travel – Sneha Dharwadkar

“Is this a class or a fish market?”

On 27th December 2014, a pleasant Sunday morning in Mumbai, I decided to join a friend for his field work. This is a little unusual. When I say field, I and many of the people I know, usually imagine it as some kind of forest-studying animals. This friend counts the number of boats arriving at Sasoon Dock, which will enable him to determine the fish stock coming in the fishing boats. So I joined him at Sasoon Dock. I must warn you that there aren’t going to be any pictures on this post as photographing is not allowed on the dock. To say that the fishing dock is a chaos is an understatement. Sasoon Dock is one of the busiest docks of the city and was built in 1875 (quite old, huh!) by a gentleman named Albert Abdullah David Sasoon (and hence the name).

“Sassoon Dock
What a place!
So many fishes!
So crowded!”

It was 7 AM in the morning and the fisher folk were already up and about, making sure their stock got sold fastest and in maximum price. There was just so much diversity of fishes in their baskets. Fishes, crabs, prawns, stingrays. I was lucky enough to see a hammer-headed shark (unlucky for the shark because it was dead). Walking around the dock seems like a challenge to your whole existence (No, this is not an exaggeration. Try walking on the edge of the dock with hardly 6 inches space to place your foot while a super pissed fisher woman pushes you because you aren’t walking fast enough while balancing yourself and trying not to fall off in the water).

While I tried walking in a place where it seemed impossible to accommodate a fly, the local fisher people gave me passing looks of anger, amusement, pity, ridicule and disbelief. The entire one hour at Sasoon dock seemed like a second just passed. I was so numb by so much chaos but was enjoying every second of it. Not to mention, the smell was mind numbing as well. Especially for me as I have never eaten fish in my life, except once when a well-meaning aunty in Kerala fed me fish trying to convince me that it was a vegetable. (I smelled of fishes for good two hours after I had said good-bye to the place. I like to believe that I stopped smelling of fish after that).

Having never ever been to any fishing market, I never quite understood the feeling when the teachers in the class used to yell at us naughty students in the class, the statement “Is this a class or a fish market?”. Teachers, take a bow. Sasoon dock felt like I was an ant in this giant world. With all this, the friend, walking ahead of me (totally comfortable with chaos and adept at walking amidst busy and angry fisher folk) explaining different types of fishing techniques, fishing nets, fishing boats, etc. while I tried keeping up with his pace, understanding what all he said, asking him too many questions (some inappropriate for the place, i.e. “Isn’t it illegal to fish XYZ fishes?”).

While walking, we kept talking, my mind struggling to concentrate between staying alive and grasping all the knowledge that my friend had to offer. Once I almost bumped into an 8-9 ft long and narrow lorry carrying fishes that an old man was pushing amidst the crowd, but an attentive young fisherman held my hand, fairly amused at my inattentiveness, his friends laughing at my expense. The floor of the dock was all wet (obviously) and the water was pushing its way through my sandals and my socks; wetting my feet.

The walk lead to a beautiful open place where we could stand peacefully, watching the open sea that gives us bounty of fishes to eat and livelihoods to so many people who brave the storms to go out in the waters to bring us food.

We stumbled upon a chai-wallah (Tea seller) and stood sipping the tea watching Gulls and Terns foraging in the open seas along with the men in boats, both communities aiming at the same goal: catch the most. The morning scene was beautiful. On one side, there was a busy chaotic fish market selling fishes and a part of the dock which was comparatively new, was relatively empty, fishermen standing in small groups, chatting, discussing their day to day lives and enjoying the morning sunlight. Mumbai had a pleasant weather compared to cold Ahmedabad. Mornings gave a feeling of chill but failed to trap us in sweaters (thankfully!) Eventually said goodbye to the dock, carrying with me lot of memories and fish smell.

Exploring Sanchi: Its History and Wildlife

I happened to visit Sanchi unexpectedly. While travelling to Bhopal which is a capital of Madhya Pradesh, a state in Central India,on 5th of June, I had a spare day in hand and since I had nothing better to do, I decided to pay Sanchi a visit. Sanchi is roughly 43 km from the city of Bhopal and is well-connected by frequent buses and trains. An hour’s journey and you reach Sanchi.

Sanchi has the oldest and most well preserves stupas in India. Not only stupas but there are temples, pillars and other monuments which record the origin, rise and the fall of Buddhist art and architecture in India from the period of third century BC to twelfth century AD, spanning the period of thirteen hundred years.

