When I moved to (New) Gurgaon 12 years ago, I knew of just one taxi stand in the DLF-I area that appeared to have 3-4 taxis. The stand used to be out of vehicles most of the time and its charges of Rs250 for a drop at the airport felt exorbitant. So high that I didn’t consider them as an option for regular commutes and used them for those unavoidable outstation trips when the whole family had to travel. An even bigger issue used to be to get back into Gurgaon once we returned by air/train. A private taxi service posted at the domestic airport would charge Rs400+ and guys at Delhi stations would charge at least double that amount.

Then, there came a time when any long-standing local worth his name opened a taxi stand and our newspaper would be full of coloured fliers announcing various Yadav Taxi Services. The first month or two of sending fliers, these taxi operators would take calls at all hours but a vehicle sent by them would mostly be an ancient ambassador that would be rattling from all sides. At some point, we started getting Indicas for which we thanked our stars but shelled out more. I also remember many occasions in these years when despite lots of coloured fliers in my folder, I couldn’t find a taxi for an essential trip to the airport.

When the pre-paid taxi counter at the airport started service for Gurgaon about 3 years ago, we were overjoyed. We didn’t mind standing in the only queue for our turn to proudly announce our destination. Once out with a paid slip though, we would dread approaching taxis because as they would hear Gurgaon, they would make some excuse to skip us. About a year ago, GMR appointed volunteers to ensure the next available taxi for any passenger with a paid slip, and that has been helpful. Taxi drivers still misbehave once out of the airport’s surveillance area but we try to brave their attitude.

More recently, it has gotten easier for anyone to get in and out of Gurgaon as along as one can remember a radio taxi number and overlook the expense. At Rs15/- km radio taxis work out expensive but at least they are there and most services provide vehicles that move without pairs of hands pushing them. Their numbers are so similar that I can only remember a couple – 41414141 or 43434343. These are Delhi-based services and take a while to arrive but they sure do and drivers don’t complain about anything – neither the location of one’s house nor the distance. Recently, I learnt about Gurgaon’s own radio taxi service called Komfy. Its office is in one of the DLF shopping complexes and with its Rs350+Rs52 (towards toll) for the domestic airport, it actually proves comfy as the passenger doesn’t have to grovel either for reducing the music volume or switching on the airconditioning. A local taxi operator in comparison recently quoted Rs400+Rs84 and in all likelihood he would have brought along a companion to chat with on the drive! Komfy’s drivers are not slick but they’re uniformed and the service works. Their number is also comfortably ensconced in my head as 4777888. Hopefully, future will see more such services for a healthy competition.

For moving about the city, the only modes of public transport one sees with some effort are cycle rickshaws and shared autos. Cycle rickshaws became noticeable about 7-8 years ago, and even though they brought respite to people for ad hoc usage, with the city expanding rapidly and still full of poor roads, they can hardly be viewed as a viable option to commute. But while I’ve taken a cycle rickshaw at some point, I’ve never braved a shared auto till now.

Earlier, we saw just New Delhi-style auto rickshaws exhibiting ingenious use of cramped space by carrying 2 extra benches and about 10-14 people for a single trip – I believe they charged, and still do, Rs5/- for every fixed point of destination. We would see the semi-rural crowd from villages Jharsa, Kanhai, Sikanderpur and more, using them regularly. Now we also see some roomy ones sporting benches facing, and behind, the main seat but they are mostly noticed on the MG Road. They seem new, appear to allow respectable sitting space to its occupants and also carry some urban crowd in the form of BPO staff or young couples. But with their sparse network and the model of point-to-point trips, they prove unreliable for most janta.

Government buses don’t ply within the city but they do carry a lot of hapless commuters to Delhi on one side and Rewari, Manesar, Dharuhera, Pataudi on the other. They are certainly not a pleasant way to commute but where there is no choice, they’re considered a blessing. Some private builders have contracted buses to transport their inhabitants to Delhi or old Gurgaon, but most public is unaware of their schedule, and in any case these ramshackled buses can only be identified by their regular passengers.

Most of us are therefore learning to fend for ourselves by overcoming our fear of driving and by arranging any kind of wheels we can manage. This leads to much confusion and traffic on the city roads but a big positive of this phenomenon is the independence that women and older folk experience by learning to transport themselves.

