Sariska- Bhangarh trip

PART- 1 (12th March,2011)

Near a dhaba in Gurgaon

The Wanderers(from left.. Manmohan, Sam, Bala, Paliwal,Babu,Dipesh, Amitabh)

It was time for our first Bike trip. This time around we decided to visit Sariska Tiger Reserve. At a modest distance of 220 km from Delhi it was perfect for our first bike adventure. 8 of us and 4 bikes. We started at 6am and decided to take the Delhi- Gurgaon- NH8- Dharuhera- Alwar- Sariska route. And off we were........ We stopped in between a few times for our meals, suttas and sip of water. We were enthralled by the beauty of the Aravallis which lined almost our entire route. Perfect metalled roads added to the fun and we reached Sariska at around 2 pm. Bikes and other personal conveyances are allowed to enter the reserve on tuesdays and saturdays. So we booked tickets and decided to explore the forest on our bikes. We were unaware of things to come.....

Inside the forest

Sariska has very rich variety of deer. We spotter Sambar, cheetal, antelopes, nilgai. And also peacocks everywhere. A visual delight. We were heading towards Pandupol,21 kms inside the forest to visit the Hanuman temple. But then midway the unexpected happened. One of the bikes had a flat tyre. There was no repair option inside the forest. Thanx to Bala's tool kit we could open the tyre and Babu and Bala took it outside the forest for repair. But the rest of us decided to wait near the bike until they returned. After sometime Sam and Dipesh heard roars from behind us. The rest of us laughed it off as the sound of a plane. With just 5 tigers over an area of 881 sq. km its an impossibility to have a tiger around in such open. We continued waiting

Then the rangers came and confronted us that it was risky to stay in the open and it was getting dark. We decided to load the bike on their van and take it to the check post. I and Paliwal decided to follow the van on our bikes... As soon as we crossed the Kalighati check post the van screeched to a halt on hearing the sambars giving out alarm calls. The rangers frantically started looking leftwards towards the bushes. And my oh my. It was the KING himself. Cold sweat on my forehead, goosebumps and heart in my mouth would be insufficient to explain that feeling. The black and yellow stripes visible through the tall grass, the graceful and audacious walk. Feeling scared to stay longer there we mounted our bikes and rushed back to the main check post.... It was unfortunate that only i and sam could have the sight and decided to take the gypsy safari again the next day. We lodged in a small motel nearby. Watched the India-SA match and

dozed off in anticipation of an even exciting day to follow.

Sariska- Bhangarh trip

PART-2 (13th March,2011)

We headed for the forest again to take the gypsy safari but since we were a little late, we decided to visit Bhangarh first and then take the safari in the evening. About Bhangarh it is said that it is a haunted place and the ASI has officially warned people to stay off this place before dawn and after dusk. Paranormal behaviour is noticed here during dark. There is an old 7 storey fort set amidst hills on 3 sides.It makes for a beauiful sight. We went around, took photographs and returned. The only paranormal thing was when we were asked not to laugh by the fort sweeper :P

The fort from a distance

Back we were to Sariska with the hope of spotting the tiger again. After moving around in the gypsy for some time we suddenly heard the deer giving out alarm calls. And we knew we were very close to spotting the tiger. We kept following the alarm call. It started coming from different parts of the hill. It meant the tiger was on the move. We kept following the sounds till we reached a narrow path. We noticed a few other gypsies in front of us. They had stopped at some distance and a lady was animatedly pointing towards our right. We all looked towards in that direction. At 10 feet distance stood a Tigress staring straight at us. And the bone chilling effect was back again. We were stuck with vehicles both in front and behind us. Our driver steered us towards a slope. From there we saw it move towards the hill top. The black and yellow stripes glistened brightly in the evening sun. The grace of the animal captivated all of us. We were so panick striken we couldnt click a single photograph of this beautiful animal. Cameras fumbled in our hands at its sight. But we were all happy and satisfied to have viewed this elusive spectacle.

We mounted our bikes and started our return journey. We made our way through the valleys, plains, trucks and traffic and back we were to our respective homes after a 10 hour ride. Out of all our trips so far this has been the most physically challenging and adventurous one. We enjoyed ever bit of it. Thanx to the group that was so enthusiastic about this all the way through.

JC jaisi koi nahi

Well the name sounds familiar, isnt it? But let me tell you the experience was out of the blue. Last weekend(Vday one) 6 of us from Samsung organised a trip to JC(JIM CORBETT National Park). A 6 hours road trip from Noida. We all packed ourselves in a Travera and off we were at 0500hrs.

