Digitally Exploring the world

And as the new year approaches ,have to remind myself about life.... Life is no straight and easy corridor along which we travel free and unhampered, but a maze of passages, through which we must seek our way, lost and confused, now and again checked in a blind alley. But always, if we have faith, a door will open for us, not perhaps one that we ourselves would ever have thought of, but one that will ultimately prove good for us -A.J.Cronin

With the end of the year approaching ,I wanted to take the black stallion out into the forest in search of some winged beauties . Thattekad had been in my mind since over a year but the drive of about 500kms required some time in hand. With my car all set I spent couple of days in the deep forests trekking in the morning and night in search of some owls that migrate from ceylon during the winter months. Being a solo driver mostly one has to be prepared for any incidents. On the way back,the water coolant alert started appearing and realized water pump was leaking. God however was kind that I was stuck on the highway in kerela near thrissur where I managed to get the car towed and taken to the nearest VW workshop. The workshop didn't have a spare for my 1.6 POLO and had to source it from Bangalore, so with work looming ,I left the car to be fixed and came back. They took good care of the car and fixed it in two days and so I went back there, visited few temples and a palace an...

It had been over two months since I had taken by black stallion out of the city and close to nature and so I decided to go to one of my old favorite places ..ganeshgudi/dandeli for some peace and winged beauties . Another long solo drive of 500kms one way and even more surprised eyes in seeing me doing that .. Some pics from the trip .. More pics here

Kenya had been in mind for several years since my mum visited it in 2004 and my own interest in all wild creatures (both big and small). I finally decided that it had to be this year .The first step was to take the Yellow Fever Vaccine which can take a bit of effort if one attempts at short notice .With that taken care off , started  researching on places to go and from a week the plan changed to two countries and two weeks in the end.  On the Visa front I took the e-visa else one can also get VOA. Route taken :: BANGALORE-MUMBAI    -NAIROBI-MASAI MARA-LAKE NAIVASHA/NAKURU-AMBOSELI    -ARUSHA-SERENGETI-NGORONGORO CRATER-TARANGERI-ARUSHA-NAIROBI Jambo Kenya The first leg of my journey started from Nairobi to Masai Mara. At Nairobi I was picked up with several other travelers in the van to start the road trip. The first few hours on road was fun with new tarred roads and a lunch stop at Naruk. The food was a mix of Indian with a kenyan twist to my ...

A bit late but nevertheless such is the pace of work these days .. Travelled across Rajasthan with mum this Jan/Feb. It was a nice week spent together on road and visiting various places of interests. I was amazed with the tourist friendly nature of most places there and also cleanliness around. Here are some pictures from there and more at this link  We visited the following places and for lack of time skipped few like Jaipur etc.. The roads except for some part of Kumbalgarh was in top conditions for the folks who love to drive. Udaipur->Kumbalgarh>Jodhpur->Jaiselmer->Longewala->Jodhpur Udaipur-White City Things I liked doing: Lake Pichola and boat ride there City Palace and Museum - Mor chowl, Moti Mahal, Krishna villas, Zenana Mahal, Chini Mahal etc Puppet show at Bagore ki Haveli Fathehsagar lake  Skipped Sound and Light show at Palace since 'Bagore ki Haveli' was far better Vintage car musuem -didnt plan properly Kumbalg...

Was visiting Dehradun for the first time and was chasing some history .. Visited and found details of my dad who had studied at RIMC and IMA in 1950s and 1960s and also my great grandfather who was in the first batch of FRI in 1890s. It was an overwhelming experience for sure . I was lucky enough to even catch the passing out parade rehersals at IMA Some pics and more here

After a long time I was headed up north on some work and decided to take some timeoff on the way back .  Spoke to few people at Dehradun and they suggested a nature reserve Jaberkhet outskirts of Landour.  So from Roorkee/Hardiwar headed to this amazing reserve.  There was a small cafe outside it run by a mum/daughter is where I stayed and in the evening and morning went for treks into the reserve.  It was very cold (December) and google showed it as minus 2 in the morning so with layers of clothes and trekking shoes walked around in search of winged beauties. The views of mountains and the winter sun was just worth all the effort , however winged beauties were few because of chill in the air.. Here are some of them .. From there I headed in search of history at RIMC,IMA where dad had studied and FRI where my great great grandfather and great grandfather had studied.. Some winged beauties from those campuses More here