Sultanpur National Park - Gurgaon

Gurgaon in Haryana is a fast developing area in India.  The urbanization was at rapid pace since the establishment of automobile industry Maruti Suzuki Private Limited.  The city and district is of historical importance; it is believed that the village Gurgaon – “village of Guru” is donated to Dronacharya for imparting warfare training to Pandavas and Kauravas. 

Recently when I visited this place and enquired about local places of tourist interest everybody talked about those seen in Delhi which is about 35 KM from Gurgaon.  As I have already visited places in Delhi, I asked for those specifically present in Gurgaon, in particular about Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary.  Many could not give any information about it.  The taxi driver we were traveling with initially took us to Sultanpur in NCR region and from there to Chattarapur temple.  After explaining him that I want to see birds park at Sultanpur he finally understood and took us to Sultanpur National Park. 

Sultanpur National park is about 15 Km from Gurgaon.  It is actually a jheel (lake) where many resident and migratory birds visit.  Peter Jackson a famous ornithologist who had seen the birds wrote to the then Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi to protect and accord it the bird sanctuary status.  Accordingly was done in 1971.  Later in the year 1991 it was upgraded to National park by including some areas in the surrounding villages and increasing that jheel area from 1.21 Sq. KM to 1.42 Sq. KM.  People in this area are more familiar with name Sultanpur Jheel, rather than Bird Sanctuary or National Park. 

Since it is upgraded to National Park it is developed to attract and maintain the resident and migratory birds.

  Mounds and pitches are built for the birds.  Bore wells are dug to maintain water levels.  When there are no rains water is supplied from nearby canals or bore wells.  There are four watch towers to watch birds.

When a visit is planned to this place, binoculars are a must.  I couldn’t find any binoculars being provided for charges at ticket counter.  One young boy approached us with his binoculars and said he will show us all the birds with his binoculars and will be our guide in the Park.  He wanted us to pay two hundred per head for the two hour tour.  As true Indians we bargained and settled for Rs.150/- .

  He took us around the Park and showed different birds and explained what little he knows about the bird and its habitat.

In this park there are also nilgai and some abandoned bulls. 

Sultanpur National Park is a beautiful place which has more than 250 species of local birds and also hosts migratory birds from Siberia, Europe and Afghanistan.

  There is also a library and museum which educates visitors about different birds and their habitats.

Here are few pictures of the birds seen at Sultanpur National Park, Gurgaon. 

Beings around my home

Here are few birds spotted around my home but I do not know the names for sure.

Beings around my home

Bulbul

Bulbul is commonly seen around my home.  They often try to build nest inside our home.  I strongly discourage.  

 The bulbul is generally seen in twos.
 The birds courtship and coquetty behaviour is great fun to watch.
 These birds are monogamous.

Beings around my home

Crow Pheasant

This bird also belongs to the order of cuckoo.  But it is not a parasitic brooder.

  It generally survives on insects, caterpillars, small vertebrates.  It also eats bird eggs, nestlings, fruits and seeds.

 It is considered as avian pest in oil palm cultivation as it eats the fleshy mesocarp of the ripe palm fruit.

Beings around my home

Cuckoo

I read and thought that cuckoo will look black like a crow.  When I saw it I found it to be darker than crow and looks mean.  It is a parasitic brooder.  It stealthily removes and destroys crow's eggs and lays its own eggs in the crow's nest.  Crow hatches the eggs thinking its own. The nature of cuckoo is apparent in its appearance, I feel.

Here is a spotted bird.  It looks beautiful.  I did not think it is cuckoo.  But checked in the net and confirmed it.

This is also a type of Indian cuckoo.

Birds around my home

Green Bee Eater:  Spotted twice or thrice.  Never seen before.  Glowing green color makes it attractive.    

 

Birds around my home

To the north of our home is an open plot.  This is more than a thousand square yards and is in litigation (I think so).  The land being unoccupied, trees grow wild.  When our locality was not developed, about 15-20 years ago there would be snakes and once I spotted even a mongoose in this area.  In rainy season there would be constant croaking of frogs which would even enjoy our premises and feast on insects.  Even snakes would come into our compound across the branches of trees in our premises that are projecting and intertwining with those in the open plot.  Even now we occasionally see green snakes or some other small snakes that are non-poisonous.  Poisonous or non-poisonous, the appearance of snake creates intense fear in all of us.  

As wildly grown trees with its residents is a constant threat for us, we spend money to get the trees cut down and burn all the dried leaves.  But the land is so fertile with one shower of rain all the trees start growing with lively verdant branches.  Squirrels are ever running on the trees and many birds come and perch on the branches.  Many types of birds come here.  It will be interesting to watch these beings and their activity.

As a child I have seen sparrows, crows and pigeons around my home.  I have seen parrots which were caged to predict fortunes.  I have also seen parrots and peacocks in Zoo.  Frankly speaking I can recognise these birds and ducks and cranes.  Other birds, as a child if I had seen in Zoo, I don’t remember now.  As I see different birds around our house I try to check out the net to know the names of these birds. I miss the sparrows and crows which for seen regularly as a child.

At this house, few years ago, we had almond trees and flock of parrots would come and crush all the fruits within minutes and make the compound dirty.  The honeybees also swarming to it and building honeycomb made us cut down the tree.  We still have few trees of mango, guava, papaya and teak.  Monkeys are our most troublesome visitors.

Now I want to present few birds that are seen around my home.  A few I may not able to name.

