Delhi birds: Yamuna Biodiversity Park

A visit to the Yamuna Biodiversity Park has been on my agenda for a long time - the opportunity finally came with an India Habitat Center organized guided walk. It is luckily a bright warm Sunday in what has turned out to be an unusually cold January.

A Northern Shoveller pair

There is a large group of perhaps 20 people - quite a few belonging to the Center for Science and Environment - who have gathered for the walk. We meet at the Gurudwara at Majnu ka Tila and then drive down to the park.

The park is not on the Yamuna river as I had expected it to be, though the river must be flowing not too far from the park boundary. Dr Sudhir Oswal, an experienced Delhi birder, leads the walk. It is a pleasant surprise for me to find Ranjit Lal whose books I have on my shelf among the walkers. Sudhir Oswal introduces him as his Guru.

As we enter the park, Sudhir explains to us how the park has been come up through the initiatives of Delhi University botanists. Ranjit Lal adds that the area of the park had the appearance of a battle tank

Tufted Ducks (?) 

testing ground before the work to rehabilitate the land started. What we witness is a green area, fairlywooded - as much as the Kamala Nehru ridge, perhaps - with many types of fruit trees and tall grass.

We walk along a path bordered by numerous baer trees filled with fruit until we come upon a large freshwater lake. The waters are not from the Yamuna, we are told. The lake was initially filled with pumped water and now gets recharged by the rains.

Cormorants

The lake has several types of water birds. Darters and Cormorants populate trees around the lake and on a small island in its midst. Common and Redcrested Pochards, Northern Shovellers, can be seen in the lake in fairly largenumbers. The cormorants occasionally take flight, pick up prey from the water and then return to their perches. Sudhir explains that these birds do not have waterproof wings - so they need to dry their wings after a dive into the water.

My take of the day is this brilliant White-Throated Kingfisher that patiently posed for us in a section of the park devoted to medicinal plants and was unruffled even with a large group close by.

The park has a second smaller water body with an island in the middle. This rakish Purple Heron sat secure on the island not moving an inch during the hour we must have spent walking around this lake. These are only some of the birds we saw - those on which I got to point my camera at.

Getting the chance to have a word with Ranjit Lal, I ask him  if he still walks in Kamla Nehru Ridge. I gather that he still walks there. The large population of monkeys has disturbed the nesting of birds ...."monkeys are as needlessly destructive as human beings" he remarks. 

Indian Silverbill

Birds in the Delhi University Campus

A Brown-Headed Barbet eating the Neem fruit - Jan 2012

An Indian Grey Hornbill at the same task on the same tree

A Koel on the same tree cutting a funny figure

On a cold December afternoon with the sun on its last legs, I spotted these Plumheaded Parakeet while walking my dog - they were kind enough to wait while I ran home and got my camera. The male is really the plumhead while the female (below) has a  pale grey head.

The two together ->

Plumhead again, some weeks later in January

Koel in my backyard on the Gulmohor tree

A pair - both males. Were into some sort of a fight, it seems. The one seen on the left kept up a persistent call and would keep hopping closer and closer to the other bird till the other took flight.

I have heard this Koel ( with crimson eyes) just outside our residence for long. Finally managed to catch him - mid April 2011

A Sunbird Sucking nectar from a hibiscus flower in our back yard.

A cottage in the hills - Oct 2011

Deccan Herald has published an edited version of this piece in its Sunday Travel section. The original is reproduced below.

I wake up to the song of a Whistling Thrush and open my eyes to see the faint light of dawn coming in through the large picture window that I have left partly uncovered. Time is of the essence. I do not want to miss the sun rising over the hills in the distance. In a few minutes, I step out of my cottage, warmly dressed, camera ready, with a hot cup of tea in my hand.

The October mountain air is cold, crisp, and clear and carries the faint scent of pine. Jungle crows have now joined with their hoarse cawing.

In front of my cottage, a paved stone path meanders its way down into the valley far below. On one side of the path, the hill is terraced with fruit trees, the Orange and Lemon trees laden with fruit. The other side borders a pine forest.

Warmed up with the tea, I walk towards the orchard, now teeming with activity. Hooded Shrikes, natty Tits, imperious Bulbuls, elegant Sparrows and tiny frenetic Munias, White Eyes and Flycatchers are flitting about the fruit trees making it difficult for me to focus my camera.

Towards the north, I see a snow-white chisel edged form sticking out above the trees on a distant hill, too regular and straight edged to be a cloud. I climb up above the cottage until I can get an unobstructed view and see a line of snow-covered peaks come into view, far above the green ranges, golden tipped peaks of the Greater Himalayas reflecting the morning sun. The chisel edge, it turns out, is the peak of Nanda Kot (Nanda’s fortress).

