Kenya Unmissable

Whenever you go on a trip to Africa, there are varying comments . Some say it is wildly exciting, some say it is strenuous, some say the weather is unpredictable, others say the game drives can be disappointing, some say the roads are too atrocious and the law-and-order situation is not that good. All are perhaps true. But in our view, a Kenyan Safari tour is unmissable, something which you must do in a lifetime.

We landed in Nairobi, 6 hours behind schedule, spending most of the waiting time at Mumbai airport.

On arrival we were presented Safari hats and were whisked off to a small countryside resort where a welcome iced drink greeted us.

A lunch spread  was laid out, and   consisted amongst other things, of fresh cut and whole fruit, which is an unique feature of all our meals in Kenya. Our meal was under massive trees filled with the nests of the weaver birds. Bougenvillas were everywhere.

Then we started off for Ambroseli National Park, about another 5 hours away. The Nissan Urvan car or a close prototype (our car was labelled CHUI, Swahili for Cheetah) was driven with frenetic speed by Dennis. We were made aware of all the 8 axes of movements for about 21/2 hours in pitch darkness. We bumped, twisted, jumped, angled and spun our way upto the game resort, getting a mouth and lungful of dust everytime we slid the glass window panel back, in a journey which we were cheerfully told was an African Massage!!!!

 

We stayed at the tourist Resort there where there was good food and comfortable accommodation, before going on a morning Game drive.

Our morning was highlighted by the sight of the majestic Kilimanjaro mountain rising massively in front of us.

Ambroseli was an arid area with frequent dust storms, but all that was forgotten as we started viewing the animals on both side of us. The Zebra packs and the gazelles loped around , ferreting out grass shoots. A group of ostriches walked away with their noses in the air.A wart hog careered off and then  suddenly we spotted three cheetahs resting under a massive tree. As if on cue, one and then two climbed up a tree trunk and were marvellously etched against the sky.

All around we saw the dead lying around. There was no burials or cremation—only desecration by vultures, maribous, or other scavengers.Skeletons lay strewn around—a grim reminder that time or tide waits for no one. Beside them, life flourished. Green grass abounded, as did trees. Birds flitted around, the zebras and the gazelles grazed, lions and cheetahs were on the prowl, and we watched with awe and astonishment that maybe this is what crude life is worth, and that we only build sandcastles of culture and beauty over it.

The lions then were sighted, as they walked towards us, disdainful of the puny humans cowering inside a car.

In the swamp lands further on, adult elephants capered in the mud.

Wildebeests and Zebras found the terrain to their liking.

Water buffaloes wallowed to their hearts content with their Egret friends.

On this happy note, we made our way back from Ambroseli and set out for Nairobi.

Descriptions of the rest of the safari will follow. So do come back again. Meanwhile click on these links below for more pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.com/indrajitsardar/Compressed2?authkey=Gv1sRgCNfpobbF6KDsQA&feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/indrajitsardar/AfricanSafariCompressed?authkey=Gv1sRgCKS46aHvpsuLqQE&feat=directlink

 

PLUTO

“How come ”, Pluto queried, “You have never really taken good close-up photos of me, and posted it on the net?” “But I did,Pluto,” I said. “I wrote a whole post about you”. Pluto looked at me suspiciously. Then he gave his cunning smile and sniggered. “You know, my photos would attract all my followers to your blog. Your traffic will increase”.

I was irritated.”Pluto, let’s get it clear. Your photos or no photos, my blog friends would still log in”.

Pluto this time chortled. “Put my full size photographs and see the effect. After all, I am THE pug who talks. And more ladies cuddle me than you ever could imagine!!!!!”

With this true and piercing barb, he walked away. As if on cue, the doorbell rang and several young girls waltzed in.”Hi uncle,” they said.”Can we play with Pluto?”  Pluto had already started licking them. I sort of sensed his triumphant look. I slunk away and started posting these photos.

Do click on this link. I have promised Pluto I will upload further pics. As for now, let me quickly hurry away….

 http://picasaweb.google.com/indrajitsardar/Pluto?authkey=Gv1sRgCMKa5-6k7OrsGw&feat=directlink

Swiss Journey 2

Swiss.mp3

(Click on the play button to hear this Swiss song)

There is something called a Swiss atmosphere. Freshly baked bread and pastries, delightful window displays, free newspapers at railway stations, cooked meat displays, sitting on tables on the footpath with steaks and vodka and beer, looking at the marvellously crafted cuckoo clocks and watches and Swiss Army Knives, and the warm taste of chocolates all the time. Lots of people cycle to work, cities start to work from 5 AM, cleanliness is a way of life, and people have leisure to backpack, travel or drive to attractive destinations.

And yet, during the recession, it was Indian tourists which kept them going. They came in droves, and the tour guides and the bus drivers and the restaurants  could survive. This was a statement made by the concerned people. Swiss ticket collectors said “Namaskar” and “Dhanyabad”. There are flourishing Indian Restaurants. And 50% of their fruits are brought in from India. Switzerland lacks sea beaches and that’s why they travel to South East Asia and India so much.

