The Jungle Beckons

The panoramic view was enchanting. Trees, trees, trees—greenery everywhere. All I felt was the light and colour flowing into my retina. I just couldn’t let go of the camera.

“Alight, alight,” cried Sundar, the guide. It was about one in the afternoon. It was not hot.

Were we hungry? I didn’t know until I saw the menu on the board. Yeah, we were at the restaurant of the Deep Jungle Home.

Set 1 - Available on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

• Breakfast: Poori with Potato Masala and Rawa Uppma with Chutney Tea or Coffee.
• Lunch: Chicken Biriyani or Vegetable Biriyani, Plain Rice, Dhal Fry, one Vegetable, Curd ,Vermicelli Paayasam
• Dinner: Jeera Rice, Chicken Gravy or Vegetable gravy, Chapathi, Curd Rice.                         

 Set 2 - Available on Thursday, Saturday and Tuesday

• Breakfast: Vermicelli Upma, Idly served with Sambar and Chutney, Tea or Coffee.
• Lunch: Aaloo Parota served with Vegetable curry or chicken curry and White rice, Dhal, Curd, Paayasam.
• Dinner: Chapathi, Veg Gravy or Chicken Gravy, Veg Fried Rice and Curd Rice with Pickle

It was delightful to enter the rooms allotted to us. They were not room, but log houses. There the folks called them ‘bamboo houses.’

We grabbed a quick bite at the restaurant before settling in our log houses.

At three we were, off. The vehicle that carried us this time was the jeep. A rickety old vehicle was good at the forest path. The roads were motorable, but we were allowed only up to a point from where the vehicles of the forest department will transport us to the interior of the jungle.

Far from the madding crowd, the atmosphere was pristine and peaceful. There were indication of upcoming rain. The cool breeze and droplets of water here and there, and sometimes upon us said that the forest shower would show up anytime.

Imagine what should greet us when we were at the portals of the forest? The Bonnet Macaque (Macaca radiata). Nice augury!

Lord Hanuman?

We got off the jeep, and started walking about. It was not trekking. The path was not rough, and the light was sufficient enough to shoot without a marked impact. And then it caught us—the national bird in its full splendor—the peacock. When I said ‘full splendour’ not that it had spread its feathers. The very colours of her body were splendid.

Cameras whizzed, and deep in we walked. Some of the party were tired, but determined to go deeper. Our efforts did not go in vain. The first of the wild to greet us were a herd of Spotted deer or Axis deer. They called it common, but for us, city folks, it was not common at all. Even the sparrows were rare in cities.

The deer indeed is captivating. No wonder, Valmiki used it so well to make Ravana entice Seeta. But then, we didn’t have the time or mind to think of Ram. The forest beckoned us.

Well, the small animals and the birds were just the preview. What we walked into was indeed amazing. The very magnitude of the beast—the pachyderm—the Indian elephant. For people who visited big temples, the elephant is common, but the elephants in the jungle is different. It is not meek, and when it is moving in a herd with a young one in the  pack, you would be buying trouble if you attempted to shoot them with your camera.  I would realize it only the next time when I met the group again.