Day 1
The lush green fields, the "sarson ke kheth" the fresh air were just the prelude to the opera..A road trip can be so much more fun and obviously more expensive...We reached Ramnagar at around 12 and got to know that there were no trips available that day. So we checked into a hotel and decided to visit another jungle Sitavani that day. It had happened to be the first jungle ride for all of us. We had a Maruti gypsy to safari us around. We managed to spot a few deers(Sambar, barking deer..). Had a round of photo session near a stream where supposedly a tiger had killed a woman a few days back.. :)
Came back to the hotel and we all got involved in a heated discussion over indian politics, sex education,relationship and whatever..and as the smoke of Classics and Marlboros rose and the intoxication of the Haywards and Signatures settled we silently faded away into the night

Day 2

0600 hrs..Our gypsy had been parked.And we were all ready for the ultimate..28km from ramnagar is the Durgadevi entrance. There are 2 more entrances at Dhikala and Bijrani which are nearer to Ramnagar. No sooner we entered the gate of the forest the temperature and the noise both dropped. We were in tiger land......
Undulating terrain, thick dense forest, and an ever growing anticipation of spotting a tiger. The feeling just cant be qwertyed down. We narrowly missed a glimpse as it passed a stream. We waited anxiously but it was not to be. The quest continued but just the deers to be satisfied with..
We halted at a location in the middle of the jungle where we had a photo session. We had Bala's Nikon SLR D3000 for capturing the magic moments. A million dollar baby i must say. Kaal movie was shot in this forest.
Enthralled by the total experience we came back. Packed our bags and bid goodbye to this awesome land..
Thanks to our group- bala, yash, sam,chetan,dipesh who agreed to the plan overnight.

PS- If anybody is contemplating making a trip to JC make it 2 months in advance and try to stay overnight in Dhikala. You can make bookings in advance at the govt. resorts. It will be much more fun..Have fun..

Bash at Rangeen's

It was 5th of July,09. The day began at 4:15 in the morning. Myself, anish,avishek and kaushik were supposed to board Rupasi bangla at 6 am from howrah. But as expected kaushik da lived upto his expectation. Late again!!!!!!!!! Even though the train had left the station we convinced the ticket vendor that it had'nt. We convinced ourselves by spotting some other train in some other platform that it was Rupasi bangla.Well.....desperation you see

An hour at the platform and then we boarded Ispat express for Kharagpur.And decided to take a bus from there on..We also got Rajesh,enroute to Jamshedpur, to accompany us. It was a long time after which we had boarded a train with an authentic ticket and boastfully faced the TTE. And next we had the 'hijras'. Not boastful anymore.. "student hai...chutta nahi hai..naukri nahi hai..." They were not too convinced.One did away with my aviators and refused to return....till i threatened. Not sure i did a very manly thing. Not boastful again...

We took a bus from Kharagpur and reached Middnapore/Mednipore(whichever). Rangeen came to pick us up in his car.We reached his flat/flats(he has many) and were treated to a sumptuos breakfast by his jethi..There was a cute member in his family...BHUDO..the feline member..though the most useless pet anyone can have..We moved to his parent's flat and 2 of his school friends joined us...and ofcourse Anindya..TUMPA brand ambassador. Together we had lunch..Menu???..well too many items..leave..people who have sen rangeen will not be surprised..

In the evening we went to eco park(i overheard nicco park)..Nothing exciting..But then Rangeen while reversing his car got stuck in a drain..It needed around 10-12 people to push it out. For the first time i dint see Rangeen using his line "eta to pati...." :P

Well after dinner it was time for booze..Royal challenge & vodka..still now "boozete pari na" why these people drink..anywhere anytime any occasion..HUH!!!!!!!!!!!!

They kept me awake till 4 in the morning while i DJ'd all along....Next morning we all got ready,had lunch and boarded Aranyak exp. in the evening.

Rangeen will be leaving this month end for Bangalore, Anindya got his M.tech that very morning..Not often will we have such get togethers. The blog might have gone big but every moment i spent recollecting the trip was worth it..Ultimately we all got the taste of TUMPA land..

Single room @ nit durgapur

Present residence Hall 5 room 214 (not 221)... so to say single room...my tryst with single room began on 28th july 2008 when i landed directly from varanasi after attending a successful ssb for the indian air force.....first sight..room locked no key...somehow managed the key from the estate section..opened the lock..next site damp room smelling aweful sweaty rooms..and to add to it...god damned sweaty floors..ok let me clarify..the floor of the room was getting flooded after every few minutes....i just couldnt find out the reason..somehow cleaned the room the fan.the shelves, arranged my bedding and luggage that my friends had kept quite safely.....the day past with my room a virtual swimming pool.....next day i got hold of the contractor who took me to the terrace and showed me that a pipe had been stolen which led to the leakage..there was water flowing constantly and was the reason.....but why my room !!!!....i have a special relation with the number 214 and damp walls...and 1 more thing ill tell later...next day i called up the maintanence enggineer and thanx to my "ex ags" factor the work got done....but who would stop the rains...i still had damp walls....anyway that was something i had started living with..

the very next thing i did was to buy an odonil(lavender flavour) to drive out the pungency that was very irritating...i was a bit settled..ultimately..next week got my computer,brought curtains..by room was getting a makeover..

The thing about single rooms is that you can pace your life according to your will..keep it as dirty as you like..sleep and rise at your will..even if you want to eat something that your mother has sent and dont want anybody to share it with, single room is the place..if you have a girlfriend or are trying to woo your friends' girlfriend, single room is the place..something for the bookworms tooo...

Almost 4 months now in a single room..to be honest have loved this solitude...still enjoying it...except for a few people bugging at times while they come to fill water at the aquaguard near my room..my room is a pit stop....anyway..cutting it here....5 more months..probably something more to write later