Amid this confusion on our roads, of late we’ve been witness to regular construction activity at various points to usher in the Metro. Much of the inconvenience due to the Metro related mess reassures us that it’ll become a reality and improve the way we commute.

Manali/Vashisth – June 08

This was our first self-driven trip to Manali and Naggar. The drive was expected to be longer than any we’d done on our own so we timed it with our friend Amit Kalra’s visit and had him for moral support. In his school/college years, he’d frequently camp in Manali hills so we knew that he was going to help us experience Manali unlike ever before.

Kishore drove our Scorpio all the way through as Amit drove his. We were 4 adults and one child in ours, and Amit’s vehicle looked good enough for a Scorpio advert with 6 adults and 2 children. He drove ahead and would get really far ahead – Kirti from his side and I would constantly call each other and synchronise our paths. The rest of the time, I kept Kishore awake by playing music of his and my choice from my Zen. With 20 GB of music and audio plays, this little gadget is godsend for long drives.

One of our concerns was possible road sickness by not just me/Kabir but also Uma who was traveling with us with her 18 month old son Param. We took the usual precautions before setting out but made at least 4 stops for Uma to take in fresh air in the first hour itself. Later, a stopover for breakfast of aaloo-puri/idlis/dosas at Karnal and a round of Avomin ensured sound sleep for its consumers for most of the ensuing drive. Uma also didn’t complain of sickness after taking it and that was one big worry off our list.

After making a couple more short stops during the day, at Amit’s recommendation we finally made a longish halt for an early dinner at Valentino’s just short of Manali. An all-veggie Italian fare that took rather long to arrive, it was excellent with its flavours and ingredients – full of mushrooms, tomatoes, herbs and cheese – albeit as heavy as Delhi restaurants on our pocket. Kabir is a serious devotee of Italian flavours and even though he lamented an all veggie menu, later he agreed that this round of bruschettas/pastas/pizzas was a great way to begin our food experience of the trip.

Soon after, the sight of our hotel Sunshine around 10 pm, with pitch darkness around it, the process of getting small and big pieces of luggage into its 4 rooms on the Ist floor, its toilets with blue enamel-painted walls and rarely-washed floor or pot were part of an interesting experience that will remain etched on my mind for times to come! As will the natural beauty surrounding the hotel that became noticeable only in the morning – a large expanse of untended greenery peppered with roses, dahlias and fruit trees and therefore birds. While I was trying my best to not let my skin touch the bedsheet or quilt in the semi-wakeful hours of morning, I could hear Kishore marveling over Red-whiskered -Himalayan bulbuls, and trying to recall the name of Streaked Laughing Thrush that he remembered seeing the first time in Pangot.

After a quick consultation, our two days of planned stay at Sunshine was changed to one night and we slipped into something decent to move to Amit’s other haunt – Bhrigu in Vashishth. Bhrigu didn’t have valley-facing rooms so Amit kept 3 inside rooms for Swamy and his own family and we checked into Arohi next door. Both our rooms at Arohi were river/valley facing that made up for its sad breakfast and the noisy street on the other side. As for Bhrigu, while it can’t be recommended for its rooms, I’d whole-heartedly encourage people to use its rooftop restaurant Basho for its totally cool ambience and river-facing sitting area on the outside. Food at Basho would take a long while to show up but it would be great. Grilled trout, thukpa, grilled chicken, pasta and even mughlai items were good.

Thanks to Amit, two days at Vashishth introduced us to some memorable flavours – breakfast of pakoras, grilled sandwiches at Rainbow café; thin crust pizzas and saucy penne at Freedom café; most food at Basho; and our own discovery-Vishal’s Kitchen that operated from two tables on the Vashishth road and offered Maggi in a soupy incarnation with a healthy supply of sliced veggies, green chillies and fresh coriander…

The small Vashishth road is famous for its little Shiv temple, hot spring bath area, small eateries, some silver jewellery and woolen shops and ubiquitous German bakeries. Two more interesting items to be tried there are : cream rolls that cost Rs5/Rs10 depending on their size and that I remembered from my childhood in Neemach, and Juice made of absolutely any pulpy fruit – from mangoes, chikoos, papaya to the usual apple and anar. Kabir took to Mango juice in a big way.

