Pottery Town Visit, 14th March

Having heard a lot of pottery town, made me always wanted to visit it. Finally a thread started at the group brought lot of enthusiast together and Saturday morning was when we planned to go shooting.

Pottery town is not far from Fraser Town Police station.

Most of the new folks don’t seem to have idea of where is it located and some of the auto rickshaw drivers could come to help in finding the direction.

The place is not huge and does not give a feel of separated locality of potters’ men. As you reach around a curve on the pottery road, suddenly a bunch of houses appear with nothing but pots and everything which you could imagine made out of clay.

It actually looks a little incomprehensible to see pots and clay items acquiring every possible place in these houses, on the top, roofs, gallery, front courtyards and street.

Soon introspection leads to understanding that not many places are left which involve so heavily in this line of business, which some how is phasing out with time.

The cost of storage in such metropolitans can cost a bomb whereas the chances of damage are extremely high. The potter men’s houses make for best storage solution making this place so very characteristic in appearance.

The potters here are extremely friendly in nature and would talk freely about the nature of their work and what it takes to make a living out of it. Most of the houses have a room where the senior of the business, gets down to making proper set clay for making lanterns, cups, and others. They also these days use electric machines rather than the typical manually rotating wheel for giving shape of clay. Little probe shows that its technical advancements like this which have acted as fuel to their line of business. Had it been for that wheel rotating pot making, all of them would have long gone out of this business.

But it’s not only the rising storage costs, lack of space and depleting market which is a trouble to these craftsmen. Bad weather and also availability of suitable clay to be used has been keeping them awake through nights. Its festivals like Diwali when everyone’s house light up with lamps, these fellows feel relaxed and get to push most of their products into the market.

The innovations in their product lines has been giving hopes with wind-chimes, pots with taps and lot of other such items being brought into being. I just wish that their innovations and help from government by promotion of clay pots should help them continue trading in this line. It was a fascinating visit to Pottery Town and I wish to explore the place even closely by visiting more times.

Do check out my Flickr for more photos here

Bangalore to Wayanad-Final part

Since sometime, i was thinking of completing the remaining part from our Wayanad trip from Bangalore. So, here is it. Sit back and enjoy the trip. If you have not captured the begining, check the ticket reservation and then the day 1 of the trip. Day 2 which started with muthanga wildlife sanctuary now continues towards the final leg.

 As we moved from muthana we stopped over for breakfast midway. We were heading for Jain temple midway before actual going for Eddakal Caves.

Jain temple: The jain temple is situated on the mainroad in Sulthan Bathery. The place was quite small and a little surprising to see no one there. we went inside strolling when we discovered a gaurd being posted inside the temple who also was very well versed with details of this temple. The temple is the reason for why the place is called sulthan bathery. This temple had hollow walls and was used to store the artilery in the times of tipu sulthan.

Eddakkal Caves: This place was a far drive from sulthan bathery and took a while before we reached the dropping point. The driver again informed us that either we could take a local jeep to reach the foothills which is some 900 meters over a steep ascent or walk up to it. We all planned and then took to walking uphill. the ascent was extremely tiring and we could see why jeeps were plying there. the complete pathway was maintained extremely well. we could see the huge mountain clouds in the backdrop.  On reaching the foothills we realized the actual ascent starts now. Oh, this was rocky mountain in front of us with places between them for climbing up. we walked and climed past those tall trees and steps and reached the ticketing counter. Above it were those huge DLF building sized rocks and people entering them and getting disapperaed. The sheer look of those rocks was mesmerising. the view from here told that has the effort has actually brought us on quite a height. 

 The tickets promised more uphill ascent. We soon were on our way and now it was just a negotiation with the rocks at every step. We were getting over the rocks, slipping under them and sometimes pushing them but it was just rocks. even exciting was the way the govt. authorities managed to make way to it. the complete way upto the caves is trecherous and dangerous. Some people were just being too excited which could actually be fatal for others, when all are moving in such close circuit. 

Recommendation: If you are travelling with kids or elderly people, you should refrain from visiting this place keeping in mind their saftey. If one insists, then should make sure that you dont go there on sunday since it gets crowded which makes it even more dangerous. 

The view from the top was breathtaking. even wonderful were the caves where the carvings have been done since the times of stone ages. there are proofs available to show that from stone ages to next generations, men lived there. there is also a script which is mix of tamil and sanskrit written there and lot of symbols which were used to communicate. the watchman was extremely helpful and had lot of knowledge about this place, since they were trained by Archeoilogical socitey of india.

 We then started our descent and clicked shots during all the times. the descent was actually quite tough and called for even more negotiation with the path.

