Safari guides in India - Kaziranga featuring Jomoni Ali

This is my second feature in the Wildlife guides series. 

Jomoni ali in his favourite place. [l-r : me, Jomoni ali]

Jomoni Ali is an unassuming man who is very well informed and punctual to a fault. Always hope you are never late because he will lie in wait half an hour earlier than the appointed time. He is the younger sibling of Babloo Ali , another Safari guide featured on this blog. 

Jomoni was a very brotherly figure who shared the instances of wildlife and human conflict occurring around the park and the recent measures being taken to prevent such mishaps. He was optimistic about the elevated corridor being able to prevent animal deaths due to an arterial highway of the northeast passing right in the heart of the national park. 

Jomoni's quick eye was very helpful in helping me catpture the moments in Kaziranga that I will cherish lifelong.

1. The Silent Majesty of an Afternoon in Kaziranga

2. A Pied Kingfisher emerges empty handed from a dive

3. Hooded Oriole posing 

4. Feet Of the Rhino go stomp stomp stomp- a jungle mynah nursery rhyme

5. A wild hog unsure of my intentions

6. a morning swim for an otter. a smooth coated at that

7. Greens are best for Health - a dominant male rhino munching on hyacinth

8. The Greater coucal - a rare treat given its finicky and skittish nature.

Contact Jomoni on the below to plan the best sightings in Kaziranga. 

Safari guides in India - Kaziranga featuring Babloo Ali

I have been travelling seeking new experiences and places. There are many people behind the scenes who make it happen. Safari guides are crucial to make that memorable experience come to life in a faraway place.

I am featuring  guides who made it very special during my recent visit to Assam. 

1 . Mr. Babloo Ali - 

He is an experienced Wildlife and birding guide. With over 15 years of experience navigating all four zones of Kaziranga National Park, He offered me an unmatched expertise for an unforgettable wildlife and birding experience. His extensive knowledge of the park’s seasonal fauna ensures the best photo opportunities to spot iconic species like the one-horned rhinoceros, water buffalo, giant squirrel, capped langurs, monitors , assam roofed turtles. He is an avid birder who will spot even the smallest of warblers and assist you in taking rare images of the park's diverse birdlife. 

He helped me customize my trips by accommodating specific equipment needs and providing ideal setups for capturing stunning shots. His punctuality and professionalism reflects his commitment to delivering a seamless, enriching, and memorable adventure through on of India's last surviving extraordinary wilderness.

I have made a long term friend and am very grateful for his inputs and guidance during my stay at Kaziranga. 

The images below would not have been possible without his expertise.

1. A lesser adjutant stork. 

2. a lesser racquet tailed drongo.

3.territorial display of the Indian Roller.

 

4. the familiar watering hole customers : family of assamese water buffalo with a trio of elephants.

5. a proudly strutting female jungle fowl.

6. Mallards in the morning light.

7. Dominant Assamese macaque male.

8. yellow footed green pigeon.

9. Siberian Stonechat. 

10. Last But not least : The Majestic Royal Bengal Tiger cooling off in the river. 

Feel free to contact him on your next trip to Kaziranga. 

The Observation of Greater Cormorant Breeding Behaviour in Kaikondrahalli lake , Bangalore.

This is a fictionalized account of breeding behavior observation of Greater cormorants in Bangalore.

Finding a house and making it your home in Bangalore is a task indeed. Many of us , recently married, some of us sometime back , emerging from the purple haze of a honeymoon start on the arduous task of shifting from a 1 bhk/ PG accommodation to our very own[ rented] घरौंदा. The task is abundantly described in many Bollywood songs.

I saw an avian version of it recently. As the male preened and pecked at his beautiful streaks of white breeding plumage, she sat distant on a cold, bare branch on a wheezy grey morning which was the 21st .

He went forth and located a Dense scrub dried to the core and heaved and heaved . Some things are just so hard to do [ especially without hands or opposable thumbs]

Finally , a consolation of a twig broke free just enough to suffice her desires.

Freeing himself from the mess of the dry branches, and hurrying up to the mate in waiting, the courtship begins all over again.

Inducing a lady to set up ones house when you just want to go fishing is a true exercise in patience. Too short, too long , too wet, too dry, thorny, too brittle. finally she accepts or probably relents.

Then the heavy lifting begins. First the girders ;

Then the packing material. [ damn!! are those reeds heavy]

this is how you put a totally bum shot to good use. [ hahaha]

Finally, Her majesty inspects the piffling abode and finds it too cramped, the water too green, the air too polluted and BAH!!! the mosquitos.

