Why do we Travel...

Very interesting question and a question which always comes in my mind. I tried asking myself and came with very simple answer ....... because I hate routine and want a change. I had written earlier about this in my earlier post "Road That Never Ends. These reasons are true but not complete. They do not sounds very convincing when I start deeply exploring my inner sense.

I was travelling with my family to a beautiful place in Uttarakhand, which lies in Himalayas. The Owner of my resort asked one evening if I would like to go trekking in a near by village and have breakfast there. I instantly said yes. It was giving me an  opportunity to experience the life in a village in himalayas and also to enjoy their cousine.  We set of in the morning, passing through beautiful pine forest, going downwards in the valley, passing some clear water streams. The air was cool and fresh. We could see few monkeys on the trees and sound of birds was like  music to our ears. We reached the village in about 2 hours time. Quiet and sleepy village. Since it was working day, men were out on duty and other works. They travel 5-10 kms daily on those hills to catch their bus. the life seemed simple. Small farms on front of houses cultivated with vegetables and corns and some Citrus fruits trees around the house. We were greeted with warm smile. My little daughter was amazed and happy. She has not seen such a life and a village. She was touching a calf for the first time. The mood was emphatic and we were all amazed by the beautiful nature all around and simplicity of the village life and the warmth that they showed us.

The breakfast served was local. Fresh bread made from grinding corn and mixing some spices alongwith green coriander freshly picked from the small farm. The corn was picked from the farm and grinded and bread cooked all in front of us. We all liked it and admired a lot. While returning back we were all discussing the taste and how nicely it was made in front of us.

After coming back to Delhi, in the middle of madding crowd and chaos of a metropolitan city, I kept on thinking - what were we appreciating? The simple life of the village, The Authenticity of the life and cuisine ..... what....

We migrated to big cities and adopted sophisticated life style full of warmth, comfort and chaos as well.... but when it comes to admiring we travel 1000 miles, go to a village and admire the simplicity of life. We would never like these people to become one of us, otherwise what will we admire and travel for.

Is authenticity lies in simplicity .......

Travel gives me this insight and provokes me to pack my bag again and I move on to admire something new ... something really authentic..........

The road never ends for me and when it meets a dead end a new one starts ..............

Lunar Eclipse - 15th June 2011

Taken at 11.44 pm

Lunar Eclipse occurs when Earth comes in between Moon and Sun. This causes a shadow of Earth on the Moon.

A total Lunar Eclipse took place on 15th June 2011, which I captured with my camera and wanted to share few pics with you all.

This eclipse was a bit different and rare. This was Total Center Lunar Eclipse.  In this Center point of Earth's shadow passed across the moon.

This type of eclipse last occurred on 16th July 2000 and next will occur on 27th July 2018.

Time : 12.08 am

Time : 12.17 am

Time : 12.22 am

Time : 12.27 am

Time : 12.34 am

Time : 12.37 am

Time : 12.41 am

Time : 12.45 am

Time : 12.47 am

Time : 12.49 am

Time : 12.53 am

Time : 12.57 am

Time : 1.01 am

Time : 1.03 am

Time : 1.04 am

Time : 1.05 am

Wiki Page on June, 2011 Lunar Eclipse

The Road that never ends .....

 If I had an option, I would have been on the road always ...... But there are other responsibilities that needs to be fulfilled.

Travel brings change. We see different people, places and culture. This brings in a change in us. The feeling of being alien to others vanishes. We have created boundaries by defining countries, states, cities ..... so what ..... we can still travel and know about each other. Its a road that never ends..... beyond boundaries.

When we ask ourselves about WHY do we travel ... we have different answers to it.....

............We like it. 

...............We feel at peace. 

............We love Nature. 

.............For a change. 

...................To get away from routine etc etc. 

We are all self described travelers. But is this the real reason or is Travel a basic human desire. We human beings were a wanderer and with evolution we formed societies and started to settle in areas which we called cities, townships, countries etc. We were a migratory specie and that instinct is still hidden inside us. Ask anyone and he will you same answer... I would like to travel but... We all want to move out of the place where we spent maximum of our time to faraway places. Our migratory gene starts dominating us and forces us to move out.

Travel is not only for pleasure. Pleasure can be derived from many other activities while sitting at home. It is more like a compulsion for us. We get bored of same place. It starts making a impact on our thoughts and reasoning power. Travel opens our mind to whole new ideas. Imagination keeps on flowing and brain is at its best. When we escape from the place where we spend maximum time, we feel innovative ideas and imagination flowing in our mind.

Living at same place makes our brain think on same lines. We fail to think on options. Travel makes us realize that a single thing could have multiple options and meanings. We come across different culture, beliefs and human beings, who perceive things differently. Thus our brain comes across a totally different perspective of seeing and dealing with things an problems. These observations makes us more creative. It becomes a secret tonic for our creativity.

Our routine, our job teaches us efficiency but kills our creativity. We are so much engrossed in our activities that our brain forgets to be creative. We never give it a chance to explore itself and be innovative. That routine starts killing us. Travel opens our brain. It gives it a option to analyse and see different cultures, practices, beliefs and ideas and gives it a whole lot of space to explore and be creative.

The home is same when we return. but we feel rejuvenated and filled with energy and we know that inside us has changed .............

