I will make no bones of it, I loved him yes he had his antics, but that was also accompanied by a fire that a fast bowler had to have. Fast bowling is not a mean job and to get yourself gee’ed up and motivated at times you do need that bit of rage to push you when you are down. I always thought the fast bowler had to be a bit of brute, Thomson’s, Lillie’s, Holding’s all had fire… they managed to channel it, sometimes they too lost it, but more often than not, their rage benefited their team, unfortunately for Sreesanth, he could not. Neither could he handle it and nor could anyone else could rein him in. That was all ok, many talented hot heads have lost their way in life.

But, for India, a talented seamer was always elusive. When on song and his brain in his control, Sreesanth could be devastating with the ball. I remember when we went to South Africa in 2006/07 without Sachin and with Sourav drafted in the team at the last moment it was a given that we would be thrashed by the Proteas, after a fighting 50 that Sourav scored in the first innings India got a modest 240 odd and then it was all set for South Africa to pile on the runs but, Sreesanth bowled a spell I have rarely seen by an Indian seamer in foreign conditions, South Africa’s score read 45/7 at one stage. They were eventually rolled out for 84. Sreesanth picked 5 for 40 after a spell of unbelievably controlled and accurate seam and swing bowling. India led the series 1-0 in South Africa winning the first test of the series in South Africa by 123 runs.

Everyone remember’s the dismissal of Kallis during the 2010/11 where he was delivered a brute of a delivery by the temperamental speedster from Kerala.

He had bad days too… I remember in England once when he could just not get his radar right. His arguments with opposition batsmen that went over the top. Dhoni’s public rebuke of Sreesanth over getting his overs bowled faster. But Sreesanth just couldn’t help it. Eventually he was someone who everyone found inappropriate to have around. His trouble with Harbhajan, Symonds were all fightable but… All that was still defendable, arguable for me the cricket fan, a Sreesanth fan, but the lad just crossed all limits, he just made the biggest error of his life now and I guess that is the last we ever see him on a cricket field. Not only did Sreesanth ruin his own career, he brought disrepute for the game, for us fans, for his teammates and all people who supported him. He has committed a cardinal sin for which he will now pay. Thanks to him I will always have to endure people telling me cricket is all fixed whenever I talk of my love for the game. Growing up I loved Azhar and he killed the idol I had, I used to walk like him, try to flick like him and then he decided to kill the hero I always had. Sreesanth was not a hero, but he was someone I loved, enjoyed watching and more importantly thought that India needed a seam bowler like him. Sigh…

Sreesanth was a very talented fast bowler, that India could have utilized better, nevertheless, the lad never could figure out what he wanted in life, in the end, its fair to say, he made a mess of everything he possessed.

I feel sad, very very sad. A sad day for all cricket lovers.

Patience and Persistence in Equity might start paying off this year… There is a headwind… but go through it… and you will make merry !!!

Warning : Over exuberant, gloating post ahead. You might need shades to protect your eyes from the shine my preening feathers might throw up !!!!

To get the record straight, this was my 8th safari of 4-5 hours in Tiger country spread over a decade & 3 national parks that finally I managed to spot my first tiger in the wild

They say the fruits of patience are quite sweet and I can now understand, after roaming about on rocky bumpy roads for so many times finally I met the big cat and how…. I didn’t just spot it from a distance… She came to greet me as near as 5 feet from my jeep !!!!