What next???
As we reached back, the driver was waiting for us. We were not in a mood to eat much and asked him to skip the lunch stop. The next junction was the sunrise valley. the drive to this place was trechereous and dusty. a far place and took around an hours time to reach. The jeep stopped on an dead end and we could not sight any people or any drives there. Driver showed us a way and told us about the sunrise valley.

   We were in for a surpise here, and sure for the best location of the complete trip. as we moved, in just some 500 meters we saw a valley and then couple of more steps, we were in heaven. there came some rocks at just the edge and nothing apart from that to stop us. a complete view of the valley was in our front.

Eddakal Cave Vantage point.

A view from the top of eddakal caves, Wayanad, Kerela. What a view of those beautiful peaks, under the blue clouds and green vegetation. Click here for recommended view.

Trip from bangalore to Wayanad-Day2: Part1...Action continues

Well, as we returned from the places covered on day 1, we settled for some lunch. Since the breakfast was a real stealer, we thought of giving our own hotel restaurant an

other go. We went to the room, freshened up and came down.

The menu was quite elaborate and did have everything which we

were thinking to munch on. We ordered some Manchurian, paneer and Rotis which were served instantly. The food was extremely hot and i would repeat the same words, "To Eat, is to believe." I would highly recommend eating at the PPS restaurant if you are at kalipetta.

We were extremely happy and with that lunch, and went to the room for some rest.

During the evening, we decided to take a stroll around the small town to check the place more closely. The town is quite small but the market is quite good in comparison. Across the main road, you have shops ranging from everything from anything. The noticeable aspects were the vegetables shop, which had real good healthy vegetables available. I didnt know if they were costly or cheaper, but good to see that variety and freshness. Also there are some huge jewelery shops across kalipetta with the displays being mind boggling. Looking at those shops, you wont even equate Kalipetta to a small town as it looks.

Eating out at a bakery:The other good part i noticed in Wayanad was the bakeries across the district. Similar experiences i had in Hyderabad with excellent bakeries items at quite cheap prices. I would highly recommend taking a go at "the walnut bakery", on the main road in kalipetta. Should not be a problem to find if you are around the bus stand of kalipetta. The bakery had excellent assortments and fantastic prices. Sometimes, i feel going from Bangalore makes you love the destination even more for whatever it offers. We spent the evening walking around and settling at this bakery. Apart from this, the town does not have much to offer for the evening.

Planning Day 2:As we returned to our hotel, wondering about the next day, we settled at the reception. I starting the conversation with the attendant and wanted to know the best possible route for our next day destinations. He offered us a plan to take up a Jeep and a plan of places they offer. The price looked good for the plan, being 1000 Rs per person(2000 for our trip) for the full day by jeep and all entry and camera fees included. He was also ready to give us some discounts on that price. As we were discussing, he also told that if there are more folks who could join in, the price would automatically come down. As it was supposed to be, Brian & mcaye, two tourists from Florida, USA staying at our hotel, too came looking out for something similar. The attended informed us that he shall discuss and let us know. After ten minutes we were informed that now we were four for the morning trip, since brian and mcaye too were willing to join in. The price came down to exactly the half and we were geared for an early morning start of 6:30. The plan drawn was

Kalipetta->Muthanga Wildlife sanctuary->Breakfast at sulthan bathery->Jain temple->Eddakal Caves->Surise Valley->Kanthapuram WaterFalls.

Committing to the plan, we went to prepare for the next day's early rise.

Day 2...Hectic & Fun:

We rose quite early around 5:30 and got all set before the clock struck 6:15. as we came out, it was a little dark yet.

I went to the hotel top to catch any glimpses of signs of sunrise, but it was still early for that. We reached the reception and the Jeep had come in. "sandip", a skinny fellow, localite and knowing little english, since used to making trips with visitors was awaiting us. Meanwhile, Brian & Macaye too joined us. We started without delays at dot 6:30 on a plan to stop in between for a cup of tea.

Muthanga Wildlife sanctuary(MWS):

The road was long to muthanga wildlife sanctuary. It is approx. 25 kms from kalipetta and we had to pass through sulthan bathery. Infact, the sanctuary is on the mainroad to bangalore and just in the begining of kerela.

(At the entrance of Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary)

The sun had just come out while we sipped tea on our pit stop inbetween. Mahindra Major, did great job on the empty roads with fields around, surrounded with mist. It was cold, real cold

weather while we were driving down to muthanga. As you reach muthanga village, there is a huge Forest of bamboo trees, which is its characterstic symbol.

(A panaroma while we stopped over at the lake in Muthanga WildLife sanctuary. Click to view large)

"Screeccchh", as a truck pulled over near the toll gates outside the MWS, i continued clicking some shots. The weather was cold and sandip had gone to buy our tickets. Soon we were on our way to the sanctuary and the jeep was the best vehicle for this terrain. We first stopped near some elephants to click some shots. The jungle looked extremely beautiful, but a little strange.

