Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Timeless Hampi

Hampi is a place I never get bored of visiting. One of the world heritage sites in Karnataka, it is the largest ruins in India. Nothing prepares one for the vastness of the Hampi ruins. While the list of places to see seems exhaustive when one starts to explore Hampi it becomes evident that the list is just the starting point and depending on personal interest one can spend anywhere between 2 days to 2 months here.

As I go around the ruins all I can think of is how beautiful this would have been during its days of glory. Maybe music filled the air when one walked along the banks of River Tunga-Badhra, hymns reverberated from the pillars of the temples and boulders around, and cries of the vendors was heard in the background.

This time as I heard the guide rattle away stories from history; my mind wandered to stories carved on the walls. I mentally made a note to thank my mom for all the bed time stories as I was able to relate the cravings to mythology. Connect the dots and discuss it. Once again I stood mesmerised by the musical pillars and stone charriot at Vittal.Recollected the day when I heard musical notes being played on them.

Took time to analyse the wall painting in Virupaksha, amused a bunch of foreign and local tourists who were evesdropping on the discussion with from mythology.

I walked along the river enjoying ice candies bought from a local vendor and watched people bargain with the boat man to cross the river.
While I waited for the sunrise on the Anjaneya temple I realised that visiting Hampi was not only about history; it was also about nature, the landscape views, the fusion of culture and languages.

Hampi catered to my need to relax, need to explore and learn and need to reconnect with my self. I won’t be surprised if I packed my bags and went back there at the drop of a hat.

Links to Photographs
https://picasaweb.google.com/110258699064065442660/HampiHistoryAndMore?authkey=Gv1sRgCMPy5PD2trrA5AE#

Saturday, 31 March 2012

Party on the Jamun Tree

When the doctor advised bed rest I was disappointed, didn’t know how I would spend a week at home with absolutely nothing to keep me entertained. But at the end of the week not only do I feel better I got observe fascinating facts about the tree that I could see from my balcony.

While resting in the balcony I observed that leaves on one of the tree had tree gum coloured water spots on it. On enquiring with my neighbour I found out that the tree was a Jamun Tree. On the first day I noticed that there were a lot of bees and wasps frequenting these leaves. Though there were ants on the tree none on these leaves. By evening there were drops of this liquid falling from the leaves.

The next day it looked like the liquid had harderend and now I found ants on the leaves. The bee and wasps went to leaves that had fresh spots. I also observed that this was happening on the leaves that had some amount of sunlight falling on them. When I touched the leaves the liquid felt sticky.

On day three some leaves had some kind of fungus growth but also had lots of ants on them. The early morning drizzle had washed some leaves clean, but older leaves now had black spots.

While I am not sure about why the leaves have this; the only explaination I found online is

Citrus Whitefly
The citrus whitefly is a tiny white winged insect that is about 1/12 of an inch in length. It is most commonly found feeding on the underside of the tree’s leaves. When the branches are shaken, the Citrus whitefly will rapidly take flight and can be seen fluttering around the tree. In addition to feeding on the citrus tree, the whiteflies also lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves. When the eggs hatch, the juveniles are small oval, almost transparent larva, which attach themselves to the underside of the leaves and begin sucking the sap from the leaves. As a result, the tree’s leaves begin to curl and appear to be covered with a sticky, sooty mold substance.

The mold like substance is actually honeydew that is excreted by the whiteflies because they are not able to metabolize all of the sugars contained in the leaf sap. The honeydew can often be seen dripping from the tree’s leaves and becomes an attractant to other insects such as ants.

http://www.citrus-tree-care.com/care-insects-and-disease.html

More Pictures in the link below

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150774606040539.457677.548205538&type=3

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

The Fight for Survival

Most of the trips to the wildlife sanctuaries have always with the hope that I get to see the big five up close. The dream was no different this time as well. With some last minute planning I was in Bandipur for the weekend.

The jungle safari felt like a wasted trip as I didn’t spot anything except the spotted deers and wild boars. The driver didn’t stop for birds and I was feeling really low.

Just after the safari, I was headed back to the place I was staying. Close to the Bandipur Forest Office I took a left and had to break hard. On the side of the road was a fight for survival that I had never heard about.

A small cat was fighting with an adult mongoose. Claws out, hair raised, it was jumping about. The mongoose had bared its teeth as well. As I watched the mongoose and cat disappeared in to the trench fighting. I moved my car closer to catch a glimpse. I was just in time to see the mongoose bite the cat in the neck and hold it down. Sound of a vehicle behind me made the mongoose drag the cat into a bush. Initially I could still see the cat struggle and they disappeared deeper into the bush, out of sight I head the cat’s cry slowly died down.

I am not sure what happened after that as I didn’t get down from the car to investigate. I assume the mongoose made a meal of the cat.

Note: All this action happened over 2 mins and hence didn't get too many pictures. Posting the only decent shot I got.

Monday, 31 October 2011

Kabini: Yet Again

What can one write about Kabini JLR that is not already written? I personally believe that it’s the most beautiful property among the ones that I have visited. The staff here is amazing and ensures you have a comfortable stay. The naturalists are patient and are always ready to answer questions thrown at them. Most being: how many leopards or tigers have you seen? Have you seen a tiger kill? Will the leopard attack us? There was also a question where someone wanted to know if the Crested Serpent Eagle would attack the jeep. Of course they answered all with a smile even though I am sure they have answered these a million times.

So this time I thought I will write about my most memorable sightings and observations.

There is always an expectation of seeing wildcats when in Kabini, the sighting is purely a matter of luck. This time around lady luck was kind to me, I got to see leopards in two out of the 4 safari I went on. While the first was a fleeting glimpse during the jeep safari; the second was on a boat safari, where I was running from one end of the boat to the other to get pictures. The second sighting is more memorable just because of the people involved. While the safari started most of us were lost in our own thoughts, some looked at the birds while other asked about the lone tuskers on the banks. Suddenly on the way back, someone shouted leopard and everybody on the boat was alive and looking out. Once we saw him the cameras were out, fortunately or unfortunately my camera had a slightly better zoom. Soon everyone was making way for me to get atleast one decent shot. Once done e-mail IDs were exchanges and copies of the picture was requested for. But this also helped make new friends and the evening was spent narrating the leopard sighting.

The other exciting sighting for me was to watch the Osprey fish. While the bird was too far away to take pictures, the whole episode will remain in my memory forever.

Seeing an otter pup was the other highlight. We were on the jeep safari along the backwater and had stopped to observe an elephant and we noticed there were 4 otters on the bank. Looking through the binoculars we noticed the group had pup. It was about half the size of the adult and kept following the group. When the group got into water one adult stayed on the bank waited till the rest went in and followed them. They swam close to the shore and soon went out of sight.

While I looked forward to the safaris, time spent between the safaris turned out to be quite interesting as well. Since JLR had 100% occupancy on both days, there were a lot of people around.

The group I observed the most were a bunch of 5th graders from a school in Bangalore. It was amazing to listen to them talk. The girls mostly spoke about mid-night party they had, while the boys spoke of different things the saw during the day. One particular conversation I remember is about stopping Tiger Poaching.

The 2 boys were having dinner, they had just come back from the video screening at JLR. From the conversation I assumed that the topic of poaching was touched upon. One of the boys wanted to have electrical fence around the forest so that poachers would not be able to get in, on hearing this the other boy dismissed the idea saying the tiger’s coat could also get burnt by the ectrical fence and hence they needed a better plan. They finally decided that they would build walls around the forest. This way the tiger could jump over and cross when it needed to and the poacher would not get across. Even if the tiger crashed against the wall since it’s big and strong it will survive and a human would break his bones. The smile on my face must have given me away because the boys realized I had eve’s dropping and changed table.

The other quote that I heard as we waited for the safari jeep was “ I am not perfect but I can run”

Nature walks were another place where I got to interact with people specially kids. There was one who wanted me to name animal he had just seen. When he finally found his animal and pointed it to me it was a pill bug. The kid was so excited when I touched it and it curled up. But he didn’t want me to hold it as he thought it will bite me. It was fun answering his questions and clarifying things.

Then there was a couple fascinated by the kingfisher. Every time we saw the bird we would stop so that they could get a picture.They kept calling it the blue bird

I also met a couple whose interests were so different, while the wife loved outdoor and nature; the husband loved to sit indoors and take office calls or play games. It was interesting to watch both. While one was excited about birds and spiders, the other wanted only the wild cats.

Kabini JLR has never failed to impress me and it lived up to my expectation but this trip also gave me a insight into people and their thoughts.

Tuesday, 13 September 2011

A Sip of Wine at Channapatna

TOI on 27^th Jul 2011, mentioned Winery Visit in one of its pages. Since Dad makes wines as a hobby it caught my attention. A quick call to them and we had the needed information.

It was decided that we will visit the place on Saturday and understand the process of wine making a little better.

The place is located close to Channapatna and is open to public between 11 and 4. The directions were very clear. We had to take the left just before Kadambam on Bangalore- Mysore Highway. There was also a sign board indicating the same. We had to drive about 4 kms more from here.

Though we took the left turn, what we didn’t know was that there was another left to be taken after 2 kms. The Yellow stone board had some alphabets missing and we passed it without noticing it. Another call to the winery and after asking around in the village close by, we were direct to the right place. A kilometer ride on a mud road led us to the winery. Suddenly in between the fields and mango groves, we found a huge, newly constructed structure.

We were first taken to the Guest House and shown a video on wine types and wine making. This is a video for about 15 mins and if you already know about wines then slightly boring. After that comes the winery visit. While the company currently makes only fortified wine (port wine), manufacturing of table wines are underway. The plan to release this in the markets in the next 6 months.

We went back to the guest house after this for wine tasting. We tasted the port wines and the red wine that they are yet to launch in the market. The wine tatsed so much better here than the ones we had bought in the retail shop and consumed. The secret we were informed was in date of manufacture. Though wines manufactured in

India

have a validity of 1 year, contrary to the popular belief of older the wine better it is, these need to be consumed as fresh as possible.

Tasting done we were ready to leave. We bought a bottle of wine and headed back to Bangalore. A stop at Kamat Lokaruchi for Lunch and our trip was complete.

A brief about the process

The wine manufacture here right now is forfeited wines. Grapes are bought in from Devanahalli and Chickabellapur region. It is then put in a crusher and stems are separated. We were told the grapes are not washed as the skin has yeast like deposits that help fermentation. The quality control team ensures that chemical is not used while growing grapes.

After t e crushing S2O (2-3 mpp per ton) is added and its sent off to ferment in huge stainless steel tanks. Its left undisturbed for 2-3 weeks, where the seeds and skin separate from the juice. The tank is hot to touch on the outside. This is due to the ongoing gases released during the fermentation process. From here the juice is tested and decision is made on the amount of sugar and alcohol (2-3%) that needs to be added. Post that its sent for filtration and then off it goes to be bottled, label and transported to distributors.

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

Kabini Explored

As always the case, it had been a while since my visit to the Jungles, my last trip there being the Brahmagiri Trek. So when a trip to Kabini JLR was suggested I quickly agreed. Luckily since it was a weekday the tents were available.

Left at 6 from Bangalore and other than for breakfast there were no stops or breaks in the journey. The last 12 Kms stretch to JLR was a nightmare to drive as the roads are very badly maintained.

But once I reached JLR itself all that was quickly forgotten and I was excited to be there. I had vague memories of Kabini JLR, from my visit here in my teens, but the property looked prettier than what I remembered.

Since I was hungry, quickly dumped my bags and headed for lunch. The food like in all JLR properties was awesome, simple and tasty. After tucking in more than the usual amount of food, I was ready to explore JLR.

The gardens were in bloom and this gave me a chance to capture butterflies, spiders and bees.

Time seemed to have passed really quickly and soon it was safari time.

With great expectation we boarded the jeeps. Of course the hope is always there that we get to see the cats, but I had also requested for stops when any bird was spotted. I didn’t know then that the naturalist in the jeep (Shivanand) was a great spotter and knew names of birds and animals.

Encounters with wildlife started right in JLR, the gardeners handed over snakes in a bottle to be left in the forest. Shivanand pointed out birds as the jeep drove past them

Once in the reserve Spotted Deer/Chitals and Langurs were plenty, there was a lone guar near a watering hole who posed for a while. Then there was an elephant that crossed the road. As we drove along, another jeep from the forest department mentioned spotting a Leopard going for a drink at GK bunk. We quickly headed in that direction, drove around for sometime, but with no luck. The other spotting that evening was another lone female elephant and sambar.

Back in the resort, hot pakodas and coffee gave me company as I read a book. Dinner was again very good and I ate more than my share.

The safari next day started at 6:15, initial sightings were only birds, but as we got closer to water we got to see some elephants and strip necked mongoose.

The highlight of that safari was seeing the Crested Hawk Eagle at close quarters. It was a beautiful bird that let us watch him for good 5 mins. The other bird I was excited about was the pygmy woodpecker. It was so small it mistook it was a warbler till Shivanand pointed it out.

Back from the safari took a short boat ride and once done with breakfast, I was ready to leave. Since the sun was out there were a lot of butterflies around so spent time chasing them. And then I was back on the road to Bangalore. So ended a peaceful trip into the wild.

Thursday, 28 July 2011

Most Memorable from Ladhak

Though the whole trip is unforgettable, these will continue to be the some of the most memorable events.

Ever Changing Landscapes

Right from the beginning of the trip the landscapes keep changing. Every 20 Kms or so, there is something new to look out for. Be it the shape of the mountains, the sudden change in colours, snow-capped mountains, the plains, cultivation between barren mountains, view of rivers, sand dunes. It’s hard to put down the camera. This is one of the reasons that the drive doesn’t get boring. My personal favourites drives are the Pangong to Hanley, Darchu to Sarachu, Leh to Nubra Valley

The Feel of Snow

For the first time in my life I experienced snow at Kardungla. Trying to get flakes on my hand and feel snow was fun. The Black tea served by the Army helped warm me up in that cold hour. It was also interesting to see the design formed by ice on the older snow piles

Tsokar Lake

The mountains surrounding it, the color of water, salt on the shore, gentle waves created by the wind, almost no people around, all this make it truly awesome. The other reason that I like this lake is due to the number of bird calls I heard. Though the final decision was against over night stay, after seeing the place I wished I had stayed. There are other lakes around Leh but this one has very few places to stay at and therefore the crowd is lesser.

People

When I travelled to Ladhak, I was not sure what to expect from the people here. Would this place be like the other tourist places where people are out to make money or will I have experiences that will truly touch my heart

I had a share of both, more of the latter. 4 people who really made a difference are

Mr Akbar (nabilay@yahoo.com), he was someone who helped us get permits and organized our trip in Leh. He ensure that we go a good place to stay at and our trip was memorable. The rates for taxi and hotels were lots cheaper than what others had offered us. While most people hadn’t heard of places like Warli and Hanley. He ensured we got permits to go there.

Our driver during the journey around Ladhak. He was someone who knew the place well, never complained when asked to stop zillion times to take pictures and was giving us advice that helped us avoid being hungry and thirsty during our long drives. I missed him during our trip to Srinagar as that driver was cranky and painful.

My hosts at Rainbow Guest House. This is a family run guest house, with clean and reasonable rooms. Fresh, home-cooked vegetarian food is served based on order. What makes this special is the ladies who run the place. They are always smiling and welcoming. Even though there were restaurants close by at the end of the day I would be back here for my meals.

Mr. Shaban, owner of Shera Palace Houseboat in Srinagar. Though I initially met him to stay in his boathouse, on request he ensure my whole trip in Srinagar was taken care off. When I didn’t find an auto on the first day, he was willing to come and pick me up. Very rarely I have come across people willing to go that extent.

War Memorials

Since the region borders with 2 other nations and our relations with them aren’t the best, there are many war memorials around (Chushul War Memorial, Rezang La War Memorial, Zozila War Memorial and Kargil War Memorial). Each tell a story of bravery and sacrifice by our soldiers, the extreme conditions in which the war was fought. While each one is worth a visit to pay respect to the brave men,

Kargil War Memorial gives one details of the war, how the battle was won, weapons used, names of the soldiers and extract from their dairies. I found this to be a humbling experience. Nothing I have done so far come close to the sacrifice these men did.

Shera Palace Houseboat

This is boat house on Dal Lake (Sulehman Ghat, Nehru Park) in Srinagar. This was the first time on a houseboat for me. Riding the Shikar for the first time was scary as it wobbled. I was sure my luggage and I would be in the lake before I got to the houseboat (I was convinced otherwise after a demo by the boat man). Coming back to the boat house, It truly looked like a palace. Carpeted all the way, chandeliers hanging in most rooms and antique looking furniture it was beautiful. The old caretaker (Chacha I called him) added to the charm. He made some awesome Kashmiri Gustaba and Kawa. I could spend days sitting at the deck and watching the shikara going by.

Srinagar Airport

When I was trying to identify travel agents to help plan my Leh trip, one of them suggested that I reach the airport 2 hours early. I thought he was joking, but then everybody else gave me the same suggestion. It was only when I got there I realized why. Since Kashmir is a sensitive region the security check are 4 folds. The baggage goes through 3 rounds of checking. Since it’s a small airport and all flights take off around the same time it gets very crowded. With all the security checks and people breaking the lines it gets disorganized. I stood in queue for 45 mins just to get into the airport and another queue for 15 mins just to get a seal on my camera bag. Thanks to all the advice received I didn’t miss my flight

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