Travel, it leaves you speechless then turns you into a
storyteller. Travelling is a form of rebel and once
the travel bug bites us, there is no any antidote. To pacify my
wanderlust, I have been travelling near and far (farthest is India) and trust
me nothing gives you such immense happiness and vibes than being a vagabond
does.
Finally, I received most awaited break
from my mundane life at the moment and this
time, it's Bengaluru Calling!!! Early May, I got an email that my research on vultures is
selected to be presented at Student Conference on Conservation Science 2015,
Bengaluru. This was pretty exciting news for me amidst the tragedy of earthquake.
I have been to India few times but with different purpose and this time I was
presenting my work. I booked my flights, prepared my poster and the day arrived
when I found myself wandering inside the Tribhuvan International Airport
baffled with all the procedures that I needed to follow.
I was thinking to myself,
'How can people tolerate all these complexities just to go outside the country?'
However, I was also enjoying everything before boarding in the plane, I could
see people rushing; some with happy faces and some sad, some confused and some
anxious. Many youths were bidding farewell with their families either to study
or work abroad. Awakened by a boarding call from the Air India, I hurriedly
glimpsed over my elephant engraved watch ;) and rushed.
This was my first ever solo international flight; yah, I
was quite nervous and happy. The plane takes off, all I could see was houses
getting smaller, roads getting narrower, mountains getting closer and above the
clouds. I had one hour transit in Delhi; I was thinking I could at least get
out of the airport and have a glance of the capital city.
But, as soon as I arrived at Delhi Airport, I was startled
how enormous and dazzling it was, forget about getting out, I even didn't have
time to stop for a while. It was completely a different world than I have ever
seen. I sighed with relief when my flight departed towards Kempegowda
International Airport and btw I loved the food provided during the flight, yum
yum!!
So, after about 2.30 hrs, I reached my destination
Bangalore :) but I had to wait for my friends whose flight was 1 hour late than
mine. As soon as I got out of the airport, fresh air blew away all my fatigue.
I met some Nepali students there and helped me to contact my family in Nepal.
There again, I could observe faces; some searching for their guests to come,
some desperately waiting for their family. I could merely understand them.
Bengaluru is the capital of the capital of south western
state Karnataka. It is one of the fastest developing states and also known as
Silicon Valley of India. I have been always fascinated by South Indian unique
and diverse culture. I am a huge fan of South Indian movies so it has helped me
a lot to know about their culture and lifestyles. Kannada is the major language
along with Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, and Hindi etc. Hastily, I ran through the
arrival board to confirm if my friends have arrived and finally, they did.
It was already getting late and Indian Institute of Science
is quite far (as per the information), so we got into the shuttle from the
airport. The bus was another thing that impressed me. The drivers and
conductors in uniform, properly maintained seat for women, men and disabled
people and lot more was so cool. I was imagining the busty bus in Kathmandu,
angry driver, rude conductors. Chilling wet air pulled me back to Bangalore;
wide lane roads along with greenery, managed transportation system, subways
were quite new and amusing for me.
The digital screening in the bus mentioned that IISc was
the next stop after 1 hr journey. It was raining heavily, we ran across the
road in heavy traffic (it was crazy and stupid ;)) and finally reached Indian
Institute of Science. The organizers had managed our accommodation in a Guest
House of Indian Academy of Science, Jalahalli so we were asked to have our
dinner in Prakuthi canteen before the shuttle arrives. The canteen was the
social get together forum for us, many were the local students, some
participants etc. I could hear the croaking frog inside my stomach so rushed to
order; I was pretty excited about the food as I have heard a lot about south
Indian delicacies. After a long crazy session with my group, we finally decided
to order range of foods from North Indian mini meal to idli. I wanted to try
south Indian mini meal but it was already over so had to limit myself in the
paneer fried rice. The annas (brothers) in the canteen were really sweet and
smiled at my broken Hinglish.
After the dinner and some interactions with other
participants, we were taken to the IAS Guest house. I and my friend Anita got a
room with an anonymous room partner who hadn't arrived yet. It was quite hectic
day so we collapsed into the bed. In the midnight, we heard a knock on the
door; first we were like staring at each other 1) Ghosts????? Nahh! 2) Men????
Hmmmm!!!! (We were used to such scenes in lot of bollywood movies).