The hush, fallen leaves soaked in dew, cold air, little sun

and still lot of dark areas around and those huge tall trees every where were sort of scary. The elephants had huge teeth and were full bodied tuskers. We soon left them and moved towards the forest interiors. The birds made lot of noise as they were just getting to their daily chores. Suddenly we stopped, since we sighted a group of cheetals. Some ran away, but one of those was like spell bound seeing us. I absolutely love animals and their expressions. Above that i even more love the way their expressions are put into words as and how we love them to. :)
Sandip explained that the forest is on the brim where Karnataka, Kerela and Tamil Nadu share their borders. Now the stretch which falls in Kerela has been named as "Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary",

The one in Karnataka is known as "bandipur wildlife sanctuary" and the remaining part in tamil nadu is called as "Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary".

Now this was some real piece of information. Also he showed us the way inside the forest which according to him, a few kms further would lead you to TN border or Karnataka border.

Sandip took us to a valley, which had huge number of deers. The place was so beautiful that we got down and it took at least 10 mins to absord its effect. The deers all around were amazing. Not to mention, the forest area itself showed me more than 50 species of birds everywhere including golden oriole, blue thrush, flycatchers, sun birds and what no.

Though i was not on a birding trip and refrained from birding shots, still was happy to notice them live happily in this hevean. We also got down around a lake in the forest where all the animals come to drink water. We also saw the malabar gaint squireels and the way they move on the tree tops, is something to seen than explained(Photo attached). On one place, the jungle Langoors were all excited and tried to bend down every single tree or branch they got on to. Finally after spending some 2 hours time and clicking birds and animals, we came out of MWS to the main road.

I shall take you further on the trip of Wayanad..So hang on and return back next week for the remaining part.

Wild & green -Trip to Wayanad from Bangalore-Day1

(view of Wayanad Peaks)

Ah..i am back after the hectic schedules of traveling to Wayanad over the weekend. What a trip it was, when i look back at it now. I wonder, if the time stops by, when you get to such places, or may be the clocks move faster back at Bangalore. An awesome trip, with probably a little more time which i would have liked to have.

Anyways, here are some statistics about the trip and then i continue with the report. I am sure you like the details or hate them equally if you are looking for a 500 word coverage of the place.

Name: Wayanad. It is one of the districts of kerela and should not be confused by a town's or city's name. The towns to stay in Wayanad district are Kalipetta, Sulthan bathery(SB) and Vythari.
Distance: Kalipetta is at a distance of 270 kms from Bangalore. Sulthan bathery(SB) comes first if you are going from Mysore. from SB, kalipetta is around 24 Kms and vythiri is another 22 Kms from Kalipetta. The road from kalipetta can directly head to Calicut via Vythiri or turn towards ooty.

Travel mode: Discussed here.
Temperature: The district receives good amount of rainfall but during Jan to Feb, its quite similar to the temperatures in Bangalore. A little on the higher side while comparing the day temperatures and little more colder during the nights. The afternoons are also humid and hiking gets a little tough during the peak sun on your head.
Places to Stay: Places to stay are all spread across the small towns of Suthan bathery, Kalipetta, and vythiri. Some places to stay are:
At Kalipetta:
1, Haritagiri
2, The woodlands
3, PPS tourist home (where we stayed)
and umpteen number of lodges at these towns are available. These three hotels mentioned are in kalipetta. I don't think staying places should become a problem since the towns are quite commercial but in case you would want to be absolutely sure, you can call up and get your rooms done at these hotels. Sulthan Bathery, appeared to have even more number of hotels and lodges than anywhere else in the district.

The Story

As we boarded the AC Kerela SRTC, bound to kozikode, we never new that we were heading into such a fantastic place. The bus started at 10:30 dot, and we were quite thrilled about it. It was nearly full with couple of seats still remaining. So, i sense over a weekday, without reservations also, the seats may be available on this route. The conductor tried to pull up people on the way to fill those couple of vacant seat. the buses are just average, and no way can be compared to the Volvo services of Karnataka SRTC. The drive was good but the seating and the gushing AC, were just below average to comfort. We soon went to sleep.

