George VI Dei Gratia Britanniarum Omnium Rex Fidei Defensor, India Imperator

I have a great collection of medals. I love holding the old medals in my hand  and savouring the feelings. These medals were awarded to armymen and some bear inscriptions of serial number, name, rank, unit etc. My collection includes medals pertaining to the First World War, medals awarded by British Rulers (George VI)  to Indians and also post independence medals.

Silver Jubilee of Independence

Awarded in 1972

This medal was awarded in 1972 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of independence. Also known as the Silver Jubilee Medal.

One side bears the Ashoka Lion symbol alongwith inscriptions in Hindi and English. The obverse side dopicts the spoked wheel (Ashok Chakra) along with the years 1947 on top and 1972 on bottom.

This exercise was repeated in 1997 when another  medal was awarded to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of independence. The medal this time had the Red Fort depoicted on one side alongwith inscription in English. The Hindi inscription alongwith the map of India was depicted on the obverse side.

Awarded in 1997

Defence Medal awarded by George VI in 1945 continues to fascinate.

WW-II Campaign Medal- George VI - 1945

The Lion vanquishing the Dragon is a famous medal awarded by George VI (King Emperor by the Grace of God). I often gaze fondly at this medal as different images from that age fill my head…

All medals awarded by George VI have the latin legend inscribed. The phrase was used on British coins and is short for Georgius VI Dei gratia Britanniarum omnium rex, fidei defensor, India imperator. It is Latin and in English it means: George VI, by the grace of God, King of all Britains [sic], defender of the faith, Emperor of India.

This Bird lays Blue Eggs

On an electric pole in front of my house, there is a junction box installed by the local cable TV network. Last evening the technicians removed a nest from this junction box and laid it neatly on top of a small hedge in my  garden. The Myna will not return to those eggs which are now doomed. Meanwhile, my daughter took some snaps….

Blue Eggs

Even though we have tried to place the nest with the eggs in some bushes close to the pole, the Myna apparently has no intentions to return. The eggs are doomed….

In 1996, the runner up to the Darwin’s Award was a Calcutta (Kolkata) man – Prakesh Tewari. This young man and his friend Suresh Rai- got drunk at a New Year Party. The next morning, 1-1-1996, they decided to greet and wish “Shiva” the male tiger at Kolkata Zoo. They must have been certain that the poor tiger had never celebrated any New Year. They procured some marigold (a yellow flower) garlands and jumped into the tiger enclosure. They crossed the moat and started weaving their drunken way towards the far corner where Shiva was basking in the sun. They were holding out the garlands in with both hands so as to make it clear to the tiger that they intended no harm. The tiger, being a tiger, was in no mood to take any crap from any body, least of all from two drunken “suitors” out to garland him. As they neared the tiger, Suresh Rai panicked and threw the garland at Shiva. The tiger attacked him immediately. Prakesh Tewari, in a bid to help his friend- delivered a face-kick to the tiger. This enraged the tiger so much that he immediately changed targets and went for Tewari’s neck. In a flash, Tewari’s lifeless body could be seen, his head  dangling.

Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool by removing themselves from it. Prakesh Tewari was the runner up in 1996. Read about him at http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1996-02.html

In 2007, there was another strong contender for the Darwin Award. The location this time was Guwahati Zoo. A man deliberately violated Zoo regulations and all safety precautions as he tried to photograph a Royal Bengal Tiger from up close. He probably wanted a clear view not spoilt by  the Grill, Mesh Wire etc. So the gentleman put his hand, holding the camera, all the way in the enclosure aiming for a tiger sitting at a “safe” distance. The other tiger, on a round, grabbed his hand and yanked it off. Basically ripped the entire arm in a gory  shower of blood,skin, bone and muscle. Dozens of visitors and some family members could only look on helplessly. A tragic end to a budding photographer.

All Darwin Award aspirants must remember that a tiger shall always be a tiger and that, for their own escapades- risky ventures- they themselves alone shall deserve all the credit- all the blame and all the ridicule. All 100% of it.

The tiger does not want any part of it.

Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool by removing themselves from it.

In the year 2000, in Colorado- a similar story had been enacted. A “guide” had her arm ripped & torn off by a Siberian tiger in the zoo. You can either  read about it at          http://www.darwinawards.com/stupid/stupid2000-06.html            or continue:

A twenty-eight-year-old wildlife volunteer at the Prairie Wind Animal Refuge was demonstrating the gentility of a captive Siberian tiger to visitors when the tiger demonstrated a more familiar trait of its species and ripped her arm off.