Sanchi is supposedly the birth place of Buddhism in India. The first stupa at Sanchi was built by the Maurya emperor Ashoka during his reign in 3^rd Century BC. It was a simple structure at first, later in First century BC four ornamental torans (gateways) were added to it.

Stupa 1: The main stupa. It has 4 torans (gateways)

Backside of one of the torans (gateways)

Stupa 1 and 3 have staircases to climb up for circumabulation (pradakshina)

carvings on one of the entrance of stupa 1

Over the period of time, many more structures were added. Today at Sanchi, we can see 27 monuments which include stupas, temples, pillars, begging bowl, monasteries, shrines, etc.

Sanchi is nested on a hill top of Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh. Being protected by the Archaeological Survey of India, wildlife flourishes here. I saw a variety of insects, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals during my visit to Sanchi. In birds, most notable sighting was of Crested bunting male and female feeding on the lawn in front of the Stupa 1, Brown rock chats on the stone structures, woodpeckers pecking on the grounds, sunbirds, tailor birds, Brahminy myna, Black drongo and Indian and Oriental Magpie robins. Common garden lizards were strutting in the lawns, on trees and on sheltered rocks. Butterflies like lemon pansy, blue pansy, yellows, blues, tailed jays were fluttering around and were a delight to watch. But my most cherished sighting was so unexpected that I almost squealed in delight enough to startle the animal.

A terrible picture of Crested bunting as a record shot

Chilled out Brown rock chats who let me come so close to them that I could take good picture even with my mobile!

While walking from the stupa 1 to Stupa 2, one has to climb down to a lower altitude. The stairs are made of stones surrounded by huge rocks and shrubbery. At the stupa 2, there is an artificial pond from where the pipelines carry the water to stupa 1. One of the pipelines was leaking a little and water was dripping out where many birds had come to drink water which had accumulated on the ground. I, being severely dehydrated from the hot summer of central India and temperatures flaring to 43 degrees and giving the feel of 47 degrees, went to this water and gave myself a good splash on face. Here is when I saw a movement and saw something like a mongoose hiding and watching me, equally surprised at my presence. I almost passed it thinking it was a common mongoose, but had to almost jump in excitement after putting back my spectacles on seeing that it was a ruddy mongoose! I had read a lot about ruddy mongoose and seen it in pictures and always wanted to see one myself, but this encounter took me by a complete surprise. I saw the mongoose a lot of times during my climb down to the stupa 2, but unfortunately, I wasn’t carrying my camera with me and mobile camera’s zoom wasn’t enough for the mongoose. But the sight of that beautiful mongoose with its tail tip pointing to sky as if an antenna will remain etched in my memory forever.

The habitat where I spotted Ruddy mongoose

A view from stupa 2 showing the path that leads to it and the greenery nearby

After climbing down to stupa 2, I dipped my feet in the pond, sat there observing many damselflies, dragonflies and skittering frogs that inhabited the pond and the lush green vegetation around it provided the much need cool air. That was the last monument to be seen at the place and after having a nice hot and strong coffee, I said good bye to Sanchi.

A stray dog cooling himself in the pond water

Enjoying the activity of dragonflies near the pond

Buddhism speaks a lot about non-violence, conserving environment and wildlife and about not harming the animals. The unplanned visit brought much-needed peace to my mind and the sightings of wildlife made one of the best ‘World Environment Day’s I had!

Mango trees are done fruiting by now. New leaves are budding as monsoon is on the horizon. There is a story of magical mango tree in buddhism. I saw this one in what looked like a mango orchard outside the stupa campus. — Mango trees are done fruiting by now. New leaves are budding as monsoon is on the horizon.
There is a story of magical mango tree in buddhism. I saw this one in what looked like a mango orchard outside the stupa campus.

Udaipur in Photographs: Day 2

Enjoy the Udaipur in many photos of its various delightful locales it has to offer. Drenched in history, culture and andcient traditions, Udaipur is one of the most favoured tourist destinations in India.

We saw a part of Udaipur in my previous post. The second day at Udaipur was quite eventful as well.

We woke up leisurely and went to Govinda’s cafe for breakfast. It is a small and humble cafeteria serving breakfast near Lalghat guest house. After having filling breakfast of two cheese omelette, one plain omelette, a banana pancake (super delicious and must try!), two ginger-lemon-honey tea and one masala chai between three of us, we roamed the streets and shopped for colourful and bright ethnic clothes.

