Off to the jungles on *Work*
Remember the naturalist training I had been to couple of weeks ago ? Well after the course the chief naturalist over there asked me to come over and meet him at his office and just as I hoped, he offered me a job as a naturalist at BRT forests (K Gudi).
Since I have other things to do here in bangalore, I said , I’ll do the job for couple of weeks and then decide on my future. So starting Jan 1st 2005, I’m of to work there for anywhere between 2 weeks to 2 months. This place does not have power (a generator is turned out for an hour every evening) and no internet access (I’ll have to drive to the nearest town to pick up GPRS signal), which means after after many years, I’ll be totally offline.
I never imagined (even a month ago) that I’d be doing something as random as this in my life. I, for one always wanted to do this since I was a kid. I grew up looking at Jane goodall and likes on NGC and said to myself “Hey, I want to do that when I grow up” and this is like my childhood dream come true. (I also wanted to be an astronaut, but thats a diff story).
This will also mean, no more regular blogging from my side and will be very late on my email. If you are planning on a vacation into the jungle, then do drop in at BRT. I can be your personal guide 🙂
Best of luck dude !! after all fashion photography was never your cup of tea eh 😉 !!
I never imagined (even a month ago) that I’d be doing something as random as this in my life.
This is not something *random* … this is a very well planned ‘coincidence’ … a lot of things fell into place … not everyone is as lucky to be doing such *random* things that they like.
the best job advice I’ve come across :
Find something you would do for free and then try to make money out of doing it !!
Best of luck again !!
PS: You still owe me a photo shoot!
PS2: If you are really bored in the jungle, message me, I’ll save your messages :-p !!
Cool !! Hopefully Ill come visiting with my new camera ;-).
You Da Man !
Very few people like you can make such decisions in life. Wish you a very best of luck.
All the best! Sounds great!
Hey have a great time n all the best!!
How wonderful. Best of luck! 🙂
No Internet?
Are you sure you can do without Internet? Certainly I can’t.
Reminds me of following joke:
Desert-Island Engineer
A rather inhibited engineer finally splurged on a luxury cruise to the Caribbean. It was the “craziest” thing he had ever done in his life.
Just as he was beginning to enjoy himself, a hurricane roared upon the huge ship, capsizing it like a child’s toy. Somehow the engineer, desperately hanging on to a life preserver, managed to wash ashore on a secluded island.
Outside of beautiful scenery, a spring-fed pool, bananas and coconuts, there was little else. He lost all hope and for hours on end, sat under same palm tree. One day, after several months had passed, a gorgeous woman in a small rowboat appeared.
“I’m from the other side of the island,” she said. “Were you on the cruise ship, too?”
“Yes, I was, ” he answered. “But where did you get that rowboat?”
“Well, I whittled the oars from gum tree branches, wove the reinforced gunnel from palm branches, and made the keel and stern from a Eucalyptus tree.”
“But, what did you use for tools?” asked the man.
“There was a very unusual stratum of alluvial rock exposed on the south side of the island. I discovered that if I fired it to a certain temperature in my kiln, it melted into forgeable ductile iron. Anyhow, that’s how I got the tools. But, enough of that,” she said.
“Where have you been living all this time? I don’t see any shelter.”
“To be honest, I’ve just been sleeping on the beach,” he said.
“Would you like to come to my place?” the woman asked. The engineer nodded dumbly.
She expertly rowed them around to her side of the island, and tied up the boat with a handsome strand of hand-woven hemp topped with a neat back splice. They walked up a winding stone walk she had laid and around a Palm tree. There stood an exquisite bungalow painted in blue and white.
“It’s not much, but I call it home.” Inside, she said, “Sit down please; would you like to have a drink?”
“No, thanks,” said the man. “One more coconut juice and I’ll throw up!”
“It won’t be coconut juice,” the woman replied. “I have a crude still out back, so we can have authentic Pina Coladas.”
Trying to hide his amazement, the man accepted the drink, and they sat down on her couch to talk. After they had exchanged stories, the woman asked, “Tell me, have you always had a beard?”
“No,” the man replied, “I was clean shaven all of my life until I ended up on this island.”
“Well if you’d like to shave, there’s a razor upstairs in the bathroom cabinet.”
The man, no longer questioning anything, went upstairs to the bathroom and shaved with an intricate bone-and-shell device honed razor sharp. Next he showered — not even attempting to fathom a guess as to how she managed to get warm water into the bathroom — and went back downstairs.
He couldn’t help but admire the masterfully carved banister as he walked. “You look great,” said the woman. “I think I’ll go up and slip into something more comfortable.”
As she did, the man continued to sip his Pina Colada. After a short time, the woman, smelling faintly of gardenias, returned wearing a revealing gown fashioned out of pounded palm fronds.
“Tell me,” she asked, “we’ve both been out here for a very long time with no companionship. You know what I mean. Haven’t you been lonely, too…isn’t there something that you really, really miss? Something that all men and woman need? Something that would be really nice to have right now!”
