Bittu Sahgal recounts some of his most memorable moments in the Indian wilderness.
I was woken just before dawn by the persistent calls of warblers and sunbirds. Emerging sleepily from the confines of the ancient forest bungalow, built during the British Raj at Dimbhum in Kerala's Satyamangalam forest block, the first sight to greet me through the light mist was a bevy of small minivets adorning the compound trees like so many scarlet and yellow Christmas decorations. The freshness in the air, the sounds and the ethereal ambience created by the mist enveloped me and transported me to days when all of India must have been as verdant, as invigorating.
Lost in thought, I was shaken from my reverie by a bird which flew low over my head from behind me to settle on a nearby banyan tree. Through my binoculars I saw its flaming-orange and black coloration and leafed through the Salim Ali's Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent to discover its flycatcher identity. I quickly added another `tick' to my lifetime tally of 210 species of birds and settled down in the short grass, a steaming flask of tea for company, to observe the bird from a distance of less than 20 metres. The flycatcher had a large praying mantis in its beak and was in the process of swallowing it. This done, it preened its feathers, cleaned its beak by wiping it rapidly on its perch and sallied forth in search of other titbits. I marvelled at the method in nature's apparent madness where predator ate predator in the process of playing out a deadly game of hide and seek. Dimbhum is not a sanctuary or national park, yet it throbbed with life. At night, the watchman confirmed, a sloth bear had visited the forest department campus. And sambar deer tracks confirmed they had walked through the flower beds. I saw no elephants, but knew they were around from their droppings in the nearby bamboo forest. There is more wildlife and more nature to be experienced in the raw in India than almost any other country in the world.
I have been lucky to see the tiger in many parts of India but one of my most memorable sightings have been in Tadoba and the Sundarbans. It was night time in Tadoba. I love Tadoba. It has a raw beauty all its own and there is something electric about a dark forest. It’s not just the sounds or the smells that seem purer somehow, but rather the anticipation. “What lurks beyond? Which incredible animals have come out to do the night shift?
That guttural sound, could it be a leopard? That distant yipping… did the wild dogs make a kill?”
We sat silently in the vehicle for almost 10 minutes. In the near distance we could hear a rustling as a soft, yet biting wind fanned our faces. It was cold. Above us a full moon lit the night sky and ahead of us I imagined I saw something move. Someone shifted and it seemed the creaking of metal plates would be heard in distant Nagpur. That was when I saw them in the frame of my night vision binoculars. There were four tigers walking towards us in single file. Cats see well in the dark and they must have heard us ages ago, but they were unafraid. They seemed as curious about us as we were about them! Within seconds they settled all around us like so many household cats, safe in the knowledge that we meant them no harm.
There can be no better place to escape to than the exquisite Himalayan havens to be found in Kashmir, Ladakh, Garhwal, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh. One of my abiding sorrows is the fact that for long years it was not safe to trek through Kashmir. I have often walked up 2,000 metres through the famous oak forests of the Dachigam Sanctuary near Srinagar. Home of the last surviving herds of hangul deer, it seems difficult to imagine that so much blood has been shed in the beautiful Kashmir valley. I remember my trip to the Great Himalayan National Park in Himachal Pradesh. A bird had made several sorties from its fragile perch on the thin creeper to the trickle of water oozing from a green grotto that had been carved by nature out of hard rock. If someone had taken the bird and dipped it into different colour ink pots, it could not have come out looking more colourful than it already was! I had to pinch myself to confirm that I was not dreaming for before me was one of nature’s tiny avian miracles... Mrs Gould’s Sunbird.
And how should I describe the magic of diving off a boat and swimming into a rock cave in the Andaman Sea? The waters between Chiriyatapu and Rutland Island are glass clear, even in the monsoon. After navigating the powerful surges that swoosh through the narrow cave entrance, you find yourself in a dark, womb-like grotto, perhaps 30 metres wide, 15 metres deep and 20 metres high. Swiftlets fly in and out of the cave, timing their flight, much as we did our swim, to avoid the high waves that totally inundate the two-metre-wide entrance every few moments. Once inside, away from the narrow opening, a shingle and pebble beach is dimly visible. And when you step on it and look back out from whence you came, you see a white light, obliterated every few waves by aquamarine water of the purest hue.
Forget the mundane. Ignore the ordinary. India can offer you heart-thumping, adrenalin-pumping excitement… if only you care to look and dare to experience.