On day 2 of our trip in the morning we were lucky to spot a leopard, which is claimed by most as even more elusive than the tiger (pics later) somehow though, I have been lucky, I have spotted a leopard two times earlier on foot !! In Gir and Sheoganj both This was the first time I saw it from a jeep. The tiger however eluded us in the morning, apparently the biggest male in Ranthambore T-24 as the guides identify him had perhaps run whole night and it left our driver and guide completely confused where it was, there were way too many pugmarks and at many places we could see pugmarks going in one direction and simultaneously returning the same day. Normally female tigers have a territory of around 10-12 sq. km. as per the guides in Ranthambore but Male tigers have bigger territories, 20-25 sq.km, T-24 apparently, the biggest tiger in Ranthambore has a territory of almost 40 sq. km!!! As if it was not a difficult enough possibility to spot a solitary tiger in a 40 sq. km. area that the guide announced that these males mark their entire territory every 2-3 days and as per him T-24 doesn’t feel nice without checking out atleast a couple of other female tiger territories every 2-3 days. After trying for 2 hours, eventually we gave up on tracking T-24 and ventured into shooting the jungle and the deer and other birds.

The afternoon though was lucky, Kanhaiya, our guide came to our hotel to pick us up after lunch at 2.30 with news that we have been alloted route no.4 where a tiger was spotted in the morning and it was also reported that the tiger was resting near some caves. Now that was good news, normally tigers walk about and roam a lot in the nights, however around 9-10 in the morning they find a place in shade and near water and laze. Some are so lazy they do not even wake up or move an inch till evening. So off we sped straight to the spot the Tigress was spotted. On the way we learnt that the tiger that we were off to watch was not a tiger but a tigress. Now she was no common tigress, infact, she is the most photographed and documented tiger in India.

She is a legend in herself, The lady of the lake, Machli, T-16, Park ki Naani are some of the names that she is known by!!!! BBC had made a documentary on this tigress which was first spotted in 1997 in Ranthambore, today almost all the tigers in Ranthambore are perhaps her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She once was a very very strong and ferocious tigress that ruled the most beautiful parts of the Ranthambore park that had 3 lakes and the picturesque Rajbaug. She is believed to have killed as many as 8 crocodiles thanks to having the 3 lakes in her territory. Today though, the territory has been taken up by Sundari, her youngest daughter and Machli has been left with perhaps the smallest of all territories among all tigers in Ranthambore.

We reached the spot where she was first spotted and in about 15 minutes saw first movements from her, although quite far, I spotted her move and was thrilled to bits…

But after a couple of minutes of spotting her from a distance she disappeared in the bushes and our driver Shambhusingh reckoned she went and sat in the ‘nullah’ (a small stream of water, behind the slope) I considered myself fortunate enough to see her even from such a distance and was thrilled that I had my first tiger pics

Eventually after 20 mins of waiting our guide and driver insisted we leave the area and take a trip around in another tiger’s area and also photograph the jungle, I was kinda not keen to move from there but they advised we would come back here after a while nearer to 5pm when it would be relatively cooler and the tiger might start moving again. We saw some very beautiful parts of the forest with red algae infested lakes and all but somehow my mind was just not into photographing anything else and I just wanted to go back to the place where we had spotted Machli.

Eventually when we reached there, unlike earlier when we had the tiger just to us, this time the front row was already taken by 3 canters and 5 jeeps already waiting and I was already cursing my driver beneath my breath that we were the farthest and no chance to get a decent shot. Besides me were two foreigners who had lens that were atleast 2 feet long and I was already getting a complex of sorts about how wonderful their pics would come and how pale my pics would be.

However, watching tigers and keeping patience is not everyone’s cup of tea. At 6 the park closes and everyone has to be out, so as the clock struck 5.30 the canters had moved, all jeeps too gone and with them the 2 feet lens just 2 jeeps left, us and another govt. guests who didnt have to follow the 6 pm rule. (snobs I tell ya)

We were sitting and clicking Lapwings and Tree pie’s when suddenly the driver of the other jeep spotted movement, Machli, returned from the ‘nullah’ half her body was wet. She again sat on the slopes and tried to go to sleep and we thought that was it. She was not coming any more near. Then as our driver picked up, she is being troubled by some fleas or flies or bees… who are not letting her sleep and then again the tigress started moving this time towards a road. Our driver who was pretty experienced took us further ahead to a crossing he reckoned she would come out from and lo….

This pic was taken when she came out of the bushes and was watching the jeep behind us… YES YES YES !!!!

