Thol

Thol is a shallow freshwater reservoir of 7 sq km. It was declared officially in 1988.

 We started out at 6 am from our home, took the highway. It is really a refreshing long drive to Thol. As we drove gradually the scene on both the sides of the road changed. Initially, long buildings and flyovers were seen then under construction belt, then village area with long stretch of agricultural lands.

The breeze was cool, the sky was clear, and the more we were nearing the site, though we were not sure of the route and had to stop at few crossings to ask for directions still we knew that we were nearing the spot…how? The chirruping of the birds told us. The road was getting narrow, yet the fun was to cruise slowly behind a bullock cart, or a tractor. It’s not bad to slow down a while.

Finally when we spotted the board “Thol Bird Sanctuary” we thought that we have reached but it was not the case…it lead us through a bumpy road ride where we had to follow the trails of buffaloes before reaching the main gate. At the gate when my husband took the tickets, I asked the gentleman at the counter, “how much do I have to pay for the camera?” the reply came “Nothing”. I was overjoyed, as I read a notice board outside the gate which stated an amount of “upto 5000 rupees”.

Well our journey was not yet done, from the main gate again there was a lane through the shades of green neem trees which lead us to the lake. There is a distance between parking and the actual spot, obviously because the frequent movements of vehicles should pose any disturbance to the migratory birds.

When we finally reached the spot, climbed up the framed wall and slided down on the other side, the ground under the feet was shrouded with snails ….thousands of them. I did not feel like stepping on them. But unfortunately, not even a single inch was empty.

The sun was about to rise. Birds were flying in the sky in V formations, trees had some mystic appearances, water caressed the feet smoothly. All in all it was a calming experience.

 People were there with their entire family. While walking by, one young boy came running to my husband and said, “uncle, please take a pic of ours”. Then I noticed by following his finger point that he was not alone his entire family was seated on a fallen tree, 7 people including him. Honestly, I thought the fallen tree will crash down further but thankfully it didn’t. While I thought of sitting there for a while meditating, my son enthusiastically kept collecting bird feathers. Every time he got one, he would come running to me “Ma..Ma…look…birdy gave me a feather”. We all sipped in the beauty in our own little way.

Thol is home to not less than 100 species of birds, like, Indian Saras, Cranes, Herons, Spoonbills, Flamingoes, Ibis, Geese, Pelicans, Ducks, Egrets and many more. We could only see clearly those birds which were near the land though not many. Mostly the birds were in groups of hundreds and swam together in the centre of the lake, thus appeared like dots to our naked eyes, now it was clear to me, why I was not charged for the camera.