For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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I was woken just before dawn by the persistent calls of warblers and sunbirds. Emerging sleepily from the confines of the ancient forest bungalow, built during the British Raj at Dimbhum in Kerala's Satyamangalam forest block, the first sight to greet me through the light mist was a bevy of small minivets adorning the compound trees like so many scarlet and yellow Christmas decorations. The freshness in the air, the sounds and the ethereal ambience created by the mist enveloped me and transported me to days when all of India must have been as verdant, as invigorating.Lost in thought, I was shaken from my reverie by a bird which flew low over my head from behind me to settle on a nearby banyan tree. Through my binoculars I saw its flaming-orange and black coloration and leafed through the Salim Ali's Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent to discover its flycatcher identity. I quickly added another `tick' to my lifetime tally of 210 species of birds and settled down in the short grass, a steaming flask of tea for company, to observe the bird from a distance of less than 20 metres. The flycatcher had a large praying mantis in its beak and was in the process of swallowing it. This done, it preened its feathers, cleaned its beak by wiping it rapidly on its perch and sallied forth in search of other titbits. I marvelled at the method in nature's apparent madness where predator ate predator in the process of playing out a deadly game of hide and seek. Dimbhum is not a sanctuary or national park, yet it throbbed with life. At night, the watchman confirmed, a sloth bear had visited the forest department campus. And sambar deer tracks confirmed they had walked through the flower beds. I saw no elephants, but knew they were around from their droppings in the nearby bamboo forest. There is more wildlife and more nature to be experienced in the raw in India than almost any other country in the world.
I have been lucky to see the tiger in many parts of India but one of my most memorable sightings have been in Tadoba and the Sundarbans. It was night time in Tadoba. I love Tadoba. It has a raw beauty all its own and there is something electric about a dark forest. It’s not just the sounds or the smells that seem purer somehow, but rather the anticipation. “What lurks beyond? Which incredible animals have come out to do the night shift?
That guttural sound, could it be a leopard? That distant yipping… did the wild dogs make a kill?”
We sat silently in the vehicle for almost 10 minutes. In the near distance we could hear a rustling as a soft, yet biting wind fanned our faces. It was cold. Above us a full moon lit the night sky and ahead of us I imagined I saw something move. Someone shifted and it seemed the creaking of metal plates would be heard in distant Nagpur. That was when I saw them in the frame of my night vision binoculars. There were four tigers walking towards us in single file. Cats see well in the dark and they must have heard us ages ago, but they were unafraid. They seemed as curious about us as we were about them! Within seconds they settled all around us like so many household cats, safe in the knowledge that we meant them no harm.
There can be no better place to escape to than the exquisite Himalayan havens to be found in Kashmir, Ladakh, Garhwal, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh. One of my abiding sorrows is the fact that for long years it was not safe to trek through Kashmir. I have often walked up 2,000 metres through the famous oak forests of the Dachigam Sanctuary near Srinagar. Home of the last surviving herds of hangul deer, it seems difficult to imagine that so much blood has been shed in the beautiful Kashmir valley. I remember my trip to the Great Himalayan National Park in Himachal Pradesh. A bird had made several sorties from its fragile perch on the thin creeper to the trickle of water oozing from a green grotto that had been carved by nature out of hard rock. If someone had taken the bird and dipped it into different colour ink pots, it could not have come out looking more colourful than it already was! I had to pinch myself to confirm that I was not dreaming for before me was one of nature’s tiny avian miracles... Mrs Gould’s Sunbird.
And how should I describe the magic of diving off a boat and swimming into a rock cave in the Andaman Sea? The waters between Chiriyatapu and Rutland Island are glass clear, even in the monsoon. After navigating the powerful surges that swoosh through the narrow cave entrance, you find yourself in a dark, womb-like grotto, perhaps 30 metres wide, 15 metres deep and 20 metres high. Swiftlets fly in and out of the cave, timing their flight, much as we did our swim, to avoid the high waves that totally inundate the two-metre-wide entrance every few moments. Once inside, away from the narrow opening, a shingle and pebble beach is dimly visible. And when you step on it and look back out from whence you came, you see a white light, obliterated every few waves by aquamarine water of the purest hue.
Forget the mundane. Ignore the ordinary. India can offer you heart-thumping, adrenalin-pumping excitement… if only you care to look and dare to experience.
For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
Read these article :-
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
1500-plus IIPM students placed across the country with 44 bagging international offers
IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
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Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
» IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
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