trip to nature...

Two weeks back, June 1, I was at Chikmangalur.. It is a beautiful Hill station, around 250 kms away from Bangalore. The roads are Excellent, toll roads, via Belur, Hassan.

Last year, I visited Trivandrum to witness the arrival of the Great Indian Monsoon, to hit the southern tip of India on the same day 1^st June 2013…!!!

However, this time also, my main interest is witnessing the arrival of the great South West Monsoon, however, as I was one week early to the normal date of onset of monsoon, in this part, would like to see the cloud cover pattern and the pre-monsoon showers. However, my visit proved to be little failure on monsoon front as for the whole two days, there were no pre-monsoon showers, however on the way back there were slight drizzle around!!!

Chikmagalur is situated in south western part of Karnataka. Chikmagalur literally means "The town of the younger daughter" in the Kannada language.  Coffee plantations in the hills. The hill stations around Chikmagalur are famous summer retreats since they remain cool even during summers.

 Mullayanagiri, the highest peak in Karnataka is 12 Kms away from Chikmagalur. The district is dotted with many holy spots and tourist places. Number of rivers originates from the hills of Chikmagalur district and flow in all the seasons.

Definately, I need to mention, this hill station is different from others as I could see nature in plenty, and unspoiled...Rich flora and fauna, this I could observe while our vehicle reached the destination... Yes, we stayed in an interior resort. Called "NATURE NIRVANA".. It is located around 35 kms away from Chikmagalur.

The resort "Nature Nirvana" is amazing.. If you want to enjoy crowd free, pollution free, Mobile free environment from the hustle buzzle of city life, this is one of the perfect place to spend a weekend. This resort is located away from the crowd, and one need to travel around 6 kms in hills, having no proper road, and the journey by the resort Jeep / car is amazing. On the way you can find plenty of wild animals, while I am going, we could spot, monkeys, deer, porcupine, hare, mongoose and big deer- may be Nilgai..

Also there are plenty of small waterfalls, and interesting to note that the famous rivers like Tunga and Bhadra have their sources in