectare of land under the canopy of a single banyan tree.
You can also visit the Thoovanam waterfalls and Rajiv Gandhi National Park nearby.

Dolmens

You can see muniyaras (caves) dating back to the New Stone Age near Kovilkadavu village. These caves contain rock paintings of great archaeological importance.
But what was more interesting for me were the dolmens, or old burial chambers, consisting of four erect stones covered by a horizontal capstone.

Neelakurunji flowers

You can also see the beautiful Neelakurunji flowers here, but there is only one hitch. The spectacular blue blooms cover the entire mountainside.
But they flower once in 12 years and the next flowering will take place in 2018.
So you will have to wait for another 7 years.

Reaching There

 The nearest airport is Kochi.
Kochi also has a railway station and is well connected by road also.
You can see a map of the place and get other information from the
following site:
http://www.munnar.org/munnar-maps.php

Summer Resort

The word Munnar is derived from the Tamil words moon – aar meaning three rivers because Munnar is located at the confluence of three rivers – Mudrapuzha, Nallathani and Kundala.
The most appropriate description of Munnar would be tea country. But it is much more than that.

The Britishers of South India had made Munnar their summer resort.

And it really rains during the monsoons. The rains here are 2nd only to Cherrapunji in Assam.

You will surely fall in love with the place during the rains.

 

 

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Jodhpur – Land of Sand and Sand Dunes http://binoygupta.com/travel_india/jodhpur-land-of-sand-and-sand-dunes-320/ http://binoygupta.com/travel_india/jodhpur-land-of-sand-and-sand-dunes-320/#comments Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:06:39 +0000 http://binoygupta.com/?p=320 Read more ›]]>

 Jodhpur – Land of Sand and Sand Dunes

For a long time now, I had been planning to ride across the deserts and over the sand dunes in Rajasthan, atop our one humped camels.
I narrowed down my search to two places – Jaisalmer and Jodhpur.

I finally zeroed in on Jodhpur for the simple reason it has one of the finest forts in India, the most modern palace in the country and….. it is easier to travel to Jodhpur from Mumbai or Delhi.

Mandore (9 Kms) – History  

The early capital of the Jodhpur area was not the present city of Jodhpur but Mandore (originally known as Mandavyapur)  –  9 kms north of Jodhpur.
Mandore has a long history. During the Ramayana era, Princess Mandodri of Mandavyapur married King Ravana.

During the Gupta period 6th – 7th century AD, Mandore was the ancient capital of the Parihar kings and remained the capital under various kings till the 14th century.

When Kannauj was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1019, the Gahadvala dynasty gained control of Kannauj and ruled for almost a century. Their best known and last king was Raja Jaichand.

Raja Jaichand’s successors, who came to be known as Rathores, gradually spread across Marwar, forming a loose brotherhood of land owners and village chieftains, bound to each other by clan and caste.

In 1395 AD, Chundaji Rathore married a Parihar princess Mohil and began ruling Mandore.

Rao Jodha, a Rathore chief, conquered the surrounding areas and founded the Marwar state – the largest Rajasthan state during the pre independence days. A 10 km long wall with 8 Gates leading out of it encircled the old city.

Rao Jodha founded the present Jodhpur in 1459 A.D. and shifted his capital from Mandore to Jodhpur.

Mandore (9 Kms) – the Old City 
 

Today, Mandore has a beautiful garden on the slopes of a hill housing a unique  collection of royal devals or cenotaphs (cenotaph means a monument erected in honor of a dead person whose remains lie elsewhere or could not be recovered).
 
Unlike the usual chhatri (umbrella) shaped cenotaphs typical of other places of Rajasthan, the cenotaphs in Mandore are in the shape of beautiful, ornate, Hindu temples.
All the cenotaphs were constructed out of dark red sandstone.
The most impressive one is the four-storey cenotaph of Maharaja Ajit Singh (reigned 1678-1724), with fine columns and an elegant spire.

The garden has a hall of heroes with 16 figures of popular Hindu and folk deities carved out of a single rock, dating back to the 17th – 18th century.
Adjacent to this is a larger hall called “The Shrine of the Three Hundred Million” deities filled with brightly coloured images of various Hindu Gods.

As you climb up the hill, you come to the ruins of old Mandore with its old palace. Set on a rocky outcrop, a ten-minute walk over the hills, are the beautiful cenotaphs of the beautiful Maharanis.

The Mandore museum has a good collection of memoralia.

Modern Jodhpur


Maharaja Rao Jodha founded Jodhpur in 1459 A.D. The same year, he started constructed of the Mehrangarh Fort.
Construction of the Fort was completed by Maharaja Jaswant Singh (1638-1680).

