Call Of The Hill Myna...

Driving away from the remote Kutta village in south Kodagu district, our SUV occupied by members of my family crawled silently through the dense early morning fog on this winding Western Ghats' road. The powerful headlights lit up the signboard on which a tigress and cub were painted neatly, with "Welcome" etched in English and Kannada, the languages that a majority of the people of Karnataka state speak. Across the signboard was a check post of Rajiv Gandhi or Nagarahole National Park, among India's richest and deservedly the best known. The check post was manned by personal from the wildlife wing of the Karnataka Forest Department. Rubbing my hands to warm myself against the cool breeze that hit me as I stepped out of the vehicle, I approached one of the forest guards manning the check-post. Dressed in khaki field uniform, complete with a pair of anti-leech boots, "Saar" he said, "10 more minutes before I can let you into the park". A therm

Summary:  I drove to Delhi from Bangalore from 15 to 18 April 2009 in our family's compact car. There were many interesting experiences that I had during the course of the four day drive. My feeling was reinforced that India is big and truly amazing; a nation for which we all should join hands to make it a much better place to dwell. The big picture of this drive was that Indian roads are still not meant for driving pan-nation, they seem to primarily cater to local traffic - vehicles moving between two adjoining cities. The roads along the borders of the states are orphaned with hardly any one caring for them. As for infrastructure that is in place,  the best stretch of road was the one leading into the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secundarabad and the road leading out of it for a couple of hundred kilometres. As a nature lover I think the best part was driving through the length of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. I could see different landscapes ranging from the gent