N i T s

By: Nitin Mule

Jul 09 2010

प्रवर्ग: myPhotos

8 प्रतिक्रिया

Thursday, July 8, 2010. I woke up when I heard my alarm ring at 6:30. I had decided the previous night that I want to wake up early. I did. I was happy. I looked outside and clouds greeted me instead of rain. There were more reasons to be happy. I had to go to Taljai. I could not wait.

I came down, got on my bike, and went to the first general store available to buy a pair of Duracells. I am too lazy and many times I have made Taljai plans on runtime, so even if I have rechargeable batteries, I have wasted quite a lot of duracells. I started my small journey uphill to Taljai. As it turns out, I was destined to help people on the day. 2 school boys, about 12 yrs old, waved at me for lift, near sahakarnagar corner. I never stop for giving lift, but this time, I stopped. I reached up. Dropped those boys there and parked my bike. Immediately, it started raining. I took out my raincoat.

Now, this is where I am almost close to completing a full circle. Wearing the raincoat – The point where I will leave it all and would not be here to complete a circle.

January 3, 2010 was my very very first visit to Taljai. It was winter. And I had to wear a sweater after reaching the top! I wanted a fog, but at 7:30am, I was late for that. Taljai was a happy place then. Taljai is a happy place now. 7 months is not a big period for a change. But, each time I visited, Taljai was different. My January visits saw leaves turning yellow. Pathways used to be covered with fallen leaves and it was difficult to chase the peacocks because the leaves on ground would rattle loudly because of my feet.

I first saw a peacock in wide open here at Taljai. That first peacock was busy eating Bhakri pieces the regular Taljai joggers had put there for him. I immaturely ran to him to click his picture and he ran away. Seeing those feet move in a rhythmic way while running was a sight to remember. So remember I do.

One such winter morning, I was going through the jungle and I looked at my right and at  about 20 feet away from me – a peacock was sitting merrily on the branch of a tree! I had hardly seen a peacock on ground and this was one whole peacock on the branch of a tree! This was the first time I cursed my camera for not having enough zoom. He obliged for 2 pictures and then he quietly came down and walked away into deeper jungle. It was like a professional model posing for a click or two and going back to her Caravan as if nothing happened. I was the one who was left awestruck and breathless, and this guy went away calmly.

There have been lot of encounters with peacocks since then. Soon I came to know it is no use chasing them into the woods. So after that, I let their appearance be decided by them. I keep wandering and hearing their high pitched screams. Sometimes I take a turn and they are right on the pathway! Sometimes I am too busy looking at one tree and they pass by the other! It has always been such a pleasure seeing these guys, I let it be a surprise to increase it even more.

Peacocks did not change in any season. They kept showing up in winter, they kept showing up in summer, they keep showing up in rains. It is their playground. And they like to play a lot. But the trees, they have changed a lot. Winter had leaves turning Yellow and falling all over. There were some flowers along the way. Summer had no leaves and flowers were completely out of the question. Now rains have arrived, albeit not so strongly as one would expect. But even this much was enough to bring back all those green leaves and all the flowers at Taljai.

I always had my camera with me at Taljai. There are more Taljai albums in my PC than family albums lately. My orkut and FB accounts too have so much Taljai albums, one was named Taljai, next was Taljai again. Recent album is Taljai Rains. There was ver a day when I did not find any extra ordinary picture opportunity. All albums of Taljai have at least one picture which is completely different than what I have clicked before. Winter was still a beginning phase for me in terms of photography so there were lots of subjects. Summer was a little tough. I even clicked empty branches. But those turned out good. Clicking the Sun through all those branches was also a nice experience. It is raining now, and the drops and the bugs and the fresh green leaves have given me more photo opportunities too. I was happy then, I was happy now. Taljai was a happy place then, Taljai is a happy place now.

This is the last paragraph I wish to write now. I am a very impulsive writer so this article is going on and on, without any precision or writing technique being followed. Many things I might have forgotten, but I am happy to have written down at least the most vivid memories. I have only a month remaining here. I tried not to get attached with things to avoid complications. At this moment, a lump in my throat proves that I have failed to keep myself away from attaching myself to a place. I want to come back here. As I leave for US, my parents might be shifted out of Pune. Next year, I will not have a HOME in Pune. But I want to come back to Pune. This little Hillock called Taljai will make me come here. I’m sure of completing a circle