"Too young to worry, Too old to smile"

7am... Saturday morning... hit the road to Kabini. Driving along with my camera, for company, and the hope to see a Tiger. The best part about the drive was that I stopped nowhere. 236km drive, non-stop, 3hrs & 45 min (The last 12km took over 30min). Reached Kabini Jungle resorts and I must say, they are extremely courteous and an ever-smiling face takes away even the slightest discomfort from the drive. Checked in to the Maharaja Bungalow and boy was I impressed with the 100 year old building and its upkeep. Took a shower and hit the "Golghar" for lunch. The spread was extremely good and I truly enjoyed the food with a bottle of beer. Hit the bed for an hour and was ready for an evening safari. For company in my Jeep, I had four seasoned gentlemen with bazooka sized lenses and a strong Brit accent. Two Indians and two Brit's, later i got to know, where friends from Hull visit India for some serious bird photography. David had exceptional knowledge about birds while o...

This was our journey without knowing where we were headed, where were we to stay and what were we to do after reaching the destination.... it was all about the drive... and what an amazing experience it was... We had heard about Sakleshpur and decided that we head in that direction. Started at 0800hrs and hit the road towards Mangalore. The road was a breeze and even after a Pitstop (breakfast) for 30min, we reached Sakleshpur by 1130hrs. 1st things first, check for accommodation if we were to camp at this town. It had been an amazing drive till now and with no luck to stay & time running out, we decided to hit the road to Mangalore and camp at Mangalore. Did some local sightseeing, driver change and hit the highway again. The ghat section from Sakleshpur onwards was a little bad and considering the recent rains, it was expected. after about an hour and 40 kms in to the drive, the roads smoothed out and the drive was a pleasure again. Reached Mangalore at 1530hrs, went south to Ull...

The thought of owning a small land and cultivating my own basic edible needs are not only creeping in my mind for the last few weeks, but also intensifying by the day. The need to grow organic food and contribute to the society by selling the excess produce seems to be such a noble cause to attain a little more inner peace. Now comes the detailing, buying the land and where! which land has what kind of potential to grow a certain type of vegetation! and many more Q's... Looks like i need to go for an internship on farming before starting this of! One thing for sure is that i need to know where to buy the land. depending on that, i can decide about the internship bit. Then comes the thought of, "you cant grow everything right!", and eventually you have to still procure some from the market,then why not build a farming society that contributes to each other and saves the idea of trading, unless your produce is being wasted. Suddenly all this seems like a business and thats ...

It was an early evening safari into the Rajiv Gandhi National Park at Kabini. The heavy lunch was not helping and the jungle trails ahead were not some of the best. A look above the horizon and the sun was getting the best of you. Most say it was a perfect setting to sight the Big one - Tiger. We waited for a bit at the beginning of the park to register ourselves for passing the National Park. As we waited, a nip of breeze was in the air and the silence was not too comforting. It was around 3.15PM, the sun was gazing bright at you and the birds were at their loudest best. As we started our drive on the webbed trails in the jungle, we noticed the dryness all around. Mid autumn and controlled burnings of the plantations around the trail was not visually too pleasing, but these were the best conditions to sight the Big One. We were the first vehicle in the forest and it was good as we could catch the mammals in their natural environment, undisturbed, at least till we pass by. 10 min...

In the summer of 99, a 12 grade adolescent wanted to graduate to the world of biking. His eyes were looking for the perfect lady to accompany him for the journey ahead. There were a few ladies at that time that could stand apart. The Yam (Yamaha RX100) would be of first choice as it was a beauty and would kill just by the stare, but that was too common a girl to hang around with. More like a clone of the best babe around and you never felt that you actually were walking down with only one of its kind. So the hunt continued until some the day a dark, tall and lean girl passed by. That was it!!!! This will be the girl of my dreams she is the one i will ride along for many years to come. SUZUKI SHOGUN... The BOSS. Thanks to dad and i had the best bike in business. She took me places from day one. She was more like a good luck charm. Every thing fell in place from the day i brought her home and introduced her to my family and friends. The rest was history. For the last 10 years, I have had...

The day began with some hot tea and the view of the sun rise. The golden drops of warmth were more than inviting. A quick shower and we hit the road to visit the only Monastery where in the statue of Lord Buddha is in the outside. Lukhil monastery, as it was called in the old days, today has been given a more more acceptable to our palate, Likhir Monastery. This was the only place where we could see many young monks running around the compound of the monastery, many adolescent ones prioritizing their work for the day ahead and the elderly yelling out the days chores to all in their vicinity. We had packed a crate full of food for our lunch by the Indus. The trickling of water around the rock edges and the steady flow of blue water was truly mesmerizing. A few snaps of us by the river and i was ready to grab a bite from my lunch box. Bioled eggs, Boiled Potatoes, Cheese sandwich, juice and some cookies. Mouth watering!!!! considering the fact that food is difficult to find in this in...

Agenda for the day: To drive to Lamayuru Monastery, visit Alchi, visit the village (Which was not planned initially), Have a borne fire, great dinner and stay the night at a motel at Alchi village. Sounds like a lot but we added a few more things to our plan as the day went by. We drove around 140 kms to visit the Lamayuru. Most places en-route, like the magnetic hill, the Sangam and the gurudwara, we had visited on an earlier day. So i caught up a long argument with my driver regarding Buddhism, as taught today and to what would have actually been taught by the Buddha himself. Although our thoughts were similar in the matter of fact that todays teachings are more orderly, which is not right, we still argued on the true reasons of re-birth, purpose of being born and many trivial things that we really dont think about in our daily being. It was a great experience to have chatted with him as time flew and we reached moonland. Apparently, many travelers visit this place to admire this vie...