Trip Report: 06May12; Delhi - Chattbir Zoo --> Chail --> Delhi

While we had made plans to go do the Sunday shooting at Purana Qila, Akshay Lamba  came up with an excellent idea of making a short trip outside Delhi.

Very quickly plans to visit Mahendra Chaudhary National Park and then onto Chail was mapped up on the Google Map. The estimated driving time to reach Chattbir zoo was around 5 hrs and it was best we left in the morning.

6th May - 10:00 hrs - Onwards to Chhattbir, via Sonipat, Panipat, Ambala.

The drive towards the outskirts of Delhi (near Azadpur) was very quick and we hit NH1 exit well within the hour and half from home.

6th May - 13:00 hrs - The drive between Delhi NH1 right upto Karnal is now pretty smooth, and we were doing a comfortable and safe 100-110 km/hrs on the highway.  Lunch options started hitting us from Panipat onwards - we had Nirulas on the left, passing by a very large establishment of Pind Baluchi on the right and followed by Haveli. We were pleasantly surprised to see several (atleast 4) outlets of Cafe Coffee Day and Barrista peppered upto Karnal. Ofcourse, Murthal's Parathans are very famous, but none of our team entourage wanted a vegetarian food. Surprisingly, in Murthal ALL the Dhabas are vegetarian or Vaishno. Finally at the intersection of Karn Lake (@ Karnal) we took a U Turn under the flyover to hit the Savoy Food court.

6th May, 16:00 hrs to 18:10 hrs: Mahendra Chadhary Park. Did I tell you that the main attraction of the park Lion Safari, has been shut down for maintenance for more than one month - upto 15th May 2012. Cars are no longer allowed into the complex.  Chattbir Zoo.

6th May, 18:30 - 19:00.  Click here, to see snapshots at Tunnel 16

6th - 7th May - Complete set of images can be found here

Alok Sinha

Trip Report: 06May12; India' s most haunted place returns - Tunnel16/103

Tunnel 16: There is hope, beyond the haunting.
Exposure: 1/8 | Aperture: f/3.5 | ISO:500 | Focal length: 18mm | Lens: Nikkor 18-105 Kit lens.
The image is not of a ghost, but a real person - walking down the tunnel, giving me the perfect opportunity to shoot.

"Listed in the India's most haunted sites, there's one about Shimla-Kalka narrow-gauge railway line that is said to have several ghosts. Most tunnels, have numbers and have stories around it. The Tunnel 16, which is right at the road level, is said to have a 'kind' spirit - which delayed the oncoming vehicle drivers by asking for directions, to warn them about the imaginary oncoming train. 

 The ghost in Tunnel 103 is said to be one that talks back in full context with the humans he comes in contact with. The tunnel itself is wet, damp, dingy and about 140 yards long and is quite a scary place. It is also unique in that the spirit of the Englishman responds to humans, that comes in contact with it."
Sightings have greatly reduced in the recent memories, but the legend lingers on.

Trip Report:06May12; Mahendra Chaudhary National Park aka Chattbir Zoo

Mahendra Chaudhary National Park - Chattbir, a set on Flickr.

Complete set of images can be found here.

Chhattbir zoo, is around 26km from Panchkula on NH22. While driving from Delhi to Simla, you would need to take a left turn, right next to Mc Donald - about 3kms BEFORE Zirakpur.

Trip report: 22Apr12; Bhangarh - India's most haunted place.

Bhangarh, a set on Flickr.

Complete set of images can be found here.

Here are some pics of my visit to Bhangarh. Bhangarsh is listed as the most haunted town of India. Do not take my word for it, just google Bhangarh ghost haunted on the net, you will see what I mean

Pictures taken on Apr 22nd, 2012 - Sunday.

Map: Here is the google map link - http://g.co/maps/f9z65

From Delhi, at 212km (4hrs) milestone, you turn left and drive another 60kms (2.5 hrs) on NH11A, to reach destination. Just in case, you want to seek a face to face appointment with the ghosty residents. 

Jokes apart, this is a very well maintained ASI heritage. Worth a days visit.

Wikipedia leak - "Legend states that the city of Bhangarh was cursed by the Guru Balu Nath, who sanctioned the establishment of the town with one condition, saying, "The moment the shadows of your palaces touch me, the city shall be no more!" When a descendant raised the palace to a height that cast a shadow on Balu Nath's forbidden retreat, he cursed the town as prophesied. Balu Nath is said to lie buried there to this day in a small samādhi.
Another myth is that of the Princess of Bhangarh Ratnavati, said to be the jewel of Rajasthan, who on her eighteenth birthday began to get offers of marriage from other regions. In the area lived a tantrik, a magician well versed in the occult, named Singhia, who was in love with the princess but knew that the match was impossible. When one day Singhia saw the princess's maid in the market, he used his black magic on the oil she was purchasing so that upon touching it the princess would surrender herself and run to him. The princess, however, seeing the tantric enchanting the oil, foiled his plan by pouring it on the ground. As the oil struck the ground it turned into a boulder, which crushed Singhia. Dying, the magician cursed the palace with the death of all who dwelt in it. The next year there was a battle between Bhangarh and Ajabgarh in which Princess Ratnavati perished."

