Sometimes, this city, its noise kills a part inside us, the part we call solace. Out of the corporeal concrete Jungle It becomes necessary for people like me to find that path again to the real jungle, not that I am some sort of nature freak but it’s let’s just say, I can’t live without it. My very covetous filters seem blemished if I keep them away from basking in fresh air even for a day’s time.
I had heard a lot about Sanjay Van; many times even saw it from some distance and it always awed me to no extent. So this time aberrantly out of nowhere, when I was abetted by our dear friend, Rahul Chaudhary who likes to call himself DABANGG, I couldn’t refuse it. So as we trundled towards Sanjay Van which is located near Aruna Asaf Ali road abutted by big chunks of rocks and fence, clouds gave us a big pat in the form of some early morning showers. The weather couldn’t have been any balmy and convivial. We were like totally charged up for this little nature hike. While I figured out a high spot for us to navigate and also to feel on top, my eyes stuck a herd of Nilgai. On hearing our footsteps, it disappeared leaving no sign. We traced them a long way, but in vain. This forest area is some 600 hectares and provides an ecosystem to many birds and animals that might not exist in near vicinity for city dwellers.
As we moved through high and low lands, we caught glimpses of many birds. Unfortunately one needs to be very patient to take a photograph and we were on a nature spree. We did click Nilgai, Peacock and Pigs in their usual aplomb and I can assure you it wasn’t piece of cake.
Animals here are very shy, sly and astute. They don’t want to be adulated. Many people have seen Jackals and Foxes too. North eastern area of this forest has lot of cemeteries as well as majar. According to an adage, this is one of the most haunted places in Delhi. I found it quite amusing because I had never seen such a serene and heavenly place in Delhi.
Moreover I do not want to know what happens here during the night. You might come across belligerent people doing things that you might not like or don’t understand, better not go nearby. Here you will also come across nullahs where you can observe people fishing. This area gave me a whiff of spring in early summers. I don’t know what people think, but here in Delhi even a lush green canopy with nullah flowing across it, fills me with a big smile. I did not want to doom my chances of clicking Qutub Minar from here as it was getting dark. So, now we ambled through a narrow patch of kikar haphazardly to a nice acclivity, little knowing that we could come across some alluring jungle flowers. It was like a finding an oasis in desert.
On our way back after 4 hours of adventitious discoveries, we saw this guy sleeping quite comfortably with his head over a dog, warmly blanketed in a piece of cloth. It made me realize, almost then, Dog is Man’s best friend.