To its west connected by a long ridge appear the unmistakable twin peaks of Nanda Devi. Nanda Devi at 7816 m is the tallest mountain entirely within India. (Kanchenjunga is taller, but on the India-Nepal boundary)  In subsequent days, I slowly begin to realize the enormous hold that Nanda Devi exercises over the people of this region.

Nanda Devi at dawn (Almora)

As the morning progresses, the bird activity subsides and I am quite content to pull out my chair into the gentle warm sun in the small patch of green outside my cottage and delve into a book.

Birds may have become quiet, but not the cicadas and crickets who keep up their chirping throughout the day. I hear a tapping sound from the pinewood adjacent to my cottage.

Needing a break from my reading, I head in the direction of the noise, treading softly. I am soon rewarded with the sight of a Brown-fronted Woodpecker, a Himalayan resident. Towards mid-afternoon, the sun disappears over the top of the ridge and it rapidly starts to cool down. It is the right time for some physical activity.

I am in Almora, a former capital of the Chand rulers of Kumaon, which dates back over five hundred years. I have not come here with sightseeing in mind, but to escape the terrible air and sound pollution that is usual in the megapolis where I live at this time of the year.

Almora is quite unlike the ‘hill stations’ established by the British which now mainly cater to tourists. It has a large permanent population and has several old market places and temples. However, my cottage is not located in the city, but on a ridge overlooking it, well away from the crowds and traffic. 

In fact, to get to the nearest road, I have to walk through a stretch of pine forest, a stiff climb that invariably leaves me gasping for breath. The cottage comes with a kitchen, but the easier option is to eat food cooked by Gopal (who manages this place along with his father) in his restaurant.

It is from Gopal that I find out about several half day treks from the cottage  on ‘pag dandi’s’ ( unpaved foot paths or trails) – to the famous Chitai Temple along a path that skirts a ridge leading to the east; to the stream at the bottom of the valley and so on.

This afternoon, I decide to stick to the paved road and walk to the ancient Kasar Devi temple. It is a pleasant walk all along the top of the ridge, now bathed in the afternoon sun. I climb the hill to the temple and rest for a while absorbing the panoramic view of Almora from a height. As I return, it gets dark and it seems that every dwelling wears a garland of colored and blinking lights. Almora, all decked up for Deepawali is a beautiful sight.

A walk to the stream (with no name)

On another day, I venture forth into the valley. I start on a paved path winding downwards. Some way on, I come across Sundar – a boy who helps Gopal run the place - filling drinking water from a natural spring coming out of the mountainside.

Further down, the paved path gives way to an uneven trail leading down through tiny villages with a handful of houses. The pine trees here look positively comical with stacks of hay clear off the ground tied high up to their trunks – to preserve the fodder through the harsh coming winter.

At the outskirts of the village is a neat little temple with its pyramidal roof painted a bright pink. I see some movement on the trunk of a pine tree. A little bird with a long curved beak, its skin the color and texture of the bark, is creeping rapidly up the tree in mouse like fashion. I later find out that this Himalayan bird has a most appropriate name, Bar-tailed Tree Creeper.

Balta Village

As I approach the bottom of the valley, a larger village comes into sight, perched on a hillside. From a distance, it looks neat and planned, with houses set in rows at different levels. They are large two storied structures with several rooms, tiled sloping roofs, doors and windows painted in bright colors – sky blue and green.

I encounter a woman with a sickle sitting by the path. She asks me where I am going and points to the villages in the vicinity – Vintola and Balta. She is from the village, Bhuluda. She then starts to unburden herself.

Three months back she bought a cow and yesterday was the first day that she let it out to graze by itself. The cow did not return home and she has been searching for it since early this morning. Wiping involuntary tears from her eyes, she says she will be satisfied even if she comes across its carcass, but finds it hard to accept that the cow has simply disappeared.

I wonder aloud if someone could have stolen it and she dismisses my thought. I am at a loss on how to comfort her. As we part, she requests me to spread the word about her lost cow to people I meet on the way.

A little while later, I reach my destination. A bright pink little Shiva temple stands between two mountain streams that merge. It is a beautiful setting for a temple, gushing water on two sides and the pretty village of Balta perched behind on a hill. A pedestrian bridge, freshly painted in ochre and white vertical stripes crosses the stream into the village of Vimtola.

I strongly feel like a cup of tea, but Vimtola does not have a chai shop as I find out from a villager grazing his cows and goats. He graciously offers to make tea for me at his house, but he lives some distance away from the spot and I do not want to put him out. He speculates that the missing cow could have been killed by a leopard (yes there are leopards in the forests here), but dismisses the thought that the cow could have been stolen.

The way back to my cottage is one long uphill grind for an hour and a half and I am pleasantly exhausted by the time I reach my cottage. I think about the children of Vimtola who have to walk this route every school day to get to their high school in Almora.

