GREATER FLAMINGOES

GREATER FLAMINGOES
Greater Flamingoes are the famous pink birds that can be found in warm, watery regions on many continents. They favor environments like estuaries and saline or alkaline lakes. Greater flamingos are likely to be the only tall, pink bird in any given locale. They also have long, lean, curved necks and black-tipped bills with a distinctive downward bend. Their bent bills allow them to feed on small organisms—plankton, tiny fish, fly, larvae, and the like. In muddy flats or shallow water, they use their long legs and webbed feet to stir up the bottom. They then bury their bills, or even their entire heads, and suck up both mud and water to access the tasty morsels within. A flamingo's beak has a filter like structure to remove food from the water before the liquid is expelled.
They can reach up to 5 feet in height. They have a wingspan between 55-65 inches. An adult flamingo’s legs are longer than its body. The flamingo’s eye is larger than its brain!! They get their pink colour from the food they eat that has carotene in it.
The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has organised a Flamingo Festival on April 16th, 2011 at the Sewri Jetty. The idea of the festival is to spread the message of conservation and sensitise the public about the importance that the Sewri-Mahul mudflats hold for these birds.
So, starting at 2pm on Saturday, the festival took the shape of a mini-fair with flamingo festival banners ready to welcome birdwatchers from the Sewri railway station right up to the jetty. Last year, more than 5,000 people watched not just flamingos but also other water birds. Flamingos migrate to Mumbai from Kutch at the onset of winter and stay on till the first rains. Apart from about 10,000 to 15,000 flamingos, the mudflats also support more than 24 water bird species such as the white-throated kingfisher, pariah kite, purple heron and sandpipers.
BNHS has also identified the Sewri mudflats as an important bird area that should be declared a protected area. In fact, a few years ago, the society recommended that the proposed Mumbai trans-harbour link from Sewri to Nhava-Sheva should be shifted about 500 metres away from the proposed alignment so as to protect the flamingo habitat.
BNHS feels that it is important to protect this wetland because the chances of its conservation will increase only when more people know its importance. “Currently, flamingos and other water birds in Mumbai are facing various threats due to loss of wetlands, mudflats and mangrove forests due to encroachment, dumping of debris and developmental projects,” said Atul Sathe, spokesperson, BNHS. “Pollution along the coast from sewage, industries and oil spills further endangers them.”
I and Radhika made it to the Sewri Jetty this afternoon. Large number of persons were standing in a queue at the Sewri East station for buses arranged by the BNHS to pick them up for the short journey to the jetty. Since we were in our own vehicle we followed the bus to the jetty. I was surprised to see the crowd at the Jetty. There must have been thousands. School children had come in bus loads. Hundreds of cars were parked in the area. BNHS had arranged quite a number of telescopes in the area for the bird watchers. They had put up a tent with posters requesting public for their support for the cause and also for joining the BHNS.
We went to the end of the jetty and saw thousands of pink specks in the mud. We had taken a pair of very powerful binoculars and could see the flamingos very clearly. Such magnificent birds. They spread over the entire area. The mud flat was more pink than black. We watched them for nearly half an hour. Even though I had a very powerful camera with zoom lens I could not any good photographs.

KABINI RIVER LODGE

KABINI RIVER LODGE
Kabini River Lodge is situated 220 Kms south of Bengaluru (90 Kms south of Mysore) in the state of Karnataka.. This is located on the Southern fringe of the Nagarhole National Park which has been rated by the British Tatters’ Travel guide as one of the top five wild life resorts in the world. This is the first Eco-Tourism venture of the Government of Karnataka. This area was once the location of hunting lodge of the Maharajas of Mysore.

We reached the lodge from Bengaluru around 12 noon on 25th March, 2011 by taxi. It takes about 5 hrs. The roads are excellent except for the last five kilometers stretch which is a forest/village path.

The lodge is situated on the banks of Rive Kabini and consists of regular resort type accommodation and tents. The tents are erected on plinths and are very comfortable. We stayed in tents.

On the other bank of the river is the Bandipur National park.

We took two jeep safaris into the forest one the same afternoon we landed and another on the next morning. The safaris last about two and a half hours.

