Most of us, at infancy stage, think wildlife photography can only be done if one goes inside national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. Though, I do not deny this fact that most of the wildlife today is there only in the parks and sanctuaries, but one has to know what all it involves to do wildlife photography of high quality. First of all, plenty of time and patience. Then comes good money to buy you a good set of camera equipment i.e. two camera bodies with high speed of `fps’ and higher mega pixels, professional lenses which are in the range of US$ 10,000 each, the best tripods (legs only will cost US$ 1000 and above) ball heads (US$ 1000 and above), not to mention numerous expensive accessories one need all the time. Next comes, expensive traveling by train or road to reach (long distances) the well protected wildlife areas having good wildlife to photograph. One needs advance bookings to check into a good lodge on arrival, which is safe for your equipment and looks after you well to ensure your comfort (you need that after hard work), costing Rs 2500 and above per day. While you start unpacking your camera boxes, someone has to check your vehicle for the jungle safari, which will cost you Rs 2000 per day only for the morning and evening jungle safaris. If you are serious about wildlife photography and have suitable camera gear, then there should be only one person in one vehicle, with one assistant. O, I forgot to mention the entry fees for the vehicle, yourself, driver, camera equipment (this can vary park to park), hire a guide for each trip, etc. All this adds up to minimum Rs 5000 plus, to do wildlife photography per day in any Indian parks and sanctuaries, including your lodge. Not to forget all the `red-tape’ and local skirmishes of the staff and locals, you will face in the field.

Dr J S Sarkaria joined the army shortly after outbreak of the Second World War.  He was a Captain in the I.M.S. (Indian Medical Service) and was in the frontlines during the entire Burma campaign.  His field hospital was once virtually bombed out of existence by the Japanese, with very heavy casualties, and he was mentioned in dispatches for his bravery under fire. Sometime after the end of the war he joined P.C.M.S. (Punjab Civil Medical Service), and post-1947 his first posting was in Palampur.  He served subsequently in a number of stations: Amritsar, Rewari, Simla, Sirsa, Ludhiana, Simla again, Bhatinda, Nangal, etc., etc.

When he sought premature retirement he had been Medical Superintendent of Rajindra Hospital, Patiala for 2-3 years. Previous to that he had served in Chandigarh as Assistant Director of Health Services and Drug Controller at Chandigarh for some years.

He had obtained M.S. (Master in Surgery) early on in his service, when he was posted in remote Rewari (Haryana), a feat in itself because (at least at that time) this degree was very demanding even for people posted in medical colleges.  My father was acclaimed as a brilliant surgeon and had a fantastic amount of energy and drive.

Single-handedly he converted — through donations that he sought from the public directly — the ramshackled and run-down civil hospital in the desert town of Sirsa to a really good facility.  This was during the Chief Minister Mr Kairon.  He was quite impressed when he came there for an opening ceremony.  It is a great pity we now have very few (even in those days such people were rare) government officers with this kind of dedication and drive, which Dr JS Sarkaria had.

The biographic details of Dr Sarkaria, that are directly relevant to the Cactus Garden pertain to the years after he took retirement from P.C.M.S.  Quite a lot about these is in his book on this garden. The book can be accessed via this Link.

More will be written about Dr JS Sarkaria later probably with photos, if I can get from his family. I have written this as extracted from the e-mail sent to me by Mr Karanbir S Sarkaria, son of Dr JS Sarkaria.

I remember the days vividly, when I used to accompany my father on bicycle from our ancestral village Kanthala to Panchkula area, at that time Panchkula was not even a village. Panchkula derived its name from the five irrigation canals known as `kuls’, making it `Panch Kul Wala’  thus Panchkula. We used to come from our ancestral village Kanthala (now The Tribune building, one of the most well known landmarks of Chandigarh) to Panchkula, about 5 kms, to buy plants from the plant nurseries to be planted in our farm.

Chandigarh was developed as the most well planned city of India, post independence. But it engulfed many villages and swallowed the rich regional cultural heritage. It displaced so many families by paying them pittance as compensation, most of which could never regain their lost paradise and are fighting futile legal battles, withering away. The poor families of these villages had to bear the brunt of this forced displacement. Which proved a point, we often discuss, in India only rich and powerful have their way and lead life the way they like, commoner suffers as they did for centuries. In spite of the right to equality, we are not equals.

Anyway, Chandigarh was forced to grow as expected and it was a sleepy modern city till about 20 years ago, considered as a nice city for the retired and working class; in spite of being capital of two states and having status of Union Territory.  There is no city in India, which enjoys this unique status like Chandigarh does. Now, its teeming with materialistic life. It has become business  capital of northern region. I strongly believe, city of Panchkula is the product of political agenda. The Haryana government speculated that Chandigarh might be transferred to Punjab, as there have been many attempts in the past. Which lead to some violent protests in Haryana, in last four decades. The think-tanks of Haryana government opted for Panchkula, as the best suited site for the contingency. It’s next to Chandigarh and still in Haryana. If suddenly government decides about Chandigarh to be handed over to Punjab, then Haryana will have its own capital ready in place and fully operational. In fact, Panchkula has reduced the congestion of offices in Chandigarh.

Dr JS Sarkaria, had good collection of cactus and succulents. As he was growing old and he worried about his treasure of cactus. He decided to donate it to the ones who will care. He had given adverts in newspapers about it and at that time HUDA (Haryana Urban Development Authority) came forward and offered land. The present Cactus Garden was started here and Dr Sarkaria devoted most of his time at site, working under the Sun, even the younger lot could not keep pace with him in the field. He is admired and revered all the time by the staff of the Garden.

MORE WILL COME HERE ABOUT THE CACTUS GARDEN SHORTLY.

In the recent past, it has given us enough warnings, but our intense greed for materialistic world, makes us overlook all that. Recent recession is also one of the warnings, which is the result of our own follies, everything in over speeding mode – over over exploitation! I do not need to explain what kind of uncertainty we are facing, for everyone is aware. It will be over and we will live this recession, but its also a serious warning against our greed.

Everything on this beautiful planet Earth, has lived in synch and harmony with each other, except Man. All forms of life exploit resources provided by Nature, for their existence. So far, Man also lived by exploiting all the natural resources, but unfortunately, our desire to accumulate materialistic comforts beyond our needs has lead man to follow disastrous path. Now, all wise humans accept this fact, in unison.We could have always lived by burning wood and using wood for whatever we need; but never followed the rules of the `Kingdom of Nature’. Now, our irresponsible attitude of over-exploitation of natural resources has lead us all to a point where we scream to each other to not to use wood and what not. We are good at eyewash, lip-service, being selfish and greedy only; hard to mend our ways. How foolish we are ! Wood is one of the best and unique gifts of nature to us, there is no substitute to it, neither man has been able to make one. If we use wood judiciously, only for our needs, there will never be a shortage of wood ever on this earth. If we need it a bit more than our requirements, then we can always grow it commercially on both sides of roads, etc. The trouble has compounded, as we over-exploited our jungles and never replenish them. In fact, man can never replenish anything made by Nature, these virgin forests have taken millions of years to evolve. What we could do best, leave Nature alone to do its work !

Man should learn how to be sustainable consumers of our natural resources, even of man made materialistic things. Man should learn how to consume wood, paper, water, energy, and all its resources as a responsible living being on this earth. Also, generate less pollution, which is tarnishing the beauty of our beautiful planet. This earth belongs to all the denizens of this planet and creatures of Nature, not we alone.

“Of what I call God, And fools call Nature”, Robert Browning

Nature

nature is full of colors
with beautiful scented flowers
if your’e in a forest or a park
its nice even in the dark

nature is full of beasts and birds
with so many shrubs and ferns
its mountains are very high
they almost touch the sky

nature has its deserts
and nature has its plains
at times its sunny
sometimes it rains

nature is so pretty and bountiful
with snow covered peaks and sounds so beautiful
when people destroy nature, remember
we need nature for our future.

a poem by Rishi Menon (11 years old)

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Flowers are one of the most fascinating subjects for artists, and photographers have always been attracted by these wonders of nature, like bees do to flowers all the time. It’s one of the best ways to bring the beauty of flowers to you through photos, without killing them. A plucked flower lives only for a while, but a photographed flower lives far longer and with more grace and pride. My father never allowed us to pluck flowers, as kids. He always emphasised that flowers are to be admired on the branch of it’s own plant, its like killing someone. In India, flowers are offered to gods and goddesses in temples all the time; whereas my father has been vehemently against it. He has always wondered that how do people justify this criminal act of “killing’ so many flowers and then offering to God who makes them. Will He like this act of being cruel to His nature? And I agree with my father in total. Well, at the same time, I also would not deny the fact that in this world we live by exploiting nature and flowers have given livelihood to many millions of people.

Here, I will try to share my experiences about flower photography with you all, though, more through my own flower photos. Also, I will try to share some experiences in words, as most of you would be keen to know how a particular image was created.

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Petals

a poem by Amy Lowell

Life is a stream
On which we strew
Petal by petal the flower of our heart;
The end lost in dream,
They float past our view,
We only watch their glad, early start.

Freighted with hope,
Crimsoned with joy,
We scatter the leaves of our opening rose;
Their widening scope,
Their distant employ,
We never shall know. And the stream as it flows
Sweeps them away,
Each one is gone
Ever beyond into infinite ways.
We alone stay
While years hurry on,
The flower fared forth, though its fragrance still stays.

I live at Panchkula (Haryana, India) and consider myself very lucky to be living near its famous Cactus Garden, sadly not very well known amongst the denizens of even this modern city, as it should have been. Thanks to all the moronic superstitions, which had some reason to come into practice, people do NOT grow any kind of cactus or succulent at home. Most Indians believe that its not a good omen to grow cactus at home. I may agree with a logic for not growing cactus at home, where there is small space and kids are around, cactus thorns being a safety concern. Lest they get hurt by the steely strong thorns of cactus. But some obtusely brains have created a superstition -`since cactus grows in desert and arid place, it brings unhappiness like desert in the house and the family’. How silly ! On the contrary, cactus gives me immense inspiration – it grows in harshest conditions, needs no extra care, still smiles with flowers, fights hard life all alone (sort of alone, otherwise ecosystem does support them to live). In fact, cacti and succulents are great plants to grow for decoration, need far lesser space (not much of spread slow growth) and abysmally scanty water supply. If you are away for a holiday, most of the cactus varieties can survive for a month without water.

During my last three four visits to the Garden, I have been viewing only these tiny flowers (not more than 5mm wide) through my macro lens, which grow in bunch. This cactus bush is thronged by the bees and the work starts with daybreak itself and that’s why the phrase `busy like bee’. I find this place teeming with small insect life also, sometimes I get to see insects moving on flowers only through the lens, otherwise too small to get noticed. Its always very satisfying.

You will see some nice photos of cactus flowers here, often. I hope you will enjoy and start looking at cactus differently, also hoping locals will change their superstition towards cactus.

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