Sojourn to peace

It's Xmas and Im heading out for my annual holiday to bring in a new year. This time its Gokarna, thought I would end up in Goa but there were more than a few reasons to pick Gok's. One I was going to meet a dear fren, who has been traveling for 8 months since I last met her :) So I wish to hear more of her stories and maybe follow the same route across India one day. The second one being a personal one and its more to do with me spending time, traveling with someone I have a soft corner for :-P Well now anyone would love to go traveling and camping on an beautiful island with their loved one's, I'm no different, just that in my case, its only I who is in love. Happens you see..

So the two us minus tiny, well that's another fren who was supposed to join us but dint were all set to go to Gokarna but the guy at the travel agency had booked us tickets for Mangalore, how cool is that?? Err not very :- I mean how does GOKARNA be any similar to MANGALORE is any way, they spell different and sound totally diff but no, the travel guy insists we had booked tickets for M'lore and not Gokarna... Here we go again... The adventure begins!!!

An unofficcial bio of a friend... a dreamer... a fighter...

It is just not the photography she is passionate about, it is nature that attracts her, and she feels one with it.

Born into a lower middle class family in 1979, Vasudha which means “the Earth” was an eternal dreamer growing up. Her interests lay in finding the meaning of her existence on this planet and the purpose she was here for, this in her own words would be “The Journey into simple existence”.

Her true calling came in the year 2007, at Calcutta while watching a documentary about the clouded leopards, not even knowing such a species ever existed, she started researching about them and found that the leopards were soon going to be extinct and only twenty of them existed. These findings deeply hurt Vasudha and triggered those unanswered questions about her existence and her purpose in life. 

Her soul began to question the mind and her thoughts went berserk looking for answers. She travelled across the country, first to Kaziranga where according to her; found the new her who she fell in love with. Her journey to Manas, gave her a purpose and the very purpose has brought her to Nilgiris where she resides and pursues her passion, Wild Life photography.  

Her work and achievements have been recognised by publications like Planet Earth, India and DNA.  I was a journalist once and I am amazed by the coverage her work gets without any PR. To learn,  She is the only woman wild life photographer living in the jungles and pursuing her passion gives me an immense sense of pride to have known her. 

She is so cut off from the world we live in… yet she is sought out... For people want to know…her story…

Vasu...

It is just not the photography she is passionate about, it is Nature that attracts her, and she feels one with it. She see’s the team work in ants. She feels motherly love in elephants. She loves the smell of the earth and she feels that that’s the fragrance she carries around. Vasudha  which means “the Earth” is on a quest to learn, not from books or people, but from wildlife and Nature in particular. It may be from a dung beetle or a tiger. She feels there is lot to learn from them and every human should understand that. Her interests lay in finding the meaning of her existence on this planet and the purpose she was here for, this in her own words would be “The Journey into simple existence”.

Devala Hatti , A tribal hamlet and the tragedy..

An eventful Saturday morning started a bit early than usual, I still sleep like a baby, so ten thirty is kinda early.. We started out to Gudlur as my friend had to meet a few tribal leaders in Nadgani and we had pick a friend on the way too.. its quite a journey through the ghats as we hummed slowly on the curves to Gudlur.. . We met the friend, filled up some fuel and head out to Devala Hatti which is a Panniyar tribal hamlet. Driving through a vast expanse of tea estates is really very dreamy.. you will not but think of those yesteryear movies and the actors romancing in tea estates...coming across bridges and little water falls. Tea pickers with their huge baskets of freshly picked tea leaves, the people from the tea factory and guards all make for the human population here with the exception of a few tourists taking pictures that families usually take :-P 


The Hamlet is a nice drive towards the interiors from Nadgani town and it is pleasantly warm compared to Kalhatty and Ooty. There are tea plantations but in the plains for a change, I came across betel nut trees too.. quite a contrast I figured. The major difference was the presence of grasslands than the Sholas ( Evergreen forests). The hills around this area had tall grasslands which is a perfect recluse for Leopards, Cheetah's and Elephants too coz they love this grass I was told by Vasu.

