Though not greatly impressed by the self-conscious “I am a star singing” rendition of the singers…it’s still a very beautiful poem, and very rarely does one hear all the stanzas sung (just like many other national anthems, I suspect!)
The translation is very good, too.
Now, if we could translated the emotion of pride that we feel into less corruption, lesser litter, less unkindness towards our fellow citizens(and less apathetic acceptance of all these)….that would make for a better India.
Does it move?
Kill it!
Does it sting?
Squash it!
Does it grow?
Cut it down!
Done with it?
Throw it out of your window!
Need to go somewhere?
Take the car!
Have some money?
Consume more!
Then, have plastic posters printed, saying, “World Environment Day”, with the photos of prominent pols, put it up in a public place, and feel happy that a praiseworthy effort has been taken.
In Sundghatta, we stopped the car to watch a few birds, and as usual, these beautiful little
caught our attention as they flitted to and fro on the Calatropis bushes.
Here’s the lady…
and the gentleman….
The Purple-rumped Sunbird(Leptocoma zeylonica) are endemic to the Indian Subcontinent. They usually feed on nectar from flowers, but can sometimes eat insects. Purple-rumped Sunbirds are tiny at less than 10 cm long. they have medium-length thin down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues, both adaptations to their nectar feeding.I don’t know how they can eat insects with that!When the flowers are too deep to probe, they sometimes pierce the base of the flower and rob the nectar.
Their hanging pouch nests are made up of cobwebs, lichens and plant material. Imagine, collecting cobwebs and making nests out of that!
Male sunbirds can be very aggressive towards what they perceive to be rivalry.
is my post (July 23, 2010) about the way a male Sunbird attacked his own reflection, at JLR Bandipur, believing it to be a rival!
Abhinandan, Amith, Mani and I went to Ramnagara yesterday…and though we could see only one Long-billed Vulture, the sight filled us with happiness, because it was a female…sitting on a nest!
Since we have generally been seeing fewer and fewer of these birds at this place (the only nesting site in south India),…the prospect of soon seeing babies hatching was a very welcome one!
Here’s the video I took, and from the zoom, you can see what a distance we maintained,in order not to disturb the bird!
I hope the Long-billed Vultures of Ramnagara at least continue to hold their numbers…
My email to the bngbirds egroup:
In so many years of birding, I had never been to Hosakote to watch birds, so I was very happy when Amith, Gowri Shankar, Kiran Baagade (who has recently shifted here from Mysore), Ramachandra Gopalakrishna, and I headed out to the kere (lake).
Sunrise at the kere:
Mist on the ground:
While there, we were joined briefly by Bhanu Prakash, Sanjeev Managoli (on his way to work at Hosakote, he was doing a short birding stint!), and then Rajani Chand, who spent the rest of the morning with us, and guided us to the Raghavendra Talkies part of the kere.
Rajani and Sanjeev:
Amith, Gowri, Kiran, and Ram at the MCS
Little did we know just how rewarding the birding was going to be….but we opened the innings with a mixed bag of water birds and scrub birds.
On the tank bund:
Photography:
Plain Prinia:
Booted Warbler:
Bronze-winged Jacana juvenile:
Brahminy Kite:
Painted Stork:
Purple Swamphen:
Barn Swallows:
Wood Sandpiper:
Garganeys:
A Garganey foraging:
A Marsh Harrier male and female,
A Pied Cuckoo, several Garganeys, a lone Northern Shoveller started off our migrant sightings. We were spoilt for choice as sometimes we didn’t know whether to look towards the kere on our right, or the shore on our left!
Little Grebe:
White-breasted Kingfisher:
Pied Kingfisher:
Marsh Harrier with Garganeys:
Jerdon’s Bushlark:
Lesser Whistling Ducks:
Common Coot juveniles:
Common Coot adult:
Silverbills:
Black Drongo:
Bay-backed Shrike:
Indian Spotted Eagle:
Purple-rumped Sunbird:
Black-winged Kite:
Green Sandpiper:
Possibly Marsh Sandpiper:
White-browed Wagtail:
Paddyfield Pipit:
Indian Roller:
We were near a cremation ground!
There were mosquitoes:
Watching water birds fishing is always a riveting experience, and we also watched the raptors instilling fear into the birds on the water.
Marsh Harrier flying over the ducks:
There were more Great Cormorants than Little Cormorants, and we sighted one Indian Cormorant, too, which the experienced birders pointed out to me.
Water level indicator:
Two Black-winged Kites landed close enough on a tree that we could look up into their ruby eyes….a Booted Eagle and an Indian Spotted Eagle filled up the “E” part of our birding alphabet. Well…yesterday the alphabet did not start with Avadavats, but from Babbler to Warbler, the list seemed very well represented! Thank you to those who are more experienced,for id’ing the different kinds of Sandpipers for me.
I have to strike one sad note. At one place, plastic netting was hung into the water (which was in channels and ponds there) , presumably, to keep birds from taking the fish. We saw two Pond Herons, dead, strangled in the netting. It was quite a dreadful sight. I would have minded less if the birds had been caught for eating…then they would have been part of the food chain…but to see the dead birds just lying in the netting that had been so callously set out, was heart-rending.
Dead bird in netting:
We broke for brunch only when the call of the Empty Tummy-birds could not be denied
…and we went back to the kere for round two! I am afraid I didn’t see too many butterflies, though Kiran pointed some out to me. We dispersed, feeling thoroughly satisfied with our morning of birding.
Birds:
Babbler, Jungle
Barbet, White-cheeked
Bee-eater, Green
Bulbul, Red-vented
Bulbul, Red-whiskered
Bulbul, White-browed
Bushchat, Pied
Bushlark, Jerdon’s
Coot, Common
Cormorant, Greater
Cormorant, Indian
Cormorant, Little
Coucal, Greater
Crow, House
Crow, Jungle
Cuckoo, Indian
Cuckoo, Pied
Darter, Oriental
Dove, Eurasian Collared
Dove, Laughing
Dove, Spotted
Drongo, Ashy
Drongo, Black
Duck, Lesser Whistling
Duck, Spot-billed
Eagle, Booted
Eagle, Indian Spotted
Egret, Cattle
Egret, Intermediate
Egret, Little
Flowerpecker, Pale-billed
Francolin, Grey (call)
Garganey
Grebe, Little
Greenshank, Common
Harrier, Eurasian Marsh
Heron, Grey
Heron, Pond
Heron, Purple
Hoopoe
Ibis, Black
Ibis, Black-headed
Jacana, Bronze-winged
Jacana, Pheasant-tailed
Kingfisher, Pied
Kingfisher, White-breasted
Kite, Black-winged
Kite, Brahminy
Kite, Common
Koel, Asian
Lapwing, Red-wattled
Myna, Common
Myna, Jungle
Parakeet, Rose-ringed
Pelican, Spot-billed
Pigeon, Blue Rock
Pipit, Paddyfield
Prinia, Ashy
Prinia, Plain
Robin, Indian
Roller, Indian
Sandpiper, Common
Sandpiper, Common
Sandpiper, Marsh
Sandpiper, Wood
Shoveller, Northern
Shrike, Bay-backed
Shrike, Brown
Silverbill, Indian
Sparrow, House
Stork, Painted
Stork, Woolly-necked
Sunbird, Purple
Sunbird, Purple-rumped
Swallow, Barn
Swallow, Red-rumped
Swallow, Streak-throated
Swamphen, Purple
Tit, Great
Wagtai, Yellow
Wagtail, White-browed
Warbler, Blyth’s Reed
Warbler, Booted
Warbler, Greenish
Waterhen, White-breasted
Babbler, Yellow-billed
Butterflies
Blue, Lesser Grass
Blue, Pea
Blue, Zebra
Bluebottle, Common
Castor, Common
Cerulean, Common
Crow, Common
Emigrant, Mottled
Mormon, Common
Skipper, Indian
Tiger, Plain
Wanderer, Common
Yellow, Three-spot Grass
Yellow, Mottled Grass
Insects
Assorted ants, bees, beetles,bugs, damselflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers, spiders. wasps
Reptiles
Rat Snake (thanks to Amith’s excellent spotting of this in the Lantana bush.)
I have put up my SMS on my FB album at
https://www.facebook.com/deemopahan/media_set?set=a.10151921137123878.1073742063.587058877&type=3
I think I still need correction on my Sandpiper ids, I’d be grateful for it! I am still rather Sandpiper-illiterate.
