T Nature Club is pleased to announce its winter trail to a beautiful region of the North East India… Namdapha.

Dibru-Saikhowa is a biosphere reserve. This little known site, is one of the biodiversity hot spots situated in the south bank of the river Brahmaputra. It is located in the alluvial flood plains of the Brahmaputra. Fashioned by nature – earthquakes and ever changing water courses it has numerous island pockets and water bodies providing an unusual habitat for varied wildlife
and aqua fauna and avifauna.

Contained between the Debang, Lohit & the Great Brahmaputra rivers,the 340 sq Kms reserve was set up with a view to protecting the grass land and swamp habitat. Its internal water channels & bodies,seasonally flooded forests, “beels”, and grassy pockets, makes it an interesting birding destination for rare specialized grass land and swamp forest birds such as the threatened Marsh Babbler, Jerdon’s Babbler, Black throated Parrotbill, Rufous-vented( swamp) Prinia, and Jerdons Bushcat. You can also spot altitudinal migrants such as Pale-capped pigeon, White-tailed Rubythroat,and Black – breasted Thrush, and various warblers. More than 300 species have been recorded.
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Do you long for the feel of the rain brushing against you!! Do you relish being out when it rains? And to top it up do you enjoy bit of a history that goes around the Hoysala Dynasty along the monsoon? You might have to call Arun to book your seat for a tour called “Tour of Less Known Hoysala Kingdom” Next weekend…yes you read it right, next weekend…
Tariff
* 2 days and 1 night
* Rs.3,850 per person, all inclusive on twin sharing basis
Tariff includes all meals, transportation from Bangalore in AC vehicle, stay at a spacious and comfortable resort inside a coffee estate and guided tour at all destinations.
Itinerary
* Pickup from MG Road on Saturday ( July 4th 2009) morning at 6.30am
* Stay at a resort near Belur
* Return to Bangalore by Sunday night (Drop off at home)
Places Covered
* The temple with four shrines at Doddagaddavelli
* Belur
* Halebeedu
* Ancient town of Dwarasamudra spread around Halebeedu
* Hulikere Tank
* Belavadi Temple
More details are here, Please email at arunchs @ yahoo d.o.t com or call Arun/Lakshmi at 9880006460 / 9902070689 to register for the tour, or for any questions….

Photography Expedition to:
Agumbe Rainforest
May 30-31, 2009

GreatEscapes, in association with Pixetra Club, presents an expedition in to the heart of the Western Ghats with wildlife photographer Amoghavarsha.

Spend 2 days in the thick rainforests of Agumbe, a
King Cobra haven that receives the second highest rainfall in India.
Camp at the country’s first rainforest research station – the ARRS,
and experience Radio Telemetry Tracking of animals first hand.

The photo expedition involves trekking through pristine forests which are home to several rare and endemic species of animals, found nowhere else on the planet. Photograph these rare species in addition to beautiful waterfalls and landscapes that would leave you mesmerized.

The total cost of the expedition ex-Bangalore is Rs 8900/-,
which includes a pre-expedition workshop, travel charges to Agumbe and back,
food and accommodation, local transport and guide and tracker charges.

For further details log on to

www.greatescapes.co.in

To register, please call

Ajay: 98441 61733 / 98861 01005
or Email

info@greatescapes.co.in

Or directly contact:

Amoghavarsha:

+91 9901044344

Website:
http://amoghavarsha.com

Email:
email@amoghavarsha.com

*

Several cyclists of Bangalore have got together and done a very professional job of putting together a Tour Of Nilgiris event, that will kick off from St Joseph’s at 6.30am on 25th December, and go through 919 km of mountainous terrain until the 1st January 2009.

Details of the Tour Of Nilgiris are at:

http://www.tourofnilgiris.com/

I am a cyclist, but I can’t participate, fossilized as I am (it would be, quite literally, the last thing I do!) I am drooling over the mental picture of the cyclists sailing through the incredible beauty of the Nilgiris….I can do *that* quite well!

