Dundlod Rajasthan

After spending two days in Jaipur we moved to Dundlod. Dundlod is a small town in Jhunjhnu district about 170 km from Jaipur. Road is good not unlike other states where after 5 hours of road journey tourists look for the bed and painkiller tablet. We stayed in Dundlod Fort as a guest of Kr Raghuvendra singh ji who runs horse safaris at Dundlod. He is a pioneer in adding this adventure in tourism itinerary successfully. Today it has became one of the major tourism adventure sport in Rajasthan. I am not sure whether this is recognised as an adventure sport or not!

We were there on invitation to photograph the International Invitational 81 Km Endurance organised by Indigenous Horse Society of India with collaboration of Rajasthan Equestrian Association. This was the first Equestrian Federation of India's qualifying race at Dundlod. Two Endurance were organised one 40 Km and second 81 Km Endurance in which major International teams participated. Vansthali school Jaipur came with their Girls team. Some of them really put an impressive show during Show Jumping and Tent Pegging.

Kay and I were completely new to Indian Horses even I never photographed Horses before except few shots in Pushkar few year back so this was all very interested for us. I was not sure whether I will be able to produce any quality photograph of any sort or not because everyone tells us that Horses are not easy subject to photograph. And it is true. It is a very much time consuming job. Even the photographer has to built a rapport with horse to stand that close to him and make him use to of that "bloody" camera shutter noise. Kay loved being around horses again. Her dream comes true of riding a horse in India even if it was only for a short duration. Now she wants a horse! even more. I already see a dent in my pocket and I am sure if it happens it will repay through various means.

We reached Dundlod on 6th afternoon and met Ms Francesca Kelly and Kr Raghuvendra Singh ji Dundlod. Later Ms Francesca offered us a lift to the stable. That gave us a good opportunity to move around the stable and photograph horses on first day.

Here we met Colonel (retd) Sirpratap Singh ji, a very fine Horse Ride instructor and an authority on Indian Horses. Stable staff was practicing Tent pegging and suddenly we saw Sirpratap singh ji going for Tent Pegging. Still he is better than many others.

At the fort dinner is always served around the camp fire. Also this is the time to evaluate the day activities and plan for tomorrow.

Other person we met here is Philippa Waterfield. She says that she always feels very nervous when she meet new people. I didn't see that at all. She is a one good friendly nature person who love Horses and try to spend minimum 6 months in India every year. I enjoyed her company and hope soon she will be able to come and stay with us.

Opening ceremony was scheduled for 8th so we had another free day to move around stable.

Got some good photos of Horse rolling in sand, horse washing and clipping. See the photo of clipping, still using the good old method. Watching Sirpratap singh ji giving riding lessons to Ms Maica was a treat to watch.

Tent Pegging show on opening ceremony day was a fine example of practice and riders rapport with the horse. One of the stable boy hit three targets in tent pegging by sword. He threw his sword in air after pegging one and showed the similar action on second. Alexander practiced on bareback and so the other rider from the stable.

Phillippa and Kay helped Omprakash in washing the horses. They are washed with shampoo to keep their coat clean and shiny.

41 km Endurance started as per schedule on 10th morning. Endurance is a skill to ride the horse for that distance and keep him fit. Riders has to come back to the starting point after covering 20 km for vet check and physical check up of the horse. A horse rider can be eliminated from the race if horse looks lame or his heart beat don't come down in twenty minutes time of his arrival. Similar thing happened in final round when a rider thought he won the race but his horse was found lame and got eliminated. Abhimanyu Yadav, 19 yrs old boy, won the race. This was his first competition ever. What a record for the future. But a 10 year old boy who finished the race impressed everybody. Riding for 41 km at that age is not easy. It needs stamina and will both. At finishing point he and his horse really look exhausted.

Next day on 11th was showing. Many fine looking Stallion and Mare came for the competition.

International Endurance started on 12th morning. We reached on ground in dark. Some riders were already warming up their horses. Army team members were very confident about their success. They were telling us that they will win the Endurance. In fact their comment was that their horses, Thoroughbred, are in good nick than others and could finish the first round in 45 minutes. It did not happened but they won the Endurance to put every other team to battle for the third spot which was won by British team on Marwari Horses.

Only sad accident happened with Sh Bhuneshwar singh ji who fell of the horse and injured his shoulder muscle but he showed his courage by riding again with one arm wrapped against his chest. Unfortuntely he could not finish the third round. Some of the foreign participants commented on the course as one of the toughest course ever they rode in any Endurance but it was all the same for everyone.

During this period four postal stamps were released on Indigenous horses of India ( Kathiyawari, Manipuri, Zanskari and Manipuri)

Price distribution ceremony and Horse Dancing competition was held on 13th. Still photography can not do full justice with dancing horses. One has to see it in reality to see the relationship between horse and man. Hats off to both of them.

