In the year 1993, I was working with a finance company in Delhi. I admit that this company treated its staff quite well.Among the rewards this company used to offer to us to remain in good humor, are, firstly, an outing once in a year to some hill station or to a reserve forest with our family. Secondly, almost every month there used to be a party where there would flow hard drinks freely. The third thing which every one of us awaited eagerly was the profit sharing packet that used to be distributed just before Deepavali.
Now let us catch up with our travel schedule.On 19th of November, 1993 all the staff members were requested to reach the Delhi Railway station to catch the train for Sawai Madhopur.
Sawai Madhopur is 428 KM from Delhi and located in the South-eastern region of Rajasthan. It has a dry climate with little rain. The Delhi-Bombay broad-gauge railway lines pass through Sawai Madhopur. Sawai Madhopur, the entry point for the famous RanthambhoreNational Park.This was the station where we were scheduled to alight from the train and board a bus for which prior arrangements were made.
Ranthambore is situated at about 14 km. from the Sawai Madhopur Railway station.This is famous for its wild life sanctuary. Let me frankly admit that I do not like to see animals in a sanctuary.But a sanctuary is a better version than a Zoo, to that extent I tolerate it.What interests me is the natural habitats, a remote stream flowing, water bodies, the plant life and the night sky that abounds in millions of starts.
A full compartment was booked for our travel keeping in view more importantly, I suppose, to have drinks as much as one wishes and secondarily to have enough elbow room to have a comfortable journey without bothering for ones limited space.
Around 4 in the early morning, we were called to get up as we were approaching the Sawai Madhupur station. From the station we boarded a bus for Ranthambore.The property where we were slated to be staying for the next two nights finally arrived.People who had family enjoyed the best of rooms and the hardcore bachelors were put up in tents, 5 persons in one tent. Ours one looked like, if you have read The Ramayana wherein Ram, Sita and Laxman after being banished to forest for 14 years, lived in forest huts, somewhat similar to that. At a distance we could see the Aravali mountain range with bushes around.
On our arrival, we were welcomed with a hot cup of tea/coffee. The sun was just peeping through the horizon turning the whole area bright and living.
We were told that the Chambal river flows nearby. So a program was arranged to pay a visit to the river and if interested people could take a bath.I give here a little information about ChambalRiver. This river rises in the western VindhyaMountains near Indore, flows easterly 900 km before emptying into the Yamuna River. Its river basin extends over parts of Chittorgarh, Bhilwara, Bundi, Sawai Madhopur(here we caught up with the river) Tonk, Jhalawar, Kota, Baran and Dholpur Districts. We also had a boat riding on the flowing river.
The RanthamboreNational park is famous for its tigers and is one of the best places in the country to see these majestic predators in the wild. The tigers can be easily spotted even during the day so it is believed. A good time to visit, I was told, is between November and May when the nature of the dry deciduous forests makes sightings common. The Park has an area of nearly 400 sq. km. and is set between the Aravali and Vindhya mountain ranges. Experts reckon that the tiger population here may now be as low as 15, although the official figures put it at 22, down from 44 a few years back. Apart from tigers, the park has its share of panthers, too. KachidaValley is believed to be the place to sight these rather elusive cats. One can also find marsh crocodiles, hyenas, jungle cats and sloth bears apart from Chital, Nilgai, and Chinkara. It is one of the ideal parks for wildlife photography
We all went out in 8 open jeeps as if to conquer a territory. One of the leaders who later fell prey to a love bug and got married to one of the management trainees, was leading the group. We were all well treated by the staff of reserve forest. Shivani(my daughter) was very small at that time but she enjoyed looking at the deer, Nilgai etc. About 2 hours that we roamed about in the park watching Chital, Nilgai, Chinkara and a few crocodiles. After we finished our visiting the park and were about to exit, some members of the park informed us that two tigers had been spotted and we could finally see them.With a lot of extra-excitement we rushed to the so called spot, but there was nothing.We were consoled by saying they just left to deeper jungle. Thus our finding the elusive cats remained illusive.
Back to our place, we rested for a while before the lunch was served. After a sumptuous lunch we rested a while before we were called to join the party to see the Fort. Shivani and Krishna(my wife) wanted to have rest, so I joined the group without them.
The Fort was looking very impressive from far off distance.We took a bus to reach the Fort. Many of the members seeing the long array of steps for going up the Fort, abandoned their will to go up.Myself and a few others being determined to reach the top, started ascending the steps and we did reach the top.Of course it was quite a tough climb. Our effort was rewarded with a grand view of the park, specially the lake.The water of the lake looked inviting as we were quite exhausted and were sweating. We looked around and found two of the temple like arch were in good condition from where we could have a broader view.
Next day we had a outside picnic in a near by palace like hotel. All arrangements were made on the outside lawn.I remember for our break-fast also we had gone there. This hotel was located at a higher level from the road and had excellent views of the surrounding hills and vegetation.
At 4.30 p.m. we were called for tea and we were briefed to pack up our luggage and get ready to leave at 5 p.m. Saying good bye to Ranthambore park and the Fort, we left for the Hotel near Sawai Madhupur. We all assembled on the roof top of the hotel for the departing celebration and dinner. At around 7.30 p.m. we had our dinner and were ready to travel to Rly. Station to catch the Delhi bound train.