A fox in Sariska

This photo is from my trip to Sariska. We were in a car, and suddenly when the car in front slowed down, we looked around to see which animal they had seen. At the side of the road, we saw this small animal, and then realized that this was a fox about which we read, but most of us would never have seen this animal in real life.
It actually ran after our vehicle for a considerable distance, as if expecting one of us to jump out and be its prey. I was wondering about the other people in the natural park whom we had seen on foot or on a two-wheeler. Are they not attacked by the fox ?
The other think that struck me was about how close its colour matches its sorrounding, hence it would seem that it would easily merge into the sorroundings and catch its prey with ease.

Temple inside Sariska

This is a temple inside Sariska, a wildlife sanctuary located inside Rajasthan. As you reach the front gate of Sariska, and move inside, there is a straight road that leads to this temple. The road first passes through open areas, and then moves through small hilly areas (not very high though), and eventually reaches this temple dedicated to the monkey god, Hanuman.
This temple is based on the legend of the Mahabharta. The Pandav, Bheem was high with ego after having conquered a mountain, and to bring him down, Hanuman lay down on his path as an old monkey. When Bheem tried to move his tail aside, he was unable to do so. He recognized the error of his ways and then viewed Hanuman in his real form. Read more about Hanuman.
People go and visit this temple, located right inside a natural wildlife sanctuary. Because of the sanctity of the place, people are given permission to do so, but the expectation is that people go and visit the temple without disturbing the animals in the other part of the sanctuary.

A birds nest near home

This is a bird's nest very close to my home, in fact in a tree just outside my house. I did not notice this till one day my mom came inside and dragged me out. At that time, we could only see it from a distance since there was a mom-bird with its small children, and the bird really did not appreciate us coming any closer.
However, a couple of days later, when I ventured forth with my camera to try and see whether I could get a cute photo of the bird, I found that they had flown the coop, and were not to be seen. However, in the midst of a proper urban location, what with busy roads, concrete house, it was really nice to see birds being comfortable enough to make a nest.

An anthill in Sariska

While roaming around in Sariska (going through a animal sanctuary is only allowed in a vehicle on the main road), I witnessed a fair number of animals, which typically I would not have seen elsewhere. It set me to pondering about what is the actual significance things such as wildlife conservation, habitat protection, etc, have in our mind-share. Except for dedicated people, we never think about such things.
The photo above is of a fairly large anthill. Now, we may not think too much about anthills, but ants are animals that live in very organized societies, with their own rules and regulations. What struck me most was the fact that in an urban environment, we would never see an anthill of this size. If ever we did see one, it would be in an area that would have already been demarcated as run-down or not clean.

Sariska - A wildlife sanctuary

Sariska is a wildlife sanctuary in Rajasthan, India. At one time, there used to be tigers in the sanctuary, but a current search has found that there are no tigers left, the handiwork of poachers. However, there are a large number of other animals found in the sanctuary.
Sariska is located near Alwar in Rajasthan. Once you reach the gates of Sariska, you are handed over an instruction manual in terms of things that a person can do, and cannot do. Interaction with animals of any kind is banned. The road in the photograph is essentially how Sariska is constructed, there is one central road through the sanctuary, with the jungle on either side. To go into the jungle off the main road, one can only do using the vehicles and guides provided by the government.

Close up of a tangerine

I have this tangerine plant growing in my house, and for some time now I have been trying to get a good picture of the fruits of this plant. This can be very painful since the fruits are all at almost ground level and crouching for long periods of time to get a good photograph can be very difficult.
However, like in a fairy tale beginning, 'tis was a bright and sunny day, and I promised that backache or no, I would take a photo. So set the camera (Nikon D50) to macro mode and took a few photos. At close up, macro mode also becomes difficult, so you can imagine how elated I felt when I finally saw this photo. Unfortunately, this was the last day that the fruit was available, the next day a passing monkey tore it away.

A beautiful red lily

For some time now, we have been trying to grow lillies in our house. The plants would grow, and then for some reason, the flowers that we got would be small or otherwise not a treat to look at. This year, things seemed a bit different. The plants seemed strong, and then we started seeing the tell tale signs of the flowers starting to emerge. Slowly, the signs started getting stronger and stronger, and a few flowers did come, but they were not great looking. When this particular flower started emerging, it looked very promising. One morning, I got up, went outside and saw the flower had emerged.
I watched it for a bit of time, and then got my camera, crouched so that I was at the same level as the flower and then started shooting away. I liked one picture that I finally displayed here.