Amit took us on two trails ending at waterfalls on both the days. One took about 20 min of walking through the back of Vashishth village – we shared a narrow forested path with cows, dogs and villagers, and finally landed up at a beautiful old temple, a distant Off-White cafe and a scenic waterfall. I settled down to admire these stone containers filled with water and a pair of Plumbeous Water Redstart jumping in and out of sprays of water. Uma also settled down amid greenery and made a pretty picture with Param sleeping on her lap. Amit took the more daring ones higher up where they walked through the chilled river with their shoes off…ooohh.

The next day we drove to Palchan that was about 30 min away from Vashishth. On the way Kabir and Aashna did bungee jumping at a makeshift facility but with good looking trampolines and firm cables. That was Kabir’s first time with jumping that high and after the first few min of worry, both the kids appeared to love it.

At Palchan, some of us settled down at the pretty complex of Whispering Rock Resort and the rest followed Amit to his ’secret waterfall.’ Another 20 min walk through wheat fields and slippery slopes got us to this picturesque waterfall.

Naggar - June 08

For the last two days of our stay we moved to Ragini at Naggar while Amit and family stayed on at Vashishth.

Ragini is a small hotel next to HP Tourism’s Castle, with clean rooms/toilets and a fairly good view of mountains from its rooftop restaurant. Its owner Manoj divides his time running this place and taking his tourist guests to Rohtang and other challenging drives. This was my second stay at Ragini, and all three of us had some things on our list to re-experience. Kabir wanted to taste Ragini’s lasagna, pizzas and apple juice; Kishore wanted to taste the trout with beer and apple juice, have coffee and cake at the downstairs bakery and lots of ginger-honey-lemon tea everywhere else; and I wanted to taste the food, revisit the earlier identified spot for Spotted Forktails, and take Kishore to the Roerich Art Gallery.

Ragini was pleasant to stay as earlier. This time round the neighbour’s cow didn’t cry out as frequently as previously. Its food had somehow lost its earlier flavours but we still had lots of apple juice made from apples from Manoj’s orchards; Kishore enjoyed filtered coffee at the bakery; we walked up to the nallah that I’ve now named as Forktail Creek and saw beautiful Spotted Folktails on each visit; I liked walking through the Roerich Gallery gardens, bought 4 lovely coasters with Nicholas Roerich’s paintings on them; and for the first time I ate an unforgettable meal at Gillou’s. Kishore had mentioned an interesting variety of red rice and simple but delicious hill food at Gillou’s so we went and warned him about visiting for a meal the next day, and on that visit were treated to fantastic rajma-chawal, mixed vegetables and aaloo paranthas with home-made peach pickle on the side. Gillou’s wife, Hira gave us lots of pickle to take home that I’ve since shared with others in family.

Our Forktail Creek is just before the board of the Mountain View Café when walking from Ragini to the Roerich Gallery. The trail on the right would very likely show Yellow-billed Blue Magpies and certainly our stars Spotted Forktails. On an evening, around that road we saw Black Bulbuls in good numbers, some Grey-hooded Warblers, one Verditer Flycatcher and Grey Bushchats at many places. Great Tits and Streaked Laughing Thrushes could also be seen commonly. On the previous visit in Oct 2007, I’d walked up to a trail right in front of Ragini and seen Eurasian Treecreepers and Pygmy (or Grey-capped) Woodpeckers. I couldn’t cover that trail on this visit.

One small place in Naggar that requires a special mention is Tutu’s Teastall. It’s located just short of Ragini. Its owner, Tutu is a resourceful chap who whips up besan in a jiffy and produces delightful bread-pakoras, and serves them with ginger-lemon-honey tea that is so popular everywhere in Manali-Naggar. On Kishore’s first trip to Naggar, when he and his gang of guys were snowed in and Ragini didn’t have its restaurant to feed them, it was Tutu who kept the guys alive on bread-omlettes and nothing less than mutton curry!

Yet another place that shouldn’t be missed by food seekers is a small restaurant called Nightingale that we couldn’t visit this time but remembered it for its thin crust pizzas and a healthy supply of tomatoes and herbs in most other food.

Naggar is a place I can visit every year – it has much happening in the form of its Forktail Creek, Roerich Gardens, Ragini’s apple juice, Gillou-Hira’s rajma-chawal and Tutu’s bread-pakoras that I’d like to remind myself of each year. Wish it wasn’t so far to drive up to.

Goa – July 2008

The 5-day trip to Goa was a culmination of 6 months of labour on a property survey and follow-up with several people for purchase of an identified apartment. On this trip, Kishore and I spent most of the first 3 days on the formalities of buying the apartment, and later on a griha-pravesh puja and in making the apartment usable for the remaining 2 days of stay in it. Kishore has put some of its pictures in his gallery with his recent post.

This time round, Goa was remarkably different from March — with fewer people, regular rains, green fields, some socializing and some scanning of Mapusa and Panjim markets for houseware. The stay at Cavala was different because we’d insisted on a room overlooking the Baga fields instead of their swimming pool. Just gazing from the room balcony on 3 days gave us good views of White-browed bulbuls, an Alexandrine Parakeet nesting nearby, Red-whiskered Bulbuls, Baya Weavers in breeding plumage, Magpie Robins all around, Waterhens, Asian Koels, Brahminy Kites, many White-throated Kingfishers and one unidentified pink-beaked bird (pic below). Also, Cavala’s rock-n-roll Saturday night had brightened up most of the otherwise sleepy Baga and had most of the hip crowd of Goa attempting to be part of it.

In the past, Goa has been beaches/beer/shack food or forests/drives/birds to us but from now on it’ll also be a home away from home. Look forward to knowing this place better and helping others know it more.

Before that when an RWA member had suggested that I go over and attend a meeting at the DCP’s office for I drive around Gurgaon and would have a view on traffic issues, I was alarmed at the idea! And yet, I was interested in checking out the inside of a Government building and connecting with officials. Gurgaon as a city shows little administration so I thought if DCPs were encouraging public participation in any initiative, we ought to let them know that we’re keen to see reforms. But to join as a Traffic Warden, as the role was called at that time, was too confusing an idea because I didn’t see myself calmly parking my vehicle some place and actively navigating traffic in chaotic situations. I dislike chaos!

Well, curiosity and reasonable civic sense made me pass along my application and I joined as a Traffic Observer (TO). I was presented an id card at a ceremony by none other than the CM of Haryana!

Now to share with everyone the general traffic scene in New Gurgaon:
Traffic lights came into Gurgaon for the first time only about two years ago but the locals still remain unused to them and public doesn’t quite understand their schedule for staying on/off – just when one starts taking them seriously, one finds them off on the next use. Traffic rules aren’t clear and some of us try to follow what we manage of Delhi traffic rules. However, it is common to find helmet-less heads on two-wheelers; women and men cruising leisurely with tilted heads and cell-phones glued to their ears; driver/companion without seat belts on; utter chaos and speeding vehicles at roundabouts; parking nightmares all over the city; serious issues with road engineering; and unnamed and badly constructed roads where we’re fortunate in finding any.

Ever since I’ve acquired a TO’s label though, I’ve noted that the administration has appointed DCP/Traffic for the first time, ushered in more traffic personnel in the city, more traffic lights have come up, the police control room number logs calls from TOs on problems reported; and DCP/Traffic wants to have suggestions (not just problems!) from public on managing traffic better.

So, here’s what Gurgaonites can do to help:

• regularly share traffic problems (while offering solutions) with TOs in their area, or
• join as a TO to play an active role (ask me for steps involved)

After a couple of ad hoc meetings, DCP/Traffic and TOs have settled on the format of a monthly meeting on the last Friday of every month before which we’re expected to submit issues/suggestions in writing.

For now, I’m the only woman TO among the current 86 members in the city and also one out of only four members from the New Gurgaon or East Gurgaon area. The rest are from Old or West Gurgaon. I’d like the areas of Sushant Lok, DLF phases I-V, South City represented at the monthly meetings so specific problems concerning them are brought up. And, I’d like the administration to know that we want the city traffic better managed.

So, see how you’d like to contribute…

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Acroynms visitors might find baffling: RWA-Residents Welfare Association; DCP-Deputy Commissioner of Police; CM-Chief Minister; TO-Traffic Observer

There are days every week when outages last 5-8 hours at a stretch or certainly average to that long with their frequency on many other days.

I get goose-pimples thinking of the time when BSNL had monopoly in Gurgaon as a fixed line provider and a huge torture public had to go through to keep their phone lines functional. We’d to grovel for bills, and frequent fault repair required measures that are best left unrecalled. Then Airtel fixed line happened and there came other options in the form of WLL and multiple mobile service providers – and now when this city still has very little working from roads, sewage, municipal services, public transport, road signage to power outages, it feels a huge blessing to be using broadband provided by private ISPs, getting e-bills/sms reminders and paying bills online — even if computers have to be kept running on bigger and even bigger back-up devices.

