NATURE LOVERS - PLACES TO VISIT IN MUMBAI ... 1

It was a frantic call that I got from an old friend of mine (old refers to the length of our friendship and not his age). "We must go out" he said. "Yes" I said "but where? Anywhere we can breathe freely" he said. The only place that came to mind immediately ,were the mighty Himalyas. A tad impractical I thought. But where could we go to in Mumbai and be among nature? And have a great time photographing as well.

           

            He said "I know the perfect place where we can spend a few hours and come back rejuvenated." I listened to him skeptically as he mentioned Sanjay Gandhi National Park.  After all, I had been there many years (actually ages) ago and what a disappointment it had turned out to be. To cap it all, I groaned ,at the thought of reaching the park gates by 7.00 am latest. I groaned again.

            On the appointed day, a week day, I pulled myself out of bed early and after a quick shower drove to the park to meet him. I was surprised that he was accompanied by his wife – a photographer herself. So, after paying the entry fees, we were in the national park. It did surprise me a bit, as it looked very different to anything I had seen earlier. There were big trees lining the road creating a green canopy along our drive. On the sides of the road I saw people, young and old, men & women, of all ages and sizes, huffing & puffing as they went about their morning jogs or walks. Elderly gentlemen were walking at a sedate pace and young lively girls were jogging with their pony tails doing a rhythmic dance by themselves.

            We drove up a steep gradient to a place which had a watch tower and a dome. Here we saw people engaging in yoga, doing pranayama, stretching exercises and some just meditating. Immediately the tranquility of the place enveloped us and I could see all of us breathing a bit easier already. We got out of the car with our photography equipment and nobody paid us a second glance. It was here that we had come to be one among nature and to see if we could quench our thirst for some lovely photographs.

            We started wandering around the gardens and were truly amazed at the greenery of the place. With no body to disturb us we looked for great photo opportunities and got a few good shots. I did not know that flowers photographed from close quarters could look so good. Or dew on a flower bud could glisten like a diamond in the early morning sun. Or a lizard would look us in the eye and wait till we finished clicking him.

The flowers were a riot of colours and you could (even with the naked eye) see the many hues of green. With no one to disturb us we went on clicking pictures for about one and a half hours. I learned quite a bit on photography from my friends wife – what angles to shoot, how close to go, and many other details. She took it upon herself to give me pointers and I happily accepted her tutoring.

   We then tried our luck at the Lion Safari. The park organizes for a group of 15 people to be taken in special vehicles to see the lions in the park. But as we were not 15    (the bus load) we had to wait. And being a week day not many people were coming our way. So after a frustrating wait of a half hour we left the park a tad disappointed but  fully refreshed and rejuvenated. The reason for us to come to the park in the first place.

And we decided that we would do these small couple of hours trips as often as we could to connect with nature to nourish our souls – badly in need of nourishment living in the hustle bustle that is Mumbai.