Friday, July 26, 2024

Time to plant rice


Come Monsoon and its time to plant rice the lifeline of Bengal/ bihar, the staple diet, did you know Bihar has the most fertile of land for growing rice, followed by Bengal, No Its not Punjab but Bihar and Bengal that produces more rice per sq foot

 


 

Black Naped Monarch feeding its chics


 

Close up of what we saw of the birds being fed by the parent of Black naped Monarch

 

 


 

Mother and father both work to feed the kids and are a pleasure to watch them caring for there family.

Monday, July 15, 2024

Mcclaskiganj again

 


Morning 0700 hours a friend is at the door, and has 2 days off, so we are on a road trip one of those instantaneous decisions that one can make with people you really trust I feel

 

We both set off in 15 min time, 2 shorts, 2 t – shirt, bush comb and paste, 2 bottles of water and a extra pair of shoes packed, we got in the car and then decided we will go due West, so that’s Ranchi and beyond, 

 


 

We filled up fuel, the Car told us this tank of gas would see us good for 600km, and set off, (I was excited as 1 tank of fuel gives me 300- 400 km approx., here we were anticipating double) Good news already.

 

  1 st Toll we hit and heaved a sigh of relief as the Toll gates opened up, My dear friend was not sure if there was enough money in the fastag, 

 

 


 

We stopped for (Aloo chop) Potato cutlet at Manoj Dhaba, on the way, 50km approx.  From Jamshedpur heading towards Ranchi, Rs 70 worth of Aloo chop later we hit the road again the next Toll we came to, the Car showed as Blacklisted (which means we did not have enough money on the Fastag) and I was feeling really hungry again, 

 

The toll keeper was ok to let me cross the toll and help me recharge so long as I left a ID with him, I did One better, I left my Friend at the toll, after all what better assurance could we give (pun intended)

Recharge done we hit the road once again and stopped for proper Breakfast, Coffee and Dosa

 


 




Onward again we were headed to Ranchi and beyond, reaching Ranchi border, not wanting to enter town we hit ring road and headed to a place I had visited a year earlier, Macluskigung we were headed to?

 

I knew the roads were good and have a friend who runs a homestay which is just Awesome, its called AMYRA homestay and very worth a visit.

 


 http://amyrahomestays.com/

 

 

We reached outskirts of the city of mccluskiganj and had lunch at the Dhaba just before the city starts, 

 


 
snacking while waiting for food

 

Meal not complete without Jalebi

Breathing the fresh air we were feeling rejuvenated and finally we headed into the Anglo village of mccluskiganj

 

7 km into the city is the homestay we had chosen and we sure had a lovely time while we were there,


Mccluskiganj is a Anglo Indian village, which was inhabited by many whites who wanted to stay back in India post independence, approx. 400 families, thus also called Mini London,

 




 

 


 


 

Along the years lack of employment opportunity, no good healthcare and education saw majority of the residents migrate to Australia, UK, Canada to name a few 

Many of the houses were left in charge of the caretakers, in some case gifted to them too,  and thus maintenance of the estate is not the best in some cases.

 


 


McCluskieganj was the brainchild of Ernest Timothy McCluskie, a rich property dealer based in Kolkata who after acquiring the 10,000 acres of land from the Maharaja of Ratu, launched the 'Colonization Society of India' in 1933.

 


 


Babloo Paswan is the owner of this house and today his livelihood is from running goats and selling fruits.



 

The bungalows exteriors are in good shape in some cases,  

 

The day came to an end, we were happy campers at Amyra calling it a night .

  Wonderful roads for most part I say  

 

 


 


Black naped Monarch story


 

10th July:  Nest Of black Naped Monarch, so much care goes in breeding eh!, any idea what the stuff is on the nest that’s white ?

 

 


 

15th July:  Black naped Monarch baby’s have hatched, shot by Rajat Ghosh , we spied the nest 10 days back and have been following the nest every 5 days, see what we found today