Photo Gallery - 4th Nepli to Nepli Trek

The day began early for 20 CATS...

Sukhna Lake indeed is the place to greet the Sun God..

Tete-e-tete amungst the CATS whilst waiting for
CAT Rachna and her son CAT Ansh to arrive... who had
got delayed as her car had been blocked by another car and
she could not leave her residence...
CAT DeepInder quickly stepped in to pick her up and reach Nepli Gate direct...

....and the rest of the entourage started moving towards
the Nepli Gate from our assembly point of Sukhna Lake,
slowly but surely,
enjoying the rising sun kissing our sleep deprived whiskers ;-)

Brightly painted peacocks welcomed us at the Nepli Gate,
where we handed over our official permit and parked the cars...

A final 'Roll Call of Attendance' being marked off our Registration Sheet,
to ensure no adventerous feline went missing between the lake and the gate!

See, I told you CATS are full of mischief and adventure...
Can't take them anywhere ;-)

It was not long before we set our paws on the lush green trail...

and there was a surprise every corner...
CAT Puneet was elated to find a Peacock Feather,
to take home for her lovely daughter CAT Ana who did not came for the trek...

wonder what CAT Kunal and CAT Chat are so mesmerised with...

Was it this magical web woven by the spider and
beautifully caught on the camera by our new CAT Raman?

Any guesses for what this white fluff is?
.
NO... think again... Still no???
.
This white fluff contains the eggs laid by the butterflies I am told...

but none of us could find out the reason why all the trees
in this particular patch of the jungle, were all leaning towards one side...
We tried to walk away from the trail and into the jungle
but still failed to establish the possible cause(s)...

Mr Ishwar Singh, perhaps you could explain?

Whilst it was a fun morning for the CATS,
it was work as usual for some...
a reality of a blessed life we all lead,
never fails to hit us whenever we go out trekking...

Another young boy out to earn his bread and butter for the day...

Food for thought for our young ones, duly taken care by another
new-comer CAT Ajit and ofcourse the old timer, CAT Rachna M...

and just in case you are thinking that CAT Rachna A is letting
the child in her have a field day in the jungle.. THINK AGAIN :)

Like last trek in Nepli, CAT Gurtej had slipped in a choe
and landed on his rear end...
and CAT Rachna A fetched the water out of the village well
to give him an instant bath and wash the mud off his back ;-)

Though the trail was lovely, it had started getting a little warm for CAT Sanjeev :)

CAT Raman kept saying, 'I can't believe this is Chandigarh!'

Watch Towers are so much fun to stop by and indulge in a spot of bird watching.

and there is plethora of information pertaining to the jungle,
its' flora and fauna that has been carefully painted inside each watch tower...

a place where our fellow CATS perplexed these two felines
by getting upto mischief... AGAIN!!!
atleast 4 cameras must have clicked atleast dozens of pics within a few seconds...

First MEOW MOMENT of the trek...
A group photograph at the last watch tower before
we stopped at the Nepli Hut for a breakfast break...

Picturesque Nepli Hut with sprawling and well manicured lawns
gleefully welcomed 20 CATS into its' fold...

A short 'langar' break followed whereby everyone shared
whatever they had brought along in their rucksacks..
'Matthiyaan' brought by CAT Chat were an instant hit and did many rounds :)

A quick poll after breakfast was held when only 5 hands
went up in favour of trekking one hillock before we head home...
However, with a little meowing, 16 stayed back to leg it more
whilst CAT Sanjeev, CAT Chat, CAT Raman and CAT Rachna A
decided to head back to their cars.

So it was Garri for some and Pahaari for the rest :)

Even though the sun was shining at our back,
we stepped forward bravely ahead..

and it was proving to be a little steep already for the first timers...

but the hike had just begun CATS ;-)

Forget the old timers, even the experienced CATS were finding it
a little taxing to walk the ramp under the blinding sun without any breeze!

Rest we may a little...
but we had a hillock to climb where the best view of Sukhna Lake
and the Capitol Complex was waiting for us at the
Hawa Mahal; yet another watch tower in the jungle.

Stop not till the goal is reached... unless ofcourse you are CAT Krishan
and have spotted something interesting to click on the way ;-)

CAT Puneet sightfully complains,
'Mera pati meri photo to leta hee nahi hai!!'

CAT Ravinder resting his paws along with CAT Aman and CAT Ansh...

Giving Up is not in our genes!

The second MEOW MOMENT of the trek...
CATS finally at the Watch Tower :)

Can you name this beautiful fly?

CATS at the final pit-stop of the trek - Nathewala Khu

Any idea why we are all looking so 'Bheegi-Bheegi Billiyaan'??

A quickly deviced 'head spa' at the village well;
for the drained CATS and by the resourceful CATS ;-)

As CAT Om would say,
'Billlliyaaan - Gillllliyaaaann'

Final count of the feathers which were collected during the trek...
Can you name the birds to whom they belong to?

Yet another productive Sunday morning spent in the loving company of CATS :)

- CAT Supreet

Moment of Celebration - CAT Uday got married :)

My Dear CATS,

It took us a while to lay our paws on the photographs of our dear CAT Uday's wedding photographs, but here they ae nevertheless :)

With absolute delight I announce that CAT Uday got married to his beloved Crystal on a hot balmy day in a traditional marriage ceremony.

Our dulha CAT Uday looks so young and fetching in the traditional attire. A far cry from his short/T-shirt and Hat avtaar we all are so used to of :)

The coy bride in Crystal, the happy parents and family and friends around, they could not have tied the knot in a better way.

The traditional ceremony was followed by a reception... and how could the wedding me complete without an odd CAT popping its' whiskers around ;-)

Our biking CAT Harmesh Inder attended the wedding along with his wife.. MEOW

Let us all wish CAT Uday and Crytal a very long, happy and fulfilling life together CATS.

Amen,
CAT Supreet

Photo Gallery - Biking in Kansal

Friday Morning: 21st Aug'09

With plenty of first timers, allow me to introduce them to you.
CAT Riyaal had brought along his neighbour Minnie,
CAT Uday had his lovely wife Crystal with him,
then we also had Ajit, Lynn, Harman and Kimberly;
not to forget our regulars CAT Sandeep and CAT Harpreet.

Our multi-lingual and multi-cultural pack of 11 CATS
left Karuna Sadan at 6.10am, where CAT Pramod
personally handed over the bikes on rent to us.

The staff of Mr Ishwar Singh was as effective and vigilant, as ever!

Between the 10 of us, we could speak 9 languages and
had collectively visited nearly 30 countries!

Rearing to hit the trail within the Kansal Forest....

Lynn, I and Kimberly radiating in the splendid natural habitat of Kansal :)

....washing powder NIRMA ;-)

CAT Gurinder's son Harman, who was over from UK
for 10 days was simply over-awed by the beautiful environment
he was surrounded with...

He kept on saying, 'This is not India!!!'

The newly constructed Watch Tower in the side lawns of the
Log Hut at Kansal offering panoramic views all around

The walls of the Watch Towers give valuable pictorial information
about the flora, fauna to be found in the local jungle...

along with geographical details about the forest as well..
commendable attention to detail from Mr Ishwar Singh again...

Most of us were reminded of the Swiss chalets we had
been visiting, whilst walking back towards our bikes...

It was a BEAUTIFUL morning spent biking in Kansal CATS.


Saturday Morning: 22nd Aug'09

7 of us got onto our bikes from Karuna Sadan again at 6am
for yet another visit to Kansal... the main difference from yesterday
was that we had 3 kids with us to take care of today :)

CAT Amanat and CAT Ansh waiting for me to complete the formalities of the gate entry...

Just then the gate keeper arrived with a 4days old kitten,
which was being hunted by 3 dogs close to the forest gate...
as you can see, the kitten appears to be as big as CAT Amanat's hand!

With no sign of its' mother CAT around,
our own little kittens tried their best to provide comfort
to the meowing kitten; but to no effect...

The gate-keeper eventually decided to take the kitten
under his shelter till it grew up to fend for itself...

With the little kitten taken care of, our own
pack of CATS left behind our gang set to take off :)

Hardly had we got onto our bikes when kids came across
the first dam full of tadpoles and some mating butterlies...
Though CAT Ajit and CAT Rachna managed to stop them from
paddling deep into the water, it was an enjoyable lesson in biology for them ;-)

This pond held attention further as it had various stages
of being; from tadpoles to frogs in it...
Both CAT Ansh and CAT Aman were so curious that
they almost fell into the pond...

We had to raise our voice to get the boys back on the bikes!

CAT Uday had to rush back to get ready for work,
but we decided to explore the area around Kansal Log Hut
a little more with the kids...

Can you imagine that whilst the city baked in heat,
we had this lovely foggy morning greeting us by the lake at Kansal...

