RIP Polo!

Today I was saddened reading the death of Polo, South Asia’s only gorilla at Mysore zoo, Karnataka. He was 43! The normal life span of gorillas is 35, but Polo outlived that. Born in 1972, he was received from Dublin Zoo, Ireland, on August 8, 1995. Unfortunately he never got a mate in the zoo.





Earlier, a pair of gorillas, “Sugreeva and Sumathi” was the star attractions of the Mysore zoo.

Faces of India - 159

A sadhu from Barakar, West Bengal. He said he traveled from Varanasi to Barakar by foot. He rested at various temples on the way.

Faces of India, a series through which I intend to portray the various
characters of my country whom I met during my travels. See more here. 
 

A Piece Of Sky From Past

Again from my archives.

The famous Piccolomini (Pope Pius II) was born in Pienza, Italy. This is the view of the arched wall from exteriors of the palace. I missed visiting the interiors as we reached Pienza late that day. I have read the interiors are grand and the movie “Romeo and Juliet” was shot in the courtyard in front of this palace. Hopefully I will get a chance to visit this beautiful

My Sunderbans Experience

Sunderbans is a strange place!

The mangrove swamp home to Bengal Tiger behaves strangely. Animals usually attack humans if they are disturbed but in case of Sunderbans Tigers they attack humans without being provoked. Their food is humans. That is why it is said: If you see a tiger in Sunderbans, next thing you know is, you are inside its stomach.











There are some 250 odd tigers in

Faces of India - 158

A face with name and story! He is Niranjan Raptan of Sunderbans. He survived 3 tiger attacks successfully and now works for “save the tiger” and “save Sunderbans” campaign. He was originally honey collector in these islands in his childhood but 42 years back he took up the job of forest guide. 

During one of the trip to interiors of the islands for collecting honey, his uncle and he was

Maharaja's Balance, Hampi

Maharaja’s balance; meaning a physical balance meant to weigh the King. The structure looks like three granite beams, one resting on two vertical beams, 15feet tall. The horizontal resting beam is sculpted in a more detailed manner. Only on close inspection the loops to hang the balance are visible.

Materials ranging from food grains to gold and gems were weighed against the Kings of

Salty Tea in Sundebans

The Sunderbans trip was a memorable one for me even though we couldn’t spot a single tiger. This often becomes a major disappointment to many tourists and they feel the entire trip is wasted, both in terms of time and money. It depends on the tourists, what exactly they want to do and see there. Chances of sighting a tiger are very less!




The resort we stayed was a well organized one, with