During the jeep safaris we sighted peacocks, langur, elephants, Indian Gaur, Wild Hogs, large groups of spotted deer and some barking deer, four horned antelopes and Sambar. As soon as we entered the forest, there was large scale disturbance. Deer, birds and monkeys were all shouting indicating the presence of a predator. In spite of waiting for nearly half an hour we could not find any of them. On the second day too, we heard a lot of commotion by a number of animals and waited to try our luck. Suddenly a leopard was seen moving just behind the bushes. It was walking leisurely along and we had a good look at it. However in our excitement of having seen a rare animal everyone forgot about the cameras. We were busy pointing out to each other the location of the animal as it was moving in the bushes. It was very thrilling.
Later we sighted a few Indian giant flying squirrels and red giant flying squirrels.
In spite of heavy poaching between 2007 and 2009 the NagrHole national park is reputed to have the largest population of Indian Elephants.

The park has rich forest cover, small streams, valleys, and waterfalls. The main trees found are teak, sandal wood, Rose wood and Silver Oak. There are a lot of other trees of dry deciduous forests.









The park is said to have more than 270 species of birds including the 'Critically endangered' Oriental white-backed vulture, greater spotted eagle, greater grey headed fish eagle, peacocks, pea fowls, yellow legged green pigeons, blue winged parakeet. With the help of the Forest guide we could spot quite a few of them.

In the afternoon we had an hours ride in CORACLE a round boat used by the locals for crossing the river. It is quite scary to sit in the boat. It is amazing how it is maneuvered.


Later we took a motor boat and traveled along both the banks of the river Kabini. It was a great experience. We saw very large groups of spotted deer and elephants. Whole families of elephants were in the water, playing, drinking and rolling. There were a few young ones also in the group. We saw 7 to 8 groups of 5 to 6 each along the river. The boat takes us as near as possible and the motor
is switched off. The boat is stand still and all tourists enjoy the show by the elephants. We move on to the next group a little while later.

We were told that the water was about 50 ft deep at some places and has quite a large population of crocodiles. Again we saw a large variety of birds along the banks and in the river.

In the evenings films on Nagarhole and other wild life parks are shown by the resort.

After staying two nights and having experienced great safaris we left after breakfast on the 27th March, back to Bengaluru.

ALUMNI MEET 9TH JANUARY 2011

ALUMNI MEET AT VISAKHAPATNAM ON 9TH January,2011

When a proposal came from some of our class mates to hold an alumni meet for the 1959-64 batch at Visakhapatnam, everyone was greatly thrilled and supported the move immediately. The group of class mates at Visakhapatnam led by RamaRao, Gurunatha Rao, Hume Sastry and Haranatha Babu Rao(Goli) immediately swung into action.

Everyone started contacting those who were not in the Yahoo loop. A consensus was reached to hold the meet on 9th Jan, 2011. Gurunatha Rao opened a separate account for all to send their contributions. Efforts were made by him to collect the latest address, date of birth, photo with spouse and a brief write up about their careers. It was decided to print out a souvenir and include in it photos taken out of our souvenir published in 1964 and a current photo with spouse (then and now).There was a continuous flow of mails from Rama Rao and Gurunatha Rao to get the all the information.
Vizag friends meanwhile met frequently to decide on the agenda. Palm Beach hotel was booked for the venue. Arrangements were made for buses to take us around the college, hostels and interesting points in Vizag. The souvenir was getting into shape. Our teachers, who were available at Vizag, were contacted and invited to attend the meet.

As soon as the date of the event was decided as 9th of Jan, I booked my flight tickets and awaited the visit to Vizag with great anticipation. My heart sank when a proposal came to shift the date to March as I had some other programme in March. It was a great relief when we stuck to the same old date. I was so excited that my grand daughter Rhea told me that I am behaving like a child before a school picnic. I explained to her that I am going to meet my class mates after 47 years. She could not comprehend the 47 year period. So I explained to her that it was when I was a 21 year old student, long before her dad was born, even before I met her Grand Mother. She seemed to understand. We then went through our old souvenir.She enjoyed going through it as I explained about our teachers, some of our friends who were close to me in the college. She was fascinated by the name of MKVSHV Suryanarayana. She repeated the full name after me and got the whole thing to memory.
Meanwhile Rama Rao requested my wife Radhika to give a veena recital during the meet and she agreed.

We landed at 08.45 at Vizag on 9th Jan and straight went to Palm Beach hotel where a room was booked for us. While Radhika was getting ready I walked to the venue hall. I found a few of our friends already there. It was possible to recognize a few whose photos were already in the group. There was a lot of hugging and laughter at each others appearance. Pot bellies, moustaches, bald heads etc.

I was wearing a Capri, a T-shirt and floaters and some one remarked that I looked as though I am going on a safari.
I went back to the room freshened up and joined the group in a few minutes. Mean while the crowd had grown and were having breakfast. Further introductions continued. Some were nostalgic remembering the good old days. The souvenirs were also distributed .It was great job by the Vizag group.