Colourful clothes on sale at one of the road-side shop.

A street near the city palace of Udaipur

After shopping, we had lunch at Rainbow multi-cuisine restaurant which serves delicious ker sangri- a typical Rajasthani spicy curry made of beans and berries which are unique to Rajasthan. We relaxed a bit and then my friends left for Ahmedabad while I carried on with my Udaipur sight-seeing.

I visited Bagore ki haveli in the afternoon. It is a beautiful haveli built in 18th century by Amir Chand Badwa, Prime Minister of the Mewar State. It has more than 100 rooms and now it has been converted into a museum where there are various artifacts at display, turban museum, paintings and musical instruments open to public display.

Entry of the Gangour ghat and the entry of the Bagore ki haveli next to it.

As I was walking across the corridor of the haveli, I met a painter named Pinku. I saw him painting and was totally amazed at his skill in producing smallest details. Very creative, he drew a nice art on my thumb nail.

Pinku's gift for appreciating his paintings. So humble! — Pinku’s gift for appreciating his paintings. So humble!

Beautiful glass window in one of the rooms of the haveli.

One of the exhibit of turban museum. Turban museum has exhibits of different types of turbans worn by varied castes, sects and communities of the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra — One of the exhibits of turban museum. Turban museum has exhibits of different types of turbans worn by varied castes, sects and communities of the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra

Gangour ghat een from the terrace of the haveli — Gangour ghat seen from the terrace of the haveli

After spending good two and half hours at the haveli,. I went and had green tea at Cafe Edelweiss. I was disappointed by the ticket vendor when he told me the city palace wasnt open to public that day because of a wedding going on. But I was free to roam on the grounds outside the palace. So I took that chance and walked about the grounds.

Evening was pleasant and windy. After having dinner at Rainbow restaurant, I went off to bed. Next day I was to leave for Mount Abu early morning.

Udaipur is a beautiful city and traveller friendly. It has no pompous air around it and one can easily lounge about on her own. The city has perfect mix of places for travellers around the world. Lakes, forts, palaces, shopping places, great places to eat, etc. Two days aren’t quite enough and I am hoping to return here someday again and explore Sajjangarh wildlife sanctuary, Saheliyo ki badi, city palace and other places that Udaipur has to offer. But whether you tick off all the places in Udaipur or you just spend time dipping your feet in Gangour ghat, it is worth it.

This post is dedicated to my dear friend Manjula, who left us for heavenly abode. She was very fond of travelling and the last pictures and stories we shared was of this Udaipur trip. You will be sorely missed, friend.

Udaipur in Photographs: Day 1

I was to bid Adieu to Ahmedabad, the city of Gujarat where I spent my past three and half years. Ahmedabad has many tourist destinations close by and Udaipur is one of them. Since I had never been there, I decided to travel to Udaipur before I leave Ahmedabad with two other friends. Just 261 km from Ahmedabad, it hardly takes 5 hours, an overnight journey by a sleeper bus and you are almost there. I left for Udaipur by a sleeper bus on the night of 1st April 2015.

The view from the inside of the bus that took me to Udaipur

I reached the next morning on 2nd of April 2015 and joined two of my friends who had already reached the previous day. We stayed at Lalghat Guest House, a comfortable hotel. You get a range of staying options, from a small single room with shared toilets (which are super clean) to lake-view room with a huge balcony all at a very affordable price.

2_1 — A view from the terrace of the Lalghat guest house

On the first day, we visited the Jagdish temple, dipped our feet and spent a lazy morning at Gangour ghat, had breakfast at Café Edelweiss and lunch at Lotus Café. Café Edelweiss is a nice cozy place to eat. The German Bakery in the café serves nice pastries, baked goodies and sweets.

The first place we visited in Udaipur. The Jagdish temple.

Jagdish temple was constructed by Maharaja Jagat Singh the first in 1651.

The temple is carved out from sandstones

The carvings at the temple show life of many Gods and Goddesses

Women going about their business while the tourists flock at Gangour ghat at Pichola lake

This platform at Gangour ghat is used for performances during Gangour festival. Everyday morning, people come and feed the pigeons. Parrots and cows join them too occasionally.

