A Re-cap of Travel in 2016.

It was a high-spirited 2016!

Sometime around this time last year, as curtains slowly drew on 2015, I made a resolution for 2016, and it was that I would make 12 trips and explore 12 new places in 2016, each dedicated to a month of the year. And someone benign on the ‘other side’ granted my wish and gave me one extra trip. Yes, I made 13 trips this year.   

As this year draws to a close, I am filled with gratitude for the year that has been, and more importantly for the travelling I have been able to do. My travel this year was a mix of heritage, culture, cuisines, trekking, nature trips, textile trails, so on and so forth. I realise I am left with a huge back log of posts, as I’ve been either travelling, or planning my next trip or tending to my Art.

Let me walk you through my delightful experiences this year :-) There were 13 major trips and also a few discoveries within Pune that I have also blogged about.

The cave monasteries in Junnar.

The first trip in January was a good dose of history and Archaeology. I travelled with Heritage Insights, a group started by a team of Archaeologists and Indologists who are doing an excellent job taking the rich history and culture of India that is lesser known to a wider audience. That trip was like an official introduction to Indian history and archaeology for me. The trip was to the 2000 years old Buddhist cave monasteries in Junnar. The trip enlightened us about the ancient Indo-Roman trade and its symbiotic relationship with the mushrooming of monasteries along the trade routes. Luckily, I’ve written about this and you may read it here:-)     

A Striped Tiger butterfly.

One Sunday we also went for a butterfly trail with The WesternRoutes and learnt to identify different species of butterflies in the garden. The small park is situated right in the middle of a residential area and the gardener, having taken a keen interest in butterflies, planted flowering shrubs and plants that attract butterflies and thanks to his efforts, the small garden now has around 50 species of butterflies. We spotted the Common Mormon, Striped Tiger, Blue Tiger, Crimson Rose, Common Crow, etc. At one point after the sun rays lit up the garden, there were so many butterflies flitting around, it felt like a fairy land!

Strawberry picking in Panchgani.

Next, also in January, I lived my childhood fantasy to some extent of picking strawberries from a farm. I ate a lot of freshly plucked strawberries and also got back some with me and made jams and parfaits J I surely have a thing for fruit picking! Read about my apple picking adventure here.

Chapati impressions in Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum (instruments for making impressions on flatbread).

Come February, we visited the Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum in Pune which houses interesting and ancient artifacts belonging to different eras. We also chanced upon a jaggery making set up on the outskirts of Pune. I, for one, substitute sugar with jaggery wherever possible, because refined sugar accelerates aging apart from the other harmful effects it has on the body from high consumption. So I was delighted to see how jaggery, an oft used ingredient in my kitchen, is made. You can read about it here.

Fresh jaggery !

Heritage Insights had announced its second trip for the year to the lesser known princely states of Phaltan and Aundh. How often do you get to meet people of royal lineage and interact with them? The current Prince, Shri Raghunath Raje Naik Nimbalkar took out time to interact with our group and narrate stories about his dynasty. He even offered us tea and snacks. Yes, we snacked in the palace of the King J While I’m yet to blog about this, it was an enriching experience to go around the Rajwada (palace) and learn history from Royalty himself. The Rajwada has been maintained in excellent condition and it was like stepping back in time to see the artifacts, furniture and objects dating back hundreds of years.

Posing with Prince Raghunath Raje Naik Nimbalkar. 

The Rajwada made entirely of wood and in prime condition. 

I had been wanting to visit Velas for quite some time and that desire materialised in February this year. Velas is a sleepy non-descript village on the Konkan coast which is now on the global map thanks to the conservation of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles by the village people. It was a dream come true to welcome button-like baby hatch-lings into the world and watch them crawl their way to the mighty ocean and be swallowed by waves. You can read about that experience here.

Baby Turtles in Velas. 

March saw us attend a wedding in Delhi. I did make use of that trip to explore the city’s gastronomical delights, including a visit to a 115 year old kulfi shop. Other interesting activities included a visit to the National Rail Museum where I kept wondering where aesthetics has disappeared in trains today and a heritage walk with INTACH Delhi to the Lodhi garden tombs. Take a look at the pictures of the trains from yore and read about the Heritage walk with INTACH here. 

Bada Gumbad in Lodhi gardens. 

Paan flavoured kulfi at Kuremal Kulfi shop (betel leaf flavoured kulfi)

This is an old train carriage from the 19th century. So artistic! 

In April I ticked another desire off my wish list. I had first heard about the rhododendron flower in Lobsang Rampa’s book. Later I heard that rhododendrons grow in the higher reaches of the Himalayas in India too. I wanted to visit Sikkim where there are dedicated rhododendron sanctuaries, but that was not to be, so I went on a rhododendron trail to Uttarakhand on the Deoriataal-Chopta-Chandrashila peak trail. The most memorable was the 16 km trek through virgin forests between Deoriataal and Chopta where the whole forest blushing with pink rhododendrons greeted us. It was like being in fairy land. I was drunk high on the beauty of the forest as well as on rhododendron juice ;-)

I am guessing Heaven would be like this?? 

Matching in pink! 

While Mumbai is next door and may not qualify as a trip, I would still include it in that category because I had signed up with Khaki Tours to explore the lesser known aspects of an area in Mumbai. Having grown up in Mumbai, I feel there’s a lot to the city that I still don’t know. The Lalbaug Stroll, a walk designed by Bharat Gothoskar of Khaki Tours led us through narrow gullies, crumbling buildings, secret farms, erstwhile sacred groves and had us delighted at discoveries in the city notorious for its super-fast pace of life.

This used to be a sacred grove/ forest many years ago before it became a concrete jungle!

The idols of the deities who were forest protectors remains though. 

Fiery chillies in the Lalbaug market. 

In June came another surprise. I had been wanting to visit the remote village, Kalap, since three years and suddenly in mid-June I found myself in the  un-touched, pristine, beautiful village of Kalap. The high point of my trip was camping for 2 nights and a day at the highest point in that village, called Beejay Top, at 12,500 feet above sea level. I lazed around the whole day on a carpet of flowers, watching sheep and buffaloes pass by, sipping tea, chatting with nomadic shepherds, reading a book and dozing off and on. Of course, I got severely sun-burnt and it took two months for my skin to go back to normal. But that’s not what will stay with me forever. The memory of trekking through virgin forests, gurgling mountain streams, alpine meadows and surreal landscapes surely will.I wrote a piece for the Better India, which you can read here. 

Lazying in Beejay Top. 

Gorgeous sunsets! 

The beauty of the forest was overwhelming. 

Houses in Kalap. 

July was another month for some serious and enjoyable history and Archaeology. We again travelled with Heritage Insights to the 1500 year old cave structures of Ajanta and Ellora. Words fail to describe the stupendous beauty of Kailasa, the largest monolith temple in the world. Every inch of the temple is sheer poetry in stone. We also took the same route that a British Cavalry soldier named John Smith took in 1819 when he discovered the Ajanta caves where 2000 year old paintings on stone still continue to dazzle people.

An entrance to a cave temple in Ajanta. 

The magnificent Kailasa cave temple- the biggest monolith in the world. 

The inscription of John Smith who discovered Ajanta caves in 1819.

Soon after this trip, I attended a 3 day seminar on ancient Temple Architecture conducted by Heritage Insights. The erudite Dr. Shrinivas Padigar enlightened us in a lucid manner about the development of temple architecture since the last 2000 years and the different aspects of its style.

Dr Shrinivas Padigar enlightening us on ancient temple architecture. 

August saw us visit Puttaparthi and then we spent 3 days in Bangalore, exploring old, traditional eateries in the city. Went around the old markets in Basavanagudi to take in the vibrant colors, smells and sounds. The change of weather in Bangalore left me with a bad sore throat which again took a month to recover.

The melt in the mouth dosa in CTR, Bangalore. 

Take your pick from the 100 varieties of snacks. 

Right in the beginning of the year, I had kept October as a free month with no travel, because there was Durga Puja in the first week of the month and Diwali at the end, so I wanted to be home and celebrate with my husband.

Bright flowers in the market. 

I had plans for September of volunteering in a farm in a place from my childhood dreams, but again that was not to be. But turns out everything that happens is for one’s best. I had not recovered from my throat infection and my husband too was down with flu. Had the trip happened I would have been away for almost 20 days. So, I am happy in hindsight, that I was resting at home and also present for my husband.

We found a Veena making workshop. 

We went to Goa in November for a friend’s wedding. Some people would be annoyed if I say that Goa is over hyped. It’s too touristy for my taste, or maybe I haven’t discovered the less touristy places there. While we didn’t go around much, the high point of the trip was the wedding itself. My dear friend had chosen a perfect venue for his wedding, by the sea. With the music of the waves crashing on the rocks, the soulful rendition of the Shehnai by a very talented musician, the moon above accompanied by the Vedic chants as the couple took their vows made for a surreal experience.

The venue of the wedding. 

Another sudden trip in November was to Guledgudda to meet the weavers of Khun and Ilkal and then a heritage trail to Badami, Pattadakkal ( a 1500 years old UNESCO World Heritage Site), Aihole, Gadag and Lakkundi to marvel at ancient temples and their architecture. While I am yet write about this power packed trip, I did manage to write a post on Khun.

A weaver weaving Khun. 

Ilkal saree. 

 This month, we attended a wedding in Rishikesh, on the banks of the river Ganga and then headed to Shimla and then spent a day in Chandigarh. This was again a gastronomical delight to sample various winter delicacies up north.

The famous and delectable gulab jamun at Baljee's in Shimla. 

One can't go to Chandigarh and not have rajma chawal ( rice and kidney beans).

The scrumptious winter speciality- makai ki roti and sarson ka saag (corn flour flat bread and mustard leaves curry). 

The year is coming to an end and I have given myself a good score for travel although not for blogging regularly. As the sun sets on this year, I await the sunrise on the new year and look forward to the amazing places where the winds will take me. 

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Hatching of Olive Ridley Turtles at Velas & How to Ensure an Almost Guaranteed Sighting.

A baby Olive Ridley turtle born a few hours ago. 

Yes, as the title suggests, one may visit Velas but may not necessarily sight the turtles hatching. But before I give you a few suggestions on how to ensure that you are present when the turtles hatch, let me take you through the conservation programme at Velas.

For the uninitiated, Velas is a small sleepy village with around 350 houses, in Ratnagiri district, in Maharashtra. It may have passed off as one of the many non-descript villages along the Western coastline, but what has put this small village on the map is the Conservation project started by the Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra for the endangered Olive Ridley Turtles apart from other birds and animals in Sahyadri range too.  

The phenomenal two-  Sameer Mahadik (left) and Virendra Patil (right) who have devoted their lives to the conservation of Olive Ridley Turtles in Velas. 

Around 13 years ago, a few villagers realized that baby turtles were being preyed upon by birds and dogs and turtle eggs were being taken by some other villagers and animals and birds too. So a few of them got together to observe mother Olive Ridley turtles laying eggs and studied their patterns and behavior.

The Olive Ridley turtles are an endangered species and it is believed that only 1 in a 1000 survive till adulthood. There are many reasons for this. Some of the reasons being the toxicity in the sea, threat by fishing nests, trawlers, being preyed upon by other sea creatures and birds, and mainly because these turtles have no defence or camouflaging system, since they cannot withdraw their flippers into their shell, like many other turtles.

Tracks left by a mother turtle after nesting. 

The mother turtle returns to her natal beach, however far, at times swimming over 4800 kms to lay eggs. The female attains maturity at the age of 15 and may lay eggs upto thrice a year and some years none. The lifespan of the turtle is upto 150 years. The mother comes to nest on the beach usually after sunset. Once she finds a suitable spot for nesting, she uses her flippers to dig a pit around one and half feet in depth. The number of eggs vary from 100 to 150. They are tennis ball sized and white. The gestation period of the eggs is around 45 to 50 days, but this too depends on the temperature. The warmer it is the earlier the turtles hatch. The temperature of the sand during incubation also determines the sex of the turtles. Once the eggs are laid, the mother covers the pit with the sand that was displaced and smooths the surface without leaving any trace. She then returns to the sea never to return to tend it. This entire process takes around two and half hours.

You may like my post on the Secret Life of Shamans in Dzongu.

A nesting spot of the turtle. Note the stick inserted into the sand. It goes in smoothly because the sand is loose owing to the nest. In other places the stick won't go through, as the sand would be hard. 

As part of the conservation project, a team of volunteers led by Virendra Patil and Sameer Mahadik, scout and patrol the 10 km long beach to check for nests each day throughout the year excepting the Monsoon months, from 3 to 7 am. They carry a long stick and poke the sand checking for nests. In a spot where the turtles have laid eggs, the stick would slide in effortlessly, because the sand would be loose owing to the turtle having dug out the sand and refilled the pit.  Another clue is the tracks left by the turtle’s flippers while crawling into the beach and back into the sea. Even the fishermen alert the volunteers about turtle sightings. Two days before we had arrived, a mother turtle had created a nest and Virendra and Sameer took us to show the nesting spot and the tracks left by the turtle.

The barricaded area where the nests are recreated by volunteers. 

Having found a nest, the volunteers collect the eggs in a basket and recreate the nest in a barricaded area. A pole is left outside the perimeter of the nest for easy identification. When there are many recreated nests, they are numbered too. From the 45^th day onwards, the spot is checked everyday. If there is a depression in the spot it indicates that the turtles have hatched underneath the sand. This is because when the eggs crack, that space makes the sand cave in. A larger depression indicates more eggs have hatched. The baby turtles, eat the egg shells and whatever contents remain in the egg soon after hatching. That gives them the energy to crawl up their way through the sand , for one and a half feet to the surface. This takes them 3-4 days. By this time, the volunteers place a basket on the nest, so that when the turtles reach the surface, they are not attacked by birds since the barricade is open to the sky.

Sameer Mahadik checking the nest. Note the depression, which indicates that the turtles have hatched. 