We try hard to remain connected with the world in the hope that some company would find management of power a profitable business and lobby for its privatisation.

After mulling over it for several months, finally I zeroed in on a day when Kishore was in town and enthusiastic about driving as well as birding; when birding-friend AMS agreed to explore the Yamuna Biodiversity Park (YBP) with us and Kabir was safely ensconced in Bangalore with his grandparents so didn’t have to be forced into accompanying us at an unearthly hour.

I didn’t find directions to YBP on the Net but knew that delhibirders had been there several times. A quick exchange of messages with delhibirder Anshuman Varma got me the directions reproduced below, after which the only challenge was to wake up early enough to meet AMS and his friends by 6 am!

I sort of knew that 6 am would mean leaving home before 5 am and waking up even before that, and was concerned about the actual execution of that plan. But so keen I was to see this collaborative effort between the Delhi University and DDA that despite the head telling me otherwise, I listened to my heart and somehow got us both going just before 6 am! AMS phoned and said he was already at YBP and entering the park. An hour-long drive that was pleasant for end-May in Delhi showed us many yellow YBP boards after the Wazirabad crossing, and soon we found ourselves in a neat parking lane outside the YBP gate.

There was no entry fee to the park, and a bunch of guys manning the gate looked only too happy to see more human faces. AMS and friends had already been scanning the park for an hour, and said they’d seen the usual birds. We also started with the usual and ended with an unusual Streaked Weaver. The usual ones included Green Bee-eaters, Plain Prinias, Asian Koels, Coppersmith Barbets, Rose-ringed Parakeets, Paddyfield Pipits, Greater Coucal, Black Drongos, Red Whiskered Bulbuls, Eurasian Collared Doves, Common Hoopoes, Peafowl, Large Grey Babblers, Spotbill Ducks, Whistling Teals and one each of Golden Oriole, Yellow-bellied Warbler, Pond Heron, Cormorant, Black Kite and possibly a White-tailed Stonechat. Also, there were hares scampering about and at least two long snakes hurrying into the weeds!

The park was large, nicely conceived with paved pathways all along but devoid of water and unkempt in some places. There were old, knotted and interestingly-shaped trees and there were lots of newer guava and pomegranate trees. There were also lots of saplings under nets giving evidence of a regular supply of trees if those around didn’t do well. The area looked promising and worth several visits in different seasons to check the difference in species.

On the way back, Kishore and I stopped by Tee Dee’s at Majnu ka Tila for a breakfast of Thukpa, Tibetan bread and ginger-honey tea, and declared that it was a morning well-spent.

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PS: AMS tells me that our brown bird is a female Pied Bushchat, and I owe the id of our weaver to him too. He has excellent id’ing skills and I hope some day I’d have the same clarity about the confusing warblers/ pipits/ chats as he does.

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Directions to Yamuna biodiversity park, Delhi

- Go straight down the road from Majnu Ka Tila for a couple of kilometres till you come to the big Wazirabad crossing (for ID - there is short divider here which splits the straight-going lane into two). Carry on straight.
- Take a right from one of the red lights after the Wazirabad crossing.
- The right turn will take you over a bridge on a nalla. Once on the other side, take a left so that you are running parallel to the nalla.
- Just look out for and follow the YBD signboards. You will need to take a right again which will lead you to YBD.

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Photos taken by Kishore:

All the same, we did see some lifers and saw parts of Goa that we wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for our interest in bird-watching.

North Goa

Baga Fields

Much as we’d heard adverse reports about the Baga beach being crowded, expensive and excessively tourist-oriented, I planned 3 days for it because of Baga hills, Baga fields and Arpora forests in its close proximity. The afternoon we reached, Baga fields yielded surprisingly close views of Black Kites and a White-cheeked Barbet from Cavala’s balcony. All other birds seen in the fields were common to us and the species count stayed under 20. The fields were difficult to walk through and devoid of any birders or farmers so it was hard to tell if they were indeed the famous Baga fields we’d heard so much about.

My biggest disappointment about this area was that we missed Baga Hills altogether. I’d fixed up with a guide named Raymond to accompany us to them but he ditched us for the first afternoon costing us this loss.

Fort Aguada

Raymond did turn up the next morning to drive us to two sites. I’d heard about good possibilities of sighting Indian Pitta in this area and one birder on birdlist.co.uk had even mentioned Raymond’s name as someone knowing exactly where this amazing bird could be seen.

We clocked 16 species around the Pitta site and then 8 more near the Lighthouse but the main star eluded us. Out of our 40 min or so near the Pitta site, Raymond spent good 20 min crouched under a canopy of branches, attempting to flush out the bird but it stayed loyal to its label as a shy bird! This is when Raymond even played a bird call cd, interestingly while holding a small speaker separately, to lure it out of its hiding!

Our short walks around showed us multiple Orange-headed Thrushes, one White-browed fantail, Black-hooded Orioles, Golden Orioles, our two lifers in the form of White-browed Bulbul and Tawny-bellied Babbler and some other common birds. It was clear that this site should be explored on multiple visits for a better species count.

Later, on a walk towards the lighthouse, Raymond pointed out the beautiful Blue-faced Malkoha, a Stork-billed Kingfisher and a few other common birds. Kishore spotted the magnificent White-bellied Sea Eagle quite some distance away and with that we were pleased to have seen a new raptor on this visit.

Saligao Zor

We chose to visit this site with Raymond over Maem Lake as it was closer and its forest was reported to be full of birds. True to the reports on the region, we had comfortable sightings of a juvenile male Asian-Paradise Flycatcher. Brown-cheeked Fulvetta and Black-naped Monarch were our two lifers here and Malabar Whistling Thrushes could be heard closely. The site didn’t yield much beyond that and Raymond explained that an unusual shower the previous day had kept the birds in hiding.

That finished our first guided-birding morning in Goa and while I’d hoped to sight much more, I’m glad in retrospect that we did manage to see some amazing flying creatures.

Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary and Tambdi Surla Temple

The drive to Molem took under two hours from Baga with the Mandovi stretch offering a lovely view of egrets, herons and stints on the river.

Dhudsagar Resort at Molem was still going through some construction activity but the complex was full of trees and some common birds, notably White-throated Kingfisher were all over. Dhudsagar Falls required a highly bumpy ride by a jeep that had to be paid for near the checkpost, followed by a hopping walk through rocks and rivulets. The falls were beautiful and the walk enjoyable but the surrounding area offered no shelter against a drizzle so it didn’t make much sense to stay there. The area was full of trees but no birds of interest were spotted.

We paid up at the Forest office that afternoon for an early morning entry into the Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary the following day. Interestingly, the Sanctuary gates are kept locked, and keys can be taken from the Forest office guard in the morning on showing a paid entry ticket. It becomes that individual’s responsibility then on to open and lock the Sanctuary gate! We insisted on the office arranging a guide to help us cover the Sanctuary and spot birds. After much thought by the lone clerk, we were provided the number of an individual named Bolimax who was labeled as a knowledgeable guide. After a few calls to Bolimax, we fixed up with him to meet us the next morning on our drive cum walk into the Sanctuary.

We used the early evening hours on the first day to drive up to Tambdi Surla that was about an hour’s drive from Molem. The drive was pleasant with a clean and narrow road lined with trees on both sides. The temple complex was pretty, and the trees around it showed a Malabar Grey Hornbill in flight, Common Iora and Small Minivet on very tall trees. We didn’t have much luck beyond that. The forest area around the temple looked promising but without a guide or any soul around, it appeared unsafe to walk into.

We’d heard about the site as an important spot on the itinerary of the Backwoods Camp’s nature walks, but the fading light and lack of help in covering the forest belt left us just one option – walk around as much as possible and return before it got too dark!

Next morning, the visit to the Mahaveer Sanctuary proved disappointing. We found our guide Bolimax at the Forest office gate, drove up to the Sanctuary gate where he opened and locked the big gate behind us and took us to the only spot he found promising to sight birds. We saw a lone Common Kingfisher there. We were earlier told that the forest was dense and without tracks for walking or driving so visitors were discouraged from venturing beyond the first 2 km or so. Soon, we turned around and spent 30 min or so at a clearing that showed us a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo in flight, Red-whiskered Bulbuls and possibly an Orange-breasted Green Pigeon. In addition, we managed clear sightings of the Giant Squirrel.