Nanda Devi above the clouds (Binsar)

Nanda Devi Folklore

Yet another day, I spend the morning walking the trails in the Binsar bird sanctuary, an hour’s drive from my cottage. From a gap between trees, Nanda Devi appears ethereal, floating above the clouds. The southern wall of high peaks and ridges that ring the main Nanda Devi peak forming the almost impenetrable Nanda Devi inner sanctuary is also discernible.

I wander into the Forest rest house complex and the caretaker offers me some tea brewed from fresh oregano leaves he collects in front of me in water from a nearby mountain spring. He tells me that there is no water shortage in Binsar because of the Oak (banj) forest. When we talk about Pine forests, he explains that Pine’s suck the earth dry and it is difficult to find water in them.

I am mentally transported to an evening I spent a couple of days back with a renowned archaeologist and scientist who lives in Almora. Over tea, he explains to me how local folklore in the hills captures and transmits practical knowledge and tells me a folklore related to Nanda Devi.

Almora - Khairna road stretch

Nanda is a goddess, but in folklore, also a simple village girl who pines for her mait (maternal home) just as every other girl.

On her way to her mait, she rests under a chir (pine) and asks the tree how far it is to her home. The chir gives a rude reply and is roundly cursed by Nanda, ‘No plants will grow under you, no animals will eat your leaves, no birds will build nests on your branches and no bees will ever make their hives in them’.

When she stops under a banj (oak) tree, it welcomes her and asks her to treat its canopy as her own home. Nanda blesses the oak, ‘You will always remain green, birds and bees will make their homes on your branches, water springs will always be nearby your shade’.

A week passes in no time and I must return – but I could stay on indefinitely here in this charming place with its gentle people.

Birds of Almora, Uttarakhand

These birds were spotted in Pappersaili suburb of Almora in the last week of October.

<- A Brown-fronted  Woodpecker (a better image courtesy RWeHavingFunYet)

-> Bar-tailed Tree Creeper - I found it rapidly moving up along a side of the pine tree in a short swift bursts ( like a mouse) until it got to the top. Then it would come flying down and resume the ascent, this time on a different side of the trunk. After exhausting one tree, it would take up another. I also noticed that it did not confine itself only to pine trees. Salim Ali calls it a 'Spotted Grey Creeper'

<- Grey Tit

-> Scaly-breasted Munia...foraging in the undergrowth

<- Common Chiffchaff

Right and below: Red-billed Blue Magpie. I got the second shot on the road while driving down from Almora to Bhowali ... the Magpie was absorbed in hunting down a lizard (not in the picture)

<- To the left and below, different profiles of a Grey Shrike

<-Tailor Bird Juvenile (?)

-> Himalayan Whistling Thrush. I noticed during my stay in Almora that it was always the first bird to start singing in the morning.

<- Grey-headed Flycatcher

-> Himalayan Tree Pie

<- Himalayan Woodpecker seen at Binsar Bird Sanctuary

-> Eurasian Jay... A resident of the Himalayas...Black moustachial stripe is distinctive

<- Black-headed Jay ... resident Himalayas...distinctive streaked throat

Shillong

Shillong from Laitkor Peak

Our first experience of Shillong is being sandwiched in  bumper to bumper traffic that inches its way into the city in stops and starts. Over the next few days, we realize that this is the normal traffic scenario in all the main roads of Shillong. There are far more vehicles out on these roads than these roads can handle. The long time spent on the roads breathing in vehicle exhaust and dust is a price we have to pay for any excursion around Shillong.

Our shared taxi unloads us at a place called 'Anjali pump' - a tri-junction  with a petrol pump at the center. Several days later, while leaving Shillong we discover that just a few meters ahead is the Anjali cinema hall and right across the hall is the stand where shared and reserved taxi's wait for Guwahati passengers.


Room with a view at La Chaumiere

We have opted to stay in a 'Guest house' rather than a hotel. La Chaumiere hill where our guest house is located, turns out to be a quiet residential area with narrow curved roads snaking around the hill and down the sides. 'Summit Guest House' is located inside the compound of a colonial style bungalow with a beautiful garden.

View from the room

The common areas of the guest house - a sitting room with TV, the dining room, the staircase and  lobby - are tastefully done up. Our room is pleasant and welcoming with light streaming in through  floor-to-ceiling glass windows looking out at the town below and the hills beyond. A little balcony gives an uninterrupted view.

Summit Guest house has its little quirks. The food - breakfast and dinner - comes from the kitchen of the main house and has to be ordered well in advance. The landlady warns us that her kitchen is closed between breakfast and dinner. The order has to be written down to the T and passed to the kitchen. On one occasion we write down an order for roast chicken (the menu specifies roast chicken with vegetables/baked potatoes). We get what we asked for - only roast chicken, no vegetables! But quirks and all, the food is home cooked and wholesome and served exactly at the time requested. We really like this place.