Kingfisher:  I heard of it, might have seen a picture.  But when I first saw I felt awed at its beautiful plumage.  In the month of March and April for a few days I have seen this coming and perching on the branches in the early of hours of the day and in the evening.

One day as I was inside the home I heard a strange chucking sound.  I came out to see what it is, is it squirrel or any bird.  After inspection of all the trees for a few moments, I noticed the kingfisher with a lizard in its mouth.  I was astounded.  I haven’t seen such a scene before in my life.  I immediately got my camera and clicked.  I thought the bird will fly away as usual when it notices me.  But it did not move at all.  The sound I heard was that of the dying lizard.  In a short time the lizard became limp; the bird swallowed and flew away.

This looks like a dwarf  Kingfisher?

I thought Kingfishers will stay near lakes and ponds and eat fishes only.  As it is summer lakes and ponds are dry kingfisher has come into city and surviving on different prey! But generally kingfisher also eats frogs and other vertebrates including snakes.  It crushes the vertebrates, immobilises and kills before gulping it.  Here it is very clear how it has held the neck of the lizard and crushed to make it immobile before feasting on it.

I will post few more pictures of other birds soon.

Granny Hair

 I just read that hottest hair color trend for 2015 is ‘Granny Hair’.  Now it is becoming fashionable to dye hair to grey color.  The trend has started as some people had spotted celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Pink, Rihanna, Nicole Ritchie and Kelly Osborne sporting grey hair.  Feeling inspired by these celebrities women  around the world have got their hair dyed to grey and posting pictures on social media under “#granny hair”.

“Granny hair is basically silver hair, any tone of grey in your hair: steel grey, silvery grey, really, really white platinumish with either violet or silver undertone,” New York hair stylist Jan Marie Arteca.

As the 2015 fashion trend is to have grey hair, women are ready to spend to get their hair dyed to grey.  This is not simple.  Initially the hair has to be bleached of its natural color and later to dye the required color shade.  The process is long and costs few hundred dollars.

I got interested to write on this topic as of now I am having natural granny hair.  My hair is not totally grey.  Here and there I do have natural black hair.  I developed grey hair in my early thirties.  I was too young to have grey hair.  People around me advised dyeing my hair.  As there were few tresses I tried henna.  As it is a long process I switched to chemical hair dye.  Within a few months of dyeing with chemicals more and more grey strands became visible and I had to dye weekly to make my appearance presentable to my clients.  I started with liquid Godrej black hair dye and changed to powder of the same company as the liquid would often spill and spoil my cloths or surroundings.  Within a few months of using dye powder I noticed that I develop post dye itching.  To reduce the intervals of dyeing I would apply henna when I was on holiday.  Applying dye after henna, would give hair more lustrous color that lasts longer. 

With years passing on I became sick of dyeing and want to stop.  Occasionally I would skip dyeing schedule but my hair would look bad and my appearance not so pleasant to my clients.  They being all women, some of them would advice me to continue dyeing.  I decided to stop dyeing in my forties.  But couldn’t do as I was afraid of me looking ugly with partial black and white hair and that will have adverse effect on my practice. 

But once I struck half century I decided somehow to stop dyeing.  The post dyeing itching of scalp increased.  I had to suppress the strong urge to scratch my head with two hands right in front of my patients.  I changed dye from Godrej powder to liquid, then to Garnier without relief.  My desire to stop dyeing has become strong and strong.  To stop dyeing hair suddenly would attract more comments and people may think I am sick.  So I decided to tonsure and then allow the hair to grow in all its glorious colors. 

In fact I decided in my early forties to go for cleansing my scalp of dyed hair. When I told my daughter that I will get tonsured she started crying ‘no mother, please no’.  More than ten years later she had grown up and living on her own doesn’t bother about my looks.  So I decided to go for scalp cleansing.

Long time ago once I went to Thirupathi.  Here people generally offer Lord Venkateshwara their hair if their wishes are fulfilled.  Then I thought even I should offer my hair to the Lord the next time I visit.  When I visited second time I could not do it.  Now I decided I better offer my hair to the lord and then have natural hair and stop dyeing.  People who see me will slowly get adjusted to my grey hair.  I thought I have completely silvery hair with the Lord’s blessings and can carry my age gracefully. 

So finally I went to Thirupathi four years ago and offered my hair, got tonsured. After that I stopped dyeing completely.  I loved my steel grey hair.  But people around me were not ready to accept me looking elderly and wise!  Now- a - days we rarely see men or women with grey hair.  If ever somebody is with grey hair it should be because they could not afford dye or rarely it could be by choice.  My professional friends of my age, even old and young would advice me to dye my hair so that I will look young and more pleasant.  Not to hurt them I would tell them my allergy to dyes. They would advice me different brands and henna.  I would say I will try.  The elders (those elder to me) in the family also wanted me to color my hair as they themselves like to have jet black hair to not to look old.  I would smile and stay silent decided not to succumb to those pressures.

Whatever people around me said, I liked to see myself in grey hair.  My age and appearance are same.  So when I travel I receive respect for being elderly woman and given privileges.  They try to help me.  Offer me seat while traveling. I can move about freely to foremost in areas of social celebrations.  I enjoy the respect and privilege for appearing natural to my age. 

Now that granny hair has become hot trend I think some of my senior professionals who do not want to dye, but are doing so for social or family pressure will give up dyeing.  Even those in seventies and eighties who go for dyeing will now present as wise men and women.  People with grey hair and spectacle are believed to be wise and intelligent!