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Seems like a Deewali gift to Bangaloreans, and shows someone is awake upthere, remains realistic to the infra-starved India, the Parliamentary Standing Committee report (42nd report functioning private airports and related issues) show the signs of practicality and even seem to think along in the interest of passengers in both the cities…

The report highlights issues and concerns in and around HAL airport at Bangalore and Begumpet in Hyderabad, here are some important observations / highlights of this report…

• Charging of ADF or UDF for financing of the airport is not advisable in the context of policy objective of making the air travel more affordable. The committee has recommended that the UDF imposed on passengers may be withdrawn immediately and no more UDF may be imposed on passengers in any airport.
• Closures of existing airports had caused a revenue loss of Rs 610 crore in 2007-08 for the Airports Authority of India and hundreds of crore spent on developing this airports were lying unutilised because of closure of this infrastructure although these were used for VIP flights, general aviation and helicopter taxi services.
• These airports may be used for short haul flights as is the practice existing in major cities of the world which had more than one airport.
• Committee was informed that the Notice Inviting Tender did not have any mention about the closure of HAL airport at Bangalore but was brought in at the later stage of concessionary agreement. As regarding the violation of the norm that no new airport should come up within 150 km of existing airport and the permitting the Greenfield airports in the two southern cities seemed to violate the policy of the Government.
• Both Greenfield airports were far away from the cities compelled the passengers to use other means of transport such as road and trains for short distance destinations. UDF charges have made the travel from these airports costlier both in terms of time and money.
• Committee had found that the equity contributions of these two Greenfield airports were Rs 240 crore in Bangalore and Rs 330 crore in Hyderabad and the land was given at a concessionary rate. Rest of the finance had come from Government agencies by way of debt from financial institutions. If such resources were to be given to AAI itself, they could have easily developed the infrastructure
• The panel had observed that the Bangalore and Hyderabad airports were making the passengers pay ”exorbitant prices’ for the food items in the airports, while those waiting outside had not access to affordable canteen facilities, toilets and bathrooms. excessive commercialisation had taken a toll of the passenger amenities

Read the full coverage here and here

- Celebrations of the 6th International Jawa Yezdi Day on 13th July at Cubbon Park, Bangalore at 7am

The International Jawa CZ Yezdi Day is an annual celebration of those 250 cc Jawa & Yezdi bikes that were sold in India from 1960 to 1997. They are popular for their reliability and low maintenance costs. They were manufactured at the Ideal Jawa factory in Mysore.

To commemorate the 6th International Jawa-Yezdi Day, the Jawa – Yezdi Club of Bangalore is organizing a rally. The following is the route: Cubbon Park – MG Rd – Brigade Rd – Richmond Circle – Lalbagh – Corporation Circle – Mysore Rd – Chennapattana Coffee Day and back

Get-together at 7.00am
Flag Off at 8.00am (Sharp)

For more info, pls contact: Lokesh-9880033994; Sam-99451 44774; Brian-9886101005

The new Bangalore Airport has been written about & talked about a lot largely due to the fact that it is far off from the city. A not so positive point that but then the fact is The Bangalore Airport is up & running. Flights are taking off & landing, getting delayed & canceled. I was there a day after the inauguration and came back…well…read on…

First facts, yes the Bangalore International Airport is far from the city. This fact is so drilled into all of us by now that I suppose we are so mentally tuned to a long travel & starting off well in advance. Once the mental tuning is done the ride becomes that much more bearable. Largely the road from the Hebbal flyover is wide & good so a good car should be able to travel 80-100 km/hr. It took us about an hour to get to the Airport from Commercial Street that Saturday evening.

I really don’t know what a layman should expect from an Airport or from a new Airport for that matter. And especially for someone like me who doesn’t travel around by flights then it is once again of very little significance. But all the hype of the new Airport mostly for the wrong reasons got me curious & I wanted to be there & check it out functioning. Luckily, Brother was off to the US so we went there to see him off.

Only the passengers are allowed entry in to the terminal building while those who travel with the passengers to see them off basically have to hang outside the terminal building. Entry inside is allowed only in the Arrival section. That said the facilities for people who go all the way there to see off someone are not great at all.  The Terminal building is all glass & completely see-through type. So the only activity for most people who go there to see someone off is to follow the progress being made by their traveler in the check in queue. Apart from doing that we looked around for two things. One, some place where we could sit & two, for the toilet. Both were not to be seen. When we enquired with some uniformed facility management chaps their answer was, ‘there is no toilet outside’. That definitely had to be wrong. How could BIAL miss out on something as basic as that? Some more enquiries and we got the directions. We had to walk about 500 meters from the Terminal building for the toilet. And honestly there was nothing International about this toilet, at least in its maintenance. It is very Indian & very local.

