I feel a spontaneous overflow of an omnipotent affection towards diversity of life on this planet. Some places I had the privilege to explore, a couple of moments that made me contemplate…have been frozen in time. It gives me immense pleasure to be able to share them with you, my friends......
The day started with a very beautiful rainbow in the North -West sky. The dawn was cloudy enough to hide the snow peaks of the Himalaya, but , we had some glimpses of Mt. Kbabu , Mt Janu at around 8 in the morning . We didn't have any fixed programme for the first half of the day. So, roamed about here and there chasing some butterflies and trying to shoot some macros of very tiny wild flowers.
After lunch, we trekked to Rinchenpong monastery to meet our old friends and came to know that the lamas will practice some dances for their ensuing festival in October . So I became very busy to shoot that. Sharing some of those shots.
Morning Rainbow
Trying to shoot some butterflies (" Putali " in local dialect): Photo courtesy Ankita
Outcome of the effort
Close up of some wild flower with PnS camera
Mt Kabru from Rinchenpong, Gayzing town in the foreground
After lunch, we trekked to Rinchenpong monastery to meet our old friends and came to know that the lamas will practice some dances for their ensuing festival in October . So I became very busy to shoot that. Sharing some of those shots.
In Rinchenpong monastery with my lovely friends, Photo courtesy: Ankita
The morning was cloudy, so we couldn’t get any view of Mt K and the other snow peaks of Himalayas. We met the other family, boarded in room No 251, originally who booked Room 252, and whom D.K. shifted to Room 251 to provide us room 252. After tea, we together walked to Kaluk , three KM from Rinchenpongfrom there, after another round of black tea we got a service jeep to Dentam to reach Bermiok, another picturesque small hamlet of West Sikkim.We explored that small area by walking and then returned to Rinchenpong again. After lunch myselg, along with Ankita trekked to Yungsom, a small village, two KM from Rinchenpong to meet our another friend Mr. Dawa Lepcha. Mr. Lepcha was busy in his farm which includes sericulture an vine yard. I delivered him the photographs , taken during our previous trip, returned to Rinchenpong again And spend the afternoon photographing Barn Swallow
Cloudy morning at Rinchenpong
On the way to Kaluk
Bermiok Market
Bermiok Post office
Dawa Lepcha in his sericulture farm
Vine yard in Lepcha's farm
Carpet weaving at Rinchenpong handicraft centre
Work at Rinchenpong handicraft centre
Barn swallow (male)
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) is a common in Northern and Eastern parts of India. This bird is found in wetlands and cultivated lands.
Order: PASSERIFORMES Family: Hirundinidae Size: 18 cm.
Barn Swallow is a graceful small bird and is named so for its affinity for the old wooden barns once found on many farms. Swallows are sociable and often gather in large flocks of different species. They spend a great deal of their time in the air; nearly all of their food is captured on the wing. They are a familiar sight in rural areas, following the farmers as they plough and catching the insects stirred up by their progress.
Both males and females share in the construction of the nest which sometimes takes the two birds eight full 14-hour days to complete. The nests are usually constructed of mud mixed with straw, grasses, or horsehair, and cemented to the vertical surfaces of old beams or rafters. Where a flat surface or crevice is available, the cement is omitted.
Identification: Male - Upper parts iridescent blue-black; forehead, throat and upper breast, rufous chestnut; rest of under-parts buff; tail deeply forked, with white spots near tip of all but central feathers. Female - Similar but under-parts paler and tail less forked.
I Saw this birds many places in India , but could never took it's photograph. They didn't allow me to press the shutter, as they rarely sit in a particular place, always flew away before I could focus at them. During my last trip to Rinchenpong, West Sikkim, I found that they are building nests in some shops.But even then I couldn't take a single shot. But my latest trip to the same place in June, I got plenty of chances to shot this beautiful bird.
It was in the month of February, this year, when I planned to revisit Goumukh with my family, including my aged parents, and arranged to and fro tickets, and other things. My earlier trek to Goumukh was about eight years back and was very tightly time bound with a hectic expedition schedule. So, I was very excited about this trip, as I might spend sufficient time in every nook and corner of Gangotry and the entire trek route, photographing The Himalayas and life within it. But just 15 days before our departure, some professional responsibility and family problem took entry into the stage to spoil the whole game. Though I some how managed to resolve my professional problem and could get my leave sanctioned, nothing allowed my parents to leave the station. So, I had to cancel all the tickets with a broken heart.
The extreme hot, humid weather of South Bengal and a pre approved leave were constantly pinching me to go anywhere in the Himalayas. But alas! No ticket was available towards Haridwar. Smelling a chance to get some tickets to N.J.P, exploiting “Tatkal” quota, every morning, from 8, I glued myself in front of my P.C. But, as every net user in India now knows that IRCTC site surprisingly becomes “unavailable” between 8 and 8.45 everyday, one could only book his using this site ticket when all the tickets are exhausted and tickets are issued with a ‘waiting list’ mark. I booked those waiting tickets twice and cancelled just before the preparation of final chart, realizing the fact that there was no chance to get confirmed berths. Third time I got WL 3 and felt a bit relieved because that had a fair chance to b3 confirmed. In the mean time, the brutal murder of Sri Madan Tamang and subsequent political turbulence at Darjeeling made me a bit hesitant about going to Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Lava, Rishyap etc. So I decided to visit again the West District of Sikkim, my all time favorite. Though I returned from Rinchenpong a month ago, though I knew that it was raining heavily there, yet again I was on my way to Rinchenpong on 27th May with a mindset “ ok, I’ll just relax and enjoy Manson in Himalayas in Rinchenpong”.
