Mr.P in the Wild

Well, almost he was there.
Other than the wilderness of the city itself, there is a dedicated area in Kolkata for those stunningly beautiful creations of God called animals. That area known as the Alipur Zoo. (and... Mr.P wanted some 'wildlife photography' in his cards and a zoo was the best option when only a couple of hours are there to spare)

The plan was by Sayani to spend the holiday of our Republic Day in the zoo. She is the twin sister of Saunak (yes, the same one!). Another very old and dear, Sumana joined us. But unfortunately, Saunak had to finish some urgent work and he could not be part of the little time out.

Mr.P has tried not to get the cages and bars in his photographs. But at places he was helpless (high cages, stuffy crowd, dust, insufficient camera zoom, mood of the animals, etc.)

Okay, enough of the preface. Lets get on with Mr.P's collection of the day. It was 11:45 am when we were inside the zoo premises.
This animal was the first on our list. Its a NILGAI. Well, there is apparently nothing NIL (Blue) about it, but its ultra-great-grandfathers were also called so. So there is nothing much that our generation can do about its name.

Next was a remainder that we had two bottles of Coke in my bag and two packets of pop-corns with us. We started with them and came here.
The label near this animal had SLOTH BEAR written on it. We saw there is a yellow "V" around its neck (not visible in the picture). These typical bears are used by those people who put up the road side "Bhalu Naach" shows (Although, it is banned now).

When we reached the next animal, it was showing the entire crowd in front of its cage its... well... "back side". But later it changed its position a little.As tried by Mr.P, no cage or bars. I have heard a few experts say that ZEBRA is one of those animals which is really tough to tame and also that the stripe patterns of each zebra in this world is as unique as the finger prints of each human being.

I don't know but due to some "unknown" reason, Sumana was getting very curious to get to the monkeys and apes. We reached near the Chimpanzee's area, but it was not outside its shelter. We walked on and reached the other cages.Even though it was terribly dusty near this BABOON's area, but the look it was holding in its eyes, was something that Mr.P just could not leave unshot. I have no idea what the animal was thinking/looking at but by the looks of it, it could not have been just a crow that he might have been trying to spot.

Next is the one for which Sayani found the perfect spot for Mr.P to shoot. he was at a different place, but he ran down to the new found area around the boundary to get this shot.
This GHARIYAL is Mr.P's one of the most satisfying pick of the day. Three of these were basking in the sun and this one was giving just the correct pose to be shot and published here in this post.

Then came the animal which features behind the 10 rupees currency note and 25 paisa coin of India and is an enlisted endangered species.In spite of that heavy and thick skin and the signature horn on his nose (not in the one in this picture), the RHINOCEROS are not very tough to hunt down if ambushed properly. This one though was generous enough to show us its running capabilities inside its boundary itself.

Well, apologies first. The Royal Bengal Tiger was not out of its (fully covered) shelter, so no opportunity for Mr.P to shoot it. Although, a close cousin of it was in a mood for a stroll in the winter afternoon sun.A little discussion made a recollection that a WHITE TIGER is a very close cousin of Panthera Tigris i.e. a common tiger (although they are not very common anymore these days). Its just the skin pigmentation that differs this type from the rarest one.

But one lady was surely out and was enjoying the mild sun. Mr.P is sorry for not being able to avoid the cage in this next shot.The metallic board on its cage read INDIAN LIONESS. Thanks to the auto focus settings (for the crowd and pushes) the cage became more prominent than the queen herself. No matter how many people come and see her in her royal slumber, she just refused to get disturbed.

Next was a bird. Honestly speaking, even a decade ago, I was not as tall as this bird in its fully standing position. Its not an Ostrich (there was a zoom problem and the ostriches turned out to be camera shy, so no ostrich pic).This bird here is called an EMU. Although its a completely flightless bird, but still its cage was completely covered (another helpless situation for Mr.P). It was estimatedely about...aaa... 5 feet tall.

Then was this shot. Something that was not shot by Mr.P but by Sayani. The animal was too far away for even a full 10x zoom.Guess its quite old, that's why the manes are not bushy enough. Its a LION. I had a special request from my friend Sujay when he called me up in the morning, which goes like "I need the pictures of a lions teeth". Well, sorry dude, his majesty didn't yawn (or tried to eat us) the time we were around his territory.

Now for the most intelligent group after the ones who were outside the cages. There were three, and were in a slightly playful mood.No doubt these ELEPHANTS had to be in an artificial setup, but in comparison to the elephant shots in Kerala by Mr.P they were a little 'not so catchy'. By the way is it only I who can see that gentle smile on this ones face?

Now for the most idiotic one. Although Mr.P can blame it on the thick crowd in his left and right. Moving along the Jaguar and Panther cages, Mr. had to somehow hold his hand high and shoot.Yes, yes, I know. The face of the CHEETAH is hidden behind the stupid log. But, this little embarrassment (for Mr.P) is worth the show of the beautiful skin for this fantastic creature. This skin, again, has turned out to be the one for which poachers are after this animal.

Initially, the next animal was not visible to the eyes. But later a few shouts of "there it is, there it is" revealed its position. Only the mouth of the animal was not open, or else it would have made a typical Nat Geo frame.Once, one of the group member was spotted, the others were discovered just below and around it. But this ALLIGATOR, somehow wanted to be clicked separately, so it came out of the huddle and sat peacefully in its own sun.

In the next one also, there were bars which were possible to be avoided only by a helicopter shot (so, it was not avoided by Mr.P today!). When we reached this area, a weird calmness came upon all of us.There was a father, a mother and a child GIRAFFE. These animals are mute but not a bit less beautiful than the Cheetah or the Tiger or the Lioness. When we reached, the entire giraffe family was out. Strangely, it was feeling great to be standing there.


We moved out after some more time. No doubt the day was great. I went to the zoo after almost a decade and still found the same magic working in me as I had always remembered it to work. Also I am lucky enough to have this "Mr.P" to accompany me now-a-days! :)

Please let us know about your thoughts about this post. We would be really glad to know if you still feel the same way about the zoo as you did when you were a child.

Bye for now :)