The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
Our school library had a system
where we were only allowed to choose among books that were considered
‘suitable’ for us to read. Raised on a steady diet of Enid Blyton books, I
still remember the first time we were given one of Jim Corbett’s books to
read. Our teachers had kept these books away
from us, because they worried that our young and innocent female minds would
be affected by tales of man eaters. They seemed to be partly right, because,
for the first week, many of us spent sleepless nights imagining man eaters
instead of monsters under our bed! I was fascinated by these tales though, and
continued to read his books, in spite of the occasional nightmare!
It took a long time for me to
discover that not all of Corbett’s books were about man eaters! There was so
much more! He wrote about the people who made up ‘His India’ as he called it,
about the villages, the customs and traditions, their beliefs and faiths, their
fear and their superstitions….. and above all, their acceptance of him as one
among their own. As I read more and more of Corbett’s books, the desire to
visit his land grew too, but the trip never materialized….. Until last month, when
Lakshmi called up, inviting me for the Club Mahindra Bloggers meet at their
Corbett resort.
It was not just the place which attracted me, but the chance of
meeting some of my fellow bloggers, with whom I had interacted so far only via
the internet. It was so enticing that I grabbed the opportunity with both
hands, even though it meant that I would have to leave Samhith alone for 4 days
– for the first time ever! Convincing Samhith turned out to be not too
difficult, thanks to their school announcing a 4 day trip next month – after
that, it was simply an agreement between us – if he allowed me to go, and promised
to behave, then he could go on his tour too! The agreement sealed, Navaratri
over and done with, our toys packed for the next year, a few details to be
taken care of, and I was all set to go to Corbett with my fellow bloggers I was
so eagerly looking forward to meet!
The day dawned and I was so busy
making all the last minute arrangements for Samhith and rushing off to the
airport, that I didn’t even notice that my mobile internet wasn’t working. By
the time I realized that I would neither be able to tweet nor use my email or
Facebook during the trip, it was too late to do anything about it. Though that
was a disappointment, I found myself relishing the thought of being completely
offline for the next 4 days! However, more hilarious was the fact that in my
hurry and my preoccupation with arrangements for Samhith, I landed at the
airport wearing mismatching shoes!!!!! This was all the more amusing because I only
noticed it while I was waiting in the queue for the security check!! That shows
you how absent minded I can be!
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| Delhi from the air |
The glitches now out of the way,
the rest of the trip proceeded smoothly. I met Deepak Amembal, aka Magic Eye at
Mumbai airport, and we met everyone else – Lakshmi, Neelima, Shivya and
Karthikeyan, Arun Nair, Akshat, and Saurabh at Delhi airport, and we headed off
to Corbett by road. Shivya and I were the only ones who managed to get some
sleep in spite of the condition of the roads, but the sight of the Club
Mahindra Safari resort pushed the thoughts of sleep far far away! Our rooms
overlooked the river Kosi, which separated us from the mountains, and time flew
past, as swiftly as the birds which thronged the river for fish! Thoughts of a
quick nap died as soon as they came, and we spent our time in the balcony
watching birds instead!
That seemed to set the tone for
the trip, and all our activities changed to focus on nature. We went out for
adventure sports and ended up watching butterflies; we went bird watching and
saw lots and lots of spiders; we went looking for the elusive tiger, and
instead saw some rare birds; and
finally, on our last evening, we thought of relaxing at the resort, but
instead watched and (tried to) photograph river lapwings! If you are wondering
about the words in parentheses, it’s because my attempts at bird photography
were quite unsuccessful, which brought home the fact that I desperately need to
upgrade my camera!
And no, bird and insect watching
is not all we did. We visited the home of Jim Corbett which is now a museum
dedicated to his memory, we visited a beautiful waterfall also named after him,
and besides, we even snuck in a trip to Nainital!
Over and above all the places we
visited, what really made the trip memorable were my travel companions. We were
all of different age groups, from different backgrounds, and different
interests, but there was one thing which bound us all together, and that was
our love for travel! This was the first time I found myself in such company,
and I not only enjoyed myself to the hilt, but there was so much I learnt from
them too – be it tidbits on the usage of social media, or talks about different
cameras, spotting intricate spider webs I would never have noticed before or
talks of publications and taking our blogs to the next level! The conversations
were varied, but always interesting, and we laughed and talked together,
probably making the other guests wonder about us! The four days passed by in a
blur, and before we knew it, it was time to get back to our normal lives.
As we bid goodbye to Corbett and I
curled up once more in the backseat of the car, ready to sleep through the
return journey, I couldn’t help remembering the man who gave his name to the
area, whose stories had drawn me to the place. Much would have changed since
the days when Jim Corbett lived here, but as we drove through the forests, it
was impossible not to think of him. Corbett may have left India when we gained
our independence, but we had our rendezvous when we visited his land! My
warmest thanks to Club Mahindra for giving me such a wonderful opportunity to
experience the land of Jim Corbett!
As for you, my dear readers, this is just the beginning... it was meant to be a sort of introduction, explaining my absence for the last few days. There are more posts coming up in the next few days with details of the trip, so watch this space!
Wonderful, nice to hear such happenings and it sure must have been a great outing there in Corbett!
ReplyDeleteYes, hope your camera upgrade happens soon and too soon :)
Nice to see Karthik there (he is literally an walking encyclopedia!)
Hope, sometimes I'm bestowed with similar opportunities, it would be fun interacting with all those people whom we interact with online.
It would have been a really wonderful experience. And it made me nostalgic about my last year's trip with Club Mahindra to Sikkim.
ReplyDeleteNice read, Anu. Can you post a little bigger sized photos?The width of your template allows it.
Sure was fun!
ReplyDeleteYes, Santosh... it was real fun, and yes, the upgrade will hopefully happen soon! as to Karthik, walking encyclopedia describes him best! u guys are really lucky to have interacted more with him! and yes, i too wish we all get more opportunities to meet!
ReplyDeleteNisha, we were thinking of all of you through the trip! we should meet again! as to the pics, i thought it would load faster, but it doesnt seem to be working!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely!
ReplyDeleteYeah, we should meet more often.
ReplyDeleteNaah, I think the pictures are looking better now & they take the same time as before.
Wow ..that must have been fun. Even i am loving the river pictures and the river looks like calling me :)
ReplyDeleteIt was, Sangeeta!!
ReplyDelete