After having lunch, we visited monsoon palace in the afternoon. The monsoon palace is also known as Sajjangarh palace and was named after Maharaja Sajjan Singh of Mewar dynasty who built the palace in 1884. It is situated high in the Aravalli hills at the height of 932.6 MSL. Here you will come across a neglected board which informs us of the amazing architectural skill of the architects of those days in conservation of water.

As we entered the palace, we were greeted by a pleasant sight of a young kitten suckling on an old Labrador mother.

The cat baby and dog mother. The cat though believed that he was dog and refused to clean himself as cats usually do. Seen at Monsoon palace.

The monsoon palace at Sajjangadh once housed the Royals. Now it houses the nature. Swallow and wasp nests and beehive.

Sprawling city of Udaipur seen from the monsoon palace

A view from the balcony of the monsoon palace

Enjoying the serenity of the place. It was super windy!

We then hogged at an old sweet mart in the town. People travelling to Udaipur, do not miss moong dal kachori, pyaaz kachori, mirchi pakora and sweets at JMB (Jagdish Mishtan Bhandar) sweet shop.

Evening was spent watching a traditional dance and music performance at Bagore ki Haveli, located next to Gangour ghat. Everyday skilled artists perform from 7 PM onwards. The show is open to all after paying a minimal fee.

Very cool puppetry performance! Brought back lot of childhood memories.

Women performing dance which women of the earlier days performed doing their day-to-day chores. Quite talented women of those days!

This 68 year old lady performed a dying form of dance. Earlier, women had to fetch water from very faraway places. They kept themselves entertained by various dances and songs. — This 68-year-old lady performed a form of dance which is not performed by local ladies anymore. Earlier, women had to fetch water from very faraway places. They kept themselves entertained by various dances and songs.

After dipping our feet in the cool waters of Gangaur ghat and relaxing for a while, we had dinner at hotel Lake View, which true to its name, has a beautiful lake view. One can watch the serene lake waters and have dinner. We retired to bed after a busy yet interesting first day at Udaipur.

I shall share the interesting events of the second day in the upcoming post. Stay tuned!

Update: Udaipur in Photographs: Day 2 can be viewed here.

Camp Life at Beyt Dwarka

Marine camps are conducted by Centre for Environment Education (CEE) Sundarvan at Beyt Dwarka, an island on the western most tip of Gujarat. Beyt stands for an island in Gujarati. Beyt Dwarka is 27.4 sq. km. island of mainly scrub vegetation surrounded by a bounty of marine shore biodiversity. It experiences tropical maritime climate. Storms and cyclones are a part of Beyt life in monsoon. While summers are characterized by scorching heat which starts by the end of February, winters during the months of November, December and January are full of tempestuous winds.

The tents for the camps are raised on a long stretch of sand at the end of the island called Dunny point. Dwarka, even though separated from Kutch by the Arabian Sea, was better connected historically to Kutch than Saurashtra, as the fishermen and traders used the sea route to reach Beyt. Hence people of Beyt Dwarka speak Kutchi which is a dialect of Gujarati. In Kutchi language, a heap of sand is called ‘Duno’ and over the period of time, this stretch of sandy land started being called Dunny point. This stretch of land forms its own separate island as it separates out even from Beyt by the sea during highest of tides on New moon and full moon days.

Basic tents made up of gunny bags are raised by making structure of long and strong bamboos to stand the wind. There are about 10 tents. Right after the tents, there are separate toilets cabins, made with gunny bags again, for girls and boys. Toilets are made by fixing commode in sand using sandbags and make-shift septic tank. There are no bathrooms. The sea functions as bathroom.

Camps start from the end of November and usually continue till the end of February. These are the best months as the temperatures are tolerable as compared to the scorching heat of summers and stormy winds of monsoon. The sea water is clear and the shores host an array of migratory birds during these months. Batches after batches of students of schools, colleges and universities, science clubs, sports clubs and families arrive in the camps. A typical batch spends 2.5 days at the camp.

