Careless Whispers ...

Introduction “ It’s always further than it looks. It’s always taller than it looks.  And it’s always harder than it looks .”  ~ The three rules of mountaineering Chauragarh, Chhota Mahadev (Pachmarhi, MP) An ancient temple dedicated to Lord Shiva located on top of Chauragarh, the second  highest peak of Satpura ranges in Central India, Pachmarhi (Madhya Pradesh). The shrine is also popularly known as Chhota Mahadeo Mandir . After Mahakal and Omkareshwar shrines in Madhya Pradesh, Chauragarh Chhota Mahadev temple witnesses the largest gathering of devotees during Mahashivratri and Nag Panchami. Mostly the devotees come from the adjoining states of Chattisgarh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Originally built by the King of Gond Dynasty, Sangram Shah (1488-1541 CE).  The shrine of Chhota Mahadev is unique in that there are thousands of Trishuls (Tridents) placed in a cluster inside the temple courtyard. During the festivals, devotees carry these huge tridents along the st...

Memory … is the diary that we all carry about with us ~ Oscar Wilde This one is a sequel to the earlier post: Story of Satpura , where we introduced and talked about the person, Shri K. S. Saxena (Retd IFS), who was at the centre of creation of what we know today as Satpura Biosphere Reserve.  We pick up where we had left with the concluding remark: “And he looks forward to visiting Satpura National Park sometime …” Satpura National Park After three successive COVID-19 lockdowns and all the trauma, it was only in October’21 that we could conclude the most awaited trip down memory lane to Satpura National Park, exactly forty years after it was inaugurated. Calling it mere ‘nostalgic trip’ for Shri. K.S. Saxena (ex-IFS) on his 86th Birthday would be nothing short of an insult to his passion and love for the jungles of Satpura.  Sharing here few pictures of the trip from our personal archives, please feel free to ‘click to enlarge’ pictures for better views.  The planning fo...

This blogpost is a compilation of several tweets from Careless Whispers . They are reproduced here as is, without much edits, except all hashtags have been removed.  This thread on Bori Sanctuary, Satpura National Park in Madhya Pradesh is triggered by video of tigress swimming. I showed the video to the man behind these projects. He was emotional seeing the video and then shared some interesting trivia. Please click here for Video (Video courtesy Shri Dhiraj Singh Chauhan, SDO Bori Sanctuary) Circa 1977-79 : True story as narrated to me by my father: Shri K S Saxena, ex-IFS (Forest Services) who developed both Satpura National Park & Bori Sanctuary from scratch, in Madhya Pradesh Bori was always a very rich & biodiverse dense forest, providing ideal setting for sanctuary. After extensive field work and follow up, it was Dr. Ranjitsinh , then Forest Secretary, Govt of MP, who decided to make a visit to Bori. Dr. Ranjitsinh insisted that father should accompan...