We are very thankful to Sh Arun Deo Sengar for providing us a chance to witness this event and Kr Raghuvendra Singh ji Dundlod and Ms Francesca Kelly for their hospitality, encouragement and support.

Photographs of this Endurance can be seen and prints can be ordered at www.flickr.com/photos/satyendraphotography

Jaipur

r

I could not photograph any of the monuments on my last visit to the pink city. Can you believe I missed the Amber fort and Wind Palace before so this time I had to cover these all. Intercity express from Agra reached Jaipur about an hour late. It was almost midnight when we check-in in the hotel. In the city like Agra Jaipur Delhi and Varanasi one must be aware of checking few facts with the hotel such as their check out time and breakfast time etc. We barely finished our breakfast at ten and the moment we enter the room the phone rang informing us that their check out time is 11 AM and we must leave the room by 11 AM sharp. This was a surprise.
We did it.
We moved to a guest house called Ashirvad. Neat and clean room but food costlier than any medium budget restaurant. Best time to photograph Wind Palace is early morning in winter when hardly anybody is moving on the road. I got my picture at 0645 AM. Amber Fort gets busy in the morning. when we reached there the elephants were still arriving from stable. Tourists were waiting for their turn to board the elephant for fort ride. We decided to walk. It hardly takes 15 minutes to reach fort. Some good photography on way.
Photos will speak better than my writing about Amber Fort so look for them at www.flickr.com/photos/satyendraphotography
Hawkers are the most annoying elements for tourists at Amber Fort. How can any tourist would like to buy anything while sitting on elephant! He wants to enjoy the ride and see fort from different angle but these hawkers never let them enjoy.
And there is no-one to control them.

Agra Gunjan's Marriage

We were away for almost 16 days visiting Agra, Firozabad, Jaipur and Dundlod. Main reason to visit Agra was our neice Gunjan's Marriage. First we thought to stay in Agra for few days and photograph those unseen neglected buildings in Agra but plan changed and we decided to visit Jaipur instead.

After a long time we met some of our relatives in Gunjan's marriage. Ofcourse seeing Ravi after more than two years was fun and so the Agam, to whom we missed when he came here on Holi.

Next day after marriage we decided to visit Firozabad, a glass city near Agra. Kay wanted to see that place again. Firozabad is a crowded town. By the time we reached there every working person in the town was on his duty. Vegetable and fruit vendors were every where on road side and people ferrying bangles on handcart and bicycle choked the road. It is a town to be seen and experienced. For us it may be nothing but the person who knows Glass and Glass world compares it with Venice. Although only bangles are manufactured there but still the quantity and skill with premitive techniques makes it an excellent town in Glass World. My wife Kay use to teach Glass in an university in UK and was rated amongst the top glass artists in the world in her field. She was narrating me each and every technique of glass making that we saw there. Although because of a White skin person with me and secondly a camera in my hand did put lots of doubt in peoples mind so they never allowed us to see the kiln or real glass bangle making in the factory. Sometime I have to try this through an official channel.

I doubt people who buy the bangles or who use them with great pride only because of kind of money they paid to buy them ever think about the hardship being put behind making these bangles so special. I was told that 15 to 20 % bangles never reaches to packaging staff. That is the wastage in this industry at initial stage. It is very costly to use the polished bangles again to use as a glass.

When I was walking in those narrow crowded lanes of Firozabad my phone rang and I was bombarded with the demands of Kangan and bangles. I was getting the instructions about Size and colour and design o bangles and kangan and at the last even how many packets are to bought for each person was told. So last hour we spent in Firozabad looking for Bangles and Kangan for my younger sisters. We carried them for next two weeks with us and still lying here. Hopefully I made a good buy there.

Delebrately we did not buy anything for childrens only them to learn that they dont get gifts every time.

