Hagerty's Law
If you lose your temper at a newspaper columnist, he'll get rich or famous or both.

Vedanthangal. Once again
A lazy sunday beckoned me into thinking what to do. Why not Vedanthangal? The beautiful bird sanctuary 80km from Chennai.
A wise choice it turned out to be, indeed. The plentiful rains in the past couple of months, full water in the lakes and a pleasant temperature has seemingly attracted quite a large number of birds.

And while we were at it, why not Crocodile park, a herpetologist's paradise and a great time-killer.

So myself, armed with my marvel-in-miniaturization camera and a couple of binoculors headed down the road to the Crocodile park. Reptiles of all sizes who make their abode there never ceased to amaze me. From the giant Jaws III, to the unique looking gharials, to the common muggers and the snake room, where thick fat rock pythons competed for attention with the slender and majestic king cobras. A bunch of egrets also decided that the park with vicious crocodiles was safe for its chicks!!!.



Too bad for the cloudy day. Photos never come out good :(

An hours drive later, 45 km away was Vedanthangal, enticing me to come in with all its variety and sheer number of birds. The most common ones were the brite and colorful Painted Storks, pelicans, white egrets, cormorants, common ibis, glossy ibis and a lot more. Thought the latter three only arrived later in the evening (with poor lights), the first three put up quite a show, a delight to watch. The painted storks were closest to the observation areas, collecting twigs from dead trees to make their nest. It was quite cute to see them paired up.



Two hours later, with a sad heart, I was forced to leave that place. It beckons to me once again.

I find this more enlightening and enriching than a "darshan" in Tirumala. Probably the highlight of my trip to India.

And now, I am off to Bombay on a 3 day trip, for no reason at all.