We managed to get to the Tribal leader Kariya's place, I had watched him on TV jus a few days ago talking about road kills in and around Masinagudi and Madumalai forest range. The guy who made the documentary was there too.. The hamlet is a handful of houses with a well and a courtyard which is the common meeting place for all the houses. The kids were full of life and very noisy as kids these days are playing around the hatti  while a few volunteers from Europe took pictures of their smiles. I saw the women dressed in their usual  tribal attire and were grooming each others hair. As my friend had things to discuss with the leader, me and Pruthvi walked towards the tea estate and lit up and had some Grape fruit we picked up by the road earlier.

We started off from there in jus a bit, and headed back towards the Hunting lodge. We have to pass through the Pykara Lake and Needle Rock which are tourists spots and you can imagine the humdrum it creates in the weekend.. it is quite crazy. We quickly moved away from there and as we were nearing Naduvattam I sighted a Nilgiri Langoor sitting by the road, this species is a black primate with a golden mane around its neck.. a magnificent specimen who is almost being hunted town to extinction for its flesh and fur. As we continued, we were in for a shock, my friend shrieked, a vehicle had knocked off an adult Nilgiri Langoor :( another road kill.. It was disheartening to see such a beautiful being.. lying dead.. motionless.. there were other Langoor's near by and we had to be vary.. this species and a couple of other species of primates eat their dead.. We had one eye on the tribe as we slowly lifted him off the road and placed him to the side of the road.. there were tears in my friends eyes as she bid a final goodbye to the soul wishing him peace as he rests.

Far from the madenning crowds

Somethings which were not meant to change  have changed. Man has intruded upon what is not rightfully his and then is pushing the natives of the land to the brink. This change has had effects which cannot be written or spoken about.. The shots in the air have become a common occurrence as I continue my stay in the hills and the forests. Men r awake the whole night by the fire protecting their vegetables from Sambars, Bisons and ofcourse Sadhu.. The animals are trying to just get back what is theirs but are in a fix, they don't seem to understand why they are being sent away from their own habitat. They are getting closer to the cottage, We met Sadhu again, being chased away by glaring lights and of course shouts and shots in the air..He just wanted to stroll around,have a bite but he had to turn back and head deep into the woods. :( So can we blame the people, of course not.. they have been living here too.. the tribals deserve their piece of nature too, they dont have lands of their own, they lease out lands from estate owners and work 24/7 growing carrots, greens and potatoes. The earning is not much to say about and they all lead tough lives. Children have to walk to school, almost 10 kms a day. The basic amenities like electricity and water is present, and can take a beating if the weather worsens. The shutdowns take days to fix coz of accessibility, the rains throw life in the hills outta gear. People here live normal lives and their have their share of hardships. I listen to people talk bout the way they have overcome many a rainy day.. eating jus potatoes. Bringing up children and still living the hard life but with a hope of a better tomorrow.. I might be far from the maddening crowds but not too far away from the madness.

Life Aint Easy

There is something called a balance in life, some place in your journey when everything is balanced and your at your comfortable best, if somebody out there has found  that balance, give me a insight as to what is??

Every day I live, I go through an experience, Im at a stage where ive come across people and places, I have had an inclination towards some of them, some majorly influence me.. others jus left an imprint... I take the good things and move on.. coz i am like that.. m a drifter.. and let me tell you something.. evrything that seems nice is not always what it is.. one thing is for sure.. if you give up, stop lovin yourself, you are lost. There is nothing like thanking yourself to be born as human, i mean it wouldnt be the same if you were born as a house fly right.. Living whatever you are here for is what makes your journey interesting.. Everyone wants to be happy.. without problems.. but hey, you wudnt be livin then.. you would only be foolin yourself sayin you are happy.. but one is not content, one cant be content.. coz its not us.. we jus want the best of everything.. we are ready to compromise..adjust.. but we have our qualms, we take off on others, we judge each other.. livin a shallow life with shallow thoughts.

I am the most selfish human you cud eva meet, yeah why not, i like good things in life and i want to live it my way.. I dun think bout ma friends and folks before i head out to a journey, i think of me becomin one with the supreme.. i take a route which reaches to him the fastest, the forests, the hills, the ocean coz its life,, every moment there is something new coming to life in these places. I seek the hidden joys by myself n then maybe let others know.. I want my space, in the place i dwell, I want to do things at my pace.. I am selfish in every which way that is possible.. but i am livin it according to my own frequency. So am I happy..

Well.. Life Aint Easy.. :( but Im not stoppin my friend.. :)

Present State of Mind :-D

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore;
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar :
I love not man less, but Nature more...
                         - Lord Byron