Rama Rao called for starting the meet and requested all to observe silence in memory of our departed class mates. Their names were read out. It was sad that nearly 28 of them left us. After this he requested all to introduce himself, his spouse and say a few words about his career. As Bapuji called out the names one by one, the introductions started. There were a lot of hilarious comments. J.P.Mishra and I had lost touch with Telugu and were coaxed to talk in Telugu. We some how managed with 50% Telugu. MKVSHV introduced himself and his wife whose name was also as long his. The hall reverberated with laughter. Those who recognized me talked about my white dress and constant talk about cricket during the college days. I informed that I had to change over to coloured clothing after I shifted to Mumbai. I also said that I am still cricket crazy and would watch even a Zimbabwe versus Bangladesh match. It was interesting to know the achievements of our friends who had reached great heights.
K. Narasimham was a Telugu film producer and all wanted to know the names of his pictures. We also regretted that some could not make it to the event due to preoccupation. Only 48 could attend the meet. Unfortunately some of those staying at Vizag could not attend.

After the introductions we left in two buses and went around the main University campus. We saw JVD College, the place where our non technical classes were held, our carpentry workshops, the hostels with exotic names like Sidhartha, Ashoka Vardhana, Harsha Vardhana, Vinaya Vihara and Viveka Vinyasa. We passed along the good old canteen and Principal’s residence.


We then went to the North Campus, our old round shaped hostels. I found some young boys playing cricket in the same old place where we used to play,(opposite hostel no.1 and 2). I went to them and told them about how we used to play there 50 years back. I took a bat and took my stance, one of the boys bowled. Since I still play some games, I could connect. Rama Raju bowled a few balls while myself and Bapuji tried our hand at batting. Unfortunately we could not go to our college as the bus we were traveling was very tall and was touching the over head lines.

When we came out of the OUT Gate I remembered the bunk shop where we used to collect and hear cricket commentary. It was still there, now slightly larger.

We then returned to the hotel, had lunch and relaxed. People collected in small groups and were talking good old college day stories.

Photographs of the entire group and three more of individual branches were taken.

Later we left on a trip along the beach road to Kailash giri.(See Photos). From there we came to Ramakrishna mission Beach and the Scandal Point where quite a few of us had spent great evenings during our stay in the Pithaapuram hostels. Some bought Pidatha Kinda pappu while some had butta (Corn).
We then returned to the hotel and after freshening up collected in the garden for the evening programme. I was surprised when copies of the group and departmental photographs were handed over. So prompt. By the way, photographers from THE HINDU were appointed to cover the event. Great photographs.

The event started with some of us talking about our stay in the college, friendships forged and some anecdotes. Radhika gave a recital on veena for 15 minutes. J. Rambabu and his wife joined us now. Around 8.30 pm some of our teachers joined us in the celebrations. I could recognize Mr. Janaki Rao(Survey), Mr. Janardhana Rao ( applied Mechanics), Mr. Bangareswara Sharma(survey) and Mr. LBK Sastry (electrical). Some were so old it was impossible to identify them. They were very happy that after such a long time their students appreciated their role and invited them to the meet. They were presented with shawls and a gift pack.

Shawls and gifts were also presented to the Vizag organizers who took lot of trouble, efforts in making the event a great success.

Over dinner there was further exchange of information and some decided to have another meet in February in Hyderabad. Every one wanted the next meet on completion of 50 years.

A great day was coming to an end. People started leaving. Rama Rao who was interested in hearing the veena recital missed it as he had gone to pick up the teachers. We were invited by them for lunch next day.

Next morning my self and Radhika took along walk a long the beach. On the way we saw the Pithaapuram hostels which were in ruins. We visited the Kali temple at the RK.Mission point. This was not there during our time. We had lunch with Ramraos. His wife Uma speaks Tamil and was a good company for Radhika. While we were there we saw a write up about our meet in a local newspaper “SAKSHI”. We also learnt that a good coverage will be published in THE HINDU the next day.
After lunch we bid good bye to Rama Raos hired a taxi and visited Simhachalam temple. There were hardly any one at the temple and we had a good darshan and performed archana.

We reached the airport and left Vizag at 7.30pm after enjoying two great days.

We should once again thank our friends at Vizag for all the efforts they took and making this event a great success.

Hume Sastry presented a Ganesh idol to all during the meet.

Incidentally DGR sent two CDs one with still photographs and another of videos and the souvenir to all those whose addresses were available with him.