The only saving grace being the eucalyptus trees which are in flower and fruit. All the guys living in the condo swear by it . Why shouldn't we try too? Being organic and all.

Hopefully the missus likes it :

After all the commotion of wooing her with girders drapers and the works.

A hot bath and shave later she says :

You missed a spot.

Happy Birding y'all ..

See you somewhere sooner than later.

Interesting reading and references :

1. घरौंदा : roughly translates to Nest , could mean primitive simple human dwellings with kuccha construction. Context implies meaning.
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3059459/
3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11672937/
4. https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v101n03/p0615-p0618.pdf
5. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11679542_Aromatic_plants_in_bird_nests_as_a_protection_against_blood-sucking_flying_insects

dream on

nights have passed since the quark came bouncing to a hot rainless city with a lot of patients.

only one word seems to define the time im having here.. not that im complaining.. but stuck in one word for sometime doesnt seem so enticing to me..

the word being

PREOCCUPIED

till then folks

dream on

riding the wild winds

as we take off amidst blaring sirens and scrambling warriors . a silent sense in the mind knows its going to be a long haul .. gazing back at home fading past in our wake . soon at the fringes of battle one of us is taken down. the rest egg on . one more . now it gets tighter .. truth is that our battle hasnt even begun and already we are two short . as we ride these wild winds .. i know far far away a destiny awaits me . when all else has fallen away and i m down to my last bullets and last ounce of fuel . out will spring an enemy who will demand that i strike with my heart and not my mind and its training. and in that split second , will i be able to prove an ace , probably once for one last time...

As the mind flies..

maybe im just just a little bitter..

few observations that saved my skin while group biking..


Tour with headlights on.. preferably high beam in the day so people notice u.. ( not attention seeking.. but just so that they dont pull over least when u expect it)

Ego gets u nowhere.. let some moron pass. no matter how lickable he looks to u ; point being biking in a group and u breaking off to pick on him.. might get u away from friends and into trouble with no help around.. or ur frnds may follow u at an uhealthy pace/distance making it all the more dangerous....

WEAR GEAR .. IT KEEPS U WARM AND DRY..THAT LETS U THINK STRAIGHT..

NEVER OVERTAKE ANY VEHICLE FROM THE LEFT SIDE.. pedestrains in a hurry always use speed to clear the width of a vehicle to cross the road.. now lo and behold u just pop into them after they ve stopped after clearing the bus.. they dont hink u re there u dont think they are there and ONE SORRY BIG BUMP..!!!

Stick to the right side fender line of any car/vehicle.. abt 20 ft away when u want to pass them.. coz when u falsh them they can see u..
u can swerve away from them if they brake hard...
it saves u from unnecessary wind blast.. that shakes ur bike

police regulation for car window screens make it easier to see thro them.. so see thro the rear and front windshields to gauge roughly the size and move the fellow in front of u is gonna make...

Coming to wind blast.. surface winds in most regions are pretty strong these days.. especially since the trees along the highways were cut and many farms have come up on both side of the golden quadrilateral..

these can be extremely unnerving.. so stick to the plan stated above..

stuff airtght plastic covers in storage spaces.. the rain can pour like no end and it can save stuff like iphones and camerasa worth a fortune.. worst case scenario.. fragile vehicle documents in interstate travel...
have 1 bottle pepsi/gatorade/homemade lemonade/anything with water and sugar in it with biscuits..in those covers...

drive in tight groups.. preferably the slowest ones first and the route mappers and fast ones last..

in case one of the group loses his/her glasses 2 pilotsin the front, the glass loser in the middle and 2 rearguard..(example of how to box them in with tail lights.. which are bright red , visible even in the heaviest of rain)

rear disc front disc.. breambo 6 pot calipers.. nothing , absolutely nothing can stop u on wet smooth highways.. so drive at a safe and comfortable pace ..

never speed test on a highway.. cows dont have road manners.. and cannot read signposts..btw they like munching flowers in the divider zone with butts sticking out onto the roads..

LADIES!!!!!!!!!!!! hair today gone tomorrow.. no big deal.. here today gone tomorrow .. one broken life after another .. please wear helmets.. no matter how spectacular ur mane is...coz the guy who loses u will really regret it ( im not speaking just of lover boys.. dads brothers and frds too miss the bimbos without the helmets)

have papers( all of them , insurance included )

hydrate, glycate, tour, repeat for excellent results

post pics for added pleasure.. ;)

keep tripping..

