A regular reader of my blog, a Mr. Khan, recently enquired whether I was all right, considering that I had not updated my blog recently. I assure him that I am fine, but completely pressed for time. There are a zillion things to do. Really. Yesterday, I visited at least five or six locations for different tasks.I left the house at a few minutes after noon, and returned at six p.m. This kind of hectic work goes on almost every day, and I daresay, will keep on at the same pace in the days to come.
Soon after I arrived in India,one of my cousins' daughter Ibriz got married (on 30th November), and my family and I attended her marriage ceremonies with tremendous enthusiasm and gusto.
Now that nearly 40% of my holidays are over, I can look back and say that although I am busy everyday, I am still enjoying the stay as there is so much to do in a metropolis like Mumbai. In between, though, for 4-5 days, I took a break and went to Goa for some serious birding. This was with Nature India, the professional group run by my friend Adesh Shivkar and his partner Mandar Khadilkar. They had booked me for the trip in advance without any payment from my side; and not just the trip, but also my train tickets! The trip began on the evening of 4th December, when I boarded the Konkan Kanyakumari express train at CST (it left on time at 11.05 p.m.). We reached Madgaon (Margao in English) at half past ten the next morning. We were to stay at a place called Canopy's Nature's Nest, a forest resort inside central Goa, and we spent the next 2 3/4 days birding at various spots in Goa. On the 8th evening, we boarded the return trip by the same train (we left at 6 p.m.) and reached Mumbai C.S.T. at about 6 a.m. on the 9th. This was a truly memorable trip and, being the first long birding trip, it had special significance for me. I made new friends and saw over a hundred different species of birds in those 3-4 days that I was in Goa.
We (i.e. my family) is planning an overseas vacation in early January. Initially, our plans were to travel to either South Africa or Australia, but the extremely high air fare to both these places put paid to our plans (the air tickets alone would cost about INR 75000/- to S. Africa and INR 89000/- to Australia). Inshallah, we would be going to Singapore, Langkawi and Malaysia instead of the original destinations.
I guess that's about it ... will keep you readers posted about new stuff as things unfold. Thank you for reading this post.
Soon after I arrived in India,one of my cousins' daughter Ibriz got married (on 30th November), and my family and I attended her marriage ceremonies with tremendous enthusiasm and gusto.
Now that nearly 40% of my holidays are over, I can look back and say that although I am busy everyday, I am still enjoying the stay as there is so much to do in a metropolis like Mumbai. In between, though, for 4-5 days, I took a break and went to Goa for some serious birding. This was with Nature India, the professional group run by my friend Adesh Shivkar and his partner Mandar Khadilkar. They had booked me for the trip in advance without any payment from my side; and not just the trip, but also my train tickets! The trip began on the evening of 4th December, when I boarded the Konkan Kanyakumari express train at CST (it left on time at 11.05 p.m.). We reached Madgaon (Margao in English) at half past ten the next morning. We were to stay at a place called Canopy's Nature's Nest, a forest resort inside central Goa, and we spent the next 2 3/4 days birding at various spots in Goa. On the 8th evening, we boarded the return trip by the same train (we left at 6 p.m.) and reached Mumbai C.S.T. at about 6 a.m. on the 9th. This was a truly memorable trip and, being the first long birding trip, it had special significance for me. I made new friends and saw over a hundred different species of birds in those 3-4 days that I was in Goa.
We (i.e. my family) is planning an overseas vacation in early January. Initially, our plans were to travel to either South Africa or Australia, but the extremely high air fare to both these places put paid to our plans (the air tickets alone would cost about INR 75000/- to S. Africa and INR 89000/- to Australia). Inshallah, we would be going to Singapore, Langkawi and Malaysia instead of the original destinations.
I guess that's about it ... will keep you readers posted about new stuff as things unfold. Thank you for reading this post.
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