Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Bird on the rock

A black bird resting on a rock.
Camera :Canon Powershot S2 IS
Location :Koodalkadavu, Near payyampally
Date :27th January 2007
Description :A black bird (don't ask me what bird it is, I don't know.) sitting on the top of a rock projected out from the river. You can see the rock in white color, the bird excretion made it white. So I assume that this rock is a favorite resting place for the birds before or after a fresh fish meal. You can see the bird's feet which is very suitable for swimming. I had to use a little bit digital zoom also to get a closer look. Now I understood that even the combined 18x zoom of Powershot S2 + canon teleconverter won't help for bird photography.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Karivandu


Beetle on flower


Wider View of the first picture

Camera :Canon Powershot S2 IS
Location :Koodalkadavu, Near payyampally
Date :27th January 2007
Description :A black beetle ('Karivandu in Malayalam') on search of honey

Monday, January 29, 2007

Another Sunset

Details: Camera - Canon Powershot S2 IS, Additional Lens : Canon Teleconverter TC-DC58B, Location : Pulpally forest, on the way to Payyampally from Pulpally, Date : Indian Republic Day of 2007

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Solitary Bike trip to Shivanasamudram

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Panoramic view of Shivanasamudram


Shivanasamudram also know as Siva Samudram or Sivasamudram is 120 kms from Bangalore and around 60 kms from Mysore. River Cauvery splits and falls down through the rocky steep to create two magnificent waterfalls – Gagana chukki (A dot in the sky) (height – around 100 meters) & Bhara Chukki (height – around 80 meters). The two water falls are adjacent to each other, but to reach from one of them to the other location by vehicle, a distance of about 10 – 12 kms need to be covered. Asia’s first hydroelectric project is set up in 1905 very near to Shivanasamudram.

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Shivanasamudram


I was eager to visit this place from the point of time I heard about these waterfalls from some of my colleagues who visited it during the monsoon time, when the waterfall was in it peak strength. It got postponed many times due to unexpected reasons, at last I made it on 17th of September 2006. Yes, I made the trip long back ago, but was not able to blog about it till now, since I lost the pictures, but I got it back after a long time, from the PC of one of my friend.

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Paddy fields on the way to Shivanasamudram


I thought of having a long bike ride alone, and instead of taking the trivial route - Bangalore - Kanakpura - Malvalli – Shivanasamudram which accounts for 120 kms, I took the Bangalore Mysore Highway till Mandya (100kms) and from Mandya I took a left turn and reached Shivanasamudram by traveling another 55 kms. I started from Banashankari 3rd stage at 8:00 am, reached Mandya by 10:00 am and had my breakfast. It took another one hour for me to reach Shivanasamudram.

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My companion for all picnic

I truly enjoyed a bump free 100 kms ride in Pulsar 150 cc through Bangalore – Mysore highway. But there after the road was not in that perfect condition, but still good. The sight scenes on both sides of the road were amazing. I am proud to say that my Bike never ditched me in any of the long rides I have done for the past two and half years.

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Lotus seen on the way


Many a places there were ponds with lot of Lotus bloomed. I saw people of the locale plucking these flowers and arranging it in bunches ready to be sold and waving at on going vehicles for selling them. I felt a little bad about that, since it was something like reaping the harvest without any work. The only effort spent by these people were that of getting into the water and plucking the flowers, which was not grown by them and from the land of some one else. The funny thing is that the flower will be out of shape before returning from the trip, still travelers buy these flowers, instead of enjoying the natural beauty of thousands of lotus flowers bloomed pond.

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1. Scene near the hydroelectric project. 2. An old tree near the water falls.


Even though I had traveled many times through the route, riding though the Bangalore-Mysore highway was very nice, especially in the morning when the sun rays are not scorching. When I took a left turn from Mandya towards Malvalli, the geography changed a lot. The road went in midst of lot of villages where both sides of the road were full of green fields, small lakes with lotus bloomed, and sugarcane plantations. Far away from the chaos of Bangalore city, the view of these villages reminds me about my child hood days in Payyampally.

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Different views of Shivanasamudram


When I reached the Shivanasamudram, to my wonder I found a Malayalee tea shop, run by a Man from Kannur district. My experience in Karnataka taught me that where ever I go for a trip, even it is in Bangalore or outside Bangalore; I will find a bakery run by a Malayalee, or a tea shop by a Malayalee. Most probably he will be from Kannur district and in Kannur from Thalassery. To reinforce my observation, I met with the new security of the apartments where I am staying now. He is from Andhra Pradesh but he knows Malayalam. He said he learned Malayalam while working for eight years in the past for a Malayali in Andhra. I just asked whether the particular man was running a Bakery and is he from Kannur. I got a ‘yes’ from him as I expected.

