Day 23 – Bharatpur, The Bird City
Day 23 – Monday, 18th Nov 2013
One of the quirks of traveling is that you have to depart or arrive in a new land at odd hours. We have had our fair share so far and today was no different.
It’s 4:30 am and my alarm buzzes off. I set the geyser on and hope that hot water will flow in 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, Khyati and I wrap up our luggage and get ready to leave for Bharatpur. We complete the check out formalities early morning and await an Auto to take us to the station. I am on the road waving my hand at any passing auto rickshaw hoping to get a ride. After 10-15 minutes wait, we find a ride that takes us to the station. It’s 6:30 am and Jaipur station is crowded as ever, we slowly make our way onto the platform. The indicators tell us that Jaipur – Agra Shatabdi will arrive on Platform 2. We carry our luggage and cross the bridge.
On Platform 2, there was already a Jaipur – Delhi Shatabdi waiting to depart and for some reason, it was delayed. It’s 6:45 am and the previous train hasn’t taken off so how can we expect our train to arrive on this platform? It’s 5 minutes to 7 am and there is a faint announcement mentioning that the Jaipur – Agra Shatabdi will now arrive on Platform 1. There is a mad scramble as we just have 5 minutes and in the distance, we can see the train pulling onto the new platform. Khyati and I exert all our energy and run as fast as we can. The train comes to a stop as we get down the bridge. Our eyes try to find Coach – C3 and we heave a sigh of relief as it’s right near us.
The train takes off on time. For those who have not traveled in Indian Shatabdi trains, these are luxury trains by Indian standards as they are an AC coach chair car, provide food, water, news papers and other necessary amenities. We sit back and enjoy the ride.
Train route
As Khyati and I are chatting, I hear someone mutter USC, Stanford. I look across to that person and he is an American 50 something discussing football with his wife. He is thrilled reading the news that USC beat Stanford last night and how the new football coach for USC is a revelation and will take the team to new heights. I immediately make a connection as he seems a USC alum. Our wavelengths strike immediately and we catch up on how good USC is… Fight on!
Jim and I
We arrive to Bharatpur at 9:30 am and it’s a quaint station compared to some of the other big railway stations we have observed in our journey so far. Bharatpur though part of Rajasthan state has been heavily influenced by Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. It’s called the Braj area as it forms a small triangle with Agra and Mathura.
We reach Iora Guest House and we are given a warm welcome by the owner – Devendra Singh. Devendra himself is a wildlife photographer and has spent his years working at various wild life sanctuaries and now spends most of his time in Bharatpur managing his estate.
Our room
It’s 11:30 am and we leave to see Bharatpur bird sanctuary. The park entrance is just 1 km from the guest house and we decide to walk instead of taking the many cycle rickshaws available.
park entrance
K cycling
P cycling
The park is huge, 21 kms end to end. No vehicles are allowed inside the park and the only three modes of transport are – walking, cycling and cycle rickshaws. We rent bicycles for 5 hours and set out in the park. The best part about the bird park is that it’s a natural habitat for birds and insects to thrive and there is minimal damage to the eco system by us naturalists and non naturalists. The park is very well maintained with marked signs and viewing points. We sight many birds along the route and off route as well. Some of the birds we saw were painted stork, kingfisher, parrots, peacocks, Ibis among others. I wished that we had a DSLR to capture some good shots but unfortunately, all these amazing memories and sights were just captured in the eyes of the beholder.
Painted stork in the distance
It’s 5:30 pm and on our way back, the sun is absolutely gorgeous as it sets down in the forest.
Sunset
We walk back to our guest house by 6:30 pm and feast on some Jain food freshly prepared for us.
We take a walk in the evening around the market area and purchase some Gajak. The sweet is extremely delectable and it melted in our mouth like an ice cream. Try it if you haven’t already.
We catch up on some writing in the evening and call it a night around 11 pm.
Tomorrow morning, we head to Agra. More in the next post. Keep yourself tuned.
Best wishes,
Paras