Slowly, we asked who it is then received an answer from a
girl who happened to be our room partner from Srilanka, haha! We grinned with
our lousy eyes and again fall asleep within a second. We were informed to get
ready by 6.30am so we got ready quite early but again there was no presence of
our room partner. I wasn’t wearing my spectacles last night, so even didn't
remember her face.
Srini anna, the volunteer, was running
here and there asking participants to hurry, yelling in the phone for some
confusion. It was fun watching him. The shuttle took us to the main venue; JN
Tata Auditorium Hall. It was a very lively spot with many participants from far
and wide, volunteers announcements, dignified faces etc. The Student Conference on
Conservation Science- bengaluru brings together young researchers in the
science and biodiversity conservation. The
SCCS series in Cambridge, Australia, Bangalore, Beijing, New York and Hungary
is the only international series of conservation conferences aimed entirely at
students.
As a sister conference to SCCS-Cambridge, SCCS Bengaluru focuses on
attracting student participants, primarily from countries in South and
South-east Asia and Africa. The 2015 conference was organized and hosted by
Indian Institute of Science, National Centre for Biological Sciences,
Foundation for Ecological Security, Asian Nature Conservation Foundation and
Madras Crocodile bank Trust and held at the JN Tata Auditorium, Indian
Institute of Science, Bengaluru from 8-11th September 2015.
It included 6 plenary talks by eminent
conservationists, diverse workshops, 20 student talks and around 80 poster
presentations. The plenaries included both technical talks and practical facets
of conservation from T.R. Shankar Raman, James D. Nicholas, Krushnamegh Kunte,
Sudha Vasan, Kanchi Kohli, Uma Ramakrishnan and finally Former Indian Minister
Jairam Ramesh shed light on climate change and COP 21 issues.
There were six
presenters from Nepal; I, Anita and Balkumar (my classmates), Hem dai along
with his wife and two very talented and congenial brothers; Ganga ram dai and
Tirth dai(as he pronounced to many focusing on the last letters J). It was a quite packed conference but we still got
time to socialize and connect with many experts, students and researchers from
far and wide. I was very happy to interact with IUCN vulture specialist, Chris
Bowden and many other renowned scientists whose literatures and works I have
been following. Likewise, the conference also provided a wonderful platform to
share our knowledge and experiences with many students through student talks
and poster presentation. I also received lots of suggestions along with
appreciation from many people. In addition, I met amazing Srilankan, Indian,
African, Australian, European friends who were also contributing a lot in the
biodiversity conservation in many ways. So, overall it was not only an academic
sharing but also socio-cultural flow along side. I loved the local food
provided during the conference but my taste buds were reluctant towards coconut
sauce.
 |
| Mariamma Temple |
During the conference, I and my friends also visited
some nearby attractions like Mariamma temple, ISKCON temple, Sankey Tank,
Bangalore Palace. I was enthralled by the beauty and glory of the astonishing
ancient monuments. We ran across these beautiful places via Auto-rickshaw which
was another adventure. The drivers we met were quite friendly and gave us lots
of tricks and tips to shop around. I was left in awe with the massive
skyscrapers, shopping malls along with undeniably beautiful architectures
around the city.
Bangalore is a complete mosaic of scientific advancement and
ancient enigma. I was startled by the beauty of Bangalore palace and ISKCON
temple.Manu, our new friend from Karnataka itself,
volunteered to guide us around these and we are so grateful for making us feel
special. Along with encountering the historical master pieces, we played some
pranks which made it more memorable (Anita, Balkumar and Manu can't disclose
but m sure u guyz remember it).
 |
| Bangalore Palace |
I have always tried to live my life to the fullest and
when you have the good company then who on earth can stop us to make the best
out of everything. Tired with the hectic sessions, we get back to hostel in
quite dead form but on the last 2 days of the conference, we had a moving disco
in the shuttle. One night, when they played some energetic dance numbers, my
innate passion just exploded out and I initiated dancing in track lungi dance
followed by many south Indian songs I had never heard. Many friends accompanied
me simultaneously which transformed the entire environment.
On the final night, most of us came together in the
hall, played the name game, danced, teased, and took lots of selfies. True is
the saying,' A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.' We
exchanged souvenirs, gifts, delicacies amongst each other and got connected in
Facebook and watsapp. SCCS Bengaluru 2015 came to an end with lots of
aspiration and hope in the days to come.
P.S Part 2 is more fun!!!
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