I took this pic Me me me…. After all these many years of searching the tiger decided to pay me a visit Then after checking us two jeeps she started ambling towards our jeep and our voices started to become low toned shrieks with my wife and son whispering in shrieks almost she is coming so near so near so near so near and then she came to almost 5 feet close to our jeep before she changed her track and crossed our jeep from the front side and went into the bushes there and fell to rest again !!!!

Look at that 17 year old, does she look like an old tigress in the evening of her life. Well I am no tiger expert and I can never tell. This pic has her playfully raising her tail and her tongue out as if she is coming to play with her Daddy !

The biggest quandary for a photographer and a wild life enthusiast I guess is to decide whether to observe with his eyes or to capture with the lens. Although Machli was kind enough to let me do both, when it came ambling towards our jeep I held by son tight and watched it and then as my wife pulled my son back I got enough time to click loads of shots here are some of them

That is when she came real close… apparently our driver spotted her whilst ambling that she was hurt in her left fore limb which we only saw later when we saw pics in our laptop in the evening.

Walking oblivious of us, after all, she is the queen of these forests.

Traces of having taken a dip recently are quite visible here…

That gives you some idea of how near she had come and mind you this is when she started going away… she was nearer than this… we were thrilled while she was around. Cat caught my tongue was what literally happened to me… I just kept clicking it…

it was only after she went away that I realised how vulnerable we were if she decided to give us a royal lick but well so far I have understood these animals are a lot more kind then we humans are and she didn’t change that understanding of mine at all.

The moment it went into the bushes you could see how difficult it is to spot a tiger… see how easily it camouflages itself.

And then it went back to its favourite pastime in the day… Sleeping, Hobbes, I am sure you can completely related to this…

PICS Courtesy: yours truly !

Ever since my visit to Jim Corbett 11 years ago, I have not been able to visit a tiger sanctuary for some reason or the other, numerous times programs to Kanha, Bandavgarh and Melghat have failed. Sometimes the programs didn’t take off, sometimes I couldn’t make the trip and as would be usual this time when we were looking to book for Ranthambore we could not find any safari’s on weekends and eventually we booked a safari for Monday and Tuesday. This was done in January and I didn’t want to jinx this holiday so tried to keep it a lil low key… eventually last week as junior’s exams got over I was cock-a-hoop about this holiday when the two friends of mine bailed out of the trip so instead of the 7 people it was going to be just the 3 of us. This time though I stuck by it and me and wifey and junior set about to Sawai Madhopur.

Junior is madly interested in animals and infact knows more facts about them than me so he was thrilled all along the only talk was of what all species of animals and birds were there. I did try to tone his excitement down that maybe we might not see all that he expects to. I have been on safari in a tiger park I think for 6-7 times each time for 4-5 hours and have never spotted a tiger. Unlike me my son is not a greedy traveller who is a little over keen on seeing a tiger, he was happy with deer he told me.

Our agenda for the trip was quite clear, safari, swimming pool, safari, swimming pool and so on !

We reached our hotel Ranthambore Safari Lodge, marketed by Camps of India Ahmedabad, around 11.30 am and were happy to be given a comfortable room near the swimming pool, the resorts garden had lots of tree of mulberry (setur) and hence the not only you could always feed yourself but it meant there were lots and lots and lots of birds in the resort for you to click anytime you feel bored… not just that they provided for very constant sweet music to the ears…

they were game to be clicked

Picture a scene of the wife relaxing on a pool chair reading a book, the kid bathing in the pool and the husband clicking the bushes well that was us in about 30 mins of reaching the resort well, for a while atleast ! Before we were dragged to the pool by a shrieking kid…

After an exhausting session in the pool and a heavy lunch we had to leave for our safari at 2.30 pm and surprisingly it was not hot, it was kinda comfortable and once inside the park it was rather pleasant. We entered the park and once we crossed the Ganesh Mandir and Ranthambore fort the main park area started. Ranthambore has 9 zones and we were to go on zone 2 for the first day. There was plenty of life in the jungle even in at that time of the afternoon. In no time we had spotted Chital (spotted deer), Sambhar, Nilgai, Rufous Tree Magpie, Black Drongo, Peacocks by the dozen, Parakeets, White bellied Drongo, a wood pecker, an owl, a few croc’s, cormorants, painted stork’s, grey heron, mongoose, patridge… I would say those were just about spotted in the first hour. Junior couldn’t stop shrieking and it was tough to tell him to stop talking and exclaiming and to maintain silence. After a little while again the driver’s started looking for call’s to check if the tiger was on the move, around 2 hours were spent on trying to track the tiger and all jeep and canter driver’s would exchange information what they saw and where.

Whilst we spotted so many animals inside me there was something that was telling me this is going the same way again… no tiger… he was being elusive once again…

In the wild I have seen all the other animals somehow but a tiger in the wild has always eluded me, leopard, lion all seen but the Tiger somehow was playing hide with me I still had 3 more safari’s up my sleeve and yet admist all the joy that my son was experiencing I was still waiting for my first Tiger in the wild.

Now I have heard a lot of people say that you must enjoy the jungle and watch the other so many rare animals and not just bother about the big cat, but really, I just wanted to for once experience the thrill of watching a Tiger. For those who have never tried to track a tiger they must surely read the book The Man Eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett.

Unlike a lion that you spot in a pride a Tiger is a solitary being, unless in mating season or with cubs. Cubs too stay with their mom only till 2-2.5 years and then once independent might even struggle with their parents for the territory. When the tiger is sitting the jungle goes about on its merry way, its kinda nice and peaceful. The moment a tiger starts walking, some Langur or Deer will give a warning call and alert the jungle that it is on the prowl. The whole jungle in a way gangs up against him. A tiger could take up a territory of 10-12 square km’s and some strong males are known to even take up territories about 40 square km. Tigers are also masters of camouflage, so understand that if you missed one tiger in a bush at the edge of its territory you could be roaming about for quite a while without any chance of seeing it. Tiger’s for their sheer elusiveness I guess are so much of a sought after cat compared to all others. The fact that it is the biggest cat is another and the fact that there are so few left in the wild that you do not want to miss watching one in the wild in your lifetime. A guy who grew up on jungle book was bound to be fascinated by this Sher Khan not the Sher Khan that IHM claims as her family member

However, once you are ready to forget the tiger and leave it to luck, Ranthambore was a very beautiful jungle to photograph. Not just the animals but the old ruins and the lakes are super wonderful for pictures. I will leave you with a few more of the pics we took before I prepare for the next day which was to be the luckiest for me ever in my life when I spotted not just one cat but two !!! so until then you gorge on these pics

The curious deer

The classic woodpecker pic

There was plenty of water around for March in Rajasthan, atleast to my mind I had thought there would be scant water and it would be very hot, however it was very pleasant weather and lots of lakes throughout the jungle.

A lake full of red algae that is the favorite of the Sambhar who in turn is a favorite food of the tiger… the setting of the jungle is quite beautiful and my pic doesn’t do justice… I just needed to be here during sunset !!!

And then how can I leave you without a pic of Rajbaug the place the Maharaja of Jaipur camped during his prime days, today the place is roamed by tigers and other animals.

coming ahead a recount of the encounter with the Biggest Cat on the planet !

I am terribly terribly sorry for the trouble and for behaving so clumsily and irresponsibly. :’(

I don’t know how and why I did it but I registered for the Sunsilk Perfect Straight Shampoo contest on Indiblogger… and well… I got the free sample… a tad late but eventually !!

Now this is strange for me to actually do this post as I have ramrod straight hair… infact I won a phone on Indiblogger writing about my beautiful hair story !!!!