Jodhpur is known as the Sun City for its year round bright, sunny, weather.
It is also known as the Blue City (Jaipur is known as the Pink City), due to the excessive indigo used in white-washing the houses around the Mehrangarh Fort.
Initially, only Brahmins white washed their houses indigo blue. The non-Brahmins soon joined in, as the blue colour (probably it was the indigo) was believed to deflect the heat and keep mosquitoes away.

Today Jodhpur has two sectors – the old city and the new city.
The old city is surrounded by a thick stone wall with six huge gates – Nagauri Gate, Merati Gate, Sojati Gate, Jalori Gate, Siwanchi Gate and Chand Pol.

The Old market

After checking in at the hotel, I spent the first evening walking around the Clock Tower and the area around it.
This gave us a taste of the old markets in the old city.
Speaking of taste, you can purchase Jodhpur’s famous red chilli powder around here. Besides, there are lots of shops around selling local handicrafts, lac work and pretty bangles.

Mehrangarh Fort

The most imposing structure in Jodhpur, and the finest fort in India, is the Mehrangarh Fort.  Sprawling over 5 sq. Kms,, the Fort has seven gates.

Built of red sandstone, the Mehrangarh Fort rises sharply on an almost vertical cliff.

The main entrance to the fort is Jai Pol which was built in 1806 by Maharaja Man Singh to commemorate his victory in a battle.

Even though seventeen generations of Rathore rulers have added a number of temples, palaces and courtyards, surprisingly, the overall look is one of symmetry.

Inside the fort are various ornate and decorative structures constructed by different kings – the Phool Mahal, Takhat Mahal, Moti Mahal and Jhanki Mahal.

The bastioned walls with a sprinkling of old cannons on top have been hewn out of rocks and at some places are 24 metres thick and 40 metres high.

The museum inside the Fort has a wonderful collection of palanquins, howdahs, royal cradles, miniatures, musical instruments, costumes and furniture.

Ziplining (Zipling)

And it was here in this Fort, we first met the Flying Fox. The Flying Fox is not an animal. It is an outfit offering India’s first zip line tours or Ziplining (though I prefer to use the shorter word Zipling which I have coined).

Zipling is the sport of soaring high above the ground with your body strapped to a harness which is attached to a zip line which is an aerial runway created by tying a cable between two fixed points usually passing over scenic areas such as jungles, ravines, forests, meadows, sea and lakes.

The zip line is sloped so as to allow the rider to gradually glide down the length of the cable.

The zip lines at Mehrangarh Fort have cables suspended 30 to 200 feet above the ground passing over 6 different stages over the hills, forts and lakes.

The tour does appear a little nightmarish. But its perfectly safe and exhilerating.

Vultures at the Fort

I saw a large number of Vultures flying over the Fort. The locals clarified that this was one of the rare places in India where vultures regularly nest and breed.

 Umaid Bhawan Palace

In sharp contrast to the medieval Mehrangarh Fort is the Umaid Bhavan Palace, the latest palace of India.
Built of creamy-pink sandstone and marble, this palace is one of the largest private residences in the world.
It has 374 rooms including eight dining halls, two theatres, a ballroom, ornate reception halls and a huge underground swimming pool.

This palace was built by Maharaja Umaid Singh as a relief project to help his famine-stricken subjects. It took 15 years and 3,000 men to complete this architectural marvel.

The major portion of the palace has been converted into a 5-star heritage hotel. The present Mahrajah Gaj Singh (grandson of Umaid Singh) lives in a segregated portion of the palace. Another portion of the palace houses the museum which is open to tourists.
The museum has a rich collection of decorated weapons, paintings, porcelain, watches, antique clocks and French furniture.

Osian (65km from Jodhpur)

This unique temple town was located on a very important trade route between the 8th and the 12th centuries and contains 16 Hindu and Jain temples of exquisite quality built during that period.

But we went to Osian also to ride over the sand dunes on camel back.
Jaisalmer is more famous for its sand dunes (Sam Sand Dunes), but the sand dunes here are equally fascinating.

Other Places to see

Jaswant Thada is a white marble cenotaph with beautiful lattice carvings and pillars built in memory of Maharaja Jaswant II in 1899. It also contains cenotaphs of subsequent rulers and members of the royal family.

You should also visit Balsamand Lake and Gardens; Kailana Lake and Sardar Samand Lake.

Local delicacies

You can taste the local cuisine including shahi samosa, mirchi vada, makhan lassi and the famous Mawa Kachori dipped in sugar syrup.

