Divinity in Disguise

From Picnic to Ann...

One day I found myself alongside an Eagle,
There with ordinary creatures he was to mingle.

Soon I found that the spite had not touched him,
Nor his gleaming eyes had become pale and dim.

He had to share 'the small world' with so many others.
But he asked me to click my device and squeaked, "Who bothers!"

I soon noticed that he had managed to keep his grace.
He was the divinity in disguise, and nothing else!

***

Picnic to Anna Zoological Park

We visited Anna Zoological Park yesterday. It was a fine Sunday morning. Arignar Anna Zoological Park is situated at Vandalur which is 32 Km away from the metropolitan city of Chennai on the GST Road (NH-45). On the Eastern side of the road is the zoo over a sprawling area of 602 ha. Others with me were Alok, Dinesh, Harshal, Sujit, Chintamani, Renu and one more Prasad. It was an enjoyable experience. I took some photographs and a few times managed to get to photographed also. Yesterday an Indian Sea Gull caught fancy of my camera. It turned out to a good shootout. I have uploaded all these the photos on Picasa Web Albums.

I was listening to songs of Pt. Vasantrao Deshpande, his grandson Rahul and Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki on Saturday night. 'bagaLyaachi maaLaphule', 'surat piyaa ki na chhin bisauraayi', 'sarvaatmakaa sarveshwaraa' and 'kaataa rute kuNaalaa' were among them. These songs kept playing in the my mind all the time we were in the zoo. And, in fact, they are being played on my computer even now. The mood was enlivened as Renu initiated gaaNyaachyaa bhendyaa after we boarded local train back to the city.

This zoo has some thing special in it. It was my third visit there, still each time the zoo has managed to make me immensely happy.

Picnic to Anna Zoological Park Vandalur

How to reach there:
Vandalur is about 8 km from Tambaram and about 33 km from Chennai Central Railway Station. The zoo is well connected to the city by road and rail. There is direct service from various parts of the city to Vandalur / Arignar Anna Zoological Park bus stop. Also from city all buses going to Guduvancheri pass through Vandalur stop. For coming by local train, train going to Chengalapttu stops at Vandalur Railway station which is about 1 km from the zoo gate or you may come by Chennai Beach to Tambaram local train, get down at Tambaram. From Tambaram you can take another local traint to Chengalapattu or take a bus to the zoo. The map on http://www.aazoopark.gov.in/directions.html will help you locate the place.

Zoo Timing: 9 am to 6 pm.
I would strongly advise you to reach the zoo entrance by 9 am itself so that you can have enough time to walk around the zoo leisurely. There is a toy-car ride available too. I won't advise you to take Lion Safari as, firstly, it will take a lot of your time to book your seats, and secondly, it will bring you back within a few minutes after visiting just a single place leaving you unsatisfied, well, most probably.

Photograph of the week - Dragonfly

Photograph of the day - Travel

Brief halt at Dajipur Bison Sanctuary

This photo is taken at 3.5 km from the main entrance to the sanctuary from Phonda Pass in Sahyadris. It also falls on the border of Kolhapur and Sindhudurg Districts. One can drive almost 19 more kilometers inside the forest. It is not advisable to drive a car to this route. Rugged SUVs are must. As we had idea about this we drove 3.5 km inside and returned.

On Maps of India Site
On Travel Masti Site

Date: March 16, 2007
Camera: Canon Powershot A80
Exposure: 1/500 s, f/5.6, ISO100

Photograph of the day - Nature

Family of monkeys at Rajagiri Fort

Place: Gingee
Camera: Canon Powershot A80
Exposure: 1/320 s, f/4.9, ISO100

Photograph of the day - Nature

Caterpillar

I could not identify the type of this caterpillar. Somebody may help me do that. This link WhatsThisCaterpillar will be helpful. I could not spot here too! But I may have missed the right one as the plate displayed is full with images of numerous types of caterpilars.

Place: Citadel of Rajagiri, Gingee (TN, IND)
Camera: Canon Powershot A80
Exposure: 1/500 s, f/3.5, ISO100, +1/3 step correction.