I would not argue for the facts of the case - haunted or myth, the site receives several thousand visits per day and is generally regarded as haunted site.

This was my second visit to this place here. In the first visit, last year me and four of my friends - reached here at around 5pm, we stayed upto well over 830pm.
The idea was not to do a scientific research but to generally have fun.

1. People generally are not willing to take name of bhangarh, when you ask for directions - they would give directions to Pratpgarh, Ajabgarh etc. (all close to bhangarh) but most people will NOT react to your asking question about how to reach bhangarh.

2. Even before you get to Bhangarh, the village/city/town of ajabgarh is pretty much in ruins and the narrow street actually takes you through very recentlyt deserted houses. We had stopped here to speak to locals - all of them had 'abnormal' reason to leave - 5 of 6 members of a family died in one night, 2 families started coughing blood, youngest member never survived, hence couple grew old and died. All can be explained in a perfectly scientific way, but...

3. During our stay there (in our 2011 trip), we had video camera - and were recording off and on. Nothing abnormal was caught on the camera. during the 2 and half hour stay at the fort.

4. However, there were a lot of sounds - and most of them can be explained by the fact that bhangarh is on the periphery (about 30km) of the wildlife park of Sariska. So wild animals can make similar sounds that may seem haunting during the nights.

5. There were, however, clear kinds of sound, which is still in store with me, that we were not able to attribute to any natural cause - it was pretty much rhythmic and it was difficult to imagine that coming from a natural action. Like somebody trying to knock his way out of some enclosure.

6. The site is still open for religious rituals, apart from a temple in the complex - there is a separate place for doing the hawans, and even today small time tantriks and believers come and do occult kind of prayers... one was in progress when we had visited last year.

7. Unlike last trip, where there was almost zero population within the 2 km vicinity of the fort, this year we did see some homes coming up...

8. In order not to promote superstitiion the ASI has taken down the board which prohibited people staying after 530pm, though the rule still prevails. It is to do with protecting the heritage site, ith over night occupation and protection from wild animals, than anything else - but I guess romanticism of haunting can be flared with even the smallest of information.

9. During our stay, one of our friends did feel extra ordinary chilled, but it can be attributed to his mild fever that he was running through the day, and the booze he was gulping in - so a fever flare up is a fair possibility.

10. This trip, yesterday was with my wife and kids - my idea was more to shoot pics, while they got to do the digging... and we were in the ruins bang middle of the day... so nothing very extra-ordinary to report except the same shyness in the people to direct you to this place.

Summary: Is the place haunted. Do not know, don't care. Personally I am non-believer of such things so it does not matter to me. But I guess, for some people ( i suspect hundreds of thousands - going by the internet search) the haunting and the myth around it needs to be kept alive. So I would vote to let it be.

Trip Report: 06-08Apr12: Dudhwa Tiger Reserve

Post travel report


Situated on Nepal Border - Now totally devoid of any animal life... except for three deers and swamp deers , no other animal was visible. Sad state of Government official mafia. Informal, hushed voices of the staff claimed of seeing the newly born cubs at the homes of Forest Officer & DM home.
 
Very sad to see, a total annihilation of animals in the reserve. While the guides claimed they have seen animals - we saw NO SIGN of animals in the entire reserve. 

None, there is absolutely NO WILDLIFE Left. It has been usurped by the Babu mafia - it seems, that the reserve is the playground for the sarkari babu. Not only are there no tigers to be seen, even wild animals are not visible - not just to me (we queried with other people and guides), they had not seen ONE WILD ANIMAL in over weeks worth of trip.

This excludes 5 deer we saw, and some swamp deer(10-15 against the claimed 600) and some Barasingha deer (20-30 against the claimed 1600).

I really hope, it was my luck and not reality that for more than 7 days not even one wild any animal was sighted... really hope so.

I did manage to shoot some great bird photos though.

The trip itself was very nice, since we had three families together and in general had some great fun.

1. Limited photographs
2. Complete photos - 6th Apr
3. Complete photos - 7th Apr
4. Complete photos - 8th Apr

Initial plan for travel
Parties
    - Party A - Alok Sinha, Anjali Sinha, Akanksha Sinha, Aparajita sinha - 4 adults + Driver - using Endeavour
    - Party J - Jayant Jhamb, Meenakshi Jhamb, Urvika Jhamb, Pankhuri Jhamb - 3 adults, 1 kid + driver - using ???
    - Party S - Sanjay Bhattacharya, Amit Singh, Mrs Bhattacharya, Master Bhattacharya (10), Master Bhattacharya (4) - 3 Adults, 2 kids - using Zen Estillo ???

