Ranthambore Safari

It was 18th October..my college culfest OASIS 2k7 was going on..I had jus returned from a mamoth 6 day trip 2 kulu manali shimla...was lazing around after the pathetic bus journey from Delhi to Pilani via chirawa...infact i had to wait for 30mins and take a jeep from chirawa to pilani(16kms away) as my bus was from dhaula kuan to chirawa only...the jeep had easily over 20 ppl crushed into it..the jeep reminded me of the famous FEVICOL AD !!! ..got a nice 10 rupee offer(for 16kms !!)..so dint mind the junta...i arrived in my Insti @ arnd 830pm...there was Lucky Ali's show @10pm...i bought a stub for that show from my senior for 150bucks and managed 2 get a seat in the heavily crowded auditorium...the show was awesome with Lucky ali finishing it up wid Ek PAl ka jeena frm KNPH...it was 0130,19th october....was roamin around the campus.. gobbled up 3 patties,1 plain dosa,1 plain maggi and a double coffe in ANC(All night canteen though its open only till 2am :) )..just as i was headin back 2 my hostel room..i met a senior who asked me if i was ready for a 2 day trip to ranthambore agra and bharatpur....imagine facing this question aftr roamin for 6 days nonstop !!!!! i dint know what 2 answer...after few mins i replied in the affirmative....OMG i dint know where the enthu came from..i was ready for yet another trip !!!!!!! The trip was to start on 19th night frm Pilani....13 of us(all wer seniors except of course myself !!!!!)...We got up in the morning..browsed various sites and were busy finalising the routes and places to be covered..we saw the routes in google earth and had got a decent picture of what was in store for the 2 days...
Then we had 2 call the redi wala(the roadside eatout shop who owns INNOVA,qualis,tavera and wat not...he is the unofficial travel agent for BITSians !!!!) We booked one tavera and one qualis ..he charged Rs6.5 per km against the normal Rs5.5 per km..he sensed the holiday mood in us and wasnt ready to compromise on the rate...after a bit of arguments..we finally settled for Rs6.25 per km. !!!! Since we had to take warden permission 2 go out...and none of us had...we took the Ganga Store exit and sneaked out of the campus and asked the cars 2 come outside the Main Gate..After a bit of confusion among us as to who must board which car...we finally started frm pilani @ 10pm....i was in the Tavera...and the qualis was followin us....we collected the common pool money of 500 per head(this was just the initial payment..later we collected 500 at many stages as they got used up ) and i was to maintain the accounts for the trip...each and evry expenditure was to be used from the common pool and accounted in a diary !Was a difficult Task...We were heading to Ranthambore via Jaipur...our plan was to take the morning 630am jungle safari..we had to fill fuel @ arnd midnight ..then we had a stop at a DHABA..we ate well..and the common pool required an addition 500 rupees within 3 hrs of start of the journey!!!!!!! so 1000 per head was spent within 3 hrs !But that included the fuel bill so dat was ok....Till Jaipur the journey was top class...mind u Rajasthan state highways are quite good...but Jaipur to Ranthambore was a nightmare..we reached the Ranthambore ticket counter at 0625..we were just in time..bcos 0630 the counter was to be closed...the safari costed 285bucks per head...( i dint expect iit to be so costly though safaris are normally expensive..i dint know dat)The tickets were issued in such a manner that we got spilt into two groups one had 8 ppl and the other 5...and ranthambore is such a big forest that the safaris are done on 5 different routes in a big open Caravan....so both the gropus had 2 go on different routes...it was 3.5hr safari...we travelled through the densest of forest areas..the guide was showin us some so called PUG MARKS for more than 2hrs ..we lost hope of spottin a tiger....finally the driver applied sudden breaks...a tiger whizzed past the front of the caravan...evry1 was amazed...Yo i spotted a TIGER !!!the guide tld lookin at me"Chillao Mat..chillayenge to Tiger baagh jaayega !!!"Guess my voice cud frighten even a tiger !!!!!! The tiger went behind the bush and gave a CATwalk !!! went around our vehicle..and then silently moved away...we took some nice snaps of the tiger and the tiger was like within 10 feet frm us...It was a gr8 moment in my life..We guys were thinking and hoping that the other 5 wudnt hav spotted one :)...At 10am when the safari ended..we had travelled 40kms in the jungle and finally met the other group...unfortunately they had spotted a tiger but fortunately they wernt as fortunate as our grp (evil thought u see)!!!! their tiger was like 1km away..across a valley !!!Then we were recounting the experiences of the safari for a while and we had to go to sawai madhopur main city for brunch...we zoomed in our vehicles and finally spotted a mediocre restaurant near the railway station..we had the usual northy stuff of naans and panner etc etc !!!! it was half an hour past noon..our plan was 2 go for the afternoon safari as well !! we communicated our intentions to the driver...but the driver misunderstood what we said and headed straight towards AGRA...we realised we were offtrack only after we had travelled arnd 40kms !!!!we stopped the vehicle..asked the driver ..and later found that we were headin to AGRA and not ranthambore !!!the group of 5 was very upset..they wanted another chance to spot the tiger but their efforts went in vain...we then decided 2 proceed 2 AGRA which was some 200kms away...this was the worst part of the day..Tyre puncture..horrible road...wrong route taken by driver which caused yet another burden of 75kms !!!!!we made it to bharatpur which is 50kms before AGRA...
