Bird Sightings at Bhigwan

Bhigwan is located on Pune-Solapur and is roughly 100KMs from Pune. The actual bird sightings happen in a yet another small village called Diksal which happens to be close to Bhigwan. Click here for the wikimapia location. It is the back waters of Ujjani dam which invite the migratory birds during the winter time. The most awaited bird being Flamingo. Unfortunately when we visited this place Flamingos were yet to arrive. Below I have tried to list clicks of few birds that I was able to capture.
Special thanks to Sanju for providing me with his 300mm lens. Due to which I was able to get these clicks. This was an old lens and hence was not compatible with my DSLR D40. This is also the reason why some clicks are blurred.
Myself and my wife we departed from Pune around 6:00AM and reached Diksal around 8:45AM with two small haults. We used a two-wheeler for our travel. If you plan to go via a four wheeler you might reach early which is really good. Once you reach the village you can ask the villagers for exact directions to the sightings place. You start with small water bodies on both the sides of road. The level of water depends on what time of the year you visit. It was here that we spent our initial time and were able to find Black Winged Stilts, Egrets, Grey Herons, Red Wattled Lapwing, Sundateal and Paddy Field Pipit (though I am confused whether it is Long Billed Pipit or Paddy Field Pipit).

As you further move towards the abandoned railway line (refer the link provided above) you tend to see less amount of birds. Don’t get dishearten keep proceeding and you would come across small hutments. These are the local fisher men which would offer to take you through the water for more bird sightings. Typically single boat would coast you around 500Rs. to 800Rs. We paid 500Rs. for two of us and on the condition that we should see some birds. It took some time for us to get to correct place. Initially we saw lots of Cormorants, Egrets, Rudy Shelducks and a bunch of black headed gulls (again I am not very sure whether these were black head or brown headed).

We had to travel some distance till we were able to see Whiskered Terns, Black Headed Gulls, Painted Storks, Glossy Ibis, Woolly Necked Ibis, Black Headed Ibis, Rudy Shelduck, Eurasian Spoonbill and Grey Heron.

It was around 12:00PM that we decided to call it a day. During our return journey the amount of birds was drastically reduced.

To view all the clicks that I took on this trip visit the Picassa link.

Kaas Plateau "The Valley Of Flowers Of Maharashtra"

Kaas plaute also known as the "Valley of Flowers in Maharashtra" is located around 15 KMs from Satara district. Click here for the wikimapia link. This place is famous for the small flowers which are grown on top of stones. The best time to visit this place is around last week of October and the first week of November. You should be lucky to visit this place at the peak of flower blossoms. There are huge patches of white, yellow, blue and lavendour colored flowers around you.

You might fall prey to the beauty of this place and at once take out your camera and start taking clicks. I would suggest not to make hurry, instead first be patient and take a nice look at the surrounding, look for different locations and angles that you might like and then start taking the clicks. I being the first timer did the mistake of taking the clicks in hurry and took some time to adjust to the surroundings....:-)

Like any other kind of outdoor photography you should have the correct sunlight to get best clicks of flowers. I would recommend to reach the  platue before 8 AM and leave by 11:00 AM. If you wait beyond 11:00 AM the sun becomes pretty harsh and unbeariable. It becomes very difficult to take any clicks in such case unless you are okay to bear some real dark tan on your body....:-)

Apart from the flower I was very facinated with the different types of grass shoots that are found on this plaute. I stuggled a lot to get a better angle to take these clicks. The patience factor really pays at this point.

In the dense layer of flowers I found this struggling plant on top of a black rock. I found the maroon, yellow and black combination really stricking. This clicks indicates the intensity of struggle against all odd, life amidts lifeless situation.

This tall standing group of seeds from all the other grass and low lying flowers presented a good perspective to shoot. It is really very interesting to know the different kind of view that you get when you lay low on the ground and get to the horizontal level of flower to look though the view finder.

To view the complete collection of clicks that I took on this visit check out this Picassa link.

Dassera And Ramlila In Nashik

Diwali is suppose to be the festival of lights. Just like candles, in India we have special pots to create small lights on the occasion of Diwali. The use of eatable oil and a cotton string dipped in it is made so that the light remains for longer time. The first such pots (called as “Panti” in Marathi) is lighted in front of Basil plant (called as “Tulsi”) to mark the beginning of the festival of light.

According to Indian mythology the period of Diwali also marks the victory of Lord Ram over the daemon king Ravan. Here Lord Ram is supposed to be symbolize truth and justice were as Ravan symbolizes lies and injustice. Various places in India during Diwali a nine day stage play called as “Ramlila” is organize which depicts the story of Ram and Ravan known as “Ramayan”.

In the back stage daemon king Ravan is getting ready for his performance.

Sita Lord Ram’s wife was abducted by the Ravan and taken to his kingdom capital Lanka. On their way in search of Sita (Lord Ram’s wife) Ram and Laxman met the King of apes Sugriv. With the help of Lord Ram Sugreev was able to defeat Bali get his kingdom back. Sugriv decided to help Lord Ram to search his wife and defeat Ravan in return on this favour. Sugriv and his army of apes marched towards Lanka where Ravan had kept Sita in captivity.

It was here that Lord Ram met his one of most famous devotee, Hanuman. Hanuman played a very vital role in searching Sita, saving Laxman’s life twice and Ram’s life once during the war.

In the war of Ramayan, Lord Ram’s younger brother Laxman had also participated. Laxman had a very furious battle with Indrajeet (the eldest son of Ravan) and at the end of fifth day of the battle Indrajeet was killed with the hands of Laxman.

On the day of Dassera (i.e. 10th day since the beginning of Dassera) a huge statue of Ravan is created. The statue is made up of bamboo sticks, cloth and crackers. The characters from Ramlila play, perform their final stage show on this day. The only difference is that they are no more performing on stage. They get down onto the ground where Ravan’s statue is erected and perform the play in front of Ravan.

As the show approaches towards its end Lord Ram proceeds and light up the statue of Ravan with fire. Within no minutes the complete statue is engulfed by flames and the huge statue of Ravan is turned into ashes.