Janmashtami, it could be last for pilgrimage.

This year Janmashtami was a very low profile celebration in Bandhavgarh. Pilgrims were allowed to go to temple only up till mid day and they had to return before sunset. That was routine even in previous years.
Bandhavgarh witnessed heavy rain on Janmashtami night and morning. Pilgrim rush was low in the morning but increased by 10-1030 AM. But it was too late for many. Once the forest deptt shut the gate at 12 Noon may of pilgrims were looking for an alternate temple to prey. One local person Bramhan by caste just saw the opportunity and started the prayer under Banyan tree near Tala gate where a Shivling is based on a platform. Within minutes he was performing the duty of a priest. That was a great excuse for many pilgrims to offer their prayer. He console many souls.

What I found this year was that there were not more than 5-7% devotees in the crowd rest were picnickers who came here to visit the park / temple because it is free. Most of them were trying to go through shortcuts and trying to have bath in the park. They thought it is a good theme park but were controlled by watchman. I walked with my wife Kay and had to literally (physically) teach the lesson to minimum 3 boys. I came back with a broken umbrella.
I doubt things will be the same next year. Gopalpur pool is not even half full.Chakradhara still looks dry. No Kaans flowers in Chakradhara this year and nor at Thauni. No Tiger was seen by pilgrims this year. It was more or less dry. I didn't see any Chital either. Langur and Chital alarm calls from Ramtalaiyya were probably for Vijaya and her cubs. 

Tala in monsoon.

Tala is a Tourism village. Most (99%)of the families survive on income from tourism industry. Even the people who work as daily wage labour find tourism related work.
 One morning in july second week I just went through Tala village. Most of the shops are closed. Samosa's are not made till 9 AM Vegetable shops are closed since July 1st due to park closure a day before. No Gypsies queued up at main road near barrier or in market.
Village looks very relaxed.
Shopkeepers stop buying new supply in mid June. A huge stock will be complete loss for next 3 months. Small items such as Cornflakes is out of stock in monsoon while in summer one can buy muesli cereal here. Villagers has to rely on Umaria 35 km or Manpur 13 km for vegetables. One shopkeeper found Tala a better option than district town Umaria so he shifted his shop to Tala where he gets business only for 9 months.
If tourism stops the life of these villagers will stop automatically. They wont find any alternate job that easily. Here their savings were high. Living at home and whole family working locally is beneficial to all. Some families have 2-3 people working as guide. Young university pupil find easy job as guide to work in summer and winter holidays. One of them is all set to join the clan, if don't find any other job. This is an easy option, he said.
All these happy living are going to vanish with closure of Tourism industry.

 This is how Tala village will be till 16th of October. Almost dead village without tourism. Think about these Chat thela,s. Poor people has to spend more money on all the decoration and painting again.
But the best was this Tiger who was leaping in air to look for Tourists.

Python surrounded by Peafowl and Lesser Adjutant.

Tala zone in summer is a nightmare for Tourists. We entered the park and saw all the jeeps on that route queued up for a glimpse of Vijaya who was sitting some where behind the grass opposite siddhbaba temple. We pass it coolly to pass some time in Siddhbaba meadow or Gopalpur. What we saw at Gopalpur was a flock of Peafowl along with some Lesser Adjutant making noise. A python must have come for a drink in the morning and got his timings wrong. All these birds attacked on him. He curled up initially but when a Lesser Adjutant pulled his tail he decided to move back to a safer place. This is the time when we started photographing him. Peafowl were interested but scared while young Adjutant were very  interested in attacking on him.

Python, even though it's small but still a very big prey to tackle by Peafowl or Adjutant Stork. Slowly slowly Python found the way to a safe place in a bamboo clump. 

Why locals gets menials job in Hotel Industry.