And so I wondered. Indians are invading the world. They are now everywhere. But, in the process are we neglecting our own culture and our traditions and our own country??

http://picasaweb.google.com/indrajitsardar/SelectedSwissPics2?authkey=Gv1sRgCNeFgLio_ruYLA&feat=directlink

Rediscovered poem

 

Monday, May 31, 2004

When was the last time we watched daybreak together?
as the first rays hit the sunflower and you,
clouds moved away from between,
as i watched your pupils constrict with the orange sky.
The swirling breeze carried away your words
Away from me to the deepest gorge,
only the eagle far above paused in silent query,
i asked you again and again,
but you had gone, and the sun was high,
the dewdrops had left the upturned leaves,
the moist ground bore your sweat---
and your fragrance....
What did you say, that day, that daybreak??

Guitar Ballad.mp3

Switzerland

It seems so silly to write about a Switzerland trip, as countless tourists from innumerable countries have travelled there. Millions of articles and photographs have been published. And yet when we reached there and started absorbing the visual delights , we were left not only thrilled but also annoyed. The reason for the annoyance started when we started comparing with the great natural beauty of our own country, and the difference in “display”. Switzerland was so clean, so underpopulated, so regulated, so orderly. We are dirtying our treasures, the mad and constant crowd rush is overpowering, the systems are so disorganised that many times it borders on the mad and chaotic. Switzerland surrounds you with its beauty, India overwhelms like a ballooning canvas hitting your face.

Lucerne, Mt.Titlis, Jangfrauschol, Zurich, Rhine Falls were stunning, but after a few days one yearned for the comfortable.mad rush of Kolkata. Call it inertia of the stationary, or the fear of adjustments in the elderly age, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief as we scurried home to our homes and families.

I looked at it like a photo trip, my mind and spirit assuaged by the plethora of pictures framed by the bus window or a camera viewfinder. Rolling verdant greens on one side with the traditional chalets on a niche beside the tall pine trees, lonely inviting paths winding past gurgling brooks, the tinkling of the cowbells reverberating off the omnipresent craggy mountains and gorges, the clear blue sky with an incessant passage of fluffy white clouds(we were blessed with good weather), and the snow and the glaciers shooting little arrows of reflected sunlight which blinded us, the lazy yachts with ballooning sails framed on the distant peaks, the crystal clear waters of the lakes, the wonderfully maintained tourist attractions like the Ice Palace and the maddeningly clean trains and buses and roads---all were drunk in by our parched eyes.

Everyone one of us must visit this heaven at least once in a lifetime.

Switzerland selected album

Look up the photos on this link.

Antaheen--the Endless

 

I did not get to see the film Antaheen earlier. Maybe I skipped seeing it deliberately , to watch it without the hype and the hoopla of being a golden harbinger of the "New" Bengali films. So. this evening , I settled down to it, with time on my hands, mobile phone switched off, and after an extremely rare great afternoon nap.

The storyline is difficult to narrate, as I sometimes wondered whether there was one. Abhik Choudhury (Rahul Bose) , a Police Officer and Brinda Menon (Radhika Apte), a Star Ananda reporter are chat mates and do not know their identities. They meet in common circles which includes Abhik's brother Ronno(Kalyan Roy) and his separated- but -still -friend-wife Paromita (Aparna Sen), who also happens to be the marketing manager of Star Ananda. Abhik's aunt is Sharmila Tagore who looks after  him and thinks Jasmine Tea(!!!!) is a solution to many problems.

 

V.K.Mehra (Shauvik Kundragani) is developing a property which has some irregularities (which are never quite revealed) and he had a stepdaughter who died in an accident for which he was blamed by his wife(Mita Vashisth). These characters are connected together by a few wonderful scenes of Kolkata, brilliantly penned songs by Chandril and Anindya, a magnificent musical score by Shantanu Moitra, and competent performances by skilled actors. Mention must be made of Radhika Apte who brings an innocence, intelligence and freshness into her role which for long periods command our attention.

However, the real stars are Avik Mukhopadhyaya , the Cinematographer and Arghya Kamal Mitra and Rabi Ranjan Moitra , the Editors. Abhik creates some wonderful frames, gloss, watershots of incredible relevance and beauty, and his lighting is mostly spectacular and accurate. Arghya Kamal's work is fascinating and instructional. He sets up scenes with a minimum of cuts and he holds the mood of the film throughout with elan. This is a "Mood" film and any deficiencies would have ruined it irrecoverably. Special mention must be made of Biswadip Chatterjee's sound designing, where even the twirling of a metal coin on the ground adds to the superior technical quality  of the film.

These were the achievements of the film. The look of the film was international--but not its contents. The style was commendable but not its impression.

The greatest failure was probably caused by the creators who happened to come from the Ad world. The film does not deliver as it should have. It deals with a microscopic portion of Bengali Society. It is a walk through a world dominated by whisky, English poetry, photography, cell phones, parties and potted plants and fancy lampshades.