Reaching the Hotel:

As Soon i woke up, the bus was making huge moves to its left and right on a road similar to racing track. I could barely see through the window and just read "Eddakal Caves 22 kms" on a side board. Sensing that we were nearing the town of kalipetta, i woke up my wife and just got ready. Soon about 4:10 in the morning, we got down at kalipetta. Unlike our previous travels across other hill stations, the place was much alive for that early morning time. There were tea shops open and people waiting for buses. The hotel, which i had booked beforehand was nearby and just took us 3-4 mins to reach there. I called up the reception and informed about our arrival. The fellow on the counter, was happy to open up a room booked for us and offered some water & clean towels. We also didn't take much time and wanted to catch up some sleep before starting up for the day. The room was good with a nice bed and Cane sofa set sitting in the room. In one corner, was a TV waiting to be tune besides a gallery which opened to the outside view of the town. The place was quite calm and inviting. We parked everything into the almirahs and soon settled for a nap.

Get, Set, Go....Day 1:

I got up with a bell on the door. The boy of the hotel was there with the newspaper and morning cup of tea. We opened up the gallery and the climate was still quite cool for 8 am of the day. We discussed about the areas around to be covered with the boy, when i noticed the tea served to us. Man, this was different from what i have noticed in other parts of India. The tea, was served in a huge glass and i could recollect the tea served at Punjab, the place where i come from. This was alike the Punjabi tea with lot of milk and tasted excellent. we were refreshed since those tea cups available in Bangalore, have never been my fill, until i take two of those. We soon finished our bath and set off to Chembra Peak. This was going to be our first spot for the day and we booked an auto rickshaw to take us around. I forgot to mention, but apart from tea, breakfast was another sixer on the very consecutive ball. We ordered for some masala dosas and appams( local delicacy for breakfast) and they were too delicious to be explained here. This food itself gave us a different high about the place.

Shahjahan was negotiating the turns and curves as we moved towards Chembra peaks. Oops, forgot to introduce, Shahjahan was the one who was booked for driving us around for the day and someone with no exposure to other language than Malayalam. A happy chap, who listens to "Sajan" film songs at-least 10 times a day and lives in kalipetta town. It had been some 10 kms since we had been driving, but i could not catch sight of any tea estates from our imagination about Wayanad, nor any peaks or mountains around yet. In few mins, it all started changing. Now there was a huge peak on the right side of the road, towering with the sun and its altitude, as if boasting. Soon, we reached Mappadi, another small town which is set in the foothills of this mountain. Here after, the drive turned magical. We got our first glimpse of those tea estates, in their ravish beauty and green covers. They formed patterns across the plantation and looked beautiful. The tops were trimmed excellently and the pathways between the crops looked liked having combed by someone. Most of the drive, saw those estates with tea plantation and huge empty patches in between. we understood that the plucking would have already been done from those areas. Still in far places, the vegetation looked even and we could seen few people working and plucking those leaves.

Reaching Chembra Peak

(View of Chembra Peak)

The way from here, was a snake tail laid into the mountain. We soon, reached a check post which had few people manning the gates. I presume that they do nothing except closing and opening those gates to the entrance. As we moved hereafter, the road was lone and beautiful. it was a place where no homes were there. Only folks living up here must be either in the bungalows of the tea estate managers or the other related labor force for these estates. Through out the drive, it felt as if we owned this place and were on a round of it. The hills looked magnificently blue and little mist was visible across the valley in some parts towards the top. the pine shaped trees grew amidst these plantations and gave even more dramatic touch it them. Another 3-4 kms of riding up, we reached a check post and a office for buying the tickets. We choose to go to the top up to the View point. There was another option of trekking up to the peak ,which we refrained from. Ideally, we thought that trekking would be a great idea to go in a group rather than two of us. The tickets costs peanuts through out the district for any place you enter, a nominal 10 Rs per person with 25 Rs for the camera. It was same here.

What a View!!!
As we reached the top, the view was mind blowing. On one end, at our back was this huge chembra peak with those hues of blue and whites, glowing sun which was little hotter now than what it was when we started and ravishing tea plantations on our front. A road was inviting us to explore this place and we soon got out the cameras and started moving. we were amazed by the tranquility of this place . It was just two of us, across the kms of view now, and the only other sound was, of the wind blowing past us. It was amazingly soothing and nice setting for someone on "valentine's day" too. We walked through the tea estates and enjoyed the nature around. Another noticeable aspect of wayanad, is the birds population. A mecca for bird photography since i could sight more than 100 birds through our trip of two days. We kept walking and the road started to unwind into its turns leading to the view point, a lone building at the very end of the mountain, with a white roof visible from distance.
The view point has been maintained by the kerela tea estate and a decent place to rest around and enjoy the scenery. the place gives you a birds eye view of the whole valley. "ashish", a local guy, working with the tea estates was deputed to this view point and was hanging around when we reached. The backdrop of chembra peak looked magnanimous and we enjoyed this place for some 30-40 mins before heading back to where shahjahan, the auto-driver was waiting to take us further.