The woman had been a volunteer for two years. When a group of visitors enquired whether the refuge had problems with people sticking their hands in the cages, she placed her arm inside the tiger cage and beckoned a full-grown two-year-old animal. The tiger, which was new to the facility, sauntered over and began to lick the woman’s hand in an apparent display of affection. When the woman playfully scratched the tiger’s nose, the animal recoiled and closed its jaws around her hand.

The woman discovered that the tiger did not intend to return her arm, and pulled away in a panic. Another tour guide reported that the beast worked its way up her shoulder in two seconds and tore her arm off at the socket. He said he tried to retrieve the arm, but “the tiger did not want to give it back.”

Though the arm was not found, the remaining woman was airlifted to a nearby hospital and treated for an accidental amputation. But the tender-hearted tour guide bore no ill will toward the cat, and begged authorities from her hospital bed not to put down the animal as punishment for for its unsavory meal choice.

Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool by removing themselves from it.

This led us to set our sights higher. From Select Citywalk in Saket, we got a lovely model helicopter. Fully remote controlled. Seven  way motion control, Backwards, Forwards, Upwards, Downwards, Right Turn, Left Turn and Circular. Even though it is designed for indoor use, we took it out in the park and had great fun.

One such example is there in this photograph (taken outside a temple) mailed to me by my daughter.

On Jan 1, 2010 at around 10 pm Billy Arjan Singh breathed his last in a small hamlet called Jasbir Nagar in Pallia, just outside Dudhwa National Park. I had the opportunity to speak to him at around 7 p m on the same day. He was in poor shape but was able to speak coherently. We met at a mutual friend’s (a doctor) place where he had come in his black Maruti Gypsy driven by his faithful servant. Earlier that day I had visited his Jasbir Nagar home and photographed the building and the grounds extensively. Racket Tailed Drongos and various woodpeckers flitted about the wooded lot.

Billy Arjan Singh had hand reared Tara, the tiger cub gifted to him by Indira Gandhi. The cub had originated in Twycross Zoo UK and had been gifted by UK to the Indian Prime Minister. Not only did he successfully rear the cub, but he also reintroduced it to the wild.

This is what Wikipedia has  to say about it :

Tara a hand reared supposedly Royal Bengal Tigress acquired from Twycross Zoo in England in July 1976 was trained by Billy Arjan Singh and reintroduced to the wild in Dudhwa National Park, India with the permission of India’s then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in an attempt to prove the experts wrong that zoo bred and hand reared Tigers can never be released in the wild with success.

A distinguished personality- a recipient of many awards.

Billy Arjan Singh had been  honoured for his conservation efforts with “Padma Shri” in 1995. One of India’s highest national awards is conferred on people who distinguish themselves in different fields. This award was followed by the world wildlife gold medal in 1996, then the Order of the Golden Ark in 1997 and the lifetime award for tiger conservation in March 1999. In 2004, in his eighties, Billy Arjan Singh received the J.Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation award which is  a global honor administered by the World Wildlife fund.  In recognition of his outstanding contribution to international conservation he has been honored by several other  awards including the Padma Bhushan in 2006.

Let us all unite in paying homage to a great personality, a conservationist of globally recognized calibre, a true tiger man.

Sultanpur National Park

Spent a morning with old friends at Sultanpur. Excellent Birding. The Painted Storks were feeding their chicks on the tree tops in the middle of the lake. The moustached warbler, the Blue throat and the Large Grey Babblers were also present in  large quantites. In the Basai Treatment Pond were over a thousand Bar headed geese having flown from Tibet and China right over Mount Everest.

Bird List:

Shrikes (2 types),

Long Tailed Shrike

Coucals, Hornbills, Parakeets(2 types), Owls(2 types), Sparrow Hawks,Black Ibis,  Drongos(2 types), Cormorants(3 types), Herons(4 types), Moorhens(2 types), Lapwings(2 types), Grebes(2 types), Waterhens, Egrets (3 types), Sandpipers(3 types), Redstarts, Stonechats, Pigeons(2 types), Doves (3 types), Mynahs(4 types), Ducks (5 types),

Black Ibis at Sultanpur

Redwinged Stilts, Kites (2 types), Peacocks, Partridges (Francolins), Quail, Robins, Treepies, Magpie Robins, Bushchat, Brown Rockchat, Bulbul(3 types), Hoopoe, Woodpecker(2 types), Spoonbills, Munias, Sparrows, Wagtails(3 types), Larks (2 types), Common Kestrel, etc etc etc

A lot of these photographs are available at

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049590&id=1209762187

Even though the sighting was great there were two mystery birds that I could not identify. Perhaps someone can help…

Plain Prinia.... OR Moustached Warbler

Mystery Bird