Every morning at 7 and evening at 6, the volunteers open the basket to check if there are any babies under it. Earlier I thought that the timings were to coincide with the tide. But I was told that since Velas is becoming a hotspot for Turtle sightings, the timings are decided to make it easier for the tourists.

Three baby turtles who have succesfully crawled through the sand to the surface. 

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Also the likelihood of the turtle sightings is higher in the morning than in the evening, as the cool sand during the night makes it easier for the babies to crawl up. There is no fixed number of the turtles that will hatch in any batch. It may vary from zero to 100.

The turtles are placed in a basket and then left 50 meters away from the water. 

It’s amazing to know that once on the surface the turtles orient themselves to the brightest horizon, which is the sea and dash off into the waters. It is for this reason that use of flash in photography is strictly prohibited while the turtles crawl into the sea, so as to not confuse them.

Sameer placing the turtles back on the sand, from where they crawl into the water. 

If there are turtles under the basket, the team places them in another basket and leaves them 50 meters away from the waves. The turtles have to learn to use their flippers (and strengthen them) to crawl that distance if they have to survive life in the sea.

Aren't they adorable? 

All focussed...

It was an amazing sight to see the turtles crawl those 50 meters (no big deal for us, but a long way for the cookie sized babies). They seemed to hurry their steps as much as they could when they sensed the wet sand. And it was the cutest sight to see them use their flippers to clear the wet sand from their eyes. With the first wave, the turtles are swept into the sea, and the next wave brings them back, till a bigger wave takes them farther into the sea. We could see the turtles being tossed around with their heads and flippers popping out of the water, on the waves.

I felt a twinge of sadness as I bade farewell to the courageous babies who were off on their voyage into the mighty sea, a few hours after being born.

Notice the tracks...

Approaching the water. 

The conservation efforts started in 2003 and till date the team has released 20,000 babies into sea. After 2 more years, the results of the conservation effort would be known to see how many of the female babies released from Velas return to the natal beach for nesting.

 

With the first wave, Sameer cups his palms next to the turtle to facilitate it going into the water. 

This nesting season, starting from November 2015 till date, 80 babies have been released into the sea. It was inspiring to see Virendra’s passion in this conservation work and he patiently answered all my queries.

With the next wave, this baby is back to the sand..

Usually a Turtle Festival is declared in Velas on any weekend that falls close to the hatching time. A weekend, because more people would be able to visit and know about the conservation program. Now, the turtles don’t keep track of our weekend, do they? They would be busy, still incubating or crawling up the sand instead of showing up on the days of the festival. Many groups go on weekends and return without seeing the turtles. But here are a few tips that will ensure you have a sighting.

The first step is to call any of the home-stay owners and ask them the approximate time of the hatching.

Finally the waves carry it farther away. 

They will give a probable period. Around that period, call them everyday to check if a depression has formed on the nest. Once the depression is seen, remember that the turtles take 3-4 days to come to the surface. Keep your bags packed and ready to leave any day during the probable period.

 A poster at the nesting site. 

The Turtle festival was declared on the 20^th and 21^st of February this year, so I started calling my home-stay people from the 18^th to check on the status (I first calls were made in the last week of January). Till 21^st evening the turtles hadn’t hatched, but I was told the depression was seen since the 19^th. So I packed by bags on 22^nd morning and landed in Velas in the afternoon. That evening there were no turtles but Virendra said that the depression is big enough to guarantee a sighting the next day. And just as he said, we saw 3 babies on 23^rd morning and then another one on 24^th morning.

Another poster. 

Another most important tip is that avoid the weekends. From the time I had heard about the Velas festival through Nomadic Thunker’s blog, I was sure I wouldn't go on a weekend. Weekends see as many as 600-700 people thronging and jostling to get a glimpse of the tiny turtles. Jitendra said with dismay, that some visitors are just revellers who come as tourists and do not take an interest in turtles. After the turtles are left into the water, visitors are instructed not to enter the water for upto ten minutes, so as to not crush or stamp on the turtles who wouldn't have gotten very far by then. But people don’t listen, and jump into the water and even hoot and make noise as the turtles crawl towards the sea.

Another poster. 

I was thankful to have avoided the weekends, because the 3 days we were there, we were a total of 6 people with the entire beach to ourselves. So, we could see the babies from up close and also interact with Virendra Patil and Sameer to know more about the conservation efforts.

The next probable period of hatching is in the first week of March. So if you plan to go, you know what to do now..:-)

We had the entire beach to ourselves. 

I stayed at Amol Soman’s home-stay. I would be writing a separate post on that. But here’s his number if anyone is interested in planning soon- 02350-220279. The Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra’s website lists a few more numbers of home-stay owners.

If you visit, do let me know how your experience was :-)