CAT Ajit was surprised to see that we had come
fully prepared with cookies, fruit, lassi, juices, rusks
and sandwiches for the biking morning!

Our services were improving by the day :)

and this was the state of Sun at 8.15am that morning ;-)

Though CAT Ajit had come only for the second time with us,
but he had already become an indispensible part of CATS...
He took our kittens to the field after breakfast when our
highly observant CAT Ansh said while running,
'meri tummy mein khaana uchhal raha hai!!!'

if you thought the fun was over with the biking, THINK AGAIN...

As we all waited for CAT Rachna to get back on track
since she had missed a turning, this lovely little pool with a fish and
single blooming lotus caught the attention of our kids AGAIN!!

Despite being given many warning by CAT Ajit and I,
they tried to hunt for the little fish kept in water to clean it off mosquitoes,
they tried to beat the little frogs in water with a stick...
till they lept a little more towards the pool...

and SPLASH.....

A very sheepish CAT Ansh was found amoung the fish and lotus in the pool !!!

CAT Ajit quickly pulled him out of the shallow pool,
amidst roaring laughter and bewildered looks ;-)

To this day, neither do we know nor we are sure
CAT Ansh has figured out, just how on earth did
he manage to land himself in the pond.

A BIG LESSON of this beautiful and memorable biking morning is:
Always LISTEN to your elders!!

- CAT Supreet

Photo Gallery - CATS 2nd Birthday

Agreed it was an impromptu birthday party,
agreed that only 17 had registered,
agreed that it was a weekday,
but the ones who came meowed their way through the evening.

First timer CAT Riyaal did not know what to do with this bunch of odd shaped CATS ;-)

We started a little late due to a massive traffic jam at the adjacent roundabout, but CATS were ready for the kill in no time... just look at this line up of beauties CATS :)

The first lot was chirping away so much, that this lot could hardly get a word in ;-)
Another newcomer of the evening, CAT Naveen gingerly walked upto our table and asked for Supreet. His face dropped when I got up to shake his hand.

He had all along assumed that Supreet was a man!

CAT Tony may seem quite here but was his usual witty self but as you can see,

CATS had not quite sunk into Riyaal as yet!

Given so many new faces around, a round of introductions was held,
whereby older CATS merrily told stories about each other..
I am sure CAT Rachna still does not know what to do with CAT DeepInder ;-)

Whilst the older lot were enjoying a group CATTY session,
our kittens were having a wonderful time by themselves on the sides..
CAT Amanat and CAT Garima bossed CAT Aman
and CAT Ansh around ;-)

Even sumptuous food could not quiten this lot... what to do eh!

Delicious and sumptuous food was served efficiently and lovingly
by the staff of Sundaram's. We had a vada, dahi bhalla, upma,
arguing with idli, uttapam, dosa, sambhar and rasam along with
3 chutneys competing for space inside our bellies!

Infact, Mr Sundaram himself ensured that CATS had a wonderful evening.

the 'boys' and the 'girls' made up to have dinner together ;-)

it really is amazing to see various age groups interacting in CATS

CAT Chat took charge of the smallest table to keep an eye on
CAT Sandeep and our dainty little CAT Surbhi ;-)

As a thank-you gesture for the heart warming service at extremely
affordable cost, CAT Charanjeet gave the 'CJ touch' to the evening by
preparing a memento for Mr Sundaram, which read 'Ati Sundaram'.

The memento was presented by our 4 little kittens to Mr Sundaram.

The food was so good that we infact forgot our cake altogether!

...and we had an unforgettable cake to remember this evening by.
I had ordered white cake with soft pink lace and dark green paw imprint.
The baker misheard me and we ended up with a white cake sporting
dark pink lace and a light paw imprint!!

Our GrandOld CAT Chat cut the cake with CAT Aman and CAT Ansh.

CAT AP immaculately cut 29 slices of our cake to ensure equality amungst the CATS :)

Aaw... memorable moments eh...
Though 17 had signed up, 29 showed up ending up fighting for space in the camera frame ;-)

We also had another reason to cheer.

CAT Sandeep got engaged to CAT Surbhi 2 days ago,
giving us a true-blue blooded FIRST CATS COUPLE.

Honestly, we had been waiting impatiently for this to happen.
Infact, CAT Tony was the first to exclaim,
'Shaq sa to mujhe inn per Tanda trip se hee tha!!!'

Do join us in wishing both of them a beautiful and fulfilling life together.

- CAT Supreet