Festivals of India: Bogi, Pongal, Sankranti & Lohri

May the warmth of the rising sun bring about the positive transformation & change in your world!

Happy Bogi, Pongal, Sankranti & Lohri to everyone at S2S!

Glimpses from a Lohri celebration. 

Lohri is the belief that it is the cultural celebration of the winter solstice. Lohri is meant to be celebrated on the shortest day of the year. A key feature of Lohri is the bonfire. Lighting of the fire has been common in winter solstice festivals throughout time and the world: it signifies the return of longer days. For some the bonfire has a religious meaning, a remnant of ancient origins, perhaps?
For others, the bonfire is no more than a tradition and a time to socialise and make merry.

More images of Festivals of India on the S2S Facebook timeline.

Wish you a great season ahead!

Xoxo,
S2S

The beast search- where are the tigers?

Just before we left for Bandhavgarh we got some timely providential advice from friends (veterans who have visited the reserve innumerable times) on why 'not to expect to sight a tiger' while on a safari. Keeping this mindset helps evade disappointment and lets you enjoy the wild just the way it is...in its natural state of affairs.

As the first day unfolds:
Frankly, the advice did help us quiet a bit especially since the first 2 attempts of spotting the royal beast was a true failure. While we began each safari with a single minded objective of 'we will spot the beast' somewhere at the back of our mind the friendly advice shared by the veterans helped us focus on other aspects of this beautiful jungle.

The unfolding of the morning itself kept us spell bound on the first day. So far we had only witnessed peaceful herds of spotted deer (Chittal) busy grazing the forest floor accompanied by innumerable sets of restless grey langur (Hanuman) that always camp with the deer herd. More than often, not very far off from the spotted deer one can find the Sambhar and the Indian Muntjack, also known as the 'Barking Deer' flocking together. They seem to be the most densely populated animals of the jungle. 

Tiger pugs and experiencing the trails:
While we saw this splendid sight of the jungle, we felt a rush of excitement when we learned to identify fresh tiger pug mark trails that were brought to our notice by the driver and the guide. The pug trail on the mud roads clearly suggested that we are possibly close to spotting the predator. The freshness of the trails is more than often evident and if you are the first few jeeps entering the zone it is impossible to be missed. The pug marks also indicate the possible tiger of the zone that you may expect to spot.

The "alarm call":  A fascinating reality of the jungle
Within the first 20 minutes of the safari at the Magdhi Zone we were introduced to the concept of an 'alarm call'. As per the rule of the jungle, the "alarm call" is heard when a predator is close enough to such herd habitats. It is the barking of the Indian Muntjack and the screeching of the langur clan accompanied by the birds that alerts the herd of the lurching danger. This is also a sign for the human guides to identify an opportunity to catch a glimpse of beast and hence known as the "alarm call" in the jungle lingo.

Frustrating miss!
We stopped the moment we heard the first calls. For us it was the first time and got to learn of this spectacular fact from the guide in due course. It was evident that the call was coming from very close to our jeep and so we planned on silently waiting and watching for more signs. We felt our blood gushing every-time the intensity of the "alarm call" increased until after a 10 minutes of this intense drama the guide announced that the sounds have died down. Looks like the tiger must be taking a rest break. DARN!!!
Hence it was time to continue scouting for the beast at another place...

We didn't hear any more alarm calls thereafter but did get to meet many other fellow safari jeeps who passed on exciting messages of possible tiger trails that rest of us continued to chase.

Some spotted the tiger:
As luck would have it, the tiger was spotted by another set of guests at the same spot where we had failed the attempt, the same area around the morning alarm call.

Continued effort and more determination to chase the 'T' down:
All we did for the next few days was to keep up with the tiring and heart flipping search; the search where all we did was to 'tiger chase'!!!

Close of day-1:
"Where are the tigers?" was all we felt at the end of the first day post two 3 hour safari's.
The gang was happy in a way as we had moved on from spotting deer to seeing a family of wild boar and a flock of innumerable peacocks spread across an open field that separated the core from the buffer zone. All this in the back drop of the golden ball of the setting sun, rekindling hope of a fresh new day ahead.

We went to bed exhausted but kept the hope of "catching the tiger in the morning" alive!

January; 'The door to the year' in Latin.

January (in Latin, Ianuarius) is named after Janus, the God of beginnings and transitions; the name has its beginnings in Roman mythology, coming from the Latin word for door (ianua) since January is the door to the year.

Click to download your January Calender.

Traditionally, the original Roman calendar consisted of 10 months totaling 304 days, winter being considered a month-less period. Around 713 BC, the semi-mythical successor of Romulus, King Numa Pompilius, is supposed to have added the months of January and February, allowing the calendar to equal a standard lunar year (354 days). Although March was originally the first month in the old Roman Calendar, January became the first month of the calendar year under either Numa or the Decemvirs about 450 BC (Roman writers differ). In contrast, specific years pertaining to dates were identified by naming two consuls, who entered office on May 1 and March 15 until 153 BC, when they began to enter office on January 1.

Various Christian feast dates were used for the New Year in Europe during the Middle Ages, including March 25 and December 25. However, medieval calendars were still displayed in the Roman fashion of twelve columns from January to December. Beginning in the 16th century, European countries began officially making January 1 the start of the New Year once again—sometimes called Circumcision Style because this was the date of the Feast of the Circumcision, being the seventh day after December 25.

Historical names for January include its original Roman designation, Ianuarius, the Saxon term Wulf-monath (meaning wolf month) and Charlemagne's designation Wintarmanoth (winter / cold month). In Slovene, it is traditionally called prosinec. The name, associated with millet bread and the act of asking for something, was first written in 1466 in the Škofja Loka manuscript.

According to Theodor Mommsen (The History of Rome, volume 4, The Revolution, ISBN 1-4353-4597-5, page 4), 1 January became the first day of the year in 600 AUC of the Roman Calendar (153 BC), due to disasters in the Lusitanian War. A Lusitanian chief called Punicus invaded the Roman territory, defeated two Roman governors, and slew their troops. The Romans resolved to send a consul to Spain, and in order to accelerate the dispatch of aid, "they even made the new consuls enter on office two months and a half before the legal time" (15th of March).

Text coutesy: Wikipedia