Zebra Blue:
Wildflower:
Pumpkin flower:
Hanuman Shrine:
Sri Gangamma shrine:
Bridge over the kere:
All of us:
Dawn on the kere:
A wonderful day, with a dream list of birds, and great company!
Steam locomotive on display at Guwahati Station, 011213
has is one of the largest railway networks in the world. (Click on the link above to get facts and figures.)
Given its size and unwieldiness, it's a remarkable organization. The trains are on time for the most part, and earlier delays (up to 24 hours, sometimes!) have been nearly eliminated. When Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Railway Minister, he won laurels for "revamping" the Railways. (The ultimate recognition….it's a case-study at Harvard.)
But alas…the revamping seems to have brought out the vamp in the organization, and the passenger trains, it seems to me, seem to have a lot of problems. I am listing them, as I see them, here….I do appreciate many things about the railways,but these are outstanding minuses that cannot be wished away.
Awful online booking website.
continues to be one of the least user-friendly websites I have ever used. It's amazing that to date, on this site, I cannot book return tickets, and have to book each journey separately. It's so difficult to use that I totally avoid options like break of journey. Very often, it ,can take hours to book one's tickets on the site, and this enables bad practices like the using of agents and touts to get one's tickets booked.
Booking dates:
The Railways recently brought back the 60-days-in-advance rule for booking journeys (it used to be 90 days), and this is obviously essential, given the kind of corruption and underhand practices that sometimes marks the booking of rail tickets. It also results in people who are planning ahead, booking the tickets on the date that the booking opens, and sitting on the bookings until they decide whether or not they will travel, or travel by that train. This means that many genuine travellers get only RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation) or WL (Waiting List) tickets, and do not know until much later if their tickets will get confirmed…and they get very uncomfortable side berths, about which I will write more, later.
Passengers still cannot choose their berths, or seats on day trains. Senior citizens can request lower berths, but other passengers must be content with what they get. Lights may not work, nor fans; the attendant is usually nowhere to be found, and it's impossible to exchange one's berth after allocation.
Maintenance of bogies and railway tracks:
The maintenance of the passenger bogies leaves much to be desired. I am still regularly able to see mice and rats in the bogies. All the bogies of the Bangalore-Guwahati Express, which I took on the 19th of November, were dirty and old, and a terrible place in which to spend 3 nights and 2 days, on a 3000 km journey. Even the newer bogies are, unfortunately, of very bad design, with heavy, unwieldy doors, a lack of electrical outlets for many passengers (except the random lucky ones).
The spaces between bogies are rapidly becoming a litter-deposit area, and railway employees think nothing of throwing all the trash out on to the tracks. I am unable to see a responsible method of disposing trash on the many journeys that I make.
(You can see the amount of trash on the tracks. Ahmedabad-Bangalore, 161213)
Air-conditioners in upper-class bogies may freeze the passengers, or let them swelter in an ill-ventilated space. To get the attendant to do something about the problem is tough, given their general invisibility (see below).
The windows, sealed in air-conditioned upper-class bogies, are usually very dirty, and on the Bangalore-Guwahati train, was impossible to see out of, creating a feeling of claustrophobia. On the journey from Ahmedabad to Bangalore, the window was dirty throughout the first day, and was cleaned at Hubli, at 7pm on the 2nd day. I have never otherwise seen the windows being cleaned during journeys. The lower class bogies have open windows, where the glass or steel shutters might be stuck, or come crashing down suddenly…and open windows expose the passengers to the filthy smell from the railway tracks.
Sealed windows on the air-conditioned bogies
My window on the Bangalore-Guwahati journey, 201113. (A/c 2-Tier coach)
Maintenance of toilets
The toilets, even on upper-class bogies, are an abomination. They still open directly on to the railway tracks. They are dirty, often without water, and the flushes just do not work properly, due to terribly bad design.
Attendants
Upper class bogies are supposed to have attendants in, well, attendance. But usually, they are nowhere to be found, after they hand out the bedding at the start of the journey and it's impossible to get anything repaired or rectified.