Occupying confirmed lower berth of Darjeeling mail, I took out my mobile to inform my old friend D.K of Hotel mount view about our sudden trip and requested to book their lovely Room 252 for us from 28th May onwards. Though he had already allotted that room to some other guest on 28th, D.K. assured me that he will arrange some alternative accommodation for them and I’ll get my favorite Room No. 252 on my arrival at Rinchenpong
We, after crossing so many hurdles in our journey from N.J.P station, reached Rinchenpong on 28th afternoon and boarded in Hotel Mt. View for the next five days.
‘Black Buck’ and ‘Orissa’- how could these to be pronounced simultaneously and be connected together!! This was the first impression to my astonished mind when I came to know that a small unknown village of our neighboring state is providing a safe play ground to hundreds of black bucks since years. Being inspired by ‘now or never’ philosophy, I rescheduled my Mangalajodi trip, two more days were added immediately to the itinerary.
After birding at Mangalajodi we boarded in the train to Berhampore (Bramhapore) from Balugaon in the morning. The view of moving Chilka on the left and the undulated topography on the right was so refreshing that I couldn’t realize that I was traveling in an overcrowded unreserved compartment. We reached Berhampore by 10, took an auto to reach the old bus stand and arrange a shelter for the coming night. By 10.30, we were again on our way to Aska, but this time by private bus. Excellent road, non-stop express bus journey without any jerk, window seat and cool, soothing breeze, all the elements for a successful script of a nap were present. But before I reach the climax, the shout of the conductor broke my drowsiness, “get down sir, you are at Aska”. Vetnai was still 12 km away. We left the high way and tried to board in a small vehicle, which I don’t know what to be called actually. It was bigger than a jeep but smaller even than a mini bus. Everywhere, other than the footboard was packed with people and their luggage. I had no other choice but to hang on the footboard with my camera bag and tripod. After almost 20 painfully struggling minutes we reached Vetnai. Mr. Amullaya Upadhyaya, the president of ‘Blackbuck Management Committee’ received us at the bus stop. The last lap of our journey was still remaining. We rode in his motor cycle o reach the other side of the village. We took off the shoes, crossed a ‘nullah’ and walked about 400 mts too have the first sight of an isolated male Black Buck in the field.
Cautious Observation
We were standing at the beginning of a huge open ground, partially cultivated and partially barren. The piles of harvested crop in some places produced a visual relief in the vastness of the field. 8-10 male and around 100 female could easily be seen from a distance of about 200 meters. A slight try to have proximity to get some better shots created a panic and a whole herd vanished towards the horizon in no time.
Escape
Herd of female Black Buck
I got my first lesson- over enthusiasm and uncontrollable excitation will spoil the game, patience is the key to success, so I decided to wait with a hope that they would bear our presence. I had to wait to be accepted by them, so that they allow me to explore their kingdom. Though it was just last week of January, yet the midday sun was showing no sign of kindness. There was not a single tree in the neighborhood. So, I had no other choice but to wait under the scorching heat sweating all along.
Mr. Upadhyaya had to leave as he had some prior appointments. But, he committed to pick us up whenever our job is done. I positioned myself behind a hump of that undulated field. The hump and the long grasses on it were partially hiding my gears and me. Time was passing at the slowest possible rate. Every single moment of waiting was an acid test for my patience. To make my waiting a bit tolerable I tried to concentrate on things around me. The small bluish hillocks at the farthest corner made the topography quite interesting. Flock of flying milky white Cattle Egret on the backdrop of hill was helping me a lot to ignore the sun, at least mentally. Some other birds, butterflies also kept me a bit active. After almost an hour or so, they again started to come to the open field again and the distance between us was gradually decreasing. I too tried to move by crawling through the ground. What a wonderful world it was!! Not just one, two. Three, or so, hundreds of male, female blackbuck were roaming around the field. They grazed, fought, played in front of my pierced eyes. I was so spellbound that some times forgot to press the shutter and thus missed to capture a lots of unique moments. I was wondering that whether we were in India or in an African safari.
Blackbuck male
Cleanliness
Let's Play
Jump
Together
Meanwhile, the sun began to go down, the dusk was approaching. Few farmers were still working in an isolated part of the field. Their silhouettes in front of the red fire ball will remain be vibrant in my memory for years to come.
Yet another day of struggle ends
Returning home
Dusk
We again crossed the nullah on our way to return to the road where Mr. Upadhyaya was waiting for me with his motorcycle. He took me to his home where his family gave us a cordial welcome with tea, banana, curd and the traditional and famous Oriya sweet, the ‘Chana Poda’(baked yogurt). He told me that nobody knows from where and when this black buck came actually. This region of Orissa is a very drought prone area. Long ago, during such a drought, one day a small group of black-buck arrived here. Incidentally the village received a heavy shower next day. The villagers started to believe that those black-buck were sent by God and they had brought the most desired rain. Since then the black-bucks became a beloved member of this Vetnai Village and grew in number. After the adaptation of organized conservation effort, presently almost 1600 black-bucks can be found over an area of 40 sq km around Vetnai.
Photo feature on Mandarmani , published in Sept 2008 issue of FLOP
Photo feature on Chau masks of Purulia , published in Oct - 2009 issue of FLOP
This photo of an old lady of Uttarancahl was published in Jan 2010 issue of FLOP
Two photographs , published in the March 2010 issue of FLOP
Article on Gandhi Sarovar, Published in the March - April 2010 Issue of GnY
