Lead up to the wedding- an update

Its been ages since I last posted and I guess its time for a quick update.
Its been an agonizing 5 months but finally, the countdown has begun As I write this, there`s just 9 days left to head home and 17 days for my wedding!
Its amusing to think that within that time I`m going to make the transformation from bachelorhood into a full fledged family man!
Preparations for the wedding are going on at home in my abscence, there's little I can do from here, but I guess, there's work to be done after i reach India... shopping for a wedding garment will be high on the list of priorities!

I`ve sent out email invitations to all of you whose emails I had, but if you havent got one its only because I didnt have your email with me. Rosa and I came up with the design of the card, which was then transformed into reality by my brother - Chacko. For those who are yet to see it, I`m embedding it below.

As some of you were aware, I was sporting a beard. I am now back to my clean-shaven-younger-than-ever looks! A standard question I get asked in relation to that is if it's because Rosa asked me to take it off! O.K, so here it is, for the record. No! Its because I thought, years from now when I look back at my wedding pictures, I think I`d prefer seeing a younger me (compared to the older bearded looks!).


I know a lot of you prefer the beard on, but hey, it grows back!

Two of my friends Morgane and Jolanda, who may be familiar to some of you through this blog will be joining me in India for the wedding.
While Jolanda (left) will accompany me when I fly down, Morgane (right) will join us on 20th. After the wedding they plan to explore a bit around Kerala and get to know its sights, sounds and tastes (especially the last!). If any of you have ideas to entertain them, do get in touch.

Lastly, Rosa and I have been discussing possible honeymoon locations and high on the list is a place called Vythiri tucked away in the pristine forests of Wyanad. While it is not well known to most south and central Keralites, it is surprisingly popular on the internet. If any of you have been there or know more about it, please shoot me a mail.

I`m really excited at coming down and am imaptiently counting down the days. I hope to see most of you at my wedding or before that for Chacko`s wedding on 17th. Please do try and make it. Until then...holding my breath!

Cycling to Severn Beach

Make hay while the sun shines they say. It maynot be very relevant in a country like India where sunshine is taken for granted, but in UK sunshine can make the diffrence between a sleepy weekend indoors or an active outdoor pursuit. And so it was that I was having my leisurely weekend sleep until 10:30 in the morning, and on waking I opened my window to gaze at the perfect weekend weather.
Since the weather forecast was for a rain day on the morrow, I decided to make the most of it and continue my cycling-birdwatching. However, this time I decided to stay clear of the MOD and head the opposite way. I`d been thinking of cycling to the Severn beach sometime and I decided that time would be today.
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And so, with a quick look on google maps to gauge my route, I set off on what would turn out to be close to 4 hours of cycling for about 24 miles back and forth!
The first few miles was along cycle paths on the road side, but that soon came to an end and I got onto the No 4 National Cycle network . The National Cycle network is a series of cycle paths connecting the entire UK and is entirely free of other traffic, except sometimes - horse riders!
Some of the route is quite scenic and leads past almost deserted countryside and I was able to see quite a few birds. The unique ones among them being a Coot, a Grey heron and a Kestrel.

Inspite of well posted signs along the cycle network , it took me a while to find my way. The fact that I have Google maps installed on my phone, helped me find my bearings, but having not charged my phone the previous night, I was soon out of battery and one wrong turn I`d be lost in the middle of nowhwhere.

However, inspite of a few wrong turns I finally ended up at severn beach. The beach is not really much of a beach as most of us would know it. Firstly it is not sandy but rocky and slushy, and secondly the water body is not a sea but an estuary - the Severn estuary. Well, my geographical knowledge was not that great so I was quite surprised to see the muddiest "sea" you`d ever see. The colour of the water was a dirty brown. However what really takes one`s breath away is the Severn crossing bridge- a bridge connecting England with Wales.

Having finally reached my destination, I was starving and tired. I hadnt anticipated such a long ride and hadnt even had breakfast! besides, it was really windy there and the chilly wind was getting to me. I would have liked to stay on and explore the place, but I thought it would be better on another occasion, when Im better prepared and thus I decided to turn back on a never ending ride back home.

There are many things to do along the severn. Bird watching is a popular hobby there and the severn beach is home to many unique birds. Besides that there is a unique phenomenon that occurs at the highest tides along the river Severn - called the Severn bore. The severn Bore is a tidal bore- in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave (or waves) of water that travel up a river or narrow bay against the direction of the current. As such, it is a true tidal wave or a mini tsunami. This video will give you a better impression.
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I hope someday I`ll be able to head back there and watch both birds as well as the severn bore. Until then I`m recouping from the incredible body ache that yesterdays cycling has caused!

Bird-watching in Bristol and a close encounter with the police!