Well actually they need to take out a curly hair shampoo for me to actually do a product review… but hey… guess what !!! My wife… well she has perfectly unmanageable hair that are curly to the T !! So well… she was smiling looking at me receiving the free sample and kinda distraught at how would I do a post now that I have the sample and I have just simple straight hair… but well… then not for nothing do we marry eh !!!

Eventually the wife with curly hair kaam aayi !! She was my goose, although, let me say that she told me straight away that I don’t need to use the new shampoo and that she will consume it ! So I was like I can’t let you use that as this shampoo has been sent by Indiblogger to intellectual bloggers around India as they Sunsilk wanted an honest review of their product on our blogs. We blog junta are the new trendsetters and its our reviews that will influence the sale and development of products !!!!

Anyways I had to give it to her as she is the one who still cooks in the house you know !!! and well she had this to say about the product and I quote :

I have very much of an unruly set of hair sitting on my head although my lattoo husband thinks it is Madhuri Dixit lookalike and kinda likes it… but well, I have always had a lot of problems managing it and I so many times have wondered when will I get the guts of a Persis Khambatta and shave my head off… but alas… no one is offering me a role as Lieutenant Ilia apparently almost all have even forgotten Star Wars :’( the program I grew up watching…

Anyways, lest I digress, its better I review this product for my self proclaimed intellectual blogger husband.

Off late the straight hair is hugely popular with most girls !! Earlier I used to desist so many people becoming stereotypical and yet the woman in me wanted to give it a go once to see how would I look…

So finally I got the purple bottle and opened it to a wonderfully fruity, bubblegum kinda smell that was fresh and nice ! The shampoo created a smooth lather and a reasonable amount of shampoo was able to thoroughly clean my hair. The conditioner I applied as mentioned on the pack and hoped that once dry for a change my hair will be straight !

I guess it was not to create miracles in first wash but hey ! my hair atleast the bottom halves of it looked like a lot straighter than usual, the hair seemed silky smooth for a bit of it before they again got into curls… but trust me when I say that my hair are the worst challenge for this shampoo !!

Honestly I think this product would probably be better for people with slightly better mop of hair than just me… but it still did have kind of a straightening effect.. Whilst I loved the fact that my hair simply feel more silkier and straighter than earlier, they are still not straight… but now have a kind of a wavy feel. I guess I will use this shampoo a few more times to see more of an effect, so far just two washes and the result seems kinda ok !

The best part of this method of hair straightening is that its just a wash and hence a life saver for lazy souls like me ! Another good thing I guess is the price which is just Rs. 56/- for an 80 ml pack & conditioner Rs. 56/- for a 90 ml pack.

Rating: 3/5

This post is a product review for the Sunsilk Perfect Straight Shampoo & Conditioner pack I received from my intellectual Blogger husband who received it from  Indiblogger as part of the contest powered by Sunsilk Perfect Straight Hair initiative.

Reblogged from foto freaks:

Mornings in my garden are quite active... squirrels, mynahs, laila's, pigeons, crows and well... me !

To see critters from around the world or to participate in this fabulous meme please click here

Read more… 4 more words

Reblogged from foto freaks:

Valleys on one side...

tall peaks on another...

a ravine there,

a gurgling stream,

whiff of fresh air...

hootings of a barbet,

mildly spreading sunlight

sigh...

Ghar ho to aisi jagah pe ho !!!!

Read more… 3 more words

she was nearby,

mating season it was,

carefully, quietly he lurked,

not wanting to scare her,

as he climbed the ridge,

there she was,

bristling and beautiful,

camouflaging himself he approached

SUDDENLY

a BEAST in a jeep

a gun in hand

pointed at him

KABOOM

—– x ——

Save the Tiger

A literary work will be considered 55 Fiction if it has:

1. Fifty-five words or less (A non-negotiable rule)
2. A setting,
3. One or more characters,
4. Some conflict, and
5. A resolution. (Not limited to moral of the story)
6. The title of the story is not part of the overall word count, but it still can’t exceed seven words.

Reposted from my archives….