FC at Bhopal : Bhopal Darshan

the schedule said "Bhopal Darshan"... we had no clue it was gonna hit us so hard... the day started with two buses full of OTs venturing into VanVihar... a 4.5km stretch through a National Park... it is a green, peaceful, beautiful stretch in the middle of Bhopal City with 'wild' animals... we even sighted a few through the wired compounds... a white tiger steadily looking the other way and maddening not one photographer... a lioness loitering far away in the bamboos... a black bear playing with its foot long tongue... long coiled things that looked like snakes... a few tortoises bobbing just a second for breath before silently sliding back in into the murky green water adorned with a few plastic bottles...

the crowd of OTs behaved as any crowd of expectant, 'highly educated' tourists who'd had a full afternoon session on "Ecotourism" not 24 hours ago would... they screamed, bellowed, whistled, cat-called and laughed to, at, with themselves creating a situation apparently familiar to the inhabitants of the National Park... who were totally at ease and not in the least bit bothered as they went about their ways...

then there was a tour through the Manav Museum... a collection of huts, pots n pans, clothing, etc of tribals... i also found a few things i grew up with and felt quite archaic and important...
"we have all these at home" i commented to my new found friend from Delhi's elite institution, pointing to the hearth, the pots, the chukki, etc...

there was a quick stop at the Boat Club where based on their nerves people chose paddle boats, pedal boats and water scooters... i went nowhere near the water... instead catching the few precious minutes of rest by plonking down on the steps and studying the ducks that incessantly quacked, waded into the water, preened, quacked, headed towards the water again... and so on...

but the hardest was saved for the last... we were to watch a movie with the Big Bosses of the institution and it was decided we'd watch "We are Family" - a bad remake of the English 'Stepmom'... i could go on and on about it but i've vowed to cap my complaints henceforth to a 100/day like the SMS packs, you know...

it's just past midnight... i decide against any exercise in the morning... after all even the Gods rest on Sundays... at least some of them take off, anyway...

that's all for this week...!!