Pack a gun

Found this interesting read for photographers to secure their equipment when flying.

http://lifehacker.com/5448014/pack-a-gun-to-protect-valuables-from-airline-theft-or-loss

Karnala

It was that time of the year to take a small break from work and head for a vacation. I had big plans for Ramoji City Hyd, but Telangana row scared me off. Couple of other plans did not materialize and I decide on a short 3 day trip to Karnala, near Panvel.

Karnala is around 130km from Pune and around 60km from Mumbai. Located around 15 Km from Panvel on the mumbai-goa highway (NH-17) , it has great accessibility. Auto-rickshaws are available from Panvel station and bus stand, or one can drive down from Mumbai or Pune.

Places to visit in Karnala are the bird sanctuary and the Karnala Fort. The sanctuary is small around 4.8 sq meters however it boasts of close to 150 varied species of birds. The Karnala fort is accessible through the bird sanctuary after a trek of about 3 kms. I unfortunately could not try a hand at bird watching or making the trek to the Fort with Mrunmay in tow. However here are some shots of the Karnala Fort that I shot from the resort.

We spent about a couple of hours in the sanctuary and Mrunmay was over whelmed when he saw the monkeys, his first sighting and still mimics them :).  This one was his favorite since he played a game of peek-a-boo.

 

And he wanted to go shake hand with this one and share his chips, but chickened out when the monkey growled !

Butterflies and incy-wincy …spider were his next favorites and I could capture some of them !

 

 

 

The sanctuary also had some bird cages and we found a peacock in all its glory !! Unfortunately the cage was lined with grids and I couldnt get a complete shot.

Karnala has around  4 resorts namely Shalom, Panoramic, Khanshbhar Vishranti, K Woods . And I chose Panoramic Resorts (Same guys who own Pan Card club). A great place with a lot of action for kids, all kinds of slides, see-saws and swings. Add to that water sports! Here are some images of the resort. The cricket being one of the favorites games that visitors at Panoramic spend their time on.

This is the view of the majestic Karnala from our room.

Mrumay had a bunch of fun chasing some of the tamed ducks around and went gaga over the ostriches that the resort has tamed.

 

All in all, a great place for all kind of visitors, a bird sanctuary for the birds and nature lovers.  A trek for the adventurers, a water park for those who want to just chill out, pleasant lawns games for the family with kids who just want to relax.

Being a Female Photographer

Taking a break from all the Rajasthan trip postings to talk about a recent trip to Sinhagad.

I have been having this urge to visit Shinhagad and enjoy its famous 'Zunka-Bhakri' and KandaBhaji and so we planned a half day trip to Sinhagad yesterday.  Aim was simple : food. Ah well, I had also planned to try out my hand at some manual controls of my camera, while Mandar was going to spend time with the monk.

I will write separately about Sinhagad and its history, today is all about what happened.

The climb from the car park to the main yard is not too difficult and we made our way up steadily, with me clicking away to glory.  Some school kids were running up and down the stairs, shouting 'gaD jinkala' meaning 'we have conquered the fort'. When they saw me clicking the pictures they promptly demanded that I take their pictures too. :) They jumped up and down looking at the images. Watching them happy with such a small thing made me realise once again, how simple it is to find joy. Whenever they bumped into me on the fort one of them said 'Hey aren't you the one who clicked our photos' ...So cute.

After a good climb always comes a good meal, and we had a yummy one. Tasty Zunka with hot bhakri, with the best dahi from mud pots. Its so wonderful to have lunch with your shoes off, sitting under the cool shade of tree, with a strong, pleasant breeze fanning the sweat of the climb off you. It was simply great.

Post meal Mandy pulled out his book and I got my Olympus for taking some pics. As the 'Mausi' who gave us our meal was clearing the plates away, Mandy suggested that I go ahead to walk around th place. Hehehe ..Mausi was stunned .. wondering how I was going around alone. Ah well ...I started roaming around clicking here and then there ... and soon enough I had a bunch of 'fans' wondering what I was doing. The men stared at me wondering what a lone female was doing walking around the place with a camera in hand. Did no one tell them that we are in the 21st century for god sake. There were the inevitable eve teasers who managed to slow their pace as soon as they saw a single female. As every female learns, I have mastered the art of ignoring such people.

The best one was yet to come though ... A small boy ... not more than 7 approached me and started questioning me. Yes questioning! The first bullet was 'What are you doing here ?'. I didnt know whether to be amused or angry. He wasnt convinced when I told him that I was just roaming around. He further grilled me as to where I was from, why I was taking the pictures, what would I do with them and back to the first bullet. This time around I shot back 'What's your problem' .. the fellow so very innocently replied 'Nothing..but tell me why are you here ?'. I just sent him on his way.

 It been a long time since I did something so independently and despite my 'fans', I loved every moment of it.

But the question keeps coming back to me. What is it about a single female that makes people so curious ? What do you think ? Please share your experiences, thoughts , comments

Heritage Inn Jaisalmer Rajasthan

Greatly built but one of the most horribly managed hotel I have seen in all of Rajasthan or anywhere for that matter.You can see the beauty of the place, but the people, god forbid. None of their staff has the basic manners that one would expect of people in the 'hospitality' industry. Oh well if you are a tourists with dollars in your pocket, you get a very different treatment, hey but if you are from home country you are a nonety. That's the message you will find from the actions, attitudes of this hotel's staff. Right from asking Indian patrons to vacate a table that they have occupied because they are expecting foreign tourists (Yes they tried that with me, ofcourse which I gave back to them with equal bang) to serving you navratna dal instead of the makhani that you have ordered(which was over as they claimed) without even bothering to tell you so, they are just capable of every rude thing that hospitality business should keep miles away from.

Mubarak Mahal, City Palace, Jaipur

Mubarak Mahal is seen in the courtyard while entering the City Palace from the Tripolia side. The Mubarak Mahal was built by Maharaja Madho Singh II somewhere late in the 19th century as the reception hall for the main palace. This is where it derieves its name Mubarak Mahal. The architecture is a combination of Islamic, Rajput and European styles. Today it houses a textile museum with various fine silks, shawls from the Rajputana time. However the biggest attraction is the attire of Madho Singh I who it is said was six and a half feet tall and weighed close to 250 KGs, yet had 108 wives !!!

Lemon and Chilli

 Many of the havelis in Rajasthan have scores of such intrinsically carved windows. The image also captures the superstitions that still prevail in the Indian society. The window has a lemon and some green chillies hanging at its head. It is said that this lemon chilli combination wards off evil spirits ! ..

Now were I to tell you that making this lemon and green chilly charm is a big business in India, would you believe me ? But truly, it is , every morning scores of people prepare these charms and sell them to businessmen who hang it at the entrance to their shops, to drivers who tie it to their vehicles for safety and good luck. WOW , in India you can start a business for almost anything !. Lemon and Chilli charms indeed !