Painting the sky pink

The most beautiful birds that I have come across are the Flamingos. Their graceful flight makes one wonder in awe. That one moment of a day made my day recently when we spotted them in Sewree in Bombay. This is a belated post, it was in the month of June that we got to visit them.

Flamingos come to Sewree in Bombay every year during the winters and stay till April end. This year, they arrived late and were still there till second week of June when we visited them. I am sure they would have left by now, because we got to see very few this time. Two years back, they were huge in numbers.

Watching Flamingos in the Natural Geographic Channel, in the most pristine settings; I had never imagined that in the crowded city of Mumbai, we will get to see these most beautiful birds. That too, in a place where nothing else is worth a visit. Sewree in on harbour line of the Mumbai.

We planned to be there few hours after the high tide. This is the the time one can spot the birds hunting for the food in the shallow waters. One can get to know the tide timings at this page.

Finding this place is not easy, that is the reason many people are not aware of this I guess. Many people from Mumbai I asked were really surprised to find that indeed flamingos are spending few months in their city. And you will find them in the most unimaginable place where one would otherwise not imagine any reason to go.

Net came to our rescue and someone has put up a nice page on the directions to Jetty where one can easily spot flamingos. It is here.

We spotted few flamingos around a factory on the way to jetty. So we got down there and to our surprise, they were very close. They were lesser flamingos. There are lot of petroleum based industries in this area and so the water was not that clean and surprisingly, usually beautiful looking flamingos were not looking that beautiful this time. But they were in a big group and we spotted them so easily and by chance was itself a big luck. As we were wondering where are the beautiful ones gone, we saw a small flock of pink flamingos taking the flight. And those few seconds made our day !! They were much farther away.

We went to the jetty but there were no flamingos there. I know we were late. By this time of the year, many of them have already migrated. Only few were remaining so naturally we could not get to see them in huge flocks.

Coincidentally, someone has made a very interesting documentary on the Flamingos that come to this place and we happened to see it some few weeks back only. Ashima Narain from Mumbai has done this excellent work and she and her sister took some six months to make this. They have covered the different phases of their stay here, their famous dance, the breeding season and other different aspects of these migrating birds. It is a very well made documentary.

Though we did not get to see flamingos this time, I remember coming here 2 years back and at that time they were there in thousands. I still cannot forget that scene when suddenly out of nowhere, as the tide was lowering, they appeared at a distance and the whole area was full of them. At that time, we did not have good binoculars and also a good optical zoom camera to capture them. But they are definitely captured forever in the memory.

So, next time we need to make sure to be there in time.

Trek To Lohgarh

“Garh” means fort. Maharashtra has many forts. Most of the forts in Maharashtra, whether up in the hills or near the seas are associated with Shivaji. –the great Maratha warrior. He constructed quite a few forts and conquered many which were built by the earlier rulers. These forts are good for trekking, and with monsoons around, they are the favoured destination of the young crowd of Pune and Mumbai and all the places in between ….

Trekking is always fun with a bigger group. This time, we went to Lohgarh. On the central railway line, one can get down on the Malavali railway station which is one station before Lonawala if you are going from Pune. Coming out of the station, there is a bridge over the expressway. Around one km later, one will find the parking lot for the vehicles and small shacks for tea and snacks. There are few houses, and they also provide rooms for changing clothes which is really required in the monsoons.

If you are coming from Pune in your own vehicle, come on the old Pune-Mumbai highway and take a left turn there for Malavali village. That road will come towards Malavali station. You will find Vedanta Academy on your left side on this road. It is around 6-7 kms inside.

We started from home around 7.30 in the morning and started the trek at 10.30 am. It did’t take that long to reach the place itself, we stopped for breakfast at a dhaba. We were the first customers and a big group, so the breakfast took its own sweet time. We also had home made sandwiches prepared by Chaya’ mother. They were simply delicious. She was very considerate to have got for all of us with a bottle of ketchup along !! Really sweet.

The trek is quite simple. From the base of the trek, left road goes to the Bhaje caves, another popular tourist destination. The road on the right goes to the base of the fort. The path is a pebbled road, sufficiently wide. There is a beautiful waterfall just at the base of the trek. It has all the elements that bathing in the waterfall can provide, a forceful waterfall, a firm place to stand under the water and at a lower level, the pool of water where the less daring can spend some time and then go up. Good for the families too, where all of then can go without much fear. And take some memorable snaps. We decided to spend time here on way back.

