A TRIP TO REMEMBER

I have never gone to any adventure trip until we decided to go on one to the jim Corbett park Before leaving for Jim Corbett National Park I was quite skeptical of wild life. An area which I had never explored previously in my life.
Hmmmm………..A fine trip to jim Corbett……………have heard a lot …. Very excited………amused, over excited ……. Wondering... how will it be, what will we see, oh god I will really see wild animal , must be like they showed in kaal movie (so many questions..phewww)
Anyways everything was chalked out presumably on schedule, that, by far we should reach in 8 hrs for a Six hour journey from the capital of the country at max, but I should realize things generally do not turn out as we all presume them to be and in this case we took a shocking 12 hrs to reach our destination.
Anyways it does happen but in the end we did reach, got unpacked and slept early to get up early next morning at the crack of the dawn.
So at 5:30 in the morning we leave for jim Corbett from ramnagar through roads meandering through the forest .
the journey through the dark lanes made me more excited for the supposedly unforgettable tour,
and so we reach our presumed entry ………………..but no ……..how could it be and in this case we have reached to the place 20 kms ahead of where we were supposed to enter ,
ok ok .. we did not know , we are new to the place . excuses crops up and we rush back asking everyone coming in our way whether we are going in the right direction now, finally making it to the main entry of BIJRANI one of the nine entrances to this vast more than 85 km spread jim Corbett park .
after getting the clearances, and the guide we begin our journey through the meandering pathways and the bending curves of the forest and flowing perennial river , over the boulders into the forest along the wild vegetation , not knowing what we will see, but the glimmering sunlight falling on the misty forest ensures that we will see something beautiful , unknown , a term “natural beauty” in its full bloom .

the journey begins with the volley of questions to our guide …………………………
bhaiya , what is there in jim Corbett that makes it special ,
bhaiya , what are our chances to see the tigers,
bhaiyaa, bhaiya , bhaiya ….. the question keep cropping up and our respective bhaiya jee is smart enough to give great bouncers one after other , beta ji .. tourist ask us what are the stories of jim Corbett and I say sabjee…. U are going to experience a journey, and u never know when u return maybe u will have ur own story to tell………..wow
all along the guide is showing us, telling us to look this way and the other (pheww so much to catch up ) the pugmarks of tiger , elephant , look there are the footprints of the tiger he walked here last evening , do click .
asking us question there is a log and if an elephant come what will u do , get scared no no no need becoz they are intelligent to divert there direction on seeing a log . ok sir point taken ,,,, but guide ji its been 1 hour into the forest and we have not seen a single bird leave alone a animal ,
“are they scared of the cars”.
Guide: “no madam they are more accustomed to vehicles than the local villagers residing on the periphery of the forest , have patience , we will get to know if there are sightings”“

Patience , patience ……………..wading of with each passing moment
Over the whole journey the most exciting thing we were able to experience were the journey atop the watch tower (a rather shaky one )
The monkey skull placed atop a stone especially by our esteemed guide and fortunately a get together of Indian langur and the spotted deer family .
It so happened that whenever we reached a place where there were several other jeeps , we would come to know : “ are re u folks are late we just spotted a tigress with her two cubs”oh no we missed them and our guide would say its ok we shall see it be PATIENT .
Ok patience .. a hard test of patience,
the meandering bends are now just another road , our driver jokes “it seems to be a boulder forest than a wildlife reserve”
nearly 3.5 hrs into the forest and I have just seen deers and lagur and that too I can count them on my fingers nothing more.and our guide replies in a very humble manner madam yahan to hiran bhi tiger ko dekhe bina jeewan nikal dete hain aap to sirf 4 ghante k liye aaye hain , or bhalu to yahan 4 saalon se nahin dikha .
Elephant at least a wild tusker and his hoard any where , please at least that much , and eureka we do see a elephant but sadly a tamed one used by some of the visitors to experience the journey through the sanctuary

Thatz it there is nothing else to see and our time limit is over, why is that, oh god.
my dad is so frustrated that he decide to go to delhi zoo on his way to work on Monday , but I calm myself down by clicking at the painted picture of tiger and elephant on one of the walls of the rest house , plus bringing back mementos from the gift shopfor the colleagues as a sole proof of I have visited the JIM CORBETT PARK
On the way back to delhi next day I happened to see camels, wild macaque, elephant, some farm animals, walking on the roads , in the farms , tamed, making me think that man has intervened so much into the natural existence of animals that there natural existence seems to be devoid of them .
Will I go back there again .. and the answer is yes , I hope to see them next time the only key is to keep the PATIENCE .

