Balais notes

After spending around two hoursin the waters of Neel Nirjan, rather poetically named reservoir of the Bakreshwar Thermal Power Plants below the Bakreshwa Dam, we chose to return to land. Just near where we were to get off the boat, we found a small bird desperately trying come out of the water only to drown again... in Bengali what we would call HABUDUBU khaoa. Feeling the bird could still be alive, we got our boat steered nearing the drowning bird, very small in size and probably a Little Grebe, and found it was still alive. Our boatmen - 2 brothers - Beeson and Mahaloy, quickly got into a rescue act and after much efforts managed to get the bird disentangled from the fishing nets. Once sure that it WAS  alive they let the bird in to the waters again. And it promptly went in. After waiting patiently for sometime, it resurfaced but quite a distance away. Great that it all ended happily otherwise the rest of the birding trip could have been spoilt.  I have uploaded some photos ...

BRILLIANT MEMORIES OF SANDAKPHU:.  Today's photo is all about  braving frozen nights and windy days to be rewarded with glorious sights of the tallest mountains in the world. Disappointed with an unsuccessful trek to the Everest Base Camp in October 2011, I was asked by Mr Tarun P Lala, an ex-colleague, to join him for an excursion to Sandakphu. No more treks but from Manebhanjan to Sandakphu all the way by the wonders of the 50's - Landrovers - that puzzle and mesmerize its users even today! The rains and slit and the bitter cold that greeted us once we reached Sandakphu is a different story altogether! November 8, 2011 : the fitful night before finally gave away to an absolutely glorious morning. As dawn broke, the sky was bathed all over in tints of red and reddish-pink. The first light of the sun hit Mt Everest first and then Makalu, Lhotse and  Kanchendzongha and all other illustrious  members at court! Not equipped with a lens wide enough I had perforce to spli...

Chupi is beyond Kalna near Purbasthali about 3 hours drive from the heart of Kolkata. In winter it is a veritable paradise for all kinds of birds,dominated by myriad varieties of migratory ones. There's a wing of an oxbow lake of the Ganga (across which the Iscon Temple at Mayapur dominates the skyline on a clear day) which plays hosts to these birds.One takes a country boat and floats on the river-arm watching myriad birds and photographing them.On this day, we spent a better part  of  the  morning  chasing  an Osprey. Although I could not take a shot of its actually catching a fish, I was otherwise very fortunate and happy to have captured the bird in many of its spectacular poses. I hope you will enjoy seeing the pictures.... REVISITED Chupi for the SIXTH time this 17th of January 2018. As usual there were two Ospreys around to pander to our photographers' insatiable apatite ! We were truly lucky and cache in a number decent shots ! Here are four more added t...