The smallish Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, some 20 kilometres north of Mysore, is made up of just six islets in the Kaveri River. Yet, it is a favoured destination of thousands of nesting and breeding birds; some flocking from Australia, North America & Siberia.
A visit this summer in June meant the nesting period was long over and they – storks, ibis, egrets, herons – were readying to migrate back with their nestlings. It was a delightful experience, regardless, cruising around the riverine islets and watching them ignore us. The only fellas in no rush to take off at that time of day were the gravity-defying fruit bats. It is worth a visit if you find yourself in the neighbourhood. Be warned: the dropping-encrusted trees are cause of much stink as you approach them!
Here’s one of a sneaky marsh crocodile:
Puneetinder Kaur Sidhu, travel enthusiast and the author of Adrift: A junket junkie in Europe is the youngest of four siblings born into an aristocratic family of Punjab. Dogged in her resistance to conform, and with parental pressure easing sufficiently over the years, she had plenty of freedom of choice. And she chose travel.
She was born in Shimla, and spent her formative years at their home, Windsor Terrace, in Kasumpti while schooling at Convent of Jesus & Mary, Chelsea. The irrepressible wanderlust in her found her changing vocations midstream and she joined Singapore International Airlines to give wing to her passion. She has travelled extensively in Asia, North America, Australia, Europe, South Africa and SE Asia; simultaneously exploring the charms within India.
When she is not travelling, she is writing about it. Over the past decade or so, she has created an impressive writing repertoire for herself: as a columnist with Hindustan Times, as a book reviewer for The Tribune and as a contributor to travel magazines in India and overseas. Her work-in-progress, the documenting of colonial heritage along the Old Hindustan-Tibet Road, is an outcome of her long-standing romance with the Himalayas.