Bedrolls and towels
Bedding (provided free in the upper class bogies) can often be damp from washing, torn, and frayed. Towels are supposed to be provided, too, but are usually not given. Sometimes, pestering the attendant, when he appears with the bedding, works.
Food
The food on the railways is under contract, and this is increasingly result in in a combination of awful food and beverages, and overcharging in the most blatant way. I just wrote a blogpost about the recent increase in food rates
Food is a major issue on long journeys. Good food is just not available. I explored the internet sites of a few caterers, but they want a minimum order of Rs.1500 and are not interested in individual passenger orders. So passengers are still at the mercy of the contract vendors.
Lack of information about the running of the train
The lack of the attendant also means that most passengers do not get any information about whether the train is running on time, or not. Even trains which have display boards only have meaningless messages and advertisements running on the LED display, and no useful information about the next station or how long the train is doing to stop there. In the middle of the night, passengers do not even know which station the train has halted at. My train back from Ahmedabad (AII-Mysore Exp, no. 16209) was due in Bangalore at 3.15am…and I kept awake all night for fear of falling asleep and missing the station. And when there are multiple stations in a single city (eg, Krishna Raja Puram, Bangalore East, Cantonment, and City on the train mentioned above), one has to constantly go to the door, risking one's luggage, to find out where one is.
Shanties along the railway tracks, Guwahati-Bangalore, 031213.
Waiting list confirmations and side-berth issues
The side berths on the bogies are charged at the same rate as the regular berths, but are far less comfortable, and can often result in great difficulty for the passengers, as they are in the high-traffic area, and cannot get out of the way. The side berths are much shorter, and are allotted to passengers who have been confirmed after being on the waiting list. This is very unfair to passengers who have paid the same as those who are occupying the more comfortable berths. Sometimes senior citizens on the waiting list are allotted upper berths, and have great difficulty climbing up to sleep, especially if they have to visit the toilet once or twice at night.
Safety issues:
Theft of luggage and mobile phones seems to be very common on long-distance trains, and there is absolutely no way one can report theft, unless one is prepared to pull the chain and make everyone wait. My 82-year-old fellow passenger and I had our mobiles stolen in broad daylight when returning from Guwahati, and on the journey from Ahmedabad to Bangalore, another passenger had his mobile stolen. Most passengers just curse their luck and are helpless, as they discover the loss later, there is no attendant to complain to, and the Railway Police never make their appearance on the train.
Travelling Ticket Examiner on train, 031213, Guwahati to Bangalore
Vendors:
An incredible array of vendors seem to frequent the aisles at all times on long journeys, and it is difficult to accept that their presence does not have the endorsement of the Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) or the attendant. Some of these vendors could also be opportunistic thieves.
One of the many vendors on the trains, Guwahati-Bangalore, 211113
So…while the railways are very useful (and I must express deep appreciation for the fact that senior citizens get 40% off the train charges if male, and 50% if female…a discrimination I have never been able to figure out), it takes a lot of stamina and resolve to spend a couple of days on a train, and make the journey with Indian Railways. I do…and I think of myself as an intrepid traveller.
is the Wiki entry for the
BLACK IBIS:
“The Red-naped Ibis (Pseudibis papillosa) also known as the Indian Black Ibis or just the Black Ibis, is a species of ibis found in parts of the Indian Subcontinent. The sexes are alike. It has a curlew-like long down-curved bill, a black head with a patch of crimson, and a white patch near the shoulder. This largish black bird is found at lakes, in marshes, in riverbeds and on irrigated farmland—it is not as aquatic as many other species of ibis. It is gregarious and generally forages on margins of wetlands in small numbers. It is a common breeding resident in Haryana. It nests in trees and breeds from March to October in North India.”
I was very fortunate, indeed, to stay with a friend who as a 5-acre plot of land in Ahmedabad; part of her undeveloped property is maintained as a lawn, part of it is a wilderness, and part of it is given over to growing wheat and vegetables. I had a lovely view from my bedroom window, and was lucky enough to watch these beautiful birds….they were sitting on the neighbouring buildings:
Grazing on the lawn:
Resting, relaxed and unthreatened, with one leg up:
and in particular, one mother and child, on the vegetable patch.
Here’s the Ibis chick, obviously calling, “Mama!Mama!”….
The chick is importuning its mother:
It is running behind the mother:
And, finally, the mother feeds it:
I got this video of the child running around behind the mother and harassing her for food:
Children are always demanding attention, whether
Or not, they happen to have skin…or feathers!
I was away in the foothills of the Himalaya, very far away (the journey from Bangalore to Guwahati alone was 2992 km, and passed through 8 states…Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Assam!) and came back with such a variety of experiences.
Just wanted to mention, in today’s world of plastic bags and cups, the biodegradable containers that are still being used in many places, that I saw on the train.
One is what is called, in Bengali, “bhAnd” (or matkA in Hindi)…the earthen cup that can be thrown on the tracks, or out of the window, or anywhere, because the mud will disintegrate again:
This one contained “mishti doi” (sweet yogurt), one of the specialities of Bengal.
It was covered by a bit of newspaper and a rubber band:
This was, after ages, a typical “bhAndEr chA” (tea-in-a-mud-pot)…it has a taste all its own:
As you can see, it goes well with the cryptic crossword (that’s from The Telegraph).
When the “JhAlmoodiwAlA” came by, I asked for some,
I got it in this “tongA”, which is Bengali for this kind of paper container:
It’s better than an ordinary folded paper bag, as when it opens out, it has some width, and sits well on a countertop:
The third container I liked very much was the “dOnA” (called donnai in Tamizh, and dOnA in Kannada, too), which is made of a certain type of leaf;they are stitched together, very expertly, and shaped into bowl-shapes:
Can you see the way the stick has been expertly used to “stitch” the leaves in place?
How I wish these traditional, “eco-friendly” (to use a hackneyed term) and full-of-character containers continue to be used, and are NOT replaced by Ghastly Plastic….
Last week, we had a quiz competition in SRMAB(Blind school located in J P Nagar), it was fun and loved the number of correct response made by kids.
1. Devanahalli : site of the new Bengaluru airport is the birthplace of ………… Tipu Sultan.
2. Highest rain fall in Karnataka …………Agumbe
3. The largest place in Karnataka where we do gold mining … Kolar (Kolar Gold Fields)
4. Lalbagh has been made by …………… HyderAli for Tipu sultan.
Discussing with team members
One of the teams
Tell the exact word: (R-5)
1. A country is rich in raw material, ore and service and want to give to another country. This process is called ………… export
2. a ball directly thrown about the weist height in cricket is ……… beamer
3. A book written by self about the life and lesson ……… autobiography
4. The closed area declared where animals/birds are free to live and die naturally … sanctuary
Pankhudian taking quiz
Question for Audience:
2009, the Karnataka Khadi Gramodyoga Samyukta Sangha was the sole manufacturer of the flag of india.
Know about person: (R-2)
1. This person is known as Human Computer – Shakuntala Devi
2. Which person is known as Missile Man of India – A P J Abdul Kalam
3. Who is known as “Father of Karnataka music”? Purandara Dasa
4. Gave India its first medal at the Paralympic Games after bagging a silver in the Men’s High Jump F42 1.74 m – Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda from Karnataka.
Highest in India. (R-3)
1. Highest waterfall in India … jog falls.
2. Highest mountain peak in India …. K2.
3. Award, highest civilian – Bharat Ratna
4. Highest Gallantry award– Param Vir chakra
Internet and world (R-4)
1. biggest social networking site – FB
2. biggest video sharing site – Utube
3. biggest search site … google.
4. biggest reference/information site … wiki
Health Awarness: (R-6)
1. Blood is filtered by which organ – Kidney.
2. Why we add iodine in salt – thyroid problem and mental sickness.
3. How HIV affects the system – reduce the immune power and made the body weak.
4. Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) Problem which generally cause mental problem and blindness is due to because genetic problem.
Make it large: (R-7)
SMS – Short Message Service
ATM _ Automated teller machine
BBMP stands for Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike
RBI – Reserve Bank of India
Mythology:
1. Yama, the god of death in Hinduism, uses what animal as his transport? Buffualo
2. In the epic Ramayana, which bird tried to prevent Ravana from carrying Sita away? – Jatayu
3. What is the name the vehicle of Ravana in which he could fly to any destination and which had unlimited seating capacity? – Pushpaka vimanam
4. In the epic, Ramayana, Rama asks Hanuman to fetch him a medicinal herb that grew in the Himalayas. What was its name? – Sanjeeveni Buti
Sports and Cricket:
1. Highest no. of 6 in his career – Afaridi
2. 1st Indian to win Olympic Gold medal in any individual event – Abhinav Bindra
3. Most 5 wicket in inning – Waqar
4. ODI highest total by which team – Srilanks 443 against Netherland.
What is the difference between UID and Aadhar?