930pm...we were busy hunting for a hotel to stay overnight..we were unable 2 fit our budget into many of the hotels..we were roamin arnd unsucessfully for arnd 1hr ...junta started complaining of hunger !!..we found a McDonald's outlet..but unfortunately it was closed that day since some1 nearby had passed away !Luckily we found a nice AC rwe stopped at a dhaba...saw the 20-20 match between india and australia for a while..and later proceeded towards AGRA..finally we reached agra at aroundestaurant called LAXMI VILAS...i must say that it is the best possible south indian hotel in north..maybe DASAPRAKASH can compete with it...we gobbled and hogged as much as we could(note: only a BITS-Pilani student (who is cursed to eat in the mess) would ustand how important food is !!!)We got some horrible lodging in an unnamed hotel !! it costed like some 1500 for 13ppl...the water was close 2 sewer !!!! it was a forgettable stay at that place..we had our alarms set at 5am...we wanted to catch the sunrise @the TAJ MAHAL..but as usual..we kept snoozing so much that for a moment i felt we wud be only catching up with the SUNSET !!!!!we left the place @ 9am ..took an unscheduled stop for breakfast and by the time we were at the TAJ..it was close to 11am !!!!! we were 5hrs behind schedule !!omg...and we had to cover fatehpursikri.. bharatpur bird sanctuary and head back 2 pilani by night!!we spent close 2 two hours @ the TAJ..took nice poses wid friends and relaxed a bit in the shade..it was damn sunny that day..the TAJ looked as beautiful as it is always..this was my 2nd Trip to the Taj..but i liked the monument better this time around...for many it was a 1st time experience..we were recollecting some mughal stories as we were gettin back to the car park..we found the driver missing...after dozens of phone calls he walked cooly ...he delayed our already delayed schedule by 1more hr !!We once again dropped into that yummy LAXMI VILAS for lunch..some of them preferred the McD which was opp to it...we then started frm agra @ around 1430...we were in a fix as to whether we need 2 go to fatehpur sikri or guss it and go straight 2 bharatpur sanctuary..fatehpur sikri is halfway through the highway to bharatpur(50kms frm AGRA)..we then decided 2 go to fatehpur sikri..we were taken to the BULAND DARWAZA by the guide...Buland darwaza is magnificently huge..he showed us the secret passage that akbar made between fatehpursikri and lahore !!!!!that passage has been closed now through agreement between both INDIAN and PAKSITANi govts..else it cud serve as a nice passage for the terrorists !! we enjoyed the evening there...there were some bird enthusiasts who pressed for the bharatpur visit bf4 it got dark..hence we hurried up things at fatehpursikri and headed twrds bharatpur..we reached the sanctuary @ 1730 and it seems the sanctuary close by 1700hrs !!!!! we were disappointed...but as part of consolation all of us took pics infornt of the nameboard of the bird sanctuary !!then we instructed our driver to head back to pilani via ALWAR...we left bharatpur @1800hrs..we had a 300kms journey ahead of us...we reached a rail crossing wer i could luckily capture the mumbai rajdhani zoomin past @ 130kmph ..it had nice bright LHB coaches ...looked like some foreign train...then we were in for some bad roads(expected of rural india)..it was pitch dark..and the direction signs missing..so there were lots of confusion regardin the route 2 be taken at junctions..after a half a dozen mistakes..we were back on track...we reached alwar @2200hrs...i was damn sleepy and hence dint have the dinner along with th other guys..i slept in th car and woke up @2330..and found that we were in the same place !!!!!!! there was F1 race on Tv and the guys had delayed it further..the driver ws damn angry with group and started protesting that he wudnt drive the car till morning..he complained that he dint get sleep throughout the day...afeter various requests..he agreed 2 drive..but he started behaving strangely and started driving @ 120kmph...there was some quarrel betwee the two car drivers and hence they started racing against each other...i was witnessing a NFS race in real life !!!!The driver started smoking heavily to get rid of sleep...infact that act of his made us get rid of our sleep !!!!!we had to ask him to stop smoking..but he wudnt agree ...we kept mum..he zoomed all through the state highway frm alwar to pilani...thank god that section had well maintained roads...we reacherd..rewar..then narnaul...surajgarh and then chirawa... the driver had some tea @ chirawa..then rushed us bak 2 pilani...we finally reached our insti @ 3am !!!!Thank God we were back safe !!!!After completing the formalities regarding payment.i headed straight back 2 crash in my room...the followin morning a guy came and asked me ..shall we go 2 bikaner !!!!!..i said "Oh,no..NOT AGAIN !!!!!"