Late last month, my sabbatical came to an end. What started out as a few weeks stint in the jungle, turned out to be a 6 month long sabbatical. Got to see some of the amazing varieties of animals, birds, insects and plants in the jungle and more importantly, I’ve learnt so much about them. Met a lot of interesting people and made friends with some even more amazing people at BR hills. More then the animals, I miss the people and my way of life there.
I want to thank two people who made this whole sabbatical happen.
Harsha : He is the naturalist in Bandipur, and he is the reason why I got so interested in wildlife and he is the reason who convinced me to do this. If you ever go to Bandipur, do meet him. Harsha, if you are reading this, thanks a lot. You have no idea, how much you have given me. Sarath C R : Sarath was my boss and he was the one who offered me the naturalist position. He is the soul behind Jungle Lodges and he is the reason why most of the forests are still intact here. Lives a life of adventure and he is climbing Kilimanjaro next month.
These 6 months have changed me quite a bit. Made me realise what I really want to do in my life. I wish I could have continued at BR hills, but I’m not earning anything there and I’m burning up money way too fast. Hard face of life – Money *does* make the world go round. So here I am, back in the city, trying to make a living (more about it in the next post).
Ofcourse this does not mean, I will give up my wildlife photography or stop visiting forests. I will slip into the forests whenever I have time and I will keep posting pictures more often then before ( I have some 30GB of images sitting on my machine ).
Peace.
best of luck .
.u wont miss the jungle too much
loads of wildlife inblore city to capture
>:)
Welcome to the “real” jungle.
Welcome back to the concrete jungle.
Beware
Many people would be willing to kill for the 30 GB
gotta kno about u thru someone
…kept reading all through this time..
money does make a difference but guess the knowledge that what u were doing is gona be there only for a limited time makes it more enjoyable and worthwhile..!
Count these six months a lifetime and let this earning tenure be the short period between lifetimes!!!!
nd u know life rocks!
U have become a living legend .. no kidding
all the best with the new venture ..
C’est la vie – now you will never forget what you are *really* working for
Just a thought…
Honestly dude, for a long time now, your blog has been my homepage
. I totally enjoyed reading it and enjoyed the pics. Its actually quite sad to see you return to bangalore 
. You’re better off as a ‘junglee’
Anyways, All the best with your consulting firm.
Just a thought ….
I guess there are quite a lot of people reading your blog. Do u guys think we can we can contribute (financially.. of course) and send this guy back to where he belongs ??
Hey…. just wanted to say….
“Never ever give up what you love to do soooo much”….. You will always be able to find time out for it….
And otherwise…. All the very best….
Yup he is living legend
The jungle sure will miss you
Good to have ya back and good luck with whats ahead.
Best of luck
So we caught you at BR Hills just at the right time, eh? Thanks for showing us around at BR Hills, we had a great time.
I wish that I was independently rich didn’t have to work for a living. No question where I would be if that was the case. The jungle.
It must be tough leaving that wonderful place behind, but the upside is that you can visit whenever you miss the place.
And all the other wonderful places in Karnataka.
Best of luck with your new job/consulting firm/whatever
Kartik
P. S. Must send you my nightjar photos sometime (when I manage to scan them), they are pretty sharp although not as frame filling as yours.
Good luck!
Good luck Kalyan, with whatever you decide to do next. I have enjoyed your photos and the commentary immensely — thank you!
Just a word of advice about the 30GB you are sitting on — make sure you have a backup! I just lost a bunch of photos in a hard drive crash last week. Don’t get burned — backup today!
Thanks again,
Kaushik
now that is truly cool.. welcome back! and i wish u many more adventures.. good luck dude
“More then the animals, I miss the people and my way of life there” – impressive!
Would love to hear more folk tales from the forests, your trysts and travails, and see the treasure trove of pictures!
Hopefully you are a harbinger of things to come
Re: gotta kno about u thru someone
Totally agree. I’m already planning my next sabbatical
they say, to win some you need to lose some. So here I am working for the good stuff.
Pictures will be coming soon.. but you will have to wait for the rest for a while
Kallu… all the best with your venture, you are truly a torch-bearer for our generation, inspiring!
I’m sure you realise how incredibly *lucky* you are to steal 6 whole freaking months!
) Awesome! @-)
Re: Just a thought…
I will surely make it a point to visit the forests and the pictures will sure be coming.. I can assure you that
in an ideal world…
Ideally, when someone loves what he does so much and is so good at it, he should make enough money to allow him to do it full time….but welcome to the real world! Well, at least you have had the money, AND the courage,to do what you want for this stretch of time, and be clear in your mind about what matters to you…and you are lucky enough to be able to come back after a sabbatical to the prospect of being able to earn more money….most people dare not knock off from their jobs for fear of not being able to get one when they return.
Hope the bootstrapping is going well…call when you can.
Good luck with your new role as CEO of a company.
Today’s APOD has a view from top of Kilimanjaro, may be Sarath with get to see something similar. Its interesting to read why you pursued this sabbatical.
WoW. I’m sending this link to him right away. thanks.
Re: in an ideal world…
Will call you.
And I will tell you my plans the next time i meet you
journeys, and more journeys.
no “land ahoy!”, just “anchor off!”
let the midas touch roll on
Remember you were to be part of this current one
.
Re: in an ideal world…
hey kalyan…
sad to know abt that…
hey i have a query..
ive seena photo some time back..alittle bird..i dotn remeber exactly..
but there is some link provided…rtns.org/—–
can u just keep a link ..
its very nice…iactulu missed that picutre
thanks bye
ramu
Re: in an ideal world…
Is it this :
http://rtns.org/tmp/purple_sunbird_juv.jpg
I like the attitude with which you have come back to the Rat Race. Keep that chin up. You know that your next sabattical is right around the whichever corner you want it to be.
backup the 30gigigigigigigi
…. do back it up … preferably on an Iomega External Hard disk USB2.0 … :-d …. fyi .. their 160GB costs just 8k ….
-lacampnou
All good things come to an end eventually
Best of luck settling back into city life, and thanks for sharing your photos and experiences both through your blog and in person. I’m sorry it had to end!
-Derek
Completely agree with that!
All the best for your new venture kallu!
Dude .. face it .. he acted & we are lazy bums
I was too lazy to work, so ended up with the sabbatical
)
Si Senor!
Have u ever thought of becoming a professional photographer for the National Geographic book/channel or the likes of them?