Arrival is usually arranged by Sundarvan which is to board a ferry from Okha, a nearby town in coastal Gujarat. Most groups are lucky enough to see dolphins while they arrive at Beyt in the morning. They are greeted with basic vegetarian breakfast and tea. If the batch is of younger students, they are given bournvita as well. It is difficult to get milk at Beyt and hence milk powder is preferred. After coming, they rest for a while and then based on the time of high tide, are made to bathe in sea water. As soon as they arrive, they are given clear instructions on the basic rules of the camp. Then through next two and half days, they are taken for reef walks, bird watching and plant diversity trek to Hanuman dandi, games on the beach, sessions on adaptations of marine biodiversity, tides and ebbs, waves and star-gazing. Campfire is lit on one of the nights. At sunsets and sunrises, yoga and meditation are conducted.

Beach cleaning exercise done by the students of Mahatma Gandhi International School

Students of Mahatma Gandhi International School learning about mangroves

Visually challenged girls of Pragnachakshu Mahila Seva Kunj learning about Rock Oysters

Preparing checklist on the last day of a batch

Reef walks are conducted in the inter-tidal zone, the zone between the highest and lowest tide, when the tide is at its lowest. Beaches to most participants mean sun and sand. But here at the walk, they see the bouquet of life-forms exposed by the receding tide. Marine creatures like Carpet anemone, Sea-cucumber, and Flatworms are mostly new to the participants and organisms like starfishes and octopus are fascinating as these are often only have been seen by them on TV or studied in text-books.

Sea Cucumber, the vulture of the sea world

We commonly see birds like Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata), Western Reef egret (Egretta gularis) , Grey heron (Ardea cinerea), Gulls (Larus spp), Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster) Ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres), Sand plovers (Charadrius spp), Crab plover (Dromas ardeola) and other small and big waders. What we see on field is discussed in detail during the talks on adaptations of different animals to adapt to the marine life, beaks and feet of birds customized to hunt and feed on the platter of the sea food, how the tides and ebbs affect the life of the creatures that live on the sea-shore or the inter-tidal zone and how the climate change affects the sea life. Students are often amazed to find the connections that everything is linked and that deforestation is equally damaging to the seas as it is to the land.

Ruddy turnstone, commonly seen wader near camp-site

Participants show their creativity in making sand-castles, some of them are inspired to write beautiful poetries and some love to sketch and paint. Once in the water, it becomes difficult for the instructors to pull them out after the swim! At camp-fire, we all sing, some of them dance, and we laugh at some great and some poor jokes, recite poetry, perform skits and mimicry and in all enjoy each others’ company.

A fort and a fortress. Entry only through tunnel. Creativity by the student members of Narmada Nigam Community Science Center

The activities are hence a mix of knowledge-based sessions, physical activities such as treks and exercises and fun at games and campfire. Being away from civilization and a life away from social media, students realize the importance of friends. The basic life at the camp makes them understand the difference between ‘needs’ and ‘wants’. Kids often go back with the understanding for core human values, dignity of labour, respect for each living being and survival with bare essentials.

The camp activities and facilities are designed in such a way as to give the most basic survival training to the participants of the camp. Here, one has to wash their own dishes, share toilets, eat the most basic food and live without electricity. While drinking water is provided from filtered drinking water (using Reverse Osmosis) cans brought from the mainland Okha, the nearest town or from Beyt, this water is strictly for drinking purpose only. Washing face, brushing and bathing is not allowed using this water. At Beyt, one has to make friends with salty water and sand. You brush your teeth with salty water of the sea, bathe in sea and whenever you want to sprinkle water on your face, you rush to the shore and use the sea water. Sand is going to make its home in everything you possess. Your clothes, pouches, watches, books, mattresses, sleeping bags, phone crevices and even in your headphones. Not to mention how close friends your body and sand will become. You eventually start smelling of the sea and tasting of salt. Soaps will not foam and hence you will eventually give up bringing a bucketful of sea water and trying to bathe someplace private. For instructors, there are VIP tents. The only difference is they get their own toilet, which is a relief as participants stay only for two and half days but instructors stay on for weeks and many a times for months altogether.

Tent of the instructors. There are two tents in this. One on the left was my home during my days at Marine camps.

Life at Beyt Dwarka, even though full of hardships is made memorable with the care of fellow colleagues, friendships, beautiful and mesmerizing rising and setting sun and ever powerful and welcoming sea. The shore life never disappoints you. Each batch of students is different and more often than not, instructors end up getting attached. More philosophical beings say that one should look at the batches as one looks through binoculars. You watch and focus, but not click as on does in a camera. Let them pass. By the end of camps, the instructors, too, go back wiser, kinder and more patient and hoping to return for the next season for new picture and awaiting new adventures.