And the honeymoon continues..

soon after she came to me early october last year, we waltzed around many places as much as possible.. and soon all her nerves were jangled with all the travelling and roughing it up on the road as it were and there she went went back home . .. for 3 loong weeks without her and just a few photos to gaze upon and wait .. aarrrgh the agony of waiting for her.. then came a sweet novemeber and then theni months in december and jan .. and the pleasure mixed with business became a heady mix of love overdose..
all the midnight wakings and coffee cravings of feb-april and the endless wait for results in may.. soon got hold of my already depleted common sense and then the one long drive ... sunday the 30th of may ..

As the bearly morning breeze at 6.30 woke us up, i knew the time was right for that long drive i was always dreaming of. since the bags were packed anyway. off and puff we went away and rode hard and fast ; clinically overtaking some of indias fastest 4 wheelers at full gallop without breaking a sweat..( :P i still cant believe the jaw dropping look on a safari drivers face when we pulled up alongside at 110kmph and cleanly pulled away leaving his panting machine in the heat and dust of NH7.
Then one dusty monkey stood on the second floor of a non descript apartment on a sleepy sunday afternoon.. as the door opened my mom almost fainted at the sight of me and her..460 km and many hours ahead of schedule.. one concerned pop took a look at me and says .. "u crazy NUT, i can always expect u to do something like this.. keep it up!!" (more intent to find some last piece of brain left in my head. sorry to disappoint u pops)

anyway after many scoldings and warnings.. enjoying the rainy evenings of bangalore and its wide open 3 laners.. bliss is finally here.. sometimes when it rains and i lovingly gaze at the raindrops wet on her skin reflecting the grey blue sky.. truly i am lost...

so much so for buying a bike

;) god help me if i ever find a girl to like..

hell!! shes got competition and just look at her!!!!

long hair , braided beard , 10000W of chest searing power... one song

in the air lingers a pungency of a 25 year old chivas regal along with a few 555 golds.

emerging from the freezing shower .. beads of water hanging onto hair like perpetual clingers-on. looking around the room , i know i am late.. the din from the stadium is audible through the window the car waiting outside..

grabbing the last of my guitars slamming the door in true rockstar fashion..

in the car is the familiar ritual of smoking the last one together.. as the traffic melts away into the distance and the din of the opening band and its listeners'pandemonium...

true welcome.

going backstage wearing those funny clip on radios.. picking the first guitar.. strumming the first song out for a case of nth time nerves..

huge plumes of smoke..blue strobe lights... chest searing sounds of glass breaking.. running onto stage.. cant see anything but the fellows.

connecting the wires. and

thrummm.. thrumm. thrumm .thrumtharrraam....

deafening appaluase and whisteles hoots, cheers, and the like..

hey!!!

are you with me????

Hey I’m your life...........................
............................................
............................................
I’m you

Sad but true


the one song performed,, sweat streaming down my body , cool night breeze, screaming audience, craving for more..

one..
two...
three...

some more...
few more...

once done ....

walking alone at the end of the stage i see.. moon through the smog.. all dark and ble and then white again..

its time the wolf crieed again..................

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The biking begins : long roads and lady's fingers

The new year has brought to me my new steed. Claddings of hide and steel keep me from eroding away at a weekend outing. Not like many friends who have set out to conquer that final frontier ; that of starting a family and running one. I for one seem to be the perpetual student along with some other ball-less loser who didnt do anything worth his/her while at the right time.

In moments astride that lovely beast, along one of the straightest of B-roads , it is very common to lapse into reverie of the lady's fingers.

How long ago , one hunchback looked upon a cloaked beauty. As she strode past him in the afternoon sun blazing brighter than the one in the sky. His outstretched hands only grabbing the air around her as she noiselessy passed him . His animal grunt summoning her attention not to him but to his state of worthlessness. As a gold coin slipped from her fingers into his bowl the glint of gold fading in glory he saw her fingers. How he wished to be that golden ring that embraced them . How he wished to be that paint that adorned her nails ; or much better how he wished for that woman to be his; whose hands would be his to touch, own and cherish.

At last the milling crowd engulfs the last glimpse of the flowing dress and the one gold coin he will never touch and dread like that ring of Saruman. For it has indeed been touched .. by the lady's fingers.

Haltingly the story comes to an end as a drink break draws close and some trucks passing by summon full attention.

After a sip of water and some new songs in my earphones. The whistling wind in the helmet and the whoosh of the engine beneath start a story of their own.

The distant sinking sun glinting across my glasses and i notice some merrymaking car drivers not passing me.. maybe

i must be to them what most were to me : driving off into the sunset to live a life of dreams and more...


[ yet to come ... travels travails and travailleurs] ;)

have fun ,stay warm and drive safely...

Adios

The biking begins