Once we got on the highway, Hari Ram said he needed some tea since it was pretty early and we weren’t exactly entertaining him (we all took turns sleeping). So we stopped at a truck stop (note: only girls for miles around) and sat on the cots and had some tea. There were definitely truck drivers sleeping around us. It was a blast. Back in the car, I believe we talked about random things although my memory of five in the morning is pretty hazy. After we got off the highway, having travelled 40 km, we hear this thumping and realize we got a flat tire. We are near a village so we get out to find the spare doesn’t have enough air. There is some tire shop nearby so we go to get air in it. There is some milk collection happening nearby so all three boys with Rural Development degrees got really excited. Here is a picture of the tire being fixed:
Back on the road, we were a bit more talkative this time, with the tea and the chance to stretch our legs. About 20 minutes later, we hear the same thumping. We couldn’t believe it, another flat tire? O yes, the same tire had gotten flat and it was our spare as well. We all sat around in the car while the driver went to go get it fixed:
It was like in one of those bad horror movies, where you are stuck in the middle of nowhere and one by one people go off (usually to find the previous people) and never return. . . But fortunately our party did and we got the tire fixed and were on our way. At this point we were all awake to sing songs loudly as well as look out at the sights (usually at different water harvesting structures we saw along the way – once again, the rural development knowledge was shared).
We got to Sawai Madhopur, the town near the sanctuary. In the town, we went to a place that had safari information to find out that the government sponsored tours start at 5:30 in the morning and that we would have to wait for the 2:30-3:30 tours which can only be booked at 1:30 in the afternoon. The times and prices were said very quickly to the boys (in Hindi) so my number knowledge was useless and I had to find out what was happening later by asking (this was a reoccurring theme of the trip, Tanvi and I were routinely left standing with no clue as to where the boys have gone and what is going on). Since it was about 9 am we realized we have a while until we can book the safari. The plan until then was discussed, of course. . . over a cup of tea. Now there is a very large fort within the sanctuary that is open to the public. In the fort is a famous Ganesh temple. Manish, who is originally from the area, has family connections with the temple and wanted to visit it pretty badly. So we decided to go to the fort and temple and make it back for lunch and safari reservations. While all of this was being decided, Tanvi (and I) amused ourselves by photographing camel carts and jeeps (with literally around 40 people in it) that passed by the road-side “café” where we had tea.
We got to Sawai Madhopur, the town near the sanctuary. In the town, we went to a place that had safari information to find out that the government sponsored tours start at 5:30 in the morning and that we would have to wait for the 2:30-3:30 tours which can only be booked at 1:30 in the afternoon. The times and prices were said very quickly to the boys (in Hindi) so my number knowledge was useless and I had to find out what was happening later by asking (this was a reoccurring theme of the trip, Tanvi and I were routinely left standing with no clue as to where the boys have gone and what is going on). Since it was about 9 am we realized we have a while until we can book the safari. The plan until then was discussed, of course. . . over a cup of tea. Now there is a very large fort within the sanctuary that is open to the public. In the fort is a famous Ganesh temple. Manish, who is originally from the area, has family connections with the temple and wanted to visit it pretty badly. So we decided to go to the fort and temple and make it back for lunch and safari reservations. While all of this was being decided, Tanvi (and I) amused ourselves by photographing camel carts and jeeps (with literally around 40 people in it) that passed by the road-side “café” where we had tea.
Back in the car, we were happily off to the fort and temple, when suddenly. . . we hear that awful thumping again. Seriously. . . it can’t be ANOTHER flat tire:
O no, but it was. After hailing the next tractor that came our way, the driver took the tire and left us with a locked car. We decided to use our time wisely by wandering towards a very pretty looking fort (or potentially a really nice hotel) that was in the distance. Off we tracked through fields that had not been explored ever before (except by the farmers and construction workers who were walking ahead of us). Someone suggested that we should carry shovels in our hands and then maybe we’d be let into the reconstructed fort/hotel. For some reason I don’t think that would work. Now here is what Tanvi called the “Rang De Basanti” picture (an Indian movie about young people who try to change society, or something like that):
Now for those who have seen the movie, I have matched characters from it with the three boys. Its pretty scary how well they match. First one in the line is Pankaj (I want to fight for my country and change the bad things in it – Madhavan in the movie); second one is Anurag (I will make jokes about everything and constantly have a huge grin on my face – Sharman Joshi in the movie); and last is Manish (I am tall and make random poems out of everything – Kunal Kapoor in the movie). Tanvi and I do not match up : ). And I refuse to assign Amir Khan to anyone.
After being shown around the hotel (mostly because there were two tired girls who wanted to rest for a bit) we got back to find the tire fixed. We promptly fixed the spare in the trunk as well, since you never know when another flat tire will come our way… Finally, we were at our destination:
Now after riding in the car through very cool forests and seeing LOTS of monkeys, we descended into the depths of the jungle to find. . . the fort!