(A tea estate with those trees..a dramatic place with a view of one of the peaks)

Towards next destination:
As now we started the descent, the memory of view point was still fresh in mind. We stopped couple of places to get down and click shots. there were huge plantations of coffee in between which were flowering. we got to know that the coffee plantation is exposed to artificial rains to bloom the flowers, and it was first time we smelt them. Initially i did not believe that these amazingly pleasant smelling flowers could be coffee. To see is to believe.

Sujiparra WaterFalls:
Soon, we came down to the mapadi town and continued towards the sujiparra Waterfalls. The place is around 12 Kms from mappadi and another roller coaster ride. As we reached the top of this hill, we saw some shops and vehicles, pointing that we were there. Shahjahan, told us that from here we would have to go on the foot for a walk of around 1.5 Kms to reach the waterfall. Amazingly, across the district, in any of teh place where you have a steep inclined walk, the govt. jeeps are running to take people to and fro they charge nominally (15-20 Rs up & down) and would take 5 mins which other wise would need lot of energy and 30 mins of climb. We still choose to walk down. The sun was getting harsh now from the cool of the morning, and we started towards teh waterfall. The walk was extremely steep at places and after some 700 mtrs, it was all steps. the place was amidst huge forest covering and now we could hear sound of water gushing down. The place was a little crowded in the pathways with lot of people going and coming from the waterfall.
Another 15-20 mins with carefully negotiating those steps, we were in front of soochipara falls. the falls is amidst huge rocks and looks like a trekking spot. The fall was front a good 200 meters of height but not huge in proportion of water. lot of people, were enjoying under the fall and we spent some quality time across the fall in water. The descent to reach teh falls and trek at chembra peak was tiring and Sun was on its peak now. We spent another 40-50 mins at the falls and then started back to the parking. on the way, the jeeps kept making rounds after round with people, which offered an easy solution. But still, i felt that walking gave us the real taste and sense of these places. We could also enjoy by stopping by the Pepper and coffee plantations on the way.
What next:
It was around 2:30 as we starting from sujiparra falls. Pokkat lake was the next destination, but seeing the sun and temperature, it didnt appear to be a good idea for boating. we were informed by many localites including Shahjahan that pookate lake has boating and nothing much to it. We planned to get back to our hotel, since the idea didn't look enticing.

Please read the next leg of this trip here.

Heading out from Bangalore to Wayanad-Weekend Trip

After a lot of running around to finalize the place and then getting this settled for a weekend trip, i am all set to head out for Wayanad. Excited about the trip and looking forward to my experience of Kerela, where Wayanad lies as the border district with karanataka & Tamil Nadu.
Few initial inputs during my course of booking tickets and finding other details.
Traveling:
1, Kerela buses are also running under the name of KSRTC which actually makes you run to the Karnataka state online reservations and their counters throughout Bangalore city. But please take care, it is Kerela State transport and they do not have any such counters and do not offer online booking too. Their counter is at Majestic and opens 6:30 morning. There are some good options of buses available for anywhere in state of Kerela, but somehow for a weird reason, they make full trip bookings even when you may be getting down quite before the last stop. I could not understand the reason for that. Though they have good available services to Wayanad, Calicut, ernakulam and other parts of the state.
2, There are lot of private buses plying on the route of Bangalore to Wayanad but the feedback i got from some of my friends from Kerela was that most of them would ditch or don't offer service better than state transport buses. So its better to book the state transport AC or super fast buses or go with only a trusted travels (some suggested names were Shama Travels, Kallada Travels for travel to wayanad district).


Shall be back with the trip details soon..

Chitrasante: 25th January,08

Attending & participating at chitrasante proved to be an experience in itself, and voila, what an experience it was. I headed towards Bangalore, peeping through the bright red sun fighting out for survival across the thick cloud covers, as the plane reached a height of some 30,000 feet and my watch showed 6 pm in the evening. We were just crossing over the delhi cityscape and i was still feeling a little "why am i going to Bangalore again..." which happens every time i leave my home and head out. But then, nothing much to it and soon my mind crossed over to chitra sante. I still remember when over tough timeliness before leaving from home, i had copied everything to deepak and just because of his support, decided to participate in this event.

Now, as i would reach Bangalore, my prints and frames would be ready, courtesy him. fabulous job. but what would it be like, going for chitra sante. heard a lot of notions about it during our meeting but i personally don't have much idea.
"Its Time", said my wife waking me up over a cup of tea. a cold breeze came into our bedroom since she had opened the windows and man, it was 6:10 in the morning and it was all foggy. i was a little shocked since Punjab, reeling under cold, still didn't have that amount of fog there, and here i am waking up, in Bangalore city amidst dense fog cover. Anyways, i got ready and pushed off to deepak's place from where we were planned to hit for Chitra sante.

