The Day Muted Me... Bhigwan Diary...

Have you ever felt that you are so submerged in an experience of one day in your life that it does not allow you to come out of it for two to three days. I have lived that day.

That Sunday (29-11-2015) I still remember. Still makes me muted. In fact, I took that experience for the first time, but I do not think it was different at all for others.

On Saturday, we means, our Shutterbugs Group have fixed the plan to go on the next day to Bhigwan, Pune, Maharashtra, India. That was on Sunday. Except me, all others are bird photographers I love Landscape Photography. And with that wandering too. Early morning around 6 o'clock, we had planned  leave from Pune. Then, Pankaj advised us that if you reach before sunrise, you can get very good photos with sunrise. Looking at the distance between Pune to Bhigwan, it would take two to two n half hours to reach to the place. We would go on Yogesh's car. We had the idea that the sunrise would normally be between 6.30 to 6.45. That means, we should leave before 4 o'clock in the night. And all of us were agreed. It all happened in the chat on the Whatsapp group. 'Sleep now' Somebody posted a message. Make the cards free and charge the batteries. The second person gave a vote and everyone went off from the group. It was half past ten. I put two alarms in the mobile watch, three and three ten. And I went to sleep within next two to three minutes.

I woke up around 3 o'clock in the morning. When I saw in the mobile, I realized that I could not get up in time if I would have waited for an alarm. The alarm timer was showing at noon. As usual I had put the wrong alarm times.

I got up quickly. Checked the card and battery in the camera. A bottle of water and a little bit snacks put in the bag. Pull over a warm jacket and the camera bag and left the house at 3.50 am. The shivering complete darkness scared me a little.

For the first time I was going out of the house at very early morning. A little tensed thought came in mind about street dogs. Anyhow I had to go. But there were no dogs on the street. Maybe because, it was winter have been started, but that was late as almost a month.

On Sinhgad Road, in front of Santosh Hall, Satyajit and Ashutosh were waiting for everyone.

I know personally Yogesh from 20 years. Once we were working together in a office. In the January, I met Satyajit as a photography friend in a park. Like the same, Satya met Ashu and Viresh. We introduced each other. We put our bags in the car and moved towards our destination. It was 4.20am till then. We were running late.

Our chat has been started. Other than Satya, everyone were speaking in Marathi. Satya is from Kolkata. He does understand Marathi now but still cannot speak. But somehow he managed to involve in our conversation.

Yogesh's driving is very smooth. He keep good speed but slow down wherever it's necessary. Normally Ashu feels nausea in car. So he sat near car window and kept that open. We almost reached near to our destination in time. While chatting together, we didn't even understood how we reached so faster. Still there was darkness. With the help of Google Map, we started to look at the diversion towards Bhigwan. Pankaj gave us Sandeep Nagare's (the main guide and organizer) mobile number, yesterday. Satya called him for next route to reach. Sandeep was waiting for us. He asked us to refresh before we go to the place. But we denied to waste small time, as we wanted to go on the spot before sunrise. He asked his man to go with us in our car. The man would be our guide. And we reached...

The eastern side was tinted in pinkish blueish tone. Guessed that the sun going to rise soon but it would take at least next 10 minutes. On that, East was little covered with some thin clouds. The lake was like endless as the sea. Some boats were resting on the bank of the lake. The blue sky was reflecting on the water and the reflection of the pink shade of the sky reflecting as the icing on the cake. Everything was covered in some blue fog. I was experiencing complete satisfaction. Without wasting much time, I captured 4-5 frames.

I was just forgot everyone for a while. Till then they four sat in a boat. Satya was calling me," Come soon, we are going in the boat". It was shocking to me. Oh dear! Travel by boat? Oh! For a minute or two, I couln't even understand. Everyone was calling me. I can not swim. Even after trying three or four times, I have never been able to swim. My father and all of my brothers are great swimmers. I afraid to go into water. Even in the sea, I don't go too deep than the water level reach to my knee level. I avoid travel by boat. I always scared with the negative thought that what if the boat would sink down in the water?