Tiger conservation

Is a big question and no one wants to answer this for sure. My first encounter with wildlife tourism / conservation happened in Kanha in wayback 1978-79. There I met many wildlifers working for M.P. Forest and became good friends till today. Those were the days where we saw dedicated workers. They all worked for the department and for the conservation. Many of them spent their entire service period in one National Park. They paid the cost of this through the education of their childrens. Some of them never got proper education.
Here I want to talk about the dedication and facilities and about some people to whom I know from those days.
Two name I remember from Kisli are Late Budhai Lal Gop and Basta Ram Nagpure. Budhai lal was a forestguard in kisli. I never saw him wearing shoes. He use to say they reduce his speed in the jungle. Budhai lal use to walk minimum 8-10 km per day. He was one of the finest Forest Guard of Kanha. He knew each and every knook and croney of his beat. He maintained a diary that will even mention the number of deers and and other animals he saw on particular spot.
Rangers always respect him for his work( Chandran andK.P.Tiwari).
Those were the days when Kanha had only three jeeps, one with Director, One with DD and one old jeep with Park Supdtt. Rangers had motorcycles and rest of the staff either on bicycle or on foot. Each and every area of the park was monitored almost on daily basis. Mr H.S Panwar was the Director who use to spent half of the days in Kanha. Many times I saw him coming to Kanha in the evening and leaving for the office in the morning. That was dedication.
Now things have changed. There are many more vehicles with the forest department then what they ever dreamt. N.G.Os compete in this business too. More you donate more you get the favors!
Recently there was a news in Hitvada about the vehicles donated to Bandhavgarh National Park. Second news was about the contract signed by the M.P.Forest regarding making Field Directors responsible for Tiger Conservation.
I wonder if central Govt or Stae Govt will ever do any assesment of Park Authorities working??

Future of The Tiger

After seeing the Tiger situation in and around the National Parks of M.P. especially Kanha and Bandhavgarh I need to put some questions for the readers to get some answers.

Do we think that Tigers will win the land-battle from human being!

This question is based on this data.

India's population is somewhere around 120 Crore out of which 70% population lives in rural areas so that comes to 84 crore people. I will say that thirty percent of these use some other firefuel then the firewood. So 70 percent uses the firewood as fuel to cook their meals means 58.8 Crore people uses firewood as fuel that comes straight from the jungle through different sources.

Do we have any solution to stop this in next five years! Or can we provide them some other alternate of firewood in next five years.

Brick kilns in villages is the other thing that s responsible of destruction of forest in major way.

If a villager has to think about the tree he has to think first about its uses, his own needs and his survival. He is totally dependent on the trees for all his domestic needs.

Tourism has grown considerably in last thirty years and so the demand of timber and firewood in tourism industry. Small dhabas uses more firewood to keep the fire burning than actual cooking. Hotels uses more firewood to create an atmosphere with campfire in the evening.

Can we stop this!

So there are many small little things that are destroying the habitat on a faster rate, I wont say alarming because who listens to this alarm. So a villager will not think about the survival of any other animal when he needs to cut a tree for his own survival!

So just think about the growing population of human being in this country, use of the forest by humanbeing for their survival and the animals chance of survival under these circumstances.

One of my best friend who use to shout a lot about conservation ultimately changed his opinion and told me: Kahe ko nahak sher ki chintaa karte ho. jo bachega so bachega varna koi bachaa nahi saktaa. Sher ki jameen ko to Aadmi khaa jaayegaa. ( Why worry about the tigers survival, No one can save them. His habitat will be encroached by man).

Bandhavgarh Park

I dont want to discourage people from coming here but I want to tell them the right story about the park before they make any decision. We visited the park yesterday for first time since 16th of October. Only reason is that it has became very costly and we cant afford it if we dont have a business. I cant afford to spend Rs 2000/ per day to visit the park. That too when we dont have to hire the vehicle. This is just the Petrol and entry fee (Indian) cost.
Now Bandhavgarh has the route system more or less like Ranthambhore. Routes are 50-60 km long. It is difficult to cover them in 3.5 to 4 hrs time. One dont get any time to stop anywhere. If someone gets any clue and it is on your route then driver has to rush to the spot to gain some extra time to wait. There is no Tiger show in Tala but where it is allowed in other ranges is not happening very frequently there either. So many Indian Tourists are disappointed. Soon they will learn. There are many roads in between which are not allowed for the tourism. I thnk this leaves lots of chances for possibilities. Tourism should be used in positive manner for wildlife conservation.

Bamera Tigress

Three years back three cubs age three yrs left their motherland, Chakradhara meadow and shifted to Bamera Dam. A year later one of the male cub was seen in Jamunia. Now he is known as new male or male from Bamera. His other male and female siblings were also moved to the same area. We alyas thought that the female in Bamera is his sister and he sire the litter.
Because we never got a chance to see this female so her identity was never established. We presumed that she is the daughter of Chakradhara female, Pyari. when a tigress was found dead near Pataur in August 09 and I got a chance to photograph her then we matched those photos with her old photos but they didn't match. I thought what is this happening! Is she a different Tiger!
Yes she was. Bamera female was the female sibling of L1, Swampy. Lakshmi had two cubs in her first litter. They both ate a woman at the age of 10-11 months. Later on male cub was seen sitting with the dead body of a man so he was sent to Bhopal Van Vihar. She also killed a person but lucky she never got caught for that. I tried hard to get her photo from other people who saw her at Bamera but couldn't find one. But I am sure that Tigress found dead at Pataur was female cub from Chorbehra and not from Chakradhara.