Conclusion

Jodhpur is an important city.

The High Court of Rajasthan is located here. 
And it is well connected to the major cities of India, by air, rail and road.
A number of Heritage hotels of all varieties are coming up.

Jodhpur is famous for its feisty festivals, folk songs, hospitality and great food.
You can watch a lot of festivities during the month of October.

You can take a safari tour which will give you a glimpse of the lifestyle and craft of the potters and weavers, and you can also have a meal with them.

Incidentally, this is the home of the famous Bishnoi community where the black buck and other wild animals are savagely protected and it was here Salman Khan was caught and charged for wild life poaching.

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King Cobra and the PIL http://binoygupta.com/nature/king-cobra-and-the-pil-300/ http://binoygupta.com/nature/king-cobra-and-the-pil-300/#comments Tue, 20 Apr 2010 16:57:25 +0000 http://binoygupta.com/?p=300 Read more ›]]> Indian Express February 11, 2010


Today, I was pleasantly surprised to read a news article about a Public Interest Litigation involving a snake….a king cobra…… to be precise.

The report said a 16 feet king cobra was rescued from a monk and is under the care of Solapur Municipal Corporation. More about this later…..

The news transported me back in time …..more than four decades back ….to 1968.
I was then a probationer in the National Academy of Direct Taxes in Nagpur where new entrants to the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax) are trained to become what they finally become.

Being an animal lover from early childhood, I purchased a baby python from a local snake charmer. Till that day, I never knew humans are so scared of snakes. The result was that on the third day, I was directed to dispose off the baby python or get out.

I went to the local Maharajbagh Zoo and managed to meet the acting Director. I offered to donate my baby python. But he was averse to taking anything as donation. I requested him to keep my baby python for a few months. I would pay for the upkeep and take back the baby python later. But this was completely ruled out.

I then went to his boss…a senior professor. He called the acting Director and asked him whether the zoo had too many pythons.  No…that was not the case. The zoo had two pythons earlier and both had died. So there was a clear vacancy. The senior professor almost forced him to accept the baby python.

I wanted a receipt for my baby python. The acting Director refused. I suppose he had had too much of me.
Again, I went to his boss…the senior professor. He called the acting Director and asked him why he could not issue a receipt and how he would account for the baby python in the zoo’s inventory. The acting Director said they would show it as found while digging the ground. The senior professor convinced the acting Director that pythons are not recovered while digging and finally I got my receipt.

I later found that the acting Director was from the University’s Botany department. That explains his apathy to animals.

Today’s news is mentally stunning. The Public Interest Litigation application wants the High Court to order the king cobra to be released in the wild.

A division bench of Justices J N Patel and B R Gawai of the Bombay High Court has called for report from the Central Zoo Authority and the Solapur Municipal Corporation.

I am sure there are enough wild life experts and government departments who could have taken a well reasoned decision in the king cobra’s interest and done for him (or may be her) what was best and given better facilities in some good zoo.

I really find it difficult to understand how this issue could become a matter of public interest litigation when our courts are almost choked with cases.

I would have probably understood the situation better if the issue involved a community or group of king cobras. But this case involves a single king cobra!

Of course, some things are better left unexplained, because there is no rhyme or reason or logic.

Incidentally, the king cobra is one of the five most venomous snakes of India. It is found in dense forests and the chances of sighting it in the wild are rather rare.

The Government has already established a special reserve for king cobras in Agumbe (about 90 kms. from Shimoga) in Karnataka.
The king cobra, which is the subject matter of the Public Interest Litigation, can be relocated to the Rani Bagh Zoo, in Mumbai; Sanjay Gandhi National Park or can be easily sent to Agumbe – even without the High Court’s intervention.

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Flamingoes in Mumbai – December 2009 http://binoygupta.com/travel_india/flamingoes-in-mumbai-december-2009-290/ http://binoygupta.com/travel_india/flamingoes-in-mumbai-december-2009-290/#comments Sun, 27 Dec 2009 16:08:52 +0000 http://binoygupta.com/travel_india/flamingoes-in-mumbai-december-2009-290/ Read more ›]]>
After the monsoons, Flamingoes – the lesser and the greater ones – and a lot of other migratory birds come to the coastal mudflats of India from the North.
They feed on the mudflats during the next five or six months and return to their homelands in April or so.

They also come to Sewree in Central Mumbai in large numbers. Sewree is hardly four kilometres from my residence.
But I never saw these birds in the mudflats there.