Route
Here is the proposed route
    http://g.co/maps/s34bz

Dos and Donts
   Dos
     - Get your cameras - this is NOT the time to miss any fleeting moment - charge them in advance.
     - Carry medicine as you would be atleast 4 hrs of drive away from a decent pharmacy
     - BOYD - Bring your own (&yr family's ) Daaru, soft drinks. Soft drinks available @ resort, but if total drive time is 20hrs, you would rather carry ur own soft drinks for enroute atleast
     - Bring your glasses - disposable would be good.
     - While food and meals are covered in our cost - it is highly recommended that you provision for some snacks and instant food (cup-o-noodle etc)
     - The weather is expected to be clear, and hot - high temp 39'c and low 20'c - light summer clothing would be nice.
     - For the safaris (sat/sun) please wear full sleeves shirts/tops and full covered leg suits.
     - After lunch @ Bareily we still have to do 5 hrs of drive - keep lots of ice with you.

   Donts
     - For safari, DO NOT wear sandals - during drive is ok, but once you reach the resort, till the time you leave - please ALWAYS wear shoes.
     - For safari - Preferably wear muted colors - bright, sparkly colors are likely to alert the animals. - Wear colors like khakhi, brown, grey etc. - Drive time is ok.
    
Accommodation
    Jambolana safari camp, Dudhwa
       Costs: Rs. 4,500 per tent per night. Including taxes, and including meals - for the entire duration of stay (17:00 hrs 6th to 14:00 hrs 8th) (For luxury tents it is Rs. 6,000 per tent per night       What is not included: Booze, softdrinks, accessory to booze - like soda, snacks etc.
   There is no TV. Electricity is present, but erratic. No AC. Internet available @ reception. (Post Trip: This we learnt was not true - there is NO internet connection, other than your own mobile GPRS)

MUST carry these
   Carry mosquito repllents - Hit, Kacchua chhaap, odomos - we are going into wildlife - will need these.
   Carry Torch/Emergency light - though, we will NOT need these, there need to be available in case of emergency - power may fail at nights @ resort - better to have lights by your bed.
   Water - lots of it - I recommend getting 1 x 20 ltr of water per party.
   Tissue paper - going to meet nature, calls of nature sometimes, cannot be avoided
   Carry some hand towels, long towels - safaris can be fairly dusty.
     

Summary of Delhi - Dudhwa

(Post Trip: At Bareilly you will meet with Traffic jam. Notice, I said _WILL_ not may or can, plan for 1 to 2 hours time to get out of tow)

      - Start @ Belvedere Park 05:00 hrs    
      - 45 minutes drive - NH24 bypass - all collect
      - 2hrs drive - Gajraula McDonalds - Pack and Go breakfast
      - 2 hr 45 minutes drive - Lunch @ Bareilly (yet to be decided)
      - 2 hr drive -  Leg stretch break at puranpur
      - 3 hrs drive - Reach destination 17:00 hrs
I have assumed slow, comfortable drive and hence 12 hrs - I am told by many people that it is indeed just 9 hrs drive and not 12. If it is indeed 9 hrs, then we will be reaching on better time. (Post Trip: Forget 12, you would need 14-15 hrs to reach one way. This includes about 1-2 hours of traffic jam you would face on highway. The roads on the highway are under construction.)


Detailed drive plan
Friday
             - 05:15 hrs - Party A leaves Belvedere Park (0Km)
             - 06:00 hrs -  Party A rendezvous with Party J @ Signal light on NH24, (Map point B) (32km)
             - 06:20 hrs  - Party A & J, rendezvous with Party S  @ Map point C, at the NH24 bypass (12.3km)
      Drive 91kms, 2 hrs drive
      Stop 1 - Breakfast  - Pack and go - only 15mnts break - bfast in vehicles
             - 08:15 hrs -  All party arrive @ McDonalds , Gajraula - marked @ Map point D (91km)
                  - 08:30 hrs - All party leave McDonalds
     Drive 141 km, 2:45 mnts drive
      Stop 2  - Lunch (estimated location - exact unknown) 1 hr
             - 11:15 hrs - All party arrive @ Rajindra Market, Bareilly marked as Map Point E (141 kms) (Post Trip: There are two main malls in Bareilly [Amrapali and Phoenix] - one each side before you enter and leave the town. As on Apr 8th, the Phoenix Mall DID NOT have an open Mc Donald restaurant - it did have a good value for money food court.)
                   - 12:00 hrs  - All party leave Rajindra Market
     Driver 88kms, 2hrs drive
      Stop 3: Stretch leg option - 15 minutes
             - 14:00 hrs  - All party arrive @ rest point, Puranpur Map point F (88kms)
                  - 14:15 hrs - All party leave rest point
      Drive 95 kms, 3 hrs drive
             - 17:00 hrs - All party arrive @ Jambolana Map point G (95kms)
    Freshen up @ resort
    Campfire
Saturday (all items optional)
  Early morning - Birding  : 05:00 hrs to 06:00
  Morning -Elephant ride to Rhino area (07:00 to 10:00 hrs)
              - Mohana river beach (not yet confirmed) 10:30 to 12:00 hrs
  Lunch
  Evening safari
             - Kishanpur wildlife safari (14:00 hrs to 17:00 hrs)
             - Sharda river front  (17:00 hrs to 18:00 hrs)
  Dinner
Sunday
  Early morning - Birding
  Morning - Safari @ satiayana grasslands - 07:00 hrs to 10:30 hrs (Post Trip: Not one soul went on this safari, all were comfortable sleeping away to glory)
  Drive to Nepal - 30 mnts 
           Lunch @ Dhangiri Town, Nepal  11:30 hrs to 14:00 hrs
  Drive back to Delhi 