Initially, I denied to board on the boat. Yogesh reassured me and said, he can't swim too. I gathered all of courage and entered on the boat and sat down wherever I could immediately. When the guide got on the boat, the boat started wobbling. And I scared a lot. I hold the sides strongly. I forgot photography for a while.

The water was calm. The boat was slowly moving forward. It was not wabbling too much. Felt like it's safe now. I loosened the grip on the sides of the boat. Hold the camera. And started to frame the surrounding again.

The upper edge of the boat was just little above the water level. Seeing the endless level of water, it seemed a bit calm. It was near the time of sunrise. The sky was becoming more pinkish. It seemed as if the surrounding area was ready to be captured. That was my first experience of taking photographs in the water from close to the water level. That was also the first trip on a boat. Even pleasant. I lost myself in the picturesque surrounding. I was continuously changing the settings into the camera and kept shooting. There were so many different birds around us. Some had already arrived and some were coming in the flocks. Many times, I had seen some birds landing in water. But for the first time I was watching them landing in the water where there was a reflection of the sun-colored chunks of water. It was like they are gathering together to celebrate the reception of the Sun. The surrounding views were like that anyone could lost themselves in those.

I was doing fruitless tries to capture every single scene. Each moment was giving different experiences. Dreams came in to life. My camera shutter would have tired of moving up n down.

And that moment came. Suryanarayan (the sun) came out of the cloud. His golden rays spread all over. Every wave sparkled in the golden rays. The golden line of water waves was visible too long and was glaring my eyes. I shut off my camera and kept starring the scene for a while. I was motionless, stilly,  sat silently. I was stunned for the moment. I lost myself in that scenario. I really lived those moments.

Yogesh pushed me a little and brought me up to the life and showed me the flocks of the birds, for which we went there. Flamingos...

We were moving forward towards those beautiful tall birds. Pure white, blood-red shades on the wings, a bit bended but pink beak, yellow eyes, long neck and very slim pink legs, five to six feet high. I had seen those beautiful birds before in the photos only. When I saw them in front of me, I was stunned. Geared up my camera and started to capture their photographs. I have managed to capture few photos. And felt that, I'm still inexperienced. I was not understanding that how to capture photographs of the flock of the tall birds! As another boat went too nearer to them, the flock fly away. Then both the boats turned towards another flock. We were moving slowly. We kept capturing photos as much as possible. Looking through camera eye piece, we did not realize that how much we close to the flock. When I took aside my camera to change the settings, I got that we are too close to them like we would enfold them in our arms.

Because of this so close, the flock got alarmed and they kept watching on us. I immediately said to everyone that they are going to fly now. Those who understood the warning, they changed settings immediately but damn, I forgot that to change the settings in my camera. In next four to five seconds, they took steps to fly and went away. I have tried as much as possible. On that, the boat was wobbling because of everyone's movement. The game of five-six seconds...

The flamingo's flock went a long way off. None of us were speaking. Everyone sat down and looking at camera screen. We were reviewing our captures. Just wanted to know, whether we successful to capture their photos while flying? But it would not able to judge on small screen of the camera. We would only get that on our laptop monitor. Our guide float back the boat towards the bank. While going back, we noticed some Sea Gulls flying around. Super white birds. Excellent in fishing. Flamingo and Sea Gall are both migratory birds. There are so many other birds. But I do not know much. Their arrival took place around in November and they return back possibly in March. But if the summer starts early, then they go quickly. I always wondered, how do these birds migrate from Northern countries to India or to Southern part of Asia? And why? We tried to capture flying or fishing Sea Gulls. The sun came up fairly, so the photos looked a bit better.

