When people ask me what I do, I am at a loss. I do not know what to reply. I am a professional photographer, and my working hours are not between 9 and 5. The factory inside my brain is always at work.
24/7.
When I look at a tree, I not only look at the tree, but also the woods.And I look at it through my mind's lens.
When I look at a tree, I not only look at the tree, but also the woods.And I look at it through my mind's lens.
I think my mentors do understand me. That's what I thought when the professor from the college where I graduated from called me and said that I had to lead a team of junior students to Bandipur forests.
Bandipur! That brings back to me the memories of my first visit. There is something attractive about the name, and something magnetic about the very place. I am close to nature. I love trees, the wild animals, and the very rocks and earth of the forest. Ah, I must have been a wild animal in my earlier lives.
We planned as usual, only not to follow it up. So instead up Bandipur, we went to Mudumalai forest. It was monsoon, and downpour would make the track unwalkable in both Bandipur and Mudumalai.
Mudumalai was a consolation to me, and a forest is a forest not matter which--Bandipur or Mudumalai.
So off we set, a team of 14 people. Not all the members were into photography by choice or design. Some of them were there by default. But they loved trekking, and that was enough for me to have them in my party.
We didn't carry any security gear such as a baton or an air-rifle. We wanted to shoot only with the camera. Maybe, put all those into paper or picture.
The train was late in the evening at 9.30 pm. The younger people of the team were excited. We checked our gear, and equipment. The train left on time.
It was early in the morning when reached our destination. To get all the fourteen into the van that took us to Bandipur was a task more difficult than trekking. It was almost one hour before got on to the van.
The van tumbled along, and we asked the driver to drop us at the RTO check post . Was it check post we said? Yes.
And so we were dropped at the check post, and were assured that it was walking distance from here.
Only after the van left did we realize that we were dropped at the Tamil Nadu border check post, and not the RTO check post of the forest.
Lucky for us, that I remembered striking a friendship with the forest ranger whose office was nearby.
He came out with a brilliant idea--we should hitch a hike on the lorries that drove into the forest. He helped us stopping the vehicles, and we got on lorries in groups--four for one.
And that was godsend. From the top of lorries we had a panoramic view of the forest side.
The train was late in the evening at 9.30 pm. The younger people of the team were excited. We checked our gear, and equipment. The train left on time.
It was early in the morning when reached our destination. To get all the fourteen into the van that took us to Bandipur was a task more difficult than trekking. It was almost one hour before got on to the van.
The van tumbled along, and we asked the driver to drop us at the RTO check post . Was it check post we said? Yes.
And so we were dropped at the check post, and were assured that it was walking distance from here.
Only after the van left did we realize that we were dropped at the Tamil Nadu border check post, and not the RTO check post of the forest.
Lucky for us, that I remembered striking a friendship with the forest ranger whose office was nearby.
He came out with a brilliant idea--we should hitch a hike on the lorries that drove into the forest. He helped us stopping the vehicles, and we got on lorries in groups--four for one.
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