This is a big question. Many people complaint about this but hardly ever try to understand it. In-fact one cant understand it until you face it. Same question I asked the local Hoteliers and one of them told me the truth. I agree with him and I also have the same opinion about them. Hoteliers claim that 70% of their staff is local. Yes it will be because 70% jobs of total staff strength are always goes to lower staff that comes under House Keeping, Kitchen and Restaurant-Room Service. (Waiter, Kitchen helpers, sweepers Gardner's,watchman etc.) Rarely locals are employed on managerial posts.
Major complaint against the staff is about their habit of holiday. A simple function at home is more important for them than their job. Other thing is their loyalty. They never respect their own work. That's the reason for complaints in House keeping and Restaurant. Never follows the working guidelines. Booze and smoking are hard to give away.
A hotelier wants smooth operation of services at his place. He doesn't wants any hassle in his business. Management wants staff to be present on all working days except their weekly off day. 
So in nutshell I want to say that people show lots of sympathy with the villagers and think they are very simple and honest people while the reality is altogether different. One can realise it only by facing them. 

Tigers in Buffer zone of Bandhavgarh National Park

A part of sky on eastern horizon was bright blue this morning. I thought this could be a good day to explore the Buffer Zone area of Bandhavgarh National Park. Tala village was still a sleep. No reason for them to be up. Most of activities in Tala village dies on 1st july morning. Dhaba's dont open in the morning and neither the samoasa's are fried till 0930 - 10.00  in the morning. After passing the park road junction on main road I saw a glimpse of something yellow behind the bush. I said to myself that it can't be here so to clear my doubts I just turned left and to my surprise surprise, yes he was there. Quickly I lift the camera took a picture to move on.
Jungle has become lush green. Every pit in the jungle has turned in to a perfect water hole. Spotted Deer are all scattered here and there as they don't have to face any competition for food for few months.  I heard some alarm calls between Siddhbaba and Thauni. If it's not a leopard that this could be Vijya, Bamera or Mukunda male. Spotted deer , Langur monkey and Muntjac calls were confirming the presence of a predator. I left after I heard calls moving further away. Thauni meadow has turned in to a good habitat in the monsoon. We saw not one or two but three male Spotted Deer preaching. They are all in rut.  
Bhadrashila pool has attracted lot of birds in the monsoon. Black Ibis must be nesting near by as they are collecting nest material from the pool bank. 
Badhaini hill looks very close to Mahaman village. This village comes under buffer zone. Village dogs are chasing doves and other birds in the field. Some boys are playing near tamarind tree. there is no sign of any tiger movement here. No pugmarks but a tiger is standing on a platform.
I just went to Khitauli and believe it or not I photographed another Tiger there.
So when you will see these pictures you will realise that these are the Tigers we see at present in Buffer zone and they are there all the time.

e

  

Why we complaint about our Broadband services??

In Tala village we are always the first to complain about Broadband services provided by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, a Govt of India owned company. Sometimes we have to send the email to highest authority in the state and believe it or not it works. I have no idea whether this email reaches to concerned person or not but I often get a phone call from his office asking about our Broadband. Again I have n idea whether he knows the importance of this broadband in this village or not but for the locals living here it has become an important part of their livelihood.

Let me tell you first about Tala village.

Tala is situated near main entrance gate of Bandhavgarh National Park and this gate got it's name Tala only becauseit's in close vicinty of Tala village.

Why Broadband is so Important here??

100 % population of Tala village survives on jobs created by Tourism Industry. Hoteliers needs Broadband for all their reservations and communication with their clients and agents and mainly for booking of Online Park entry. Guides, Drivers and Tourists uses broadband to look on Facebook or some other site for the latest news of the park. Instead of asking 50 different people about the park news it's quicker to look at Facebook or on some other social site about Tiger sightings of the day. Some people or so obsessed that they put the picture within an hour coming out of the park.

 Forest department does all his Park entries online so without broadband sometimes park opens late or tourists looses their valuable time waiting at booking window. Every minute waiting at the gate cost Rs 15.54 for an Indian and for foreigner it's Rs 25.83. If broadband services are out of order in the evening then many tourists can,t get their entry online and they lose out the morning safari some time.

