Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Star trek in the wild bush
|
The Bedi babe was game for some wild stuff as Bhumika K. found out on a trek through the Bush Betta resort
|
WILD CHILD When Pooja is on the prowl, the big cats slink away - old jungle saying
Wildcat spotted atop Bush Betta, on the outskirts of Bandipur National Park. The sleek feline loped up the hill at lightning speed with sinewy energy and perched herself comfortably atop a rocky slope... what is it? Is it a tigress? A wildcat? A leopard? Oh no! It's Pooja Bedi with her hair flying loose and wild in the wind, wearing uber-cool sunglasses, tight jeans and tighter T (with short capped sleeves), and a white sunshade, exploring the joys of a trek in wilder jungles.
(I know I'm saying the word "wild" a lot, but that's what was promised, believe me!) Brand ambassadors these days get to do the darnedest of things. Just learn from actor and TV show host Pooja. And holiday in the wild.
Going on a wild safari and trek, this Bollywood babe made sure that The Country Club's Bush Betta Resort got all the attention it needed, especially from Mumbai's star-struck TV journos who got their wild soundbites, with the odd Bangalorewallahs looking on.
A very excited Pooja, who had encountered wild hare the previous night on a drive around the resort, told the media: "It's very exciting... going on a night safari. It's not chartered territory, you know, and anything can happen!"
Protima's daughter also took a dig at the scribes: "I can see faces I encounter in Mumbai's wildlife, at parties and discotheques." While she hasn't been to any African safari yet, Pooja hopes to go soon to the "real jungle". She also gushed about the bison she saw that was "big and had horns, and was nice".
Just four kilometres off the Bangalore-Ooty highway, Bush Betta had been the brainchild of Saad Bin Jung, more famous as `Tiger' Pataudi's nephew. But it was closed to tourists for a while thanks to Veerappan who had a nasty habit of kidnapping the odd forest guard and celeb, sometimes with sticky results.
Later, the Hyderabad-based Country Club (India) Limited acquired this 35-acre resort a little after the bandit was shot dead in 2004, and added it to its chain of luxe resorts across India. What's more, it recently even celebrated its first anniversary with a bash in the wild.
Which brings us back on course. A few kilometres into the Bandipur National Park gate, and tall wooden banners greeted Pooja Bedi to the resort. Oddly enough, in the midst of lush foliage, a plastic palm tree in fluorescent green (the kind you see outside shopping malls) also greeted guests to the entrance of the club. The real palms stood a bit behind... so the point was?!
The celebration
Eyes popped at the "celebration" — complete with shamiana, balloons, plastic chairs, blaring thumping music, free-flowing food and booze. Right on the hem of the wildlife park. I mean, how much wilder could you get! But you could actually, considering there is a 3,400 sq ft swimming pool with a sunken bar to boot at the resort.
This is the new-age formula to attract tired city-bred souls into so-called jungle. Take a wildlife haunt and cross it with the comforts of a plush resort — you get a swimming pool and sunken bar, comfy and spacious cottages, electricity and telephones, TV, conference halls and TT tables. Coming attractions: video conferencing, mobile and wireless connectivity...
Uh! Isn't the whole point to get away from it all?
Siddhartha Reddy, the Club's CEO, said: "Our idea is to combine local culture with wildlife." Hence the mandatory tribal dancers. And he skimmed through the unresolved debate that torments such property developers and wildlife conservationists for precisely contrary reasons — about the conflict and contact that tourism brings to local communities and wildlife.
Electric fencing runs around the entire resort, and as Club Chairman Y. Rajeev Reddy explained: "We have this fencing to keep out animals that spoil our lawns!" He also assured us with the kind of confidence the Tiger Task Force could have only prayed for, and would have had any forest official exasperated: "There are around 70 tigers in Bandipur."
Explaining that wildlife preservation and education was definitely on their cards, son Siddhartha Reddy said the first step to preservation was to stop poaching, by promoting tourism as a source of income for local communities (believed to be involved in poaching). So are they ploughing back any part of the profits for community projects? No answers there, except to say they employ people from surrounding villages. While talking to some of the villagers, one gets to hear of lands being bought up at low prices by "city-folk", of animal intrusions, lack of schools in the area, about low pay and inadequate work through the year.
The highpoint of your visit could be the jeep safari in the national park. Though you will easily see the usual suspects — deer or chital, and sambhar — in abundance, you may also be lucky to see a herd of the gigantic Indian bison or gaur and a herd of elephants (we were lucky to see a herd of 12!).
The park opens twice for these safaris — at 6 a.m and 4 p.m. The watchtower at Bush Betta gives a panoramic view of the surroundings and brush with strong winds. The trek up Bush Betta will also give you a 360 degree view of Bandipur, the Moyar gorge, surrounding settlements and villages.
For details on the resort, call 51261735/36.
* * *
Crime and punishment
Mulling over some wild animal talk, the topic naturally shifted to who else but Salman Khan and his five-year sentence for shooting endangered species. Pooja Bedi proceeded to tell us how there are a lot of places in the world where hunting is allowed, and how he should have simply gone there. "In Salman's case he unfortunately shot an endangered species. But I think five years is a little too extreme. Punishment must fit the crime. I understand that they are taking a public figure and setting an example here but... " She feels that Salman is "suffering for it" now, and it would have been better if the fine amount was heavier instead of the sentence. "I live by the law of the land and I don't believe in hunting for pleasure."
And pleasure came from walking barefoot on wet grass lawns at the club. The lady also proudly made her point that she never travels light and how she needs a different outfit for breakfast, lunch...
Pooja was at Bush Betta with her kids, Omar and Aaliya. One must admit she makes a great doting mom who feeds the kids herself, enjoys seeing them play and swim and gives them all her attention and care, sans an entourage of attendants.
One must also appreciate that Pooja is fit as a fiddle and climbed up the Bush Betta at an enviable pace and without any trace of breathlessness — something she credits to her strict exercise regime and stamina-building workouts with Tai Chi, kickboxing, swimming. She in fact chided us out-of-shape journos with a "C'mon guys where's your stamina?"
Pooja recalled how her mother Protima Gauri Bedi often took her and her brother on treks in Lonavala, Panchgani and Matheran. "We've always been outdoor kids."
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
|
