Days 19, 20 and 21: Tigers!!! And Other Adventures

Friday was our last day in the office with Vatsalya. The final week, we will spend one day finalizing our presentation at home, one day at Hitesh and Jaimala’s house to do our final presentation with them, one day at the campus to relax with the kids and then the final presentation to the whole Social Sabbatical team. I was a little bit sad to say goodbye to the office. It has treated us well.

Friday Evening Temple Visits

My team closed out the week with a visit to three temples near the Vatsalya office: Birla Mandir temple, the Moti Dungri Ganesh temple and the neighboring Shiv temple. High above these sites is another temple enclosed by a Scottish-style castle, but that one is only open once a year.

The two sites are a great contrast in styles. Birla Mandir is surrounded by a small park — where my teammates and I made a cameo appearance in an Indian family’s photos— and the two other temples are situated right in the middle of a neighborhood and surrounded by shops where you can buy sweets and flowers to offer the gods. We did not make an offering but perhaps our visit to see Ganesh paid off on our safari.

Birla Mandir. You are not allowed to take photos inside, but the stained glass windows make it feel a bit like a Christian church; A woman buys sweets to offer Ganesh

A family organizes their offerings for Ganesh; The Ganesh temple with the Scottish style castle in the background

More offerings on a tree outside the temple; A very well decorated tuk-tuk in the neighborhood near the temples

Saturday Safari — Tigers!!!

As the weather has gotten hotter in Jaipur (from highs in the 70s to highs in the low 90s), the air pollution has gotten worse, so it was a relief to travel three hours to Ranthambore National Park in hopes of spotting a tiger. We knew the changes were slim. Our hotel host has visited the park multiple times and never seen one.

But luck was on our side. All of the regular safaris were sold out, so we got a private ride with a naturalist, and he found us not one, but two tigers!!! One female cub who was about 18 months old and one adult male. The male was a treat even for our guide, who rarely sees this shy and amazing cat.

Entering the park: We saw many, many sambar deer; The first tiger, a female cub of about 18 months

The first tiger again; A stop at the watering hole; If you look very closely, you can see a crocodile next to the tree on the right

Deer wading in the large watering hole; Deer taking a mud bath

The second tiger, an adult male

Two more of the male tiger

The triumphant team returns to the hotel

The Ride Home

The three-hour ride between Jaipur and Ranthambore provides so much life to see. Even though it’s called a highway, the road snakes through several villages bustling with people, cows, dogs, camels, goats, bicycles, tractors, tuk-tuks, trucks, cow patties drying for fuel, road-side snack bars and more. Here are some of my favorite photos from the road.

Town center near the park; Barber shops; One of many decorated tractors

All trucks are also decorated; We have no idea how these trucks still move; Women by the road

Another decorated tractor; A typical road-side stand; I think this cow is shopping for produce

How has this building technique spread across at least three continents?; More tractors; Tuk-tuks wait for passengers

One of many people I saw riding their bikes along the highway; A typical road-side stop