Cutting the long story short, by the afternoon there were thousands of onlookers who had visited our stall no 67 which was representing BWS, standing for Bangalore Weekend Shoots. my fellow mates were all around the place and we were having a good time showcasing our works. the morning start was a little disheartening since the art on display by others was exceptional and showed their artistic side and amount of hard work which goes into making those. We felt a little robbed since their efforts looked extremely huge in comparison to what we offered, but then as these feelings settled we gained more confidence and felt that we were serving another aspect of art, which is creativity, expressed through photography.
By the evening there were lot of inquiries about who we were, what was the group all about. there were lot of visitors who wanted to learn more, some were plainly curious and some had heard about the group, courtesy The times of india, had carried an article on the group in one of its editions. The response was good and some of my fellow friends were able to make some sales too using this platform. Unfortunately, i could not do much of selling but then learnt a lot of from my colleagues and also could understand the buyer's perspective which could be entirely different from a photographer's point of view. the event was huge with around some 1000+ stalls, though i do not have the official numbers. people showcases their personal paintings, drawings, sculptures and what not.

Chitra sante impressed me in lot of ways. the event was exceptional but the way it was conducted was even more striking. the cause for which it is done is above everything and the outcome of it, was unbelievable as per me. every participant got a small stall, with a very clearly confined boundaries marked and a stall number allocated. A table and two chairs were given to everyone. This was huge logistic to be maintained and every praise for the authorities conducting it. The road was completely closed so that this place could be utilized fully. mind you this is one of the most open and scenic areas but there was no space left during the afternoon, with footfalls over 70-80 thousand as per my understanding. food coupons were too distributed to all the participants too. The event is basically conducted to give a platform to the artists of the state who do not have any other way to showcase that, and truly it was. people come from every part of the state to show their art and make a mark for themselves.

I learnt a lot and such events and support of govt. suddenly instills more faith in our system and a hope that things can be changed if people come together.

Lohri- A photo Writeup

There has been quite a while since i have always been wondering of writing on the photos, as i see in magazines. These photos are also clicked or chosen keeping in mind the text to be posted on those and the theme of the topic. I have been quite experimental about my clicking and working on the photos. Hope this is the step in exploring my creative side on this end.

Scotland of India, Coorg

This has been the first time I prepared my notes for writing a review of my travel, and it kept sitting on my desktop without getting published. Sure, this Saturday is a lucky day!! Here is the story of our travel to the Scotland of India, Coorg.

After waiting for long, almost 15 days for my booking to get confirmed and lot of turnaround time, we finally got our confirmations for the 27th and 28th of September, 08. I was curious to get my booking done with Cauvery Nisargadham Forest resort as it was something which grabbed my attention since I saw some photos of this place. We got our reservation from Bangalore to Kushalnagar with the Airavat, KSRTC for the weekend getaway.
As the Friday evening approached, we were slated to board the 11:15 bus from Kempgowda bus stand, aka Majestic. We reached in time, but as everyone is well aware of the jams and hang-ups at the bus station, the bus arrived after a huge jam at 11:50. We were comfortable in the nice cushioned seat with a gushing AC trying to cool the interiors and a brim lightening with people still settling down and a group of students highly excited about their trip to Coorg occupying the back seats.
For some information from my end, I shall be putting in data and the lines would be underlined for the benefit of the readers. Coorg is one of the most scenic districts in Karnataka and the place of main attraction is the central town of Madikeri which is around 240 kms from Bangalore and has a traveling time of almost 5-6 hours depending on the traffic. The road in the Coorg district at not the one of which a state could be proud of and can be a real bumpy ride once you board a local bus from Kushalnagar to Madikeri.
The ride saw us snooze soon and as I got up, it was almost 4:25 and the bus was entering some outskirts of a town. Soon in another five minutes, we got down to this small and completely light out town of Kushalnagar. But you know what, it was really cold. Fog all around and chilling. We never expected to hit the town so early and managed to get us an auto rickshaw to get a boarding for few hours, so that by the morning we could go and check in at the Nisargadham where we had made our bookings. We managed to get ourselves a room for few hours, and most of the lodges around kushal nagar trade rooms between 250 and 600 Rs depending on the requirements. Since we were pretty early in the morning, we choose to rest for sometime and head for a walk by 6:30. Guess what, 6:15 when we got up, and peeped out from our room’s window at 2nd floor; it was all foggy and quite low in visibility. I could capture couple of birds from this window, as there was a tree nearby which had almost all birds come in and sit for sometime. We soon came out of the lodge and were surprised to the see the town is a late rising one. Till 7:45, we were moving around the place to find a tea stall. This was a surprise for me since I never expected the whole lot to be closed. After the tea, we returned to our lodge, got ready and then asked for directions for the monastery at Kushalnagar. The lodge reception shared that the auto rickshaw shall charge Rs. 15-20 for dropping you there. We were soon on our way after negotiating the same and another observation, since the town is a very small one, auto folks don’t get lot of passengers, that’s why they aren’t nasty as in Bangalore and soon settle down on workable. We were heading into the monastery in first place this morning, as per plan.