When I was in school, Bird watching, used to be one of my hobbies. Every sunday, I`d borrow a pair of binoculars from my biology teacher and head off into the woods around the school to catch a glimpse of some elusive feathered friends. I would end up having an adventure each time, so much so that I`d often skip the school lunch -and munch on raw carrots and radishes from a farm en route to douse my hunger - and return from the forests only in the evening.
When I left school, my birdwatching ground to a halt in spite of numerous attempts at restarting it. When I came over here to the UK, I thought I could revive the interest, but its been 4 years now and little has happened until now. All that changed on my last trip home. This time round, I was equipped with a camera (Sony DSC H9)that touched the fringes of the requisite specifications for bird photography. .
Besides,this time, I had company. As always there was my brother continuously encouraging me, but also, I had discovered that Rosa`s parents were avid bird watchers too.
During my stay in India, I managed to click quite a few birds, of which, I`ve gathered a selection into the slide show below:


..and not just that, before leaving, all of us even managed to organize a bird watching trip to Thommankuthu waterfalls.
Therefore, when I returned to the UK, I had all intentions of kickstarting my birdwatching/bird photography again. However, the weather has been unbearably cold over the past few weeks to allow for any kind of outdoor hobby.

This week however, with a slight let up in the cold, I decided it was time to attempt something, and thus along with my camera, I set out on my cycle to discover an area that would allow for birdwatching.

Unknown to me until yesterday, is a wooded area lying very close to the university, rich in bird life of all kind. I stumbled upon it by cycling down an untested cycle path and was pleasantly surprised to find, looming ahead an expanse of thickly wooded area with this sign posted at its entrance:

I noticed that the path bifurcated into one that led into the woods while the other - a proper cycle path - went around its periphery.I would dearly have loved to head into the woods, but having my cycle with me negated that possibility. Thus I decided to leave the path through the woods for another time andexplore the rest of the track by cycle. Although stuck on my cycle, I was able to catch sight of many birds, including a Hoopoe - a bird which I havent sighted since schooldays and a Jay and even a deer which disappeared as soon as I fished out my camera.

Birds are among the toughest subjects to photograph, and one requires either incredible luck or infinite patience or both to get good pictures. Sighting a bird is tough enough but sighting it in a location which is amenable for photography is even harder, and actually clicking a picture by zooming, focussing and getting the rest of the settings to satisfaction, while at the same time making yourself oblivious to the bird, all in the split second before the it decides it`s had enough and flown away is quite a task. Me, with one hand holding the bike and the other clicking away, could`nt accomplish much and ended up with more pictures of branches and leaves than birds!
But the days work was more than satisfactory with some other sightings including a Mistle thrush, black headed gulls,Blue tits,Coal tits, Starlings and nuthatches among others
Some of the better pics of the day are pooled into the slideshow below:

I returned home very much satisfied of the days outcome but with a resolve to return, on foot sometime to enable me to creep up on some of the more elusive birds.

And thus, the very next day, I set out on my walk to the woods, only this time it wouldnt be that pleasant!

(below is a map with icons depicting various incidents click the icon for details)

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On my way to the woods, I passed by a complex housing the Ministry of Defence (MoD), and it so happened that my single minded focus on bird photography was drawn towards a large water body decorating the lawns of the MoD. In the water were many water birds, including what looked like terns , gulls and moorhens. I was quite excited to see especially the last in the middle of an urban area and my camera clicked away at them. All this time I was blissfully unaware that I was under surveillance .

I clicked away until the moorhens were scared away by some passerbys and then I continued my walk up to the woods. Half way through I saw a police car parked up ahead. Not in my wildest dreams did I expect that they were lying in wait for me and keenly observing my actions!
When I got to the car, two police - a male and a female got out and requested to have a word. The cops then went on to explain that they had recieved a report claiming that I had been acting suspiciously around the MoD building and that they`d like to have a look at the pictures I took. I was a bit miffed and scared at the same time - I mean, which idiot of a spy would go around in broad daylight clicking spy pictures in full view of the public and then walk slam bang into a waiting police car! However, being a student in a foreign country,I knew better than to argue and obliged eagerly. When the officer saw picture after picture of gulls and pigeons and moorhens, he was either convinced of my innocence or thought that it was a good coverup. Anyhow, he decided to play it safe and ran an identity check on me, all the while assuring me that everything was fine and that I hadnt done anything wrong and attempting to crack a few jokes.
Having done their duty, and cracking a few more jokes to put me at ease, they let me go my way. I was more disturbed than shaken by the encounter. It probably was not wise of me to click photos of birds (by the roadside) belonging to a pond of the Ministry of Defence!!. UK, has a strange way of making a foreigner feel a foreigner no matter how long he stays here, but incidents like this make it all the more hard for one to feel at home.

I did continue my walk and ended up with some more pictures before I headed back, but the cops had doused my spirits and I had lost that keenness of the previous day and I only continued out of a fear that I was being watched and that I had to convince them that I was a only a fledgling birdwatcher struggling to reestablish his hobby, and not the James Bond they were looking for!

However, thats not going to put me off and I intend to continue my bird watching/photography with a sustained vigour, and I`m even considering in investing in a little better equipment. I`m sure you`ll hear from me again,meanwhile take a look at the "spy" photo`s I clicked on the day in this slideshow: