Visit to Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary

It was a foggy day in Gurgaon, the 13th of December, 2009 three of us from the old trekking team started off on a day trip to the Bird Sanctury in a Honda City car. We had been planning on this trip with families and slowly people dropped off so ended up with the three musketeers leaving on this trip.

We took the road from Sohna Road via Rajiv Chowk. Instead of taking a left turn at the mosque we went straight, and straight away found the road to be very bad. Some time later we found the traffic coming in our lane from the opposite direction. We had to back up and go on the wrong side just to find ourselves left atop a cemented road with a foot of drop to continue. It was very good driving skills of my friend which got us through to the otherside without breaking the car. In the course of the short drive of about 22 kms we had another narrow road next to the flyover being constructed over railway track. Finally we were on good double road and speeded up to rach the destination, about 1hr plus.

We headed for the cafeteria to have a hot cup of tea. The taste was not good as compared to the tea available on the roadside which is brewed and brewed for considerable amount of time and making it strong and refreshing.

Now we started the long walk around the lake, there is a well laid out footpath for one to traverse around the lake and at the same time have a look at the Siberian Migratory birds. We saw several of them and a few Sambhars and a few deers. There are many types of birds but the Siberian cranes cathes your eyes. Almost towards the end of the walk, we found a small path to the left (we were going anti-clockwise) which led us to a peninsular land from where we could see these birds much closer which were sitting on treetops on an island. Some of these birds seem to be feeding their offsprings. The round trip had taken about an hour and a half including the bird watching.

The entry fee is Rs5/-, still camera Rs25/- and parking is Rs10/-. No eatables are allowed in the sanctuary.

We went to the cafeteria to have lunch. We felt it was easy to have a Thali (Veg Rs70/- and Non-Veg Rs90/-) instead of ordering a-la-carte. It was quicker and had variety. the restaurant was not expensive (tea Rs15/-, Cofee Rs25/-, Pakoras Rs35/-, Veg dishes between 50 and 80)

Outside the Sanctuary on the opposite side we saw acres of Mustard plants with their bright yellow flowers on their very green plants, it was a pleasing site worth taking a photo.

If you are game to drive through some rough roads, go for it. It was worth the trip. They have good accommodation for those who would like to spend the night over. I stayed there many times as the mornings at Sultanpur are very refreshing.

My Favorite Bagels

That was late June 2004, was waiting at the Hotel Mead, Wisconsin Rapids to be picked up by my prospective HR Vice President where I was to join later. We were to meet for a breakfast meeting, not nervous but very hungry. In a few minutes he arrived and took me to a Bagel restaurant. It was a simple and neat restaurant, it is now the time to order your breakfast. They will make it to your specific order and was bombarded with questions on what, how, which Bagel, what ingredients, toasted or not etc.. the questions came in plenty. As it is I was pretty hungry, fit to eat a horse at that time. Gave them whatever specifications I could understand (hoping that as long it is edible it should be fine). It was really a wonderful breakfast with Bagels and eggs and can never forget the experience.

Recently when I was in Naperville, a suburb of Chicago I was bent upon having the same Bagels as I had in 2004. Unfortunately I forgot the name of the restaurant so sent a message to my Vicepresident HR to get the name of the restuarant, pat came the reply 'Big Apple Bagel'. He remembered it so well as he took me to the same one on my request the next time I visited Wisconsin Rapids in 2006. Immediately I searched for their restaurants in Naperville and made my son take me there for a breakfast on a sunday. It was worth all the effort in locating my favorite Bagel Restaurant. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the Bagels. This time I was more prepared on what to order. I told the restaurant owner ( family owned franchise) the whole story and told him that we came all the way from India to have his Bagels, he was very thrilled. So what did we get as a surprise, a small cup cake for each one of us - on the house. Some got Pumpkin and some chocolate cup cakes.

If ever you are in the United States try to visit one of these Big Apple Bagel restaurants, dont come back without having one. The bagels costs us anything between $2.80 to $3.90 and worth the money.

The first impressions always are lasting impressions

Fall Colors at Naperville

Coming from India I never experienced the vivid beauty of fall colors earlier. I used to hear about the inevitable fall season but didnt realize what it has in store for us till I visited Naperville, a suburb of Chicago. It was a beautiful sight to see, the trees are filled with vibrant colors prompting us and telling us that nature is God's art work.

It was just a week before the Halloween day and the trees at Naperville was in their best colors. You can see different trees at different stages of this coloration and amount of fall of leaves. They vary from clear green to dark red with in between shades of orange and red.

One beautiful place to visit in the neighbourhood is the River side walk, a beautifully laid out pathway for people to walk, next to a small river. You can see flocks of ducks trying to swim against the stream. At one point there is a nice wooden bridge to cross the river, reminds one of the bridge in Lucerne, Switzerland. One could spend hours just walking along the river, with ocassional stops on benches by the pathway to devour the colors of the fall.

Remember today?

For some strange reasons I got up very early today at about 0540am, outside it is still picth dark. Wondering if I am still fighting my jetlag after the US trip. It cant be the jetlag as I normally wont get affected by this travel between time zones.

Chilly morning, foggy outside. In Delhi/Gurgaon it is called smog, rightfully what with so much of smoke around. The introduction of CNG buses, Taxis and Autos seem to have reduced it but pollution is catching up on us. Need stronger measures and better implmentation.

Open the newspaper, reading it while sipping a hot cup of freshly brewed coffeee. There was no mention about the great leader of our country, Pandit Nehru. Today is his birthday and celebrated as Children's day, nothing on the front page. The whole paper seemed to be filled with tributes to Sachin Tendulkar. Not that I am not a fan of Sachin, I am. I truly think he is a great player, but very disappointed at the lack of importance shown to our great leader.

I know they say 'time heals' but it also seems to say 'time seals'. Contributions of people like Pandit Nehru seemed to have been sealed in a container called the past.

Government seem to spend a lot of money on the security of ex-leaders, can they not spend money on a picture of the leaders like Nehru on the front page, just once a year?

Sun is slowly emerging out of the clouds of dust and smog, hope will shine some light on people of the past and remind us that we exist in today's environment due to the hard work done by those great leaders.

My trip to the US

I booked my ticket to the US at least 3 months back, was to travel Delhi to Sacramento, San Jose and then Chicago. In the multitude transactions I had with the Travel agent (Yatra.com in this case) trying to get the best routing and the price I forgot to request the best of seats. SO finally ended up with 'make do' seating.

Came 30th Sept 2009 and me and wife boarded the flight to Munich then to Chicago (Port of entry into US). Came out of flight at 1830 in terminal 5, hurriedly collected the luggage, went past Immigration and Customs to hand over the suit cases to the United staff for onward journey to Sacramento. The flight was to leave from Terminal 1 at 1855. The attendants there told me that I will not make it to the flight but I insisted and went to board it. Just in time before they closed the gates.

Arrived at Sacaremento and didnt get my luggage. Imagine me and wife came to attend a marriage with all our fancy clothes and didnt get them on arrival.

It is a very long story (I had to 'hire' out my dresses for the wedding etc). To make it short, My luggage was handed over to me in Chicago on 18th Oct (19 days after arrival in the US).

The rest I will describe when I get into the mood.

TRH at Ramgarh

Hi,

This is a picture of the guesthouse at my favourite place - Ramgarh. It is a place which I have to visit atleast once a year if not twice. Will write more on this later