“Yes there is!” the man replied, shucking off his shyness. “There is something I’ve wanted to do for so long. But on this island all alone, it was just…well, it was impossible.”
“Well, it’s not impossible, any more,” the woman said.
The man, practically panting in excitement, said breathlessly: “You mean… you actually figured out some way we can CHECK OUR EMAIL HERE!!??!!”
JD
Yeah! go for it!! follow your dreams and you will be always happy
Congratulations and best of luck.
This is, as you know, a chance of a lifetime, so make the most of it. Dont miss civilization too much.. let it miss you more!
Wish I could visit you but alas, Bangalore and nearby areas are too far away from me!! Heh.
Have fun, and click millions of snaps.. esp of baby elephants and more. Cheers. 🙂
Congrats dude ..
have fun .. dont miss the city too much ..
will come visiting in end of jan ..
Cool!! Congrats dude!
Hey great news !
I need a holiday soon and soooooooooo ……. I might drop in ! 😉
-nerdy
PS : Wish you luck in whatever you do ! 🙂
whoa!
Have Fun!
And yes, you just might see me walk into your guide cabin at 10pm on a cold, freezing night.
And I WILL be the one with the a) Vodka on the rocks, and b) Misc. Satellite based net access tools 🙂
Go for it!
Hey Kallu, have loads of fun man!!
You are gonna be in tune with nature more from now onwards.
How about starting a nature photo blog then? 😉
Go for it!
Hey Kallu, have loads of fun man!!
You are gonna be in tune with nature more from now onwards.
How about starting a nature photo blog then? 😉
– Swaroop
http://www.swaroopch.info
All the best
My Best wishes Kalyan,
Only few people are lucky enough to do what they want.
I’ve been to B R Hills once,its an amzing place.
Be careful with the forest animals 🙂
Kalyan
Congrats and all the best dude!
Is shilpa back from mangalore ? I could do a combined shoot before you go 🙂
Re: No Internet?
lets see how long I can stay away from the dark force 🙂
wow!
this is so cool! i can’t believe you’re actually doing it!! do you have a huge trust fund hidden somewhere? 🙂
but seriously, and i haven’t been to br hills. so now i have an excuse. am putting it on my places to visit over the next few months. when do you start, btw?
Nice to read that. Go for it. 🙂
P.S. Whenever you walk into the other town to buy a matchbox (e.g. in rains when the usual stones are too wet to create fire, etc.), do use GPRS to post a thing or two. 😉
Awesome!
Awwesommme news!! All the best, Have helluva fun doing what you enjoy the most… and enjoying what you do the best 🙂
whoa!
here’s someone following his instincts! way to go kalyan!!
sure it’ll turn out be an experience of a lifetime!
wish ya luck!!:D
Best of luck , this is going to be one of those ‘best days of my life ‘ periods for you 🙂
Wow!! Kallu…way to go dude!!
All the best 🙂
Thanks. I just hope I last out there for a while
Re: Awesome!
I’m going to be enjoying the work I am going, I wish I could be the best at it though 🙂
Once I figure out how to use the sunrays to power my phone and laptop 😉
Re: wow!
I start this weekend and yeah I soon need to figure out a way to earn money before I exhaust all my existing resources
Re: Go for it!
I am setting up wiki on my laptop and going there and hope to update the wiki everyday while I am there. Once I come back I will upload it somewhere
Re: whoa!
good vodka should do 😉
have a good time 🙂
Hey, you are there already to make it happen 🙂
Have fun dude!
we are all going to miss you!
Re: wow!
How about a reality TV show 🙂
Miss U……
hi K ,
i miss u…..
specially when iam online…..(which is only
thing iam diong now a days…)
anwayzz BEST OF LUCK,,, come sooon,, also
keep updating ur journal if at u can manage to do
cya
parimala
Happy New Year
hi K,
………HAPPY NEW YEAR……….
cya
parimala
happy for you…
Congrats!!
And happy new year, to you 🙂
I am still not able to decide whether a total cut off is a blessing or a curse…I guess you will find out for yourself.
A good way to kick off a new year I say. 🙂
Fantastic! Glad you could follow your dream. Next time we are in India (may or June) I will call on you – if you are still there.
Wishing you all the best
🙂
Hey man…
I got online today after a LOONG x-mas break. As I type this message…you must be somewhere happy n wandering about in your jungle 🙂
Get yourself that brown coloured MOWGLI outfit na…? Maybe then we’ll all come gatecrashing in on your escapade..!!
Love n peace
Your tiger viewing with us
Hi Kalyan,
Hope you remember us (Myself Mahesh and my wife Deepa), we were at BRT in june 05, where we had the best tiger viewing ever. (first sighting for me and hopefully many more). Wish I could hang around in the jungles , and hopefully, it should happen soon.
take care
Mahesh
Re: Your tiger viewing with us
Hi mahesh,
Ofcourse I remember you. I got to see my 1st tiger with you folks as well 🙂 I hope to meet you guys again sometime. Btw I had a lovely tiger sighting yesterday.. will post a pic later.