After climbing up slowly (due to Neha’s feet, the heat and . . . repeat) we made it to the top. By this point, I was seriously overheated (it was about 100 degrees) and running out of water. We wandered for what seemed like forever all over the palace and fort and it was absolutely gorgeous! I can’t imagine what it was like when lots of people lived there. O look, they have a water harvesting structure!!. . . ok fine it’s a lake.
I liked the stone structure in the background better. Finally the temple!
O wait, no that’s just a random resting place. The temple was in one corner surrounded by touristy shops, eating places and lots and lots of people. There seemed to be a line to go inside and the outside was not impressive at all. It was around noon so we didn’t have much time to get back down and make it to the reservations place. So Manish and Tanvi went in for a quick look while the rest of us hung outside. While I regret not seeing the idol, my main concern was that if I didn’t get food and water at that point I was ready to faint. So having eaten and drank water (and sufficiently scared the others) we made our slow journey back down.
The reservations were made through a long and complicated process in which we circumvented the “middle men” who should have been bribed. Instead we took the idealistic, longer way and did everything ourselves. A form was filled and another line was formed to take money and then we finally got tickets. Mind you we didn’t know what was going on at all at the time and were explained vaguely at the end. End result: we got a private jeep safari for 3:30. Now the sanctuary has different zones (1 is useless, 2 and 3 are good for tiger sightings, 4 and 5 are the “dangerous areas”). The zones are decided by lottery. We then went for a late lunch in the town and made it back to find our jeep said zone 1 on it. After complaining that all the cars around us said zone 3, we decided to cool off (neha joke) by having some ice cream. The driver came to explain that we were in fact going to zone 3 as well. Happily we sat in the jeep. Wait wait, first the boys made sure we had a spare with enough air in it. We couldn’t explain it to the jeep driver but I could just foresee having a flat tire in the middle of tigers.
Now the entrance into the jungle was something straight out of the Jungle Book. It was absolutely breathtaking. As soon as we went in all of us realized that whether we saw tigers or not, we were perfectly content just wandering through the jungle.
As for the animals we saw: there were deers (lots and lots of deer), peacocks (yay!!), owls, storks, alligators, monitor lizards. Sadly there were no tigers. They were all up in the mountains where it was cool. They usually come down for water but because of recent rainfall there was no need for that either. At a couple times during the safari we heard the warning calls of deer which meant a tiger was somewhere nearby. But by the time we got to the area, there were no signs of deer or tigers. At another point, the naturalist who was in the jeep abruptly told the driver to stop. He said a tiger just passed by the area. He vaguely said something about footprints but didn’t show us any. Apparently it’s a line they use all the time. I would still like to believe we were very close to a tiger at the time. And so at the end of the safari, we were slightly disappointed, completely enamoured by the jungle, and thoroughly exhausted.
The main reason given by the boys for the lack of tigers was: Aaj to Dunnike sher aa gaye hai to phir yaha ke sher to daar gaye hai. (Because tigers from Dunni are in town, the real ones are afraid to come out). Clearly they have no inhibitions falsely complimenting themselves. On the way back everyone fell asleep immediately, except for Manish who was kept awake by the driver. Therefore plans were made while we were asleep. We all woke up to find ourselves at the foot of a tall hill with a temple at the top. Manish really wanted to go see the Chot Mata temple. Everyone else was extremely grumpy, half asleep and annoyed at having to climb again. But because it was a temple, we trudged up (me seriously complaining in my mind – did he forget my issues from this morning?) and sat in the cool breeze for a while. We came back down and promptly went to sleep in the car (Tanvi and I). We woke up to find ourselves at the same truck driver’s stop from 5 in the morning. After a quick and quiet dinner, we fell back asleep to find ourselves home at around midnight (a whole 24 hour trip). All in all it was a complete adventure and I had a blast. The trip can only be described as Tiredness, Tire Trouble and Tigers (or not).
O no, but it was. After hailing the next tractor that came our way, the driver took the tire and left us with a locked car. We decided to use our time wisely by wandering towards a very pretty looking fort (or potentially a really nice hotel) that was in the distance. Off we tracked through fields that had not been explored ever before (except by the farmers and construction workers who were walking ahead of us). Someone suggested that we should carry shovels in our hands and then maybe we’d be let into the reconstructed fort/hotel. For some reason I don’t think that would work. Now here is what Tanvi called the “Rang De Basanti” picture (an Indian movie about young people who try to change society, or something like that):
Now for those who have seen the movie, I have matched characters from it with the three boys. Its pretty scary how well they match. First one in the line is Pankaj (I want to fight for my country and change the bad things in it – Madhavan in the movie); second one is Anurag (I will make jokes about everything and constantly have a huge grin on my face – Sharman Joshi in the movie); and last is Manish (I am tall and make random poems out of everything – Kunal Kapoor in the movie). Tanvi and I do not match up : ). And I refuse to assign Amir Khan to anyone.