We were extremely hungry till now. Since leaving the house, we had only one cup of tea. We returned to Sandeep's house. We had Poha (an Indian breakfast dish) and omelettes. With that, we had a cup of tea. And moved towards next adventure. There was a boat ride again. I was immediately ready to board on. But there was some intimidation. At this time Sandeep gave us another guide. After a few steps, we have reached to the boat. Water flow was more rugged than before. Again I aboard into the boat with  solidarity. But when I observed that there was small leakage in the boat, all of my collected solidarity ran away somewhere. But the guide gave me assurance. Yogesh was also bit scared. Our guide floated the boat in the water. And our journey started with wobbling. Now we were going through the flowing river stream and in the opposite direction of the flow. The boat was wobbling a lot. I was scared tremendously. Ignoring my scary feelings, the guide said that we can see the birds that appear in the same area on the other side by crossing the river. Instead of taking photos in the wobbling boat, I liked to hold the side handle tightly. There was a doubt in the mind that the water was been increasing in the boat. Extremely panicked situation. Others were laughing at me and enjoying photography. I was shouting the slogan to return back but all of them ignored me. I did not take any photo till the boat reached on the bank. As soon as, I got down on the other shore, I asked to the guide, Is there a way to walk back? He said that i would have to run seven to eight kilometers. The answer made me speechless. I thought, I should find out other way to go back. The guide, Satya, Viresh and Ashu went to capture some photographs of the birds. Myself and Yogesh stayed there only. Yogesh was too much thirsty. We didn't have our water bottles as we forgot those in the car. Some people seemed to be working in some boats at the long distance. Yogesh and me moved towards them to check whether we could get some water as well as to check if there's any easy way to return. We went ahead but the signs of return path did not appear to be near by and those boats were also seen far away in the river. Then without thinking anything, we returned to our boat. Rest friends also returned in a while. The earlier whirling wind was a bit quiet. Maybe I did not feel the wind because I could not find another way back. The boat was also less wobbling than previous experience. How can it be! Once the mind is prepared to face the crisis, the fear of the next crisis will be lessened. Maybe it happened to me or it would have been really short wobbly on the boat. After all, we were able to reach back safely. We went back to Sandeep's house. He had kept the food arrangement.

We were hungry a lot. Pure vegetarian lunch was ready. Complete Maharashtrian foods like chopped eggplant curry, stuffed tomato, tasty onion bhaji (round shaped fried gramflour with onion), Bhakari (kind of bread made with jowar), dal curry with rice. With chopped tomatoes and cucumber, curd, small fried papad and pickle.

We were not speaking a word. We were just eating and eating. The taste was so excellent that stomach did not want more but we wanted to eat more. We were satisfied with the tasty food which served to us.

We added Sandeep in our friends list. We got to know that there is a facility to live for two or three days and that too at a lower cost. The bill was very low. Two-and-a-half-hour journeys in the boats with guides, bird informations, morning breakfast, noon lunch and a very beautiful experience. For Five people, that was only two thousand rupees. We paid it. We took our photo along with Sandeep and our return journey to Pune had been started.

No one was talking in the car. We were reviewing our photographs on the small screen of the camera and showing each other with applause. Yogesh was driving and I was showing him our photos. We got back from the car near Santosh Hall, in the evening, and in the very tired condition. We all went home with a message. I was feeling very tired. So went to bed early.

On the second day means on Monday, I realized that I still did not return to the home. My mind was still sitting there in that boat and with the soft and dreamy back water of the dam. Worked quietly in the office. The sharpness of the voice was lost somewhere. There was not much talk. Even if there, I was speaking very softly. I realized that I ..... I really lost myself in that dreamy experience...

From left - Satya (capturing our selfie), Viresh (with red borderline hat), behind him Ashu (with bottle green colored cap), Me in brown jacket and Yogesh on right side.

The lady bird was very bold. She came too close to me nearly just four feet. She was alerted after hearing camera shutter sound and little camera movement while focusing her.

Now some newly edited photographs in 2019

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