Empty seats !

Wildlife has always lured me for ages(I am not too old). A visit to California made my day,I returned back with a Canon SLR camera .I must admint that I was quite satisfied with my semi automatic Yashica camera which accompanied me under water , on the hills , it braved the deserts along with me until many of my close friends started teasing me/it , I still feel nostalgic about it .It costed me only 800 Indian rupees (Its American cousin is a wooping 28000).

With the camera in my hand I was fully loaded to enter the jungles. Shimsa, M.M Hills (a Veerapan stronghold, hmm for the ill informed Veeerapan was a dreaded sandalwood smuggler ). Karnataka Toursim Development Corporation conducts various tours around the year. This one was a two day trip starting Saturday morning .

Spending Friday in office was kind of difficult. I was dreaming about the serene landscapes of the western Ghats, the deer running amock , the
peacocks were calling me loud & clear !!

Just about the same week Bangalore was painted with posters of Sharukh & company who were landing in the city for a show. Bizarre stories were
there all over the press. A woman was willing to fish 45000 rupees to meet Sharukh back stage. A boy came down all over from Hyderabad to catch a glimse of is favourite star.

Spending 50000 rupees to see some painted faces sounds crazy for me but I feel others would have wondered as to how I could spend a thousand to see deer running around. Hmm lets leave this for the intelligent to decide .

It was five in the evening & I was all set to leave. A phone call spoilt my day. " The trip is cancelled !!" was the blunt message. " Why ? " I shot back. " Only two seats have been booked, we cannot ply an empty luxury bus."

A few painted faces had won the hearts of many. The animals & birds had lost in a big way. May be they need to hire a marketing guru Or may be
they need to dab some lakme stuff on their face. Who knows !!
For me its a long wait till the seats fill up !!