I was keen to know how different can an ‘International Airport’ be from an ‘Airport’. I mean really what can be the difference? Well this is what I realized. There is no difference. An Airport is an Airport. And that’s pretty much it. For all those of us who hang out a lot at the malls in Bangalore, we are already used to the escalators, glow signs, uniformed facility management chaps, colorful chairs in the food zones, the organized parking & so on & so forth. The Bangalore International Airport is no different. But yes where the Bangalore International Airport can learn something from the Mall’s facility management chaps is in the maintenance of the toilets. One other area where they can take tips from a mall is in putting up some displays as to where the toilets are. I guess the kind of people who make malls & airports are the same. Because at both places you cant sit.

But yes where the feel of International comes in according to me is in the fact that you don’t see any autos & two wheelers around (I didn’t see any two wheelers at the air port that day but can’t confirm if they are not allowed there). Another area where you get a feel of International is in the size of the entire thing. It’s big & especially so when it’s compared to the previous HAL Airport. Despite these stand out features where it probably lacks in the International tag is Security. It does seem relaxed. Even the area next to the terminal building where some flights are parked can be clearly seen from the distance. The flights are only about a stone’s throw away.  One other area where some improvement would be great is in the food area. Is darshini type food or South Indian food per se not International? Why is it that we get more North Indian & the burger/sandwich type fare there than South Indian? Where is the promotion of local culture there

To sign off on a good note there is one good thing and that too with the most dreaded aspect about the airport, the connectivity. One can rest assured about the connectivity. BMTC has buses every half hour & round the clock. We took a BMTC Volvo well past mid night. This definitely is more cost effective & convenient but only to get into the city. From there you will have to rely on the auto or a taxi again. Other wise of course there are taxi services round the clock as well at the airport.

- “HAaL ya B(IA)haaL!!”

May 22nd 2008, yes that’s the date! Just a day before HAL is pushed to cease domestic travel. Despite formal position of the civil aviation ministry is that metros require two airports likes of Mumbai and Delhi….

In an interlocutory petition filed by social worker B Krishna Bhat, Bangalore City Connectivity Foundation (BCCF) and advocate G R Mohan, SC sought the details regarding the meeting’s held involving the Chief Secretary and other senior officials on April 19 and May 12, it is learnt that in these meeting they found it impossible to retain the HAL airport.

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Now that the May 23rd 2008 takes all commercial flights off HAL airport, after the great ‘fixing’ of the protests to keep it open HAL is finally set to rest, an article written by Mr. R K Mishra about this episode in todays times highlights the same…

The new airport is all set to put holes in the pockets of the travelers under UDF charges and roaring taxis that will clinch out few more hundreds, that’s the story now!! The infrastructure starving city is now getting hoaxed by this new ‘arrangement’ by and between few that would churn many closing the HAL airport…uhhhh!
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The vacation planning to Mumbai is overdue for my family, the reason my reservations to fly from BIAL. Looking at the time and cost estimate I am still confused whether to fly or catch the train. Here are few points to ponder..

Time Factor > The access to the HAL airport currently takes 15 minutes for me from Indira Nagar, this time will be history once the new BIAL opens post march and closes down all passenger flights out of HAL (as per the contract I understand) the new airport is almost 35-40 kms from my house that will eat up atleast two hours for travel. Essentially this means I can not take early morning flights that will not be of any advantage anymore. The air travel is usually taken to ’save’ time of travel and the BIAL is taking ‘passengers for a ride’ for sure on the ‘time’ factor.

Cost factor > for the present HAL airport it takes me just 50 rupees by auto or Rs.125 by a call taxi. To use the new airport I will have to shell out atleast Rs 600 for a call taxi minimum and completely forget using auto. Knowing the ‘nature’ of private taxi operators to take passenger for granted this cost would easily end up around Rs.800-1000. Reaching airport thus becomes costlier than the airline ticket (that I am used to pay Rs.500/600 if booking is done two months in advance )which I certainly will not ‘agree’ to pay just because someone singed a contract with BIAL without taking general public views / reactions into consideration. It is also learnt that BIAL has sent a proposal to the Union civil aviation ministry seeking to levy use a development fee of Rs 675 on outgoing domestic travelers, which makes me wonder why??

Essentially this ‘arrangement’ of a large airport would have a major impact on domestic travel for both family and business travelers. The business travel which ‘prefers’ the same-day-return travel to save on accommodation cost, this now looks a distant possibility! On the other hand this BIAL can get going good for international travel as it is more pre-planned and these time and cost factors may not have major bearing there…

I am yet to get the grip on this ‘new airport’ arrangement for domestic travel due to these aforesaid practical reasons. I feel BIAL has just lost one customer for sure before it even starts its operation, what say??