Need and Greed

Does Nature gives us enough? Not only for us human beings but for all living beings and plants? Yes, it does. And continues to do so.

Nature addresses the need. 

It ensures enough feed. 

But not human greed! 

As Mahatma Gandhi had said that the “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.”

While walking around our neighbourhood lake during monsoon, we noticed many wild vines and creepers all over. Many leaves in these wild creepers appeared half eaten with holes and perforations. We saw similar wild growth around a golf course close by. Here are some pictures.

It set us thinking. All this is part of the food chain. Food chains are part of Nature's evolution. So the leaves provide nutrition to the plant or the vine. The leaves also are food for insects and caterpillars. Similarly in a forest, Tigers may be on top of the food chain thus: 

Tiger-deer-grass-birds-soil-water-dry-leaves-as-manure and so on. You may read how birds are an important part of Nature's ecological balance.

How birds sustain the Food Cycle in a Tiger Reserve?

Some more food chains could be: 

Vultures-dead-animals-plants-etc. 

Serpent Eagle-snakes-rodents-plants-roots-insects etc.

Owl-snakes-lizards-frogs-insects etc. See the diagram below.

Fruit Bats-fruits-trees etc. In each of these food chains the decomposers like mushrooms are equally important to sustain the cycle.

As human beings, we should be responsible for maintaining and not disrupting Nature's food chain. For example, denudation of forests leads to reduction in number of deer which are food for the Tigers. This leads to increasing man-animal conflict. Deforestation in the hills leads to landslides causing silting of the rivers down stream and resulting floods. Floods also occur due to encroachment of river flood banks and Nallahs or drains in cities. Readers may browse our previous stories highlighting this aspect and listed below:

Chennai Floods Man-made

Flood Fury in Hyderabad - How a 91-year old reacted to flooding of her house!

KBG-62 Contest

The 62nd edition of Kaun Banega Ghumakkad, our online Captions Contest was based on the theme of Nature's Food Chain. The picture below received 30 different captions from more than 300 readers worldwide. 

We thank all the participants. Complete list of captions is given below:

Sl.	Name	Caption for KBG-62 Contest
1	Sunisha	Unknown pain seen!
2	Pradeep Sethi	Harbinger of change!
3	Jaishankar	'Cater' ing for others is the 'pillar' of an evergreen life.
4	PRR Rao	Happiness is letting go of what you think your life
5	Poonam Bhargava	छिद्र हुए तो क्या, किसी को तृप्त किया मैंने।
6	Avinash Tiwari	Bandhani work.
	Poonam Bhargava	परोपकार से बड़ा कोई धर्म नहीं
7	Rohini Tiwari	Nature's Origami....unique and beautiful!!
8	Veeky Baths	Barishon ke mausam ki bheegi hariyali
9	Ajai Bhumri	"  बना बलवान अपने को वरना नुच जाएगा् " "Survival of the fittest "
10	Kishor Thakre	Caterpillars at work!
11	Pradeep Siwach	Lebanon (Refugees ate up the nation)
12	BC Jayaprakash	Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. John 15:13 .....Bible
13	Bharat Ladha	Global management of survival.
14	Rashmi Bhargava	Self sacrifice is a real miracle
15	Sujata Das	Nature's rangoli🙏
16	Amandeep kaur	There is no better designer than nature.
17	Siba K Patnaik	I am ok , I am fighting.
18	Manju Khetan	इक दिन बिक जाएगा माटी के मोल, बुरे बिचार के किटाणू ऐसे ही हमारे मस्तिष्क को क्षति पहुंचाते हैं।
19	Manu Bhatnagar	A very hungry Caterpillar
20	Shereen Sultana	Make a life by giving what you have
21	Ritu Bhargava	Not dead, nor alive, still breathing.
22	Nidhi Bhargava	जीना उनका जीना है जो औरो को जीवन देता है
23	Radhika Sareen	My loss, someone's gain
24	Radhika Sareen	Giving makes me more beautiful
25	GR Sreenivasan	Plant kingdom, lives to nourish other species including humans without expecting anything in return.
26	Saumya Goyal	There is beauty even in being broken.
27	Mamta Bhargava	We will survive no matter what may come.
28	Yogesh Verma	Jab Tak Hai Jaan Jeevandaan
29	Peter de Padua	Nature's nature.
30	Peter de Padua	Green Gold, isn't it yummy?

The Winners of KBG-62

We are delighted to announce and introduce the winners of KBG-62. Their winning captions are also displayed alongside.

Yogesh Verma is a former Colonel from the Army Medical Corps. He is a nature lover and keen photographer. His simple caption जब तक है जान, जीवनदान meaning 'Keep giving till the last breath' conveys the self-sacrifice of the leaves as food for the caterpillars and other insects.

Saumya Goyal, a PhD in psychology is a poet at heart. She believes that Nature is the world's largest canvas on which God paints. Saumya's caption 'There is beauty even in being broken' interpreted the picture creatively.

Peter de Padua has won the KBG Contests previously also. A former Wing Commander of IAF, Peter is a water sport enthusiast. His short and crisp caption 'Nature's Nature' won the Jury's appreciation.

Radhika Sareen is an electronics engineer from BITS Pilani who worked with TCS for three decades. A keen traveller she is a regular participant in KBG Contests. Her caption 'Giving makes me more beautiful' caught the Jury's eye.

Once again our congratulations to all the winners and thanks to both the Jury members Manik Srivastava and Neeta Bhargava for their time.

We end this story with a PQ picturesque quote on maintaining Nature's balance through the food chain. The picture of Tigress Sonam was taken in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve.