We’d high hopes from the Sanctuary to view varied bird life but beyond an hour, it felt pointless to stay inside. Our guide Bolimax appeared disinterested in birds and cited his main interest as wild animals – which he hadn’t cared to share during our chats on the phone – and he mentioned that the drivable part of the forest rarely showed anything other than the giant squirrel.

While planning this travel, I’d had positive reports from Delhibird members about bird-watching experience through Backwoods Camp but no one would share the costs involved. After some calls and messages, its leader, Leio informed of the per-person-per-day charge as Rs3500 which seemed high to us so we gave it a miss. Our unaided walks of Tambi Surla and Mahaveer Sanctuary however confirmed to us the importance of knowledgeable guides in seeing and appreciating the forests of East Goa, especially for visitors with limited time on hands.

Other than possibly one day with Backwoods Camps, on my next trip this side, I’d like to explore the option of covering the Wildernest Resort that has many admirers. Their own website doesn’t seem to be working right now, but they’re mentioned on many travel portals.

South Goa – Sernabatim

Our morning walks around Baywatch Resort showed us White-rumped Munias, Brahmny and Black Kites in good numbers, Golden Orioles, Grey Wagtails, Purple-rumped Sunbirds, one Spotted Owlet and other common birds.

Bird Guides

This trip to Goa reconfirmed to me that bird guides can make or mar one’s sighting experience in an unfamiliar place…

I’ve returned unsure about Raymond’s reliability as a guide. Sadly, there wasn’t much choice from those we found outside Beira Mer. The drivers hanging around the hotel were just that, drivers to take you to birding or other spots and letting you bird unaccompanied. A guide highly recommended in reports and on websites is Lloyd J. Fernandes (phones: 0832-2276711, mobile 09822149002). On a chat from Gurgaon, he’d mentioned that he was booked on all the days of our stay in Goa and that he charged Rs800 per person per day – and a birding day is supposedly the first half of a day!

One helpful guide recommended by a delhibirder was Uday (mobile: 09822583127) who mainly focussed on the area surrounding Charao river. I wasn’t interested in water birds so didn’t use his services but he was helpful in many ways and should be used for covering the Dr. Salim Ali Sanctuary.

Bolimax as a guide confounded us beyond belief. He spoke well on a couple of calls, rattled off impressive species names the region was known for, turned up punctually to lead us to the Sanctuary and once in the action zone, he showed a complete lack of interest in anything concerning birds and said that he didn’t see any reason in chasing birds! He was an utter waste of our precious morning!

Some informative trip reports on Goa can be read at the first 3 links and the Delhibird site has a repository of checklists of various regions in India:

http://www.birdforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=542
http://www.birdlist.co.uk/goabirds2008.htm
http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/india/Goa-Index.htm
http://checklists.delhibird.net/internal/goa/goa.htm

Happily, the recent trip helped us experience Goa in varied hues. The objectives of the trip were many so the 7-day travel warranted careful planning. Goa’s potential in bird-watching had come to my notice through trip reports on Delhibird’s yahoo mailing list so that was an important item on the agenda other than experiencing the beaches, food and visit some residential construction projects that we’d learnt about through property exhibitions in Delhi. Being a firm believer of online and offline research before embarking on anything important, I read through hotel/restaurant reviews on tripadvisor.com and indiamike.com, consulted a friendly hotel reservation service and members of Delhibird and spoke to a few friends. The outcome was an impressive itinerary of 3 initial days at Baga (@ Cavala) followed by 1½ days at Molem (Dhudsagar Resort) and 3 final days of chilling at Sernabatim (Baywatch Resorts) in South Goa.

One of the wise decisions in retrospect was to have arranged a self-driven car for the first 6 days that made moving around adventurous, enjoyable and economical. Kishore drove us (Kabir and me) straight from the airport when he barely knew the roads, and Baga was a good 40 minutes drive from the airport. With a helpful tourist map collected from the tourist counter at the airport, reasonable road signage and helpful souls on the streets, driving on Goa roads felt like the most natural thing to do – especially for Indians used to the Indian driving rules! On later days, we did have some trouble with missing signage on critical points but generally the roads appeared clean, wide and certainly better marked than Gurgaon. The drive through narrow roads lined with Goan houses, filled almost invariably with red or yellow hibiscus flowers, used to be lively, and later the drive to Molem along Mandovi was even more beautiful…

A quick review of the 3 hotels (and a couple more) for people exploring stay options in Goa:

Cavala at Baga appeared to be a small, overly-used hotel that was stylish in a quaint way. An ordinary AC room wasn’t available so we’d to accept a suite at their annexe called Banana Republic that was rather large with its 3 rooms, an open kitchen, minibar/tea apparatus but airconditioning only in the bedroom. Without cooling elsewhere though, we barely used the other area and wondered if it was really that good value for our money – more so because they had restrictions on changing towels (possible only alternate days!) and the bathroom door lock was broken and had to be accepted with an indulgent smile. What did make up to an extent was their a la carte breakfast that was built into the tariff and was served nicely in their small garden. If I do stay at Baga again – Kabir was impressed with Britto’s pastries and food and it was a few minutes walk from Cavala – I’d be sure to check out La Calypso next door that appeared nicer and more organised. Birder members on Delhibird had suggested Ronil Beach but it was fully booked and more expensive than Cavala.

One curious aspect of Goa hotels was their penchant for arranging room towels in a certain manner each time they’re changed!

Dhudsagar Resort near Molem was a lovely find – thanks to its lead from a Delhibird member, Sharad Khanna. The hotel was spanking new, labeled as an eco-hotel, spread out on large area that was full of trees and cottages with ultra modern fixtures. For anyone interested in discovering the forest-side of Goa, it’d make a pleasant and reasonably-priced stay especially if one avails of their 3-night all inclusive package. Dhudsagar Resort reservation can be made on the phones 0832-2612238, 2612319. Talking to its Corporate Manager, Mrs. Kamath might help ensure the 3-day package rate (Rs2000/day) she’d mentioned to me. An email to the General Manager, Mr.Sanjay Naik, of Baywatch Resort could help even further. Baywatch Resort appears to own Dhudsagar Resort and the GM mentioned that he was planning various facilities for this resort.

Our third hotel was Baywatch Resort in South Goa that was a pleasant place for a 3-day holiday. The hotel was done up prettily in colourful cottages and rooms were plush with a sitting room preceding a bedroom and an attached balcony overseeing paddy fields of Sernabatim. The beach was a few minutes’ walk and quiet enough for enjoying a book at one of the shacks or frolicking in the waves. The hotel wasn’t easy to locate from the main crossroad (we drove there ourselves) but it was well-known around the place and most people described various involved turns to help us get there. We were on a 3-day all-inclusive package so meals were the highlight of our stay there – especially for Kabir who is a small eater but one with refined tastes in food! He took to bacon and sausages for breakfast, continental preparations of fish/chicken for other meals and at least 3 out of 4 varieties of desert after all main meals. Kishore and I enjoyed the food but ate sensibly. The hotel pool was made in 2 levels and comfortable for a good swim. The restaurant stewards, however, looked bored most of the time – they used to be prompt with clearing plates but looked remote and unfriendly. On all 3 days, we were asked by the regulars our room number as they just didn’t connect to the guests. Restaurant managers, on the other hand, reached out to guests and checked on their food preferences.

All in all, I wouldn’t mind covering the last two resorts again…

Will cover our bird-watching experience in the next part with some useful leads.

The frequency of posts will depend on several factors–with ‘inspiration’ dominating that list, I can say with some certainty that the subjects could span HR issues (finished a two-year Human Resources Management Master’s course some months ago so have some things to say there); online research (been a net user ever since its access from India became possible); web designing versus site usability ease and aesthetics (being a self-taught graphic-web designer, I remain in touch with the tools and concepts learnt laboriously even if I don’t actively design sites any more); time management and organisational aspects of work and life (entered the first structured work environment at age 17 so grew up prioritising and reprioritising tasks); parenting (been experiencing joys and travails of parenthood for the last 11½ years); painting (paint and sketch now and then); bird-watching (have been interested in the little creatures since childhood but began referring to field guides and maintaining checklists 3 years ago); traveling (it’s a religion Kishore—my spouse of 20 years and friend of a couple of years longer–and I religiously follow); pleasures of technology (as learnt from Kishore and through work needs); infrastructural highs and (mostly) lows of my city, Gurgaon et al…phew, the list is long and I haven’t included all the interests yet… so visitors can expect quite a range in my musings.

Will settle down to write some more in a few hours.

cheers, Jyoti

Family and friends blogging:

• http://kishorebhargava.com/
• http://www.kbhargava.com
• http://www.krishphoto.com/