Things have been very hectic. I’ve had three more good leopard sightings after the last fight. Infact, there have been so many sightings, I have started to name each of the leopards. This leopard is now called Rocky the 3 feet leopard. Since I’m seeing so many of them, I have even started to predict them etc. Generally life’s good in the forests 🙂 Been in Bangalore the last two days. This place had changed quite a bit in the last few months. There are lot more one-ways, lot of new restaurants and traffic situation seems to have actually improved…

Had got to see one of those, ‘Once in a lifetime’ event here in the forest. There have been quite a bit of leopard sightings here, but earlier this week I spotted a leopard, one of the top predator of the forest, being hunted down by a pack of wild dogs. What most of the people do not know is that, the wild dogs are the most brutal and effective killers in the forests. People have even seen them attack a tiger and eat it up. Normally a tiger’s success rate of a hunt is about 30% while the wild…

Leopard’s are second largest predator in these forest. They are more effective then the tiger because of its light weight which makes it more agile and gives the cat the ability to climb trees. They are also more adaptive to varying terrain and availability of prey (which is why you find them even in Mumbai). They are found like this on top of trees as it gives the leopard a chance to escape the other predators like the tiger and the wild dogs. ( Click on the image for larger version ) Wildlife photographers are always greedy. No matter how…

I was talking to krishi last night and then it hit me. Sometimes working for a company is like making a high school relationship work. When you get into a relationship, you buy your partner lot of gifts, take him/her out on every occasion you get and you think about him/her everyday. Joining a company is like that too. You tell all your friends how nice it is and how well they treat you, you give 110% for the company and the company treats you like a king. After a while in the relationship, things could go in two ways….

One of the most extraordinary things happened today. In the camp here, we have about 2 dozen monkey’s (bonnet macaques) which pretty much hang around here, as they get continuous food from our leftovers and they feel pretty safe here in the camp as the predators usually stay away from here. They usually wait outside the place where we eat and at every opportunity they get, they jump in, grab the food and rush out. Infact they are quite a problem for the staff here. Since the time I have come, I have started feeding them, so they don’t mess…

Today we had a bunch of retired forest officials coming over at the resort. While we were on the safari, we happened to see a Barking deer and I was telling them how this animal was quite rare to find in other forests etc. And then one of the person in the jeep tells the other one “This barking deer is one of the tastiest meat I’ve ever tasted. Come over to my place sometime and I shall arrange for the meat”. These are the forest officials who are suppose to protect these forests and animals and keep the poachers…

jwz has written an excellent piece on why enterprise software does not work in open source projects and also drives home some good points on general software projects. A *must* read.

Since so many people have left so many comments on my last post, I thought, I’d make a separate post about it. Yes, currently I’m on a sabbatical from work and 8 months will go in a jiffy and I will have loads of fun. But it’s easier said then done. Right now I have my hands in just way too many things, and this assignment will mean I will have to leave everything and go. That will include my consulting work / naturalist position / wildlife photography etc and these are the areas in which I am just starting…

I just got my first major photo assignment. The assignment is to shoot fashion shows etc on few cruises in Miami. I get to spend time in the cruse , all expenses taken care and a good pay check. Th only hitch is that, this is a 8 month long assignment. *Sigh* Looks like I will have to pass 🙁

Things have been slightly busy lately. I was in Bangalore and Hyderabad for couple of days last week. It was nice to meet all the folks back home, but the pollution and traffic jams are still the same no matter that, I just cannot get used to them. Sting concert was lovely too. Got back here to the forest over the weekend and I’ve have been having a good time here. Last evening we saw this leopard sitting on top of a tree and it refused to budge from there. We waiting for 20 min and the leopard, just sat…