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Clouds formed by tiny water droplets from the splashing water fall


As I mentioned earlier, even though the two falls were pretty much close, it takes about 10-12 kilo meters to reach from one fall to the other. I advice all travelers to have packed lunch while you go to Shivanasamudram. You won’t find hotels nearby. The time which I went to Shivanasamudram was perfect, Cauvery River was flowing in full fledge, making the two falls so elegant and powerful. I was afraid to go near the fall; the water gushing down was so huge in volume creating a thunder voice and created a big cloud of water sprinkled in the surroundings. When the water fall is it in its full fledge, if somebody accidentally slips into the flow, then I think no parts can be collected back.

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The blue sky over the waterfall


One of the warning boards was so funny and truly conveyed the message. It just said – “Don’t swim, this is not a swimming pool, this is a water fall”. Yes, nobody can imagine going into the fall. But locale people said that in summer, when the water flowing down is so little, one can actually cross the river through the valley and reach the other fall. One another interesting location for picnic – Talakkad is pretty close to Shivanasamudram. If I had started very early in the morning, I could have visited both the places.

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Cloud Desings


I started back from the place around 3:00 pm; the returning journey was not that too good, since it rained occasionally and I had to stop riding three four times. When I was about to reach Bangalore, sun was about to set and created a magnificent red and yellow colored sky, but it lasted only a few minutes, the clouds put a curtain on the beautiful scenery.

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The Bangalore Mysore Highway

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Majestic Am I


I am handsome, majestic, and I belong to the Royal family. Though I am not that loyal to humans, I know how to please them and get a good dinner, or how to steal. Still I can have a sound sleep in their sofas. If I look a little bit out of focus, blame none, other than the foolish photographer, who focused on the hay left over on the ground. This is a lesson for me, I wont pose again in front of an amateur with a camera in hand.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Beautiful are thee

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Got this snaps of cranes alighting together from Arattuthara, near a paddy field where there was a little water left in one of the square shaped sections that we call in Malayalam as “Kandam”. Immediately after taking the snaps of two rat snakes mating together, (previous blog post) I got this picture. During January, just after harvest, there will be lot of left over grains in the paddy fields so that lot of birds alight together to have a nice dinner.

I Love My Love and My Love Loves Me

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Reflections

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Location - Peruvannamuzhi

Ente Khalbile Vennilavu Nee..

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I was just about to get into my car after speaking with one my friend’s father from near Arattuthara Government High School, when all of a sudden some kids walking through the same road started shouting “Surpam”. In Malayalam, Surpam means snake of any kind. The harvest of paddy had already happened in the fields on both sides of the road and very near to the road, in the field I saw these snakes mating. Luckily my Canon PowerShot S2 IS combined with the canon teleconverter TC-DC58B giving a total of effective 648mm (12X) optical zoom was with me at the right time, so that I could take a snap without disturbing the animals.

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In a hurry I attached the adapter and lens to the camera and ran to find a good position to take the snap. But I feared before I do everything I will miss the scene, so I took a few snaps on the way. Since these rat snakes were mating in a ground of the remaining of hay shrubs cut during the harvest, I was not able to get a snap which covered the full length of those creatures.

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Unfortunately, some others who were walking through the same road noticed me sitting with a camera and clicking at something very eagerly. They two saw the snakes and went so near to them. The snakes got disturbed and retreated to gaps in between the raised stone wall of the road. I felt very angry at them for disturbing the creatures.

When I showed the photos to some of my friends, some commended that it is a sin to watch snakes mating according to religious believes, but some commended that I was so lucky in getting those snaps since people rarely see these and rarely will there be a camera with anybody during such a time.

Reflections


Photo taken from Inside Kuruva Island where there is a ferry (Kadathu) towards the side of Pulpally. I found the reflections on the waves of water made by the moving ferry interesting and clicked the snap.

Puzhayoram


Tranquil exquisiteness of Kabani…


This marvelous sight of poetic exquisiteness is captured from the Palvelicham side of Kuruvadweep at around 5:30 pm.

Courtesy to RADS for the beautiful scripts.