The praying hands

this is for the first time that i am trying my hand at writing a blog , but what to start with ???
a question ...BIG ONE........... should it be about my thoughts about day to events , or something which i have read but would like to share it with others ....about what ..??
hmm .. i think something which made me appeciate the fact that the family means a lot , they are there for you always . so here goes the story ...................................
Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near Nuremberg, lived a family with eighteen children. Eighteen! In order merely to keep food on the table for this mob, the father and head of the household, a goldsmith by profession, worked almost eighteen hours a day at his trade and any other paying chore he could find in the neighborhood.

Despite their seemingly hopeless condition, two of Albrecht Durer the Elder's children had a dream. They both wanted to pursue their talent for art, but they knew full well that their father would never be financially able to send either of them to Nuremberg to study at the Academy.

After many long discussions at night in their crowded bed, the two boys finally worked out a pact. They would toss a coin. The loser would go down into the nearby mines and, with his earnings, support his brother while he attended the academy. Then, when that brother who won the toss completed his studies, in four years, he would support the other brother at the academy, either with sales of his artwork or, if necessary, also by laboring in the mines.

They tossed a coin on a Sunday morning after church. Albrecht Durer won the toss and went off to Nuremberg.

Albert went down into the dangerous mines and, for the next four years, financed his brother, whose work at the academy was almost an immediate sensation. Albrecht's etchings, his woodcuts, and his oils were far better than those of most of his professors, and by the time he graduated, he was beginning to earn considerable fees for his commissioned works.

When the young artist returned to his village, the Durer family held a festive dinner on their lawn to celebrate Albrecht's triumphant homecoming. After a long and memorable meal, punctuated with music and laughter, Albrecht rose from his honored position at the head of the table to drink a toast to his beloved brother for the years of sacrifice that had enabled Albrecht to fulfill his ambition. His closing words were, "And now, Albert, blessed brother of mine, now it is your turn. Now you can go to Nuremberg to pursue your dream, and I will take care of you."

All heads turned in eager expectation to the far end of the table where Albert sat, tears streaming down his pale face, shaking his lowered head from side to side while he sobbed and repeated, over and over, "No ...no ...no ...no."

Finally, Albert rose and wiped the tears from his cheeks. He glanced down the long table at the faces he loved, and then, holding his hands close to his right cheek, he said softly, "No, brother. I cannot go to Nuremberg. It is too late for me. Look ... look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! The bones in every finger have been smashed at least once, and lately I have been suffering from arthritis so badly in my right hand that I cannot even hold a glass to return your toast, much less make delicate lines on parchment or canvas with a pen or a brush. No, brother ... for me it is too late." More than 450 years have passed.

By now, Albrecht Durer's hundreds of masterful portraits, pen and silver-point sketches, watercolors, charcoals, woodcuts, and copper engravings hang in every great museum in the world, but the odds are great that you, like most people, are familiar with only one of Albrecht Durer's works. More than merely being familiar with it, you very well may have a reproduction hanging in your home or office.

One day, to pay homage to Albert for all that he had sacrificed, Albrecht Durer painstakingly drew his brother's abused hands with palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward. He called his powerful drawing simply "Hands," but the entire world almost immediately opened their hearts to his great masterpiece and renamed his tribute of love "The Praying Hands."

The next time you see a copy of that touching creation, take a second look. Let it be your reminder, if you still need one, that no one - no one - - ever makes it alone!
Remember one can conquer any feet , can cross any hurdle with the support of the one who care for you …