Both are same, UID project is known as AADHAAR which means ‘support’ or ‘foundation’.
What is Aadhar?
Aadhaar is a 12 digit individual identification number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India on behalf of the Government of India. This number will serve as a proof of identity and address, anywhere in India. Any individual, irrespective of age and gender, who is a resident in India and satisfies the verification process laid down by the UIDAI can enroll for Aadhaar.
Each individual needs to enroll only once which is free of cost.
Each Aadhaar number will be unique to an individual and will remain valid for life. Aadhaar number will help you provide access to services like banking, mobile phone connections and other Govt and Non-Govt services in due course.
How to Apply for Aadhar?
If you want to get this UID (I am planning to apply for one, as I hear UID is being made mandatory for certain services like, gas connection, EPF etc.) then here’s what you need to do:
Aadhaar enrollment is free so you need not pay anyone for this. You need to go to one of the authorized Aadhaar enrollment center anywhere in India with your identity and address proof.
UIDAI process accepts 18 PoI (Proof of Identity) and 33 PoA (Proof of Address) documents and below is the list of nationally valid list of documents:
Supported PoI Documents Containing Name and Photo:
Supported PoA Documents Containing Name and Address
Supported PoR Documents containing Relationship details to Head of Family
Supported Proof of DoB Documents
When you are going to apply for Aadhaar then make sure that you must have below stuff ready,
1.ID Proof (Your ID Proof can be Pan Card, Driving Licence, Passport etc).
2.Address Proof (It could be Telephone Bill, Electricity Bill etc).
Common proofs of identity and address are election photo ID card, Ration card, passport and driving license. Photo ID cards like PAN card and Govt ID cards are permissible for identity proof. Address proof documents also include water – electricity – telephone bills from the last three months.
In case you do not have above common proofs, Certificate of Identify having photo issued by Gazetted Officer/Tehsildar on letterhead is also accepted as PoI. Certificate of Address having photo issued by MP or MLA /Gazetted Officer/Tehsildar on letterhead or by Village Panchayat head or its equivalent authority (for rural areas) is accepted as valid PoA.
Where to apply for Aadhaar?
You need to go to one of the official Aadhaar enrollment center in India to get your Aadhaar number.
Use the link below to find out your nearest Aadhaar enrollment center details based on your location:
http://appointments.uidai.gov.in/easearch.aspx
At the enrollment center you need to fill the Aadhaar application form. At the center fingerprints, photograph and iris scan will be done to feed into database. A temporary slip with enrollment number will be provided as an acknowledgement.
Based on your documents your details will be verified and in case if all comes right an Aadhaar number will be send to your address.
Here you can look up the sample Aadhaar enrollment form:
http://uidai.gov.in/images/FrontPageUpdates/uid_download/enrolmentform.pdf
You can also download the enrollment form here
http://uidai.gov.in/download.html
Apply Online and get Appointment for Aadhaar Enrollment:
If you want you can apply online and take an appointment. Below is the link for online Appointment for Aadhaar enrollment at your nearest aadhaar enrollment center
http://appointments.uidai.gov.in/
Note: Online Booking of Appointment for Aadhaar Enrollments has been started on a trial basis at selected Enrollment Centers.
More details about this online Appointment for Aadhaar Enrollment please visit below link,
http://uidai.gov.in/images/FrontPageUpdates/press_note_25th_nov_v2_hq.pdf
How to Check your Aadhaar Enrollment Status
You can check the status of your Aadhaar enrollment online. To check your Aadhaar status, you need the enrollment number, date and time. You can find these details on the acknowledgement copy issued at the Aadhaar enrollment center.
https://portal.uidai.gov.in/ResidentPortal/statusLink
Hope you find this information useful and get your UID soon 🙂
India - Nature, Travel And Birding 