After being shown around the hotel (mostly because there were two tired girls who wanted to rest for a bit) we got back to find the tire fixed. We promptly fixed the spare in the trunk as well, since you never know when another flat tire will come our way… Finally, we were at our destination:
Now after riding in the car through very cool forests and seeing LOTS of monkeys, we descended into the depths of the jungle to find. . . the fort!
After climbing up slowly (due to Neha’s feet, the heat and . . . repeat) we made it to the top. By this point, I was seriously overheated (it was about 100 degrees) and running out of water. We wandered for what seemed like forever all over the palace and fort and it was absolutely gorgeous! I can’t imagine what it was like when lots of people lived there. O look, they have a water harvesting structure!!. . . ok fine it’s a lake.
I liked the stone structure in the background better. Finally the temple!
O wait, no that’s just a random resting place. The temple was in one corner surrounded by touristy shops, eating places and lots and lots of people. There seemed to be a line to go inside and the outside was not impressive at all. It was around noon so we didn’t have much time to get back down and make it to the reservations place. So Manish and Tanvi went in for a quick look while the rest of us hung outside. While I regret not seeing the idol, my main concern was that if I didn’t get food and water at that point I was ready to faint. So having eaten and drank water (and sufficiently scared the others) we made our slow journey back down.
The reservations were made through a long and complicated process in which we circumvented the “middle men” who should have been bribed. Instead we took the idealistic, longer way and did everything ourselves. A form was filled and another line was formed to take money and then we finally got tickets. Mind you we didn’t know what was going on at all at the time and were explained vaguely at the end. End result: we got a private jeep safari for 3:30. Now the sanctuary has different zones (1 is useless, 2 and 3 are good for tiger sightings, 4 and 5 are the “dangerous areas”). The zones are decided by lottery. We then went for a late lunch in the town and made it back to find our jeep said zone 1 on it. After complaining that all the cars around us said zone 3, we decided to cool off (neha joke) by having some ice cream. The driver came to explain that we were in fact going to zone 3 as well. Happily we sat in the jeep. Wait wait, first the boys made sure we had a spare with enough air in it. We couldn’t explain it to the jeep driver but I could just foresee having a flat tire in the middle of tigers.
Now the entrance into the jungle was something straight out of the Jungle Book. It was absolutely breathtaking. As soon as we went in all of us realized that whether we saw tigers or not, we were perfectly content just wandering through the jungle.
As for the animals we saw: there were deers (lots and lots of deer), peacocks (yay!!), owls, storks, alligators, monitor lizards. Sadly there were no tigers. They were all up in the mountains where it was cool. They usually come down for water but because of recent rainfall there was no need for that either. At a couple times during the safari we heard the warning calls of deer which meant a tiger was somewhere nearby. But by the time we got to the area, there were no signs of deer or tigers. At another point, the naturalist who was in the jeep abruptly told the driver to stop. He said a tiger just passed by the area. He vaguely said something about footprints but didn’t show us any. Apparently it’s a line they use all the time. I would still like to believe we were very close to a tiger at the time. And so at the end of the safari, we were slightly disappointed, completely enamoured by the jungle, and thoroughly exhausted.
The main reason given by the boys for the lack of tigers was: Aaj to Dunnike sher aa gaye hai to phir yaha ke sher to daar gaye hai. (Because tigers from Dunni are in town, the real ones are afraid to come out). Clearly they have no inhibitions falsely complimenting themselves. On the way back everyone fell asleep immediately, except for Manish who was kept awake by the driver. Therefore plans were made while we were asleep. We all woke up to find ourselves at the foot of a tall hill with a temple at the top. Manish really wanted to go see the Chot Mata temple. Everyone else was extremely grumpy, half asleep and annoyed at having to climb again. But because it was a temple, we trudged up (me seriously complaining in my mind – did he forget my issues from this morning?) and sat in the cool breeze for a while. We came back down and promptly went to sleep in the car (Tanvi and I). We woke up to find ourselves at the same truck driver’s stop from 5 in the morning. After a quick and quiet dinner, we fell back asleep to find ourselves home at around midnight (a whole 24 hour trip). All in all it was a complete adventure and I had a blast. The trip can only be described as Tiredness, Tire Trouble and Tigers (or not).
3 comments:
neha, i'm living vicariously through your adventures :) sounds like you are having an amazing time.
Neha,
One more interesting narration... Its so much fun to read your chronicles. This one is so adventurous. I am serious.. you should write a book or make a movie out of it. Keep them coming :-)
Neha,
One more interesting narration... Its so much fun to read your chronicles. This one is so adventurous. I am serious.. you should write a book or make a movie out of it. Keep them coming :-)
Jhumi
(I forgot to put my name last time - so I have to repeat my comment :-)
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