There is no conflict, no great intellectual relationships, no telling moments of personal relationships. The plot and the script are weak  and contrived. Can an adult mature couple separate because one blames the other for going off on a photography tour during which the father in law dies ? Can a mother actually keep on blaming her husband for years for sending a driver to fetch her daughter from school and  thereby getting involved in a fatal accident? Do police officers and journalists get such easy ,relaxed lifestyles in such comfortable surroundings?

The interplay of words in the script is contrived, artificial, familiar and oft-repeated. How I raised my hands in frustration when I heard ad nauseum, the word "adjustment" as the key words in marriage, in the best style of marriage manual books. The episodes of the unknown afternoon male telephone caller and the response from the elderly Sharmila smacks of the Bengali short story style of the seventies and eighties. The scene of the confident adult, self sufficient female reporter crying (yes, crying) on hearing that her friendly superior was leaving, bordered on the ridiculous. The famous Bengali sentimentality had to come out in this unbecoming and obviously forced way!!!

Finally tragedy strikes and the heroine dies in an accident . Or was it a murder? The Director deliberately leaves it unclear. As a fall out Ronno and Paromita start their journey back to reconciliation. Again, the meandering plot was going nowhere, and it was half expected that the Climax would be like this. The Death thus appeared inevitable and bland. In a film with almost nil high voltage value, perhaps this situation could have been exploited better.

I could go on and on, but there seems to be an obvious discrepancy in the script, as if two persons had written it. Was Shyamal Sengupta the only script writer, or were there inputs from the director?

Overall, the film is eminently watchable, specially in the DVD version at home.That should satisfy the Director Aniruddha Roychoudhury. But for the discerning viewer, it leaves behind an endless(Antaheen} disappointment of an opportunity missed , and our hopes dashed of seeing a significant, rememberable Bengali film.

Sreya Ghoshal in a song for all times...

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Pluto and I

Indian cricket players

refuse to sign WADA

drug testing papers!!!!

                           

Pluto is our pug. Blessed with a sniffy pug nose, upturned tail and frequent shaking of his fawn body, he surprised us one day by his understanding of English and ability to speak in that language. Having got his audience (i.e.me ), he forced me to listen to him by his persistent barking.Having watched him lap up the Breaking News on TV, I was apprehensive that he would start a conversation with me about the future of  Indian Cricket. Sure enough on the evening before, he suddenly snuggled up at my feet (a sure sign he wants to talk).

His question was breathtaking. "How, "he asked, "Is it possible for me  to get  a drug test now?". I was aghast. "Drug test? But you don't take any drugs. Except for the ones I give you when you are sick." Pluto got up on his feet and looked disdainfully at me. "I know that," he said."But I want to get tested by WADA".

"Look, Pluto, that is only meant for sportspersons. That is, non-Indian cricketers and other lowly sportspersons," I said. Pluto's eyes glinted."That is exactly why," he  chortled. " I appear in dog shows. I stand for hours on the field, and in the pavilion. International judges come and poke me at odd places. But they don't test me for drugs. You know ,I could possibly win somewhere, if you drugged me and enhanced my performance."

"But, Pluto," I explained," There is no credit in winning with drugs. It is unethical and you are taking unfair advantage. Pluto looked astonished."I can understand with my little doggy brain, that the key issue here is not taking drugs, but being careful that you are not caught."

I was now getting hot under my collar." Pluto!!" I thundered."If you take a performance enhancing drug, and you hit a century, or score 3 goals, or win a dog show for that matter, you will be the first person to be called upon to take a drug test--and you will be CAUGHT...". Pluto can be most irritating when he shakes himself and gives you a victorious look. He did that, and stated triumphantly, " That is why you should take the drug months before, so that you get your improved physical attributes well before the matches---and when they test you they find no trace of the drug!!!".

I was tired. "Look Pluto, WADA persons are not fools. They examine you in off season as well. They can make surprise checks. They will catch you," I stated. Pluto smiled. "That is why I will oppose checks in the off season. I will delete that cause. I will get my Doggy Association to refuse to go under the bushes and to do it on the doorsteps. I am sure, then they will listen..."

"But Pluto, "I said," You surely can't imagine cricketers like Dhoni, Yuvraaj, Harbhajan  taking drugs???".

Pluto this time walked towards me shaking his puggy head in amazement at my ignorance. " Of course not. But who has opposed this Wada tests? Only the bachelors!!! Has Sehwag, Sachin, Dravid said anything? Look at me. I spend quality time with Coco in the next building and Reshmi  in the flat below and others, and I would be annoyed if I had to go the bathroom to give a urine test. So that is why I want a drug test when I want to and where I want to. So, I want to test now, when I am free and not in the middle of......."

I conceded defeat and sat down on the easy chair and looked at the setting sun.

Pluto then consoled me as he licked my hands. "Don't worry, someday you may just get to be as intelligent as me!!!!!!," he murmured, before curling down for his siesta.