Eating at Laitumkrah

Setting out to explore the neighborhood, we find that a short walk down the hill brings us to a locality called Laitumkrah, with the striking 'Mary, Help of Christians Cathedral', several schools and numerous eating places frequented mainly by local residents. We sample a Khasi thali at Jadoh which appears to be a popular eatery from the number of people queuing up. All the items available are on display at the counter. We opt for plain rice instead of the popular pork-rice as the staple. The thali comes with a small piece of chicken in a green curry, a vegetable (potato) and several spicy chatni's and a fruity drink. It is a quick and light meal served in clean surroundings. We figure out later that Jadoh is the generic name for the Khasi rice steamed with pork. In the next few days, we invariably see this dish being consumed in local eateries and at all times, at breakfast and even in the late afternoon.

Laitumkrah has of course more variety in food joints than just Jadoh's. We have heard that a popular restaurant among the young is 'Flavours'. Looking for 'Flavours', we come across 'Different Flavours' and decide that is certainly not the place we want. Returning to Laitumkrah on another day, we ask for directions from a local youth. He tells us how to find 'Flavours' and 'Different Flavours' but is non committal about which has better food. We finally get to 'Flavours' and order steamed momo's that turn out to be as delicious as we have imagined. In the restaurant, we realize that both the 'Flavours' are part of the same chain!

The archery sweepstakes

Crowd waiting for results of the Archery sweepstakes

Guwahati in transit

Paltan Bazar

It is by accident that the hotels we have chosen for the nights stay in Guwahati, both on our way to Meghalaya from Delhi and on the way back, happen to be in Paltan Bazar. It turns out that staying in the Paltan Bazar is a good choice. An air-conditioned private bus that we board at the airport drops us a few meters from our hotel near Nepali Mandir charging an extremely reasonable fare of just Rs 100. The next morning, we have to just step out of the hotel to find a shared taxi going to Shillong. (Fare Rs 140/- per seat).

On our way back to Delhi, our shared taxi from Shillong again drops us just a few meters from our hotel. The next morning, the government airport bus picks us up at the hotel entrance. (The only inconvenience using the government service is that the tickets have to be purchased in advance from the ASTC counter at Ulubari, a short auto ride from our hotel).

Fancy Bazar

The highlights of the half day that we spend in Guwahati are making our way through Fancy Bazar in the midst of the Pooja shopping frenzy, a ferry ride at dusk across the Bramhaputra and back (costing all of Rs 5) and an authentic Assamese dinner.

A place for authentic Assamese food

We have been recommended Paradise Restaurant at GNB road for authentic Assamese cuisine. At 7.30, it is a little early for dinner and there is just one table occupied. We order a la carte instead of the thali. Amla soup, steamed rice and fish cooked in amla curry, and fish steamed in bamboo hollows. We have ordered a surfeit of fish on purpose - that is something we rarely get to eat where we live. By and by, more tables get occupied, but the restaurant is not crowded. The food is delicious and with unique flavors. We resolve to return to try out the thali, but unfortunately that will have to wait another visit to Guwahati.

We learn that the group running Paradise has also started a restaurant in Delhi  (Jakoi) offering traditional Assamese food.

1857: The Real Story of the Great Uprising - A review

I have long been wanting to get a better understanding of the events of 1857. Recently I came across this book by an Indian who was actually an eyewitness to the battle of Jhansi. Vishnu Godshe Versaiker's book is a fascinating read. Here is the first part of my review of the book for Himal:

In war, goes the old saying, the victor gets to write the history. There exist numerous eyewitness accounts of the rebellion of 1857 by Englishmen, based on which historians of the British Empire had no difficulty bringing out multi-volume tomes on the ‘Sepoy Mutiny’. The defeated often did not live to tell their side of the story, after all, and in this case the ‘mutineers’ were ruthlessly hunted down and slaughtered, the towns that sheltered

them pillaged. Little is known even about the last days of their prominent leaders – Nana Sahib who disappeared without a trace, Begum Hazrat Mahal who escaped to Nepal (See this link for more about the Begum's exile in Nepal), Tantya Tope who the British claim to have captured, and the rani of Jhansi who died in battle.

The repression let loose in the aftermath of 1857 must have severely discouraged, and pushed underground, accounts that presented the rebels in a sympathetic light. But how did the people of the time view these watershed events? What did they think of the rebel soldiers and their leaders? Given the paucity of Indian voices from this period, an eyewitness account by a local evokes great interest. Noted journalist Mrinal Pande has now brought to an English-language readership Vishnu Bhatt Godshe Versaikar’s Marathi work, Majha pravas: 1857 chya bandachi hakikat, (My travels: A factual account of the 1857 mutiny) originally published in 1907.

Read the full review in Himal Southasian here