Many people like me are 100% dependent on Broadband for our survival. I need to send my pictures to different agencies and Kay my wife updates Bandhavgarh Diary every day on tigernation.org. For us Broadband has become an essential thing in our life. It's like an office key. Without Broadband our office doesn't get open and we looses day's work.

I will say that our country did not invented this technology but as far as the users are concerns they are growing day by day. We are running this system on a borrowed technology in this country. We may have the latest equipments but we are failed to make a good use of them.

Why and where we are lacking in it??

We are lacking because of our mentality of Chalta he. Our technicians don't check the system regularly. They know about the fault in their own office only when someone complaints. It's laziness only because of the Job Security.

I often wonder that how come a person becomes more efficient while working in private company??

 Because there they are answerable to someone.

So they should be here. Are they not??

Why we could not develop that culture in our Govt departments??

I can't answer this question. I am failed to understand the mentality of these people.

 Probably this country has produced too many white collared workers??

So the internet in village Tala today (31st July 2012)is still out of order since last 26 hours.

Leh Laddakh and Dharamshala.

I left Tala in mid June to lead a Tour of Photographers visiting Leh Laddakh. I was really nervous about this tour as how my body will cope with this high altitude situation. You don't want to be sick while leading a tour.
On our first day in Delhi we visited Jama Masjid. Group had some really nice pictures from that visit. Other places that were visited in Delhi were spice market, Humayun's Tomb,Lotus Temple and a Shanti town for some nice colourful doors and wall paintings.
Flight to Leh gives you an idea about the topography of the area. Snow capped mountain peak and snaky village trails looks nice from that height.
We stayed at Hotel Mansarovar. Free WI FI in reception area was a great relief for many guests staying there. Taste wise food was always good but sometimes they serve a pretty odd menu. many of the small Hotels in India are managed by non-professionals who had no idea of anything related to Catering and Housekeeping. Owner at Mansarovar is very helpful and courteous gentleman. He helped us a lot even some time going out of his way. That's the beauty of these people. While camping once we were served Omelet with Pan cake and no Toast or bread. Although this was a different caterer. When you are camping just don't go to look in to the kitchen or the place where they wash utensils.

One of our friend told us that he stopped his tour to Laddakh only because the services were not up to the standard or he was cheated for every service. We had the same problem. We should have had the cars for our entire trip means group could use cars for entire day but a simple de tour may cost you extra half day charge if you are not careful. It was very frustrating. I will suggest people to do some homework on Google and support the local people who provide accommodation in their houses. I think that accommodation will be better than camping. these houses have electricity so easy to charge your batteries. I did this while camping and offered them Rs 50 for each camera and laptop battery and twenty for mobile phone. That was a fantastic arrangement at Hemis and Kurzok village. I am always in favor to support the locals in Tourism.With more support they will be able to provide better facilities to you on your next visit. In Ladakh it's better to have a solar panel for charging your battery. In-fact taxi drivers can do this easily for extra income if they fit a solar panel at car roof and batteries are charged while travelling. 

Most of the Hotels, except Mansarovar in Leh, I stayed were run by most inefficient owners. I always found Housekeeping and service in dining hall little poor. 
When you are visiting these monasteries keep looking for wall paintings. They are superb.
In one of the monastery when me and Jeremy were photographing prayer none of our camera could record the video. God knows what mistake we were doing??  It happened with me twice.
After Ladakh we went to Dharamshala to see His Holiness Dalai Lama's birthday celebration. None of the tourists were allowed to go with camera or any other electronic gadget. I applied for photographers pass. They asked me to show my published work? It was difficult. 

His Holiness Dalai Lama shook hand with every person who came across to him that day. I also got the chance.  
I should have wrote my diary everyday but I was never in a good mood of doing so due to my physical fitness. I was always in pain and worried about my own health. I had to go to doctor thrice in this tour. Now all those things are in my head but words are not coming through. Sorry for that.