Call it a Christmas determination or whatever, on the 27th December 2009, I decided to see the flamingoes. We made phone to different people to learn about the tides, how to reach the best location to see the birds and whatever we could learn.

Its simple.  You have to go to Sewree Station. You have to cross the gate (phatak) which takes you to the eastern side of the station.  Ask any one for the Sewree Jetty (or Indian Oil Corporation) or Sewree Khari (Sewree Bay). It is less than a kilometre away.  We reached the jetty in no time.

You should go there when the tide is low.
What a scene it was! I could not count the birds. But there were more than 15,000 flamingoes all around. The younger ones had a blackish colouration and moved around in small groups of their own. There were a lot of other birds.

At the jetty, we clambered up the iron ladder on to a large ship which was undergoing repairs.
(Of course, we first asked for and took permission from the first person we sighted on the ship.)I am attaching some of the photographs.
I am giving the web site from where you can see the tide table for any day.
I am not reproducing my earlier article on flamingoes. I am giving its link.
Read it if you like. And oh, like any other writer I would love to have your views and comments.
Binoy GuptaEmail:,  eleena100@hotmail.comWebsite of the Mumbai Port Trust:
http://www.mumbaiport.gov.in/newsite/PORTINFO/weather.htm
Link to my earlier article on flamingoes:
http://binoygupta.com/travel_india/flamingo-greater-flamingo-lesser-flamingo-migratory-birds-sewree-creek-mitthi-river-an-indian-bureaucrats-diary-travelogue-on-india-binoy-gupta-234/


Sewree - On the Ship
 What a Scene Baby Flamingoes  
Flamingoes
 
Flamingo in Flight
Sewree.  On the ShipThe Jetty at Sewree

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Digha http://binoygupta.com/travel_india/digha-277/ http://binoygupta.com/travel_india/digha-277/#comments Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:32:02 +0000 http://binoygupta.com/travel_india/digha-277/ Read more ›]]> digha-for-blog.jpgthe most popular week end get away
for Kolkatians (Calcuttans)

Digha (originally known as Beerkul) is the most popular beach, and weekend get away, for the people of West Bengal in general, and Kolkata in particular.

In 1780, in one of his letters to his wife, Warren Hasting wrote about Digha as the “Brighton of the East”.In 1923, John Frank Smith, an English tourist was so enamoured by the beauty of Digha that he started living there. His writings about Digha brought the place into prominence.
 After independence, John Frank Smith convinced Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, then Chief Minister of West Bengal, to develop Digha as a beach resort.

Digha has beautiful, firm, sandy beaches    so firm that you can drive cars and land small planes on them.

I used to visit Digha quite often to collect sea anemones, star fishes, small fishes and other small creatures for my marine aquariums. I also used to bring in sea water for these aquariums. Once, I got a large eel.

The water is shallow up to considerable distances. I used to walk into the sea for almost a kilometre. But believe me, this was fool hardy and certainly not safe.
You should never go out too far from the shore.

Activities  You can play around in the sand and sea and pamper your stomach with local
Bengali cuisine.
The fried fish on the sea front is certainly worth trying.

You can shop for ornaments and curios, hand-woven mats made of weeds,
and purchase cashew nuts.

Other places to see

  • New Digha (2 kms) is practically an extension of Digha.
    (On the way to New Digha, you can view marine life at the aquarium, or visit the
    Science Centre for some scientific facts.)
  • Shiva Temple at Chandaneshwar (8 kms).
  • Talasari, another lovely beach (3 kms).
  • Shankarpur, an untouched beach, often called the twin of Digha (14 kms).
    Shankarpur is also an important fishing harbour.
  • Junput, another beautiful beach (40 kms).
    This beach is great for fishing and sun bathing.
    The State Government Fisheries Department, conducts fish cultivation and research here.
  • Mandarmani (14 kms), a small virgin beach with also a small fishing harbour, is a fast developing tourist resort.

Reaching there

Digha is 187 kms from Kolkata,
You can go by car, taxi or public transport.
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is offering great all inclusive packages from Kolkata to Digha.


Recommendation

Digha has suffered severe soil erosion. Much of its old time glory has passed over to New Digha which is almost like an extension of Digha.

The beach is lined with Casuarina trees.
The sea is calm and safe for swimming.
You can see both the sunrise and sunset at Digha.

There are plenty of hotels of all kinds  at cheap rates.

Tourism Information
 

You can get tourist information from
West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation Ltd.
New Secretariat Building (West Block)
Ground FloorKolkata – 700 001 Phone; 91 33 – 2248 7302/8256/8242, 2210 3194 

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