Sparkles of glass

Now I have my D7000 - which lens to buy....

A. MACRO Lens - to buy or not to buy
The macro - before I owned the DSLR - macro shots were my favourite too and I was running around to get the first lens as the macro. Long story shot for macros.

1. Do NOT buy the 1x, 2x,4x,10x filters - waste of money, does not give what you want.

2. After evaluating a lot of lenses, I have finally zeroed in on - NO LENS - yes, I simply use a lens reverse ring. If you have two lenses, you can mount one lens on another facing each other (of course you need manual ring for aperture)

3. Additionally, I have used a cheapo non-optic ET (extension tube) to reduce focal length - and presto - the macros come to life.

4. In yet another blog, I shall share more info on this.



B. What lens to buy - purely depends on what you want to do. Let me share with you, what I have gone through to collect my lenses.

1. Brand - I have come to realise, there is a reason why Nikon is expensive, or Tokina for that matter. You also have options of Sigma. They all are good.

2. I have tried to cover my spectrum in two areas... focal length and aperture. For average work - limit to 2.8-3.5 - but for some piece of art - work @ 1.4

Focal length
2.1. I need one for Wide angle - I settled on Tokina 11/16 - USD 799 - one of the most popular lenses, and fast going out of stock from all over - This is the only UW lens, that you can get @ 2.8 aperture. VERY USEFUL for night/evening photography - if you see, the last pic in the damdama lake series it was shot by this lens. Other choices for you - 10/20-3.5 Nikon, or Sigma (10-24 or something)

2.2 I need one long distance zoom lens - I zeroed in on 80/500 mm - Nikor lens - but when I handled it I realised, it is not something I can use for normal zooming, ONLY WILDLIFE. It is so heavy that its lens hydraulic moves on its own weight if you are not keeping the camera horizontal. If you want to do some serious Wildlife - with dual tripod etc... go for it. The alternative was to reduce my need upto 300 mm. I then stepped into 70-300mm/4.5 - about USD 499. This is an AVERAGE lens - nothing great to write home about - but gives sharp pictures.. again check the posts I have made, some of the output of this lens is superb.

2.4 The kit lens, that you will get will be cool to manage basics of day to day... will be the least used.... keep it for time being - after some time, you can choose to dispose of it, if you dont want it any more.

2.5 Prime Lens: None of the above lens, will give you apertures of 1.4/1.8 - the reason you need these fast lenses is not only for the low light photoshoot - but - the fact that @ 1.4, you get some fantastic portraits - people, pets, things - with some very smooth bokeh. Also, due to the fact, that it is 1.4 - even @ low light, you can get high shutter time, thus getting richer photos.

This is why you need prime lens.

I picked up, my most prized lens, (pre-used) Nikor 85mm/1.4 D. This was for Rs,. 20,000 or so... but the new ones cost around Rs. 65,000.00

This lens, has given me more shots than perhaps all of the above put together. It is fast, smooth, focuses in no time and makes you an instant master photographer.

For D7000 - which is NOT a full sensor body, 85 mm is equivalent to 125 mm or so... the problem with this is it is challenging to take portraits with this focal length. Which is why I intend to buy one more prime lens

a 35mm/1.4 or a 50mm/1.4 - not yet bought. I am inclined to pick up a 35mm/1.4 - but these things are BLOODY expensive - Rs. 65-70k - So hunting for pre-used one :)

Well that was my saga with lenses - you decide what you want to complete.

Tip: Please ALWAYS buy a filter (UV or anything) with EVERY Lens - it is the ONLY protection worth its money many times in gold.

Alok Sinha