Visiting the Monastery

The monastery is a huge settlement of Tibetan disciples or students who are studying there and practicing Buddhism. Their living is extremely simple and teaches them the strength of mind. For some it may appear a life of extreme hardships. We spoke to "Yeshi", a monk at the monastery who came here from Darjeeling in year 2000. At the age of mere 16, he has already completed his eight years of schooling at this very monastery, and is all set to get into the college level of studies. He was more than happy to explain all these and continued telling us more insights into their culture and atmosphere of the place. He explained that the parents normally visit and they get to go home for three months every year. The studies can be a reign of staying at the hostels with other fellows and following the daily routine.
As we were moving around the beautiful adobe, I realized something which was completely uncommon to the daily life in outer world, and common among all living at the monastery...this was the calm on their faces, in their speech and in their mind. I never came across anyone who shyed away or who didn’t want to talk to us, or who didn’t want to answer our questions. As we entered the main prayer hall, we were shocked by the size and the grandeur of the statues inside. This hall was as huge as an indoor stadium and all the students must be some 2000, were sitting in queues with a small book, having Tibetan language inscribed prayers on there. Also all of them carried glasses and mugs with them, in which they are served tea through the session. The idea behind the tea is a cleansing potion for the body and soul. Also all had a small sound making "DAMRU" which would go all in sync with their prayers. Not to forget, there were few huge GONGS placed in the hall, among the queues of students which shall be boomed occasionally. Among the students, at the front, on raised platforms, were few senior monks, who were sitting and I am sure they must be analogous to principals and staffs of this college. I was curious to know about these gigantic monuments of Buddha, and two others in this main hall. YESHI could help us, and told that on the left, was "GURU-MA_SAMBHAWA" who is god of fighting and overcoming fear and the right side of Gautam Buddha is taken up by "AMITAYU" who is granter of long life and healthy living.
YESHI also explained that the students stay here at the hostels around the monastery and their day starts with a long prayer session from 9-11. Actually when we had started moving around in the morning, a monk came running in and boomed a small GONG kept outside the main hall and then started a large horde of students who started rushing in. It was kind of a school bell announcing the Morning bell for them. I was quite curious about their particular dressing and got to know that part of the dress wore on the lower body which appears to be something tied around the waist, is called "SENTAP" and there is yellowish Orange colored inner sleeveless shirt which is called "TODUNG".

Keep watching for this blog, for i shall be updating with another report of the resort and sightseeing around madikeri. Expecting to get your comments if you happen to read my blog.

Nature Wishes Christmas

I hope everybody had a blast this Christmas. Find a piece published on Citizen matters on how nature wished everyone and created unusual patterns.

learning Crop factors, 35mm and others, sensor sizes.

Today I got a moment or two and started “googling” & reading something on photography, which I normally do whenever I get time off. I think, when something gets to your mind, you sure love it. And I think that’s true vice-versa also. Whenever I get sometime, I read. I observe other’s work and also learn from other’s mistakes and magnificent shots. I came across an exceptional article related to the 35mm camera equivalence and also the basis of what’s known as Crop factor, sensor sizes and related factors. I was even more shocked, when to a reply of one person’s comments; Derek says that he writes those things professionally but since he is undergoing his cancer treatment, he is putting that on the blog, may be not able to work fulltime or so. What a spirit!!!
The article is worth the read and I wish Derek gets well soon and continues his regular chores.
You can find the article here.

Another try, another failure- Puttenhalli Lake, Yelahanka Lake

(Click photos in the blog for Larger View)

I really do not know why i thought of writing about it. Probably a sense of responsibility towards other hobby photographers whose blogs and write-ups, i have always read to collect lot of information when it comes to places around Bangalore, or popular spots for photo shooting.
Until and unless, some one proves me wrong by showing a proof now, i would suggest "Dont head to Puttenhalli Lake". I am a little surprised as to why its been written on wikipedias of the world, and some official websites, claiming and holding this lake in extremely high spirits. I read on lot of places that there are plans of converting that lake into bird sanctuary. The memories are still fresh from the trip to puttenhalli lake, which went haywire when we could not find any traces of it. if you would like to read what happened this week, read on.
It was all going well when we decided for Agara lake for this Saturday shoot. Suddenly a compelling idea about Puttenhalli lake popped in. Google map also provided proofs that we just returned some meters before the spot, from where the probable lake could have come in sight the last time( last week) we went there. So, as the maps showed a huge Green spot around yelahanka, an air of optimism swept us, the plan was redrawn to Puttenhalli lake. We headed as early as morning 5:30 am on saturday. Cloud cover caught us skeptical. The wind blew past us and mist surrounded around the areas as we drove past the huge hebbal flyover. Soon we reached the spot from where we returned back, "Heritage Estate". We held our nerves and passed the first railway crossing. We held on to the road as we went past the second crossing. The densening of mist gave us some clue. This was the lake...the Yelahanka lake...We could see a huge lake but nothing near to us on this end..it was just a feeling of despair in the beautiful morning weather. we got off the bike and just took stock of the situation and introspected for sometime. Another idea clicked...the google map had also shown another way to this lake. Probably taking that may lead us near the water. And we set off again towards it. The map had shown a turning towards the left side after the Pipe factory, Yelahanka but then, the optimism flew off as i saw the factory to our right side, and then as YELAHANKA AIR FORCE BASE showed up, it was the time to pull over and turn back. We could make out that there was no way we were going on the right path.
On the way back, we tried finding any road which could take us to the lake, but in vain. uhh..what a bad feeling it was and the traffic had also started growing by now. almost 100 mins of driving around, a second try to find the place and there we were, on the way back. The sun had also not started to show up clearly, still being under a cloud cover. Finally not to miss the morning shoot, we thought of hitting back the Hebbal lake. It was a good shoot since the sun showed up as we parked the bike and entered the lake. here are some shots for your reference from the lake. I was able to do a good profile shoot of the Asian koel, a bird with whom i feel in love long back, but could get hold only this time. There were lot of Greater gray herons and Blue herons. The shoot ended with finally a good collection of some sunbirds, purple rumped sun birds, flowerpecker, asian koel, Red Lapwing, barn swallows, red whiskered bulbulls.

Trip to Puttenhalli Lake, turned to Hebbal Lake

This Saturday, the setting was to discover the Puttenhalli Lake, Yelahanka. The websites spoke in high admiration about the place. It seems, there are some plans to convert this place into a bird sanctuary. Since have explored all the other lakes in the vicinities of the city already, wanted to check out the birds at this place which appeared to a Mecca for birding. Morning start, as early as 5 am was ideal and through the cold December morning, we cruised towards Yelahanka. But soon, everything fell apart. Most of the people on the road, didn’t know about the place and over and above, they were a little dubious of our tripod stand and bags carrying the cameras. Near the yelahanka bus depot, the duo of a driver and conductor guided us the lake site, but before that asked for our reasons to be the going there so early. As per their instructions, we were further caught in a jiffy, since the place now we reached was the Puttenhalli Layout , instead and could not sight any lakes around. We spent some 30 mins investigating and searching for the correct place. After a while, we decided not to miss the beautiful morning sun, coming out and planned to drive down to Hebbal Lake instead. (Please click for bigger size)

On the way, near a Shell petrol pump, with a Rs. 5 reduced on the price of Petrol, got some extra fuel poured into our drive. Soon, we found a suitable place to capture the full bodied Sun coming out. It’s been long time since I had seen such a sun. From my apartment, the rising sun can not be viewed when it is in its hues, so it was quite famishing to click and observed for sometime. Soon we continued to drive down to Hebbal and rushed inside, since the light now looked perfect even though there were couple of clouds threatening us.

Hebbal Lake looked to be over showered with water and those levels spoke for themselves. The light makes all the difference when you are clicking and this looked the perfect day. Pelicans motored around the lake in their ever grandeur. The coroments flew around in their same pose as if struggling to hold themselves in air. There were lot of cattle egrets and larger egrets around the lake, which are so white and serene and a joy to see in the morning. As we explored the insides of the park at the lakes, there was lot of noisy birds, which had they, activities in full swing. The famous Sunbird, Purple Rumpled Sunbird and the Purple sunbirds flew fast and looked always interested on the bottle brush flowers and swung on those. Sunbird is the signature bird of Hebbal Lake and so is the little green Leaf bablers. These are extremely swift birds and can be a trick to capture a good shot of these birds. We could sight some excellent Parakeets, and I have to mention that my best parakeet shots were taken on this very day. If the light added icing to the cake, I also took a very slow approach, crawling to catch the bird from as near as possible. Few other birds seen were the Red Lapwing, Asian Koel, Large Kingfisher, Herons in their varieties. The lapwings are flying creatures but they love to be on the earth and at the Hebbal Lake, they can be often seen come back to the circular park in the lake. I have sighted them almost every time I have visited the lake and this time, I could catch a good shot of these birds. In the end, we spent a little time shooting Macros with our model, a huge Spider busy handling traffic through the web.