On any given morning it is an uphill task to goad children to wake up. ‘Five minutes please,’; ‘just two more minutes’. And you tend to bend. But, on a morning when they have a date with the animal kingdom, they are the first to get up. They rolled us all back and forth to wake us up. For a change, we got a feel of what it is to be at the receiving end.
The weather played hide and seek - the sky overcast at times, occasional drizzle, a gentle breeze for most part, and the sun showing up in between. We were unsure how the animals would react to such a combo weather - would prefer to stay indoors, or oblige us who have ventured out. Earlier-visitors to the park had warned us not to have great expectations beyond deers, bears, and peacocks.
As soon as the headcount touched 30, the attendant bundled us into a bus that had a protective thick wire-mesh around the exterior that resembled a police van transporting prisoners. With a born-free feel and in the open, the animals enjoyed the sight and pitied our plight.
First we spotted an antelope. It jumped right in front of our bus, in a bid to cross the road, no less adventurous than any Bangalore pedestrian. It changed its mind and instead raced ahead of the vehicle for a while as though to display its sprinting capability. Then it turned right to take a long leap forward into the jungle. When it reached a safe distance, it stopped and turned back with a frown as though to convey, ‘Come on mankind, believe in live and let live.’ Poor bus driver, his anxiety to show us the animal from close quarters was not taken to kindly by the antelope - understandably.
It was a herd of deers next. The senior deers sat relaxed, simultaneously keeping a watchful eye on their offsprings that leapt around in merriment making different kinds of sound. Who knows, they were singing, no school, no home work; all play and no work... to tease the children in the bus.
A few yards away, it was bears’ den. There were four. Two had just completed their first round of fight, and were taking time off for the second. The intense look of the third had all the bearings of a referee. The fourth was all too restless, moving around in circles in the small enclosure. Must be a writer, stuck with a writer’s block - struggling for the right word.
“See a herd of elephants on your left,” announced the conductor.
They were about 12 to 15, in varying dimensions, standing by a
pond. It appeared they had just had a bath in the pond and had
powdered their body with a liberal coat of dust. A mini truck
appeared from nowhere, and all the elephants charged towards it.
“Oh God, please save the occupants,” came an impromptu cry from
one in the bus. No, they were staff bringing food for the elephants in
several XXL buckets. Each staff carried a bucket and spread out in
different directions. With military precision each elephant followed
one of them, to avail of the offer.
Luck favored us immensely. We spotted two lions. As we were busy taking snaps a third scratched the bus-door close to which we were sitting. In another bush we sighted three lions and one lioness sitting opposite each other in a conference style minus the table. Probably they had just finished their lunch, and were getting ready for a game of cards. In the tiger area we saw far too many, both the striped and plain-white varieties. One of them was especially slim and trim, with a six-pack body, moving majestically. “Must be the forest-cousin of Hrithik Roshan, spending equal time in the gym,” I guessed.
No less rewarding was our encounter during the overnight stay at Nagarhole Forest Resort. Visits to the Innovative Film City, Nehru Planatarium, Tibetan Monastry, and what have you, in the days to come were equally entertaining, educative, and an eye-opener on how a barren expanse of land allotted to the Tibetan refugees could be converted into a small is beautiful township and a fabulous monastery. To cap it all, the mouth-watering lunch and dinner at Rajdhani restaurant, ISKCON’s Higher Taste, Jayanagar Maiyyas...
And so? Well, all three grandsons are firm they don’t want to go back to US (they have since, though); two for the excellent time they have in Bangalore in general, and Srishti in particular; the third for the opportunities the city offer to join cricket academies.
V.V. Sundaram
B-703
14 July 2015
Luck favored us immensely. We spotted two lions. As we were busy taking snaps a third scratched the bus-door close to which we were sitting. In another bush we sighted three lions and one lioness sitting opposite each other in a conference style minus the table. Probably they had just finished their lunch, and were getting ready for a game of cards. In the tiger area we saw far too many, both the striped and plain-white varieties. One of them was especially slim and trim, with a six-pack body, moving majestically. “Must be the forest-cousin of Hrithik Roshan, spending equal time in the gym,” I guessed.
No less rewarding was our encounter during the overnight stay at Nagarhole Forest Resort. Visits to the Innovative Film City, Nehru Planatarium, Tibetan Monastry, and what have you, in the days to come were equally entertaining, educative, and an eye-opener on how a barren expanse of land allotted to the Tibetan refugees could be converted into a small is beautiful township and a fabulous monastery. To cap it all, the mouth-watering lunch and dinner at Rajdhani restaurant, ISKCON’s Higher Taste, Jayanagar Maiyyas...
And so? Well, all three grandsons are firm they don’t want to go back to US (they have since, though); two for the excellent time they have in Bangalore in general, and Srishti in particular; the third for the opportunities the city offer to join cricket academies.
V.V. Sundaram
B-703
14 July 2015