It was raining all along. Sometimes drizzling but also heavy rain as we climbed up. The scenery was changing, the land looked like pockets of water and greenery. Some birds were singing very beautifully, could spot only few doves here and there. There were some tea shacks on the way, where we had chai with bhajia. The trek was steep only at some places, so we went at a good speed. At the base of the fort, there are again some hotels, better equipped ones. They would provide proper meals. And snacks and tea etc. The people were from the village living there and providing these services to the tourists.

The steps to the fort are like they should be , big steps. But again, not too steep. There was a big school group visiting the fort that day. A bunch of excited school kids, their energy levels were supremely higher of-course. We reached the top in no time. The view from the top was enchanting. The fort is not in a very good state. It needs to be preserved.

On the top, the rain drenched us completely, the wind was treacherous, and I felt I should have got some extra clothing. And there was no shelter. We were in the open. Could not see much ahead as it was all fog. We walked for some distance and found a dargah. We stood on the side of a wall of this dargah and thought of helping ourselves with the food that we had packed with us. This wall of dargah protected us from wind to some extent and we could stand firmly. Out came everything, and we were done in less than 20 minutes, a standing lunch.

There was a long way one could walk and have good views provided the weather was good. But it was so full of fog that we decided not to go forward and started walking back.

Climbing down is what tells how tired you are. I was completely drenched and hunger pangs gone, it was perfect time for a nap but there was no way in the rains. And when we started to climb down, the legs were showing their presence. Few of us started singing songs, Vinod was busy taking photographs. After a while, it was pouring and it was very blissful. For quite a distance, I was walking alone, and it was so wonderful to be in the midst of beauty of nature, at a moment it felt I was encompassing everything ….

We came down to the waterfall, and I was so fully drenched and so full of the experience already, that I didn’t want to go and play in the waterfall. Almost everyone from the group was already there. They were really having a good time out there.

Finally, the trip came to end at 6 in the evening. We changed into dried clothes and hurried towards Pune. We all were really hungry as we did not have a proper lunch. We stopped for a hearty meal as part of the Vinod’ birthday treat at Sadanand Resorts and it was a day really well spent.

Would love to go again there, this time to explore Bhaje caves.

More pictures of this trek are here

The maestro of Ghazals, Ustaad Ghulam Ali Khan

Yesterday, Pune was lucky to have Ustaad Ghulam Ali Khan. He came here straight from Dubai after inaugurating a hindi FM radio station there. And the venue was abuzz with people. All the seats were sold out. It is such a rare event for ghazal lovers to have one of the best voices singing for them.

Ghulam Ali Khan saheb is from Pakistan, and though he does come to India often, he was performing in Pune after a gap of 15 years. Few years back, he was not allowed to perform by some groups on the grounds that he is from Pakistan. Similar things have happened to Indian artists going to Pakistan, but hopefully things are in better state now.

He has been singing for last 50 years, and there was no change… His voice was as sweet as when I heard him for the first time. His very famous ghazal, “Chupke Chupke Raat Din Aansu Bahana Yaad Hai” became song of every household in India after it was taken in BR Chopra’ classic movie “Nikaah”. Another of his very famous ghazal is “Hungama hai kun barpa, thodi si jo pi li hai; daaka to nahin dalaa, chori to nahin ki hai”. And then “Dil me ek lehar si uthi hai abhi; koi taaza havaa chali hai abhi….. “. He sang all these famous ghazals, and many more, making some improvisations. There is one ghazal he has sung in three languages, Persian, Urdi and Poorvi. He sang it in a beautiful style, mixing both persian and Urdu. He sang many more, it was a treat to the ears.

We didn’t realize how two hours passed. And Ghulam Ali Khan saheb was humble personified. Such a popular figure and there is no sign of it. He connected very well with the audience. Telling the meaning of some of the difficult urdu words. He took the request for ghazals from people and sung all of them in the second half. And Pune being known for its hindustani classical music lovers, he presented two Thumris of his guru Bade Ghulam Ali Khan saheb. His team of Violinist, Sarod Player and of-course Tabla was perfect. The Violin is most important instrument I think in Ghazal singing. It gives the perfect effect. And Ghulam Ali Khan himself was playing the harmonium.

We could not manage to get the tickets in time. When we went on Friday, we were told you try your luck at the venue. I didn’t know what is in store for us; we went an hour early and the person selling the ticket had just 3 tickets remaining; and that made our day. I didn’t know I am this lucky .

He presented a view “shers” in between his singing ghzals. I remember two of them which I really liked ,

Lagta hai kai raaton se jaaga tha mussavir
tasveer ki aankhon se thakan jhaank rahi hai

Mussavir means painter and tasveer means painting.

and this one …

Roj kehta hun bhool jaoon use, roj ye baat bhool jaata hun