The beautiful Sun

While I was visiting Shivpuri (read my earlier post http://sudhir-chauhan.blogspot.com/2011/02/shivpuri-madhya-pradesh.html), I came across some beautiful scene created by Sun which was going down and giving way to darkness and we call this Sunset.

I could not resist my temptation of sharing those pics with you all. these pictures were taken from while boating in Sakya Sagar lake, (courtesy Madhya Pradesh Tourism) .

Nature is marvelous, its poetry in itself. The golden water of Sakya Sagar Lake created by Life Giver SUN is magical. This is a scene which can be enjoyed countless times............ The more I see nature the more I get mystical about it ..... Love for Nature keeps on increasing......

Sun Bird in Various Mood

Once you start loving the nature, it becomes a habit and you are tempted to see it more and more and we start enjoying and admiring all its creation. And if you have a camera in hand ...

...then it becomes more tempting to capture those moments and share with others...

So that they can also see the beauty that this lovely nature provides. I was observing few small Sunbirds in a park and one day thought of capturing this small but beautiful bird.

But first some details about Sunbird. These are small birds less than 10 cms in length and mainly feed on Nectar, but at times can feed on insects as well. They resemble a lot with Hummingbirds found in America, and some sunbird species can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird, but usually perch to feed. They belong to Nectariniidae family.

Wiki Page on Sunbird
Wiki page on Purple Rumped Sunbird

Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary - Birding Delight

Sultanpur is a village under Farrukh Nagar, Tehsil in District Gurgaon of Haryana State in India. Gurgaon which is famous for its Call Centers and other IT companies is part of National Capital Region (NCR) and is very close to New Delhi. Not many people are aware that Sultanpur village hosts a Bird Sanctuary, which is now a National Park as well. It is a small area, but about 250 species of birds are found here and in winters about 100 types of migratory birds visit this place.

History of Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary

The area was once famous for extracting Salt at the time of British Empire. In 1970 a senior Journalist Peter Jackson, who became interested in birds while reporting Hillary's conquest of Mt. Everest, recognized the importance of Sultanpur lke for the birds.

In his own words:

"I took Peter Scott, Richard Fitter, Dillon Ripley, Salim Ali, Zafar Futehally, and some others to Sultanpur Lake in 1969. That led the following year to my approaching Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to obtain protection for the jheel. The Haryana government was enthusiastic, because the state had few attractions, and they were starting to create picnic sites at various reservoirs."

Mrs. Indira Gandhi, who was the prime minister at that time wrote to the CM of Haryana and in 1972 the area was declared as Bird Reservoir. In 1989 the area was declared as National Park.

Best Time to Visit

October till March is the best time to visit the Park, as the lake is filled with migratory birds.

Park Timings

In summers (1st April - 30th September) it is from 6.30 am till 6 pm and in Winters (1st October - 31st March) it is from 6.30 am till 4.30 pm.

Facilities

The park offers following facilites:

1. Parking space for vehicles
2. Washrooms
3. Children Park
4. It has a educational and Interpretation center
5. There is a room dedicated in Honour of Dr. Salim Ali

Links related to Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary

Wiki Page on Sultnapur Bird Sanctuary
Haryana Govertment Tourism Department Page on Sultanpur

Survaya Garhi - Shivpuri - Old Heritage

I had not traveled for long this year and this gap was killing me. Nature keeps on inviting and we keep on dreaming in office or home. I was satisfying myself by reading travel stories of other people. And then suddenly planned an outing. Family was ready and on 30th September 2011, we drove to Shivpuri. I have already written about Shivpuri in my earlier post (Shivpuri - Madhya Pradesh). Our objective this time was to visit places which we missed last time. The place is beautiful, Nature at its best and wild life started to flourish now.

In this beautiful place, in between the lap of nature lies a Historical Monument - Survaya Garhi. This  was one place which we missed last time. Garhi in English means Fort. But the place is a 10th Century Hindu Monastery. A fort like structure was created around it for protection. It is maintained by Archaeological Survey of India and whole place was dug out in an excavation.

Survaya Fort

Survaya Garhi is about 20 kms from main Shivpuri Town on Jhansi Road and lies in between Survaya Village. From outside the place looks like a fortress. The place has 3 temples and a huge Auditorium. It is said that this place was a boarding school and was also used by saints for meditation. The Hostel (few call it Auditorium) is a double story complex with a underground water source. Two temples now do not have and deity or idol in it, but one temple still has Shivling in it. The architecture in the temples is very beautiful as can be seen in the photos below.

Main Gate (Entrance) 

                                             

Old Well

                                                         

Internal Wall

 An View of the Main Compound. Two Temples are visible here.

                               

  Auditorium or Hostel

                                                               

Temple Number two

                                                                   

An view of the Entrance from inside the compound

     Temple Number 3

                                                       

  Inside the Auditorium

                                                               

  Inside the Auditorium

                                                                 

 Inside the Auditorium

The archaeological survey have done a splendid job to restore and maintain the place. It is clean and restoration work has been very minutely. The architecture on the temple walls can be seen in pictures below:

A Big Grinding Stone

      

Remains of Pillar

                                                               

Close up of Pillars

                                                     

Another View

                                                       

                                                     

Though these temples are small, but the grandeur of Ancient Indian Architecture can be easily seen below:

An Image on the Pillar 

Design on Roof

    Temple with Shivlingam in it

                                             

   Ancient Engineering Marvel

                                           

Pillar with Beautiful Architecture