A trip to Asan Barrage, Dehradun, (Uttarakhand).

 


My parents recently joined a bird watching and stargazing group in Dehradun. It is administered by Mr. Satpal Gandhi, a professional stargazer and birdwatcher. Various sessions are conducted for the group members and their friends which helps spreading of this hobby to many future bird watchers and star gazers.

       Mr. Gandhi, on 12th December, asked all the group participants if they were interested in going for a trip the next day, to a place called Asan Barrage for experiencing a meteor shower and observing rare birds. My parents asked my sister and me if we wanted to go and out of excitement we said yes. I was informed by my parents to pack warm clothes as it would be really cold and we would be staying near a water body during the month of December. We set off at noon and reached Asan Barrage at half past 2. We all got mesmerized the moment we saw that place. It was a magnificent riverscape and the cottages had a conical rooftop with a terrace through which the lake could be viewed, it was quite contenting. Mr. Gandhi instructed us to quickly have lunch and drive to the opposite side of the lake to watch the different types of water birds. We went there and gained knowledge about the distinct water birds, classified as deep and shallow water birds that migrate from very cold places in Europe to this place. Some of them were Dapchicks and Grebes. We even identified a horned grebe through a spotting scope which Mr. Gandhi was carrying. After taking some photos of the water birds and the sunset, we all headed back to the cottages. All of us gathered around and lit a bonfire as it was freezing cold. We sat down for a while till it was dark. We could see Jupiter and the Moon from our naked eyes. It got really dark around 6 at evening and Mr. Gandhi started to tell us about the various galaxies and constellations that could be viewed in the night sky. He taught us how to identify the north star (Polaris) by observing the Ursa Major (Saptarishi) and the Cassiopeia constellations. He also told us that the brightest star in the sky is called Sirius and to the side of it lies the second brightest star known as the Canopus star. He acquainted us about the closest galaxy to earth known as the Andromeda Galaxy. He made us recognise a constellation called Orion the hunter and its brightest star known as Betelgeuse. Later that evening, Mr. Gandhi adjusted his telescope at a place from where the moon would be clearly visible. He made us see the moon through the telescope and we were able to identify the craters of it. Though the craters were looking really tiny, their actual size would be a hundred times from what we saw. Mr. Gandhi made us view the rings of Saturn and the four moons of Jupiter. It was all so fascinating that we wanted to see them again and again. After this, we were led to the dinner table.  
It was 9 at night now and we all excitedly sat down around the bonfire to see the meteor shower.
Mr. Gandhi told us to observe two stars- Castor and Pollux of the Gemini constellation to see the shower. Time passed by and it was half past 10 when we heard a gleeful shout "vo dekhaaa?". The meteor shower had started and the meteors could be seen. I took some time to observe them but eventually I was able to see many of them! The meteors were so captivating that it made all of us exhilarated. The night of 13th December was the best night for everyone present there as we knew that only a few percentage of people were able to experience this phenomenon. It got late at night and we all went to sleep and were made aware by Mr. Gandhi to wake up at 4 in the morning to watch the sunrise. The next day we woke up and witnessed the beautiful sunrise. We kept watching it for a while until Mr. Gandhi informed us about going for a walk in the jungle to birdwatch. All of us got kitted and started our walk to the jungle. During the stroll, Mr. Gandhi kept educating us about the unique and interesting facts about birds. He told us that there are two types of jungle birds- terrestrial and arboreal. The terrestrial birds stay on ground whereas the arboreal birds keep flying and can frequently be observed at the top of trees. We were now casually talking to each other when Mr. Gandhi spotted the Stork billed Kingfisher. He told us that it was pretty rare. Out of some of the kingfishers, we were able to see the Stork billed kingfisher, the Pied kingfisher and the Common kingfisher. During the jungle walk, Mr. Gandhi was able to make us notice many exotic birds, some of them were the Verditor flycatcher- it had a bluish-greenish color, the minivets, both male and female- the male had a red-orangish color whereas the female minivet was bright yellow. 

Arriving back at the cottages, Mr. Gandhi spotted the Golden oriole, which also was very rare to be seen. Each of us was extremely tired so we took a seat and had breakfast. The whole group chit chatted for a while.

It was about time now, we had to leave. We thanked Mr. Gandhi for the knowledgeable trip and said goodbye to him until the next jaunt.

In my mind I realized how engrossing stargazing and birdwatching as a hobby can be. One could just sit down outside and pass their time on something extraordinary. Knowing about these things was very interesting to me and it could anytime be a conversation starter. This trip to Asan Barrage was an unreal experience for me and my family and we enjoyed it to the fullest!