Odyssey to Bedni Bugyal – Part 1
Traipsing in Lord Curzon’s footsteps, we embarked for Bedni Bugyal knowing little of what to expect, and least expecting what was in store for us… Editor’s Note: In April-May 2007,…
Category: Jennifer Nandi
Chhattisgarh Diary: The Palace at Kawardha
Italian, British and Mughal architectural styles are all represented in this regal palace of some 56 rooms with a splendid domed and filigreed Durbar Hall. Much of the ground floor of this palace at Kawardha has been converted into a heritage hotel run by the erstwhile royal family. Secularism throbs in Kawardha’s historic heart and its pulsing beat invites us to be one with it.
Chhattisgarh Diary: Afoot in Bastar and Kanker
The forests of central India shelter deep secrets but they have been mined cheaply or defaced. Still, there is reason to rejoice at the simplicity of life here.
Odisha Diary – Birds and rewards in Jeypore
Birds and spirited village women invite Jennifer Nandi’s careless attention as she enjoys Odisha’s pastoral countryside in Jeypore
Odisha Diary – Meeting our Kondha and Paraja countrymen
The younger women are lithe and beautiful with tattoo markings and jewellery and a piece of cloth wound around the waist and then carelessly thrown over the shoulders. I am amazed at such natural beauty worn so easily. They sit in the warm sunlight, looking at us take pictures, talking to their babies, bathing their little ones, pounding rice, just carrying on despite our nosiness, our inelegant clothes and ungainliness with our shiny cameras. The group embodies an intelligence that seems to be fundamentally social.
Odisha Diary: The Chilika non-starter
Chilika, India’s largest lagoon and the second-largest of its kind in the world, offers a tepid reception to Jennifer Nandi, who retreats from it experiencing a strange emotion between disappointment…
Odisha Diary: In the court of the Sun God
After chasing down the Mangrove Whistler in Bhitarkanika, Jennifer Nandi journeys to the temple towns of Konarak and Puri, where a technicality stops her from washing away her sins A…
Odisha Diary: Guideless and guileless in Bhitarkanika
When the local bird guide of two decades vintage turns out to be a shimmering dud, Jennifer Nandi takes control of the rest of her birding trip at Bhitarkanika Early…
Odisha Diary: Onward to Bhitarkanika
Jennifer Nandi‘s sojourn in Odisha begins with a ride through the Buddhist ruins at Udayagiri and Ratnagiri Some serious packing after dinner leaves the night in tatters – yet, we are…
Andamans Diary – A dash to Havelock Island
Jennifer Nandi makes a quick dash to Havelock Island to peer into a world of colourful fish named after parrots and butterflies Introduced in November 2009, the Makruzz is a…
Andamans Diary – Mount Harriet National Park
Antibiotic-addled Jennifer Nandi is awestruck by the avian diversity at Mount Harriet National Park Excitement keeps us on high alert as we leave the hotel at 5.30 am to take a ferry…
Andamans Diary – Leaving for Chiriya Tapu (Birds Island)
Jennifer Nandi’s Andaman dream almost crash-lands before it takes off again, wobbly but steady As a child, I remember a photograph of my father being garlanded by an elephant on…
Sundarbans Diary – Oh Calcutta!
Jennifer Nandi bids goodbye to the Sundarbans and acclimates to civilisation as she traipses the streets of crowded Kolkata The famous bridge over the Hooghly River in Kolkata January 12…
Sundarbans Diary – In celebration of alert laziness
On the last leg of her sojourn in the Indian Sundarbans in West Bengal, Jennifer Nandi enjoys an off-day that turns out quite rewarding Jan 11, 2010 Our definition of a pleasant…
Sundarbans Diary – The Enormous Estuarine Crocodile
Cruising through the backwaters of the Sundarbans in India, Jennifer Nandi marvels at the estuarine crocodile, even as her thoughts turn to the conflict between these fascinating reptiles and the…