After a complete SWOT analysis, we selected to visit The Rann of Kutch (greater as well as little) as our holiday destination and I must say it was a decision well made. The place is a must see not just for its avi-fauna but also for its cultural and geological importance.
The Featureless plains of Banni Grassland
Gujarat is a colorful state, and perhaps Kutch still retains most color. People here are simple, helpful and very courteous, their attire enticing, their language sweet despite the hardships they face.
Our first destination was the Greater Rann of Kutch. We stayed at CEDO, Moti Virani Village. CEDO, the Center for Desert and Ocean is a trust run by one of the most knowledgeable persons about the region, Mr. Jugal Kishore Tiwari. Nearest to CEDO is the Banni Grassland where we spent a lot of time.
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Originally published at Swati Sani. Please leave any comments there.
Permanent Link: 09-Feb-2010 07:38 AM
A flock of Great White Pelicans takes off
25th Jan, 2010: This can be termed as “The day when nothing much happened”. We left CEDO, Nakhtrana at 6:00 am and reached Rann Riders , Dasada at 12:00 a distance of 350km.
Continue reading, but just 4 more photos
Originally published at http://tariquesani.net/blog/. Please leave any comments there.
Permanent Link: 08-Feb-2010 07:36 AM
The critically endangered Sociable Plover - Vanellus gregarius
24th Jan, 2010: A day of “Super specialty birding” is what I would call the day! Swati and Aasim opted to stay back due to yesterday’s tiring drive. So I went along with Mr Jugal Tiwari to a thorn forest near Banni grassland searching for the first target species of the day. “White-naped Tit” – This species underwent a rapid population decline in the recent past. Its small, severely fragmented population continues to decline, although at a reduced rate, as a result of the loss, degradation and fragmentation of its tropical thorn-scrub habitat. It therefore qualifies as Vulnerable.
Continue reading, has 14 more photos
Originally published at http://tariquesani.net/blog/. Please leave any comments there.
Permanent Link: 06-Feb-2010 06:23 AM
Nikon D700 + Sigma 105mm macro + Sb800 flash – 1/60 sec at f16
The seeds of this timber species, sometimes known as the Andaman Redwood Pterocarpus dalbergioides are held between two leaf like structures which are tied together by these veins.
Permanent Link: 05-Feb-2010 03:03 PM
In recent news, the Symbian Foundation announced that "All 108 packages
containing the source code of the Symbian platform can now be downloaded from
Symbian's developer web site". This is great news!
This morning I tried to look at the parts most interesting to me: phonesrv
(implementing call engine, cell broadcast and SIM toolkit APIs) and poc
(implementing push-to-talk). Their pages don't have the usual "source code"
tab at the bottom right which links to mercurial and tarball download pages!
Either I'm too stupid, or I am unable to find any source code for those two
components. I'm quite sure something essential like the API's for making phone
calls are considered part of the Symbian platform. So how does that match
with the statement that all packages containing the Symbian platform can now
be downloaded?
Permanent Link: 05-Feb-2010 01:00 AM
Crab-plover - Dromas ardeola
23rd Jan, 2010: Started the day with an excyrsion to the Naliya Grasslands. The trip started off well with spotting of a Male Pallid Harrier soaking up the heat of the early morning sun. As soon as we had enough of the Harrier we spotted another beautiful lifer Black Francolin.
Continue reading, There are 24 more photos
Originally published at http://tariquesani.net/blog/. Please leave any comments there.
Permanent Link: 04-Feb-2010 07:14 AM
* I’m looking for some ‘more’ co-maintainer(s) for 2 packages:
1. LDTP
2. Gwibber
Both has ‘New upstream releases’ available. This Gwibber 2 thingy is becoming headache to package. May be someday – I should put it to experimental but people says that it is highly broken (atleast at this moment) to even have it there. LDTP has very nice upstream but having active co-maintainer is good idea. LDTPv2 is completely re-written and has very nice, co-operative upstream. Putting packages on collab-maint or somewhere is also good idea but I left it to potential new co-maintainer at moment 
Permanent Link: 03-Feb-2010 09:50 AM
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