Thanks for browsing. More KBG contests coming up. Stay connected.

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/26th Aug 2021

#monsoons #rain #nature #wildvines #leaves #foodchain #predators #consumers #producers #undergrowth #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh #KBG #kaunbanegaghumakkad #onlinecontest #lockdownfun #takeabreak #captions #life #craetivecaptions #pqs #picturesquequotations #naturetheteacher #learningthroughpictures #secunderabad #monsoonphotography #selfsacrifice

Leopard in Jaipur?

Jaipur is famous for:
Hawa Mahal
Amer Fort
Galta Ji
Ram Bagh Palace
And many other places.

Leopard in Jaipur? Yes, Jaipur also has a Leopard Safari in the heart of the city.

It is called Jhalana Leopard Safari Park. 
Where is it located?
Just 5.4 kms N-E of Jaipur airport. Mere 15 minutes drive. See the maps below.

Fact Sheet:
Set up by Rajasthan Forest Department in 2016 and opened to public in 2018


Erstwhile game reserve of the Royal Family
Spread over 23 sq kms
Has 38 Leopards. Thus it has the highest density of leopards per sq km in the world.

Two Safari sessions every day in the morning and evening.
In each session only 10 vehicles with 6 persons each permitted.
On-line booking through Rajasthan Forest Department website. You have to register before making a safari booking.

Private vehicles not permitted.
The Park has two zones. As of now, the vehicles can cross over from one zone to the other. But in future when the number of visitors goes up, the safari vehicles may be restricted to one zone only.

Cost of a Safari
Safari ride for Indian nationals costs Rs 390/- per head including taxes. Govt ID is mandatory for buying a ticket.

Ghumakkad took the afternoon Safari on 15th Feb.
Pictures.

A bit of history of the Park as displayed in the Interpretation Centre.

How are Leopards Identified?
Each leopard has unique set of spots and rosettes as explained below.

The Safari Begins

Those who have not been on a jungle safari, see the short clip below to get a feel of the jungle and how the safari vehicles navigate.

When multiple vehicles converge on a spot in the jungle- a short 30-second clip will interest you.

The blue sky in winter months is not to be missed!

As with many National Parks in India, there are monuments, temples, villages and other human settlements located inside the park. Jhalana reserve has a Kali Mandir inside the park. It has been fenced to provide security from the animals. The visitors have access during limited hours. See the picture below.

The safari continues past the temple.

The Park has an old hunting tower called 'Shikar Haudi'. Additional fee is charged to visit it.

Although we paid the fee but we could not visit it due to failing light. 
We waited at a water point hoping that the leopard will come to have water. See the video clip below.

We spotted more foreign tourists that afternoon. One couple had taken nine safaris earlier! Talk of patience!

All we could spot were Blue Bulls-Neel Gai नील गाय both male and female and variety of birds. See the pictures.

We then spotted a half-eaten kill of a blue bull. It indicated that the leopard was not far away. However, further wait did not bear fruit.

After a long wait lasting almost two hours, we were a bit disappointed. To add to our woes, three passengers in our vehicle became very impatient. They wanted to abort their safari and requested to be dropped back at the main entrance. We thus lost 30 minutes of safari time (total 3 hours) to drop the impatient visitors. Ganesh our driver, drove the electric vehicle at break neck speed to save time.

We rejoined rest of the vehicles waiting for the leopard. As the light was fading, we started the return leg of our safari rather reluctantly. We were still hopeful of a sighting. Not for me but for my brother Raj and his wife Sarita- both first time safari tourists. As they say first time lucky! While these thoughts were crossing my mind, our vehicle was moving slowly on the dirt track.

Another few minutes up an incline and a bend and we saw a dark shape moving ahead! We slowed down and cut all the noise whatsoever. It was a leopard ahead. Some 50 feet ahead. Walking on the sand track.
Excitement built up. Camera whirred. For my 300 mm lens on 1/800 speed setting for a moving vehicle, the light was really low. But the shutter won't stop. See the 5 second video clip first. The voice over is in a whisper.

The above video was then followed by a series of pictures. We kept following the leopard till he decided to ease himself in a bushy patch. We respected his privacy. See the series of pictures below.

We shot a 30-second video as we followed the leopard. Our driver alerted the other vehicles in the vicinity. One of these vehicles approached our vehicles and applied brakes. That disturbed the leopard and he disappeared into the bushes. Talk of disciplined wildlife tourists!

After another wait, we sighted the leopard again. This time we went solo to make sure the leopard is not disturbed. Here is a minute and a half long video clip of the leopard leading us. Once again, the voice is in a whisper to avoid disturbing the leopard.

The sun had already set. All vehicles have to clear the park before 6.30 pm in winter. We had our fill. Except that we had to forego the visit to Shikar Haudi. May be the next time.
Raj and Sarita sure proved first time lucky!

The evening clouds in otherwise clear sky cast a magical spell to the forest. We hope that the 'man' does not destroy the forest.

Mahatma Gandhi's words on the importance of forests echoed my mind. Here is a PQ- picturesque quote superimposed on the Jhalana forest.

Jaipur has seen many changes. Jhalana Leopard Reserve is one of such changes. You may view our earlier stories on Jaipur by clicking the links below:
'The Changing Face of Jaipur'
'The Pink City Beyond Pink'
'Rural Jugaad'

Thanks for browsing. Your feedback is welcome as always.

     - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 19th Feb 2020

#jhalanaleopardsafari #leopards #jaipur #rajasthan #forests #pqs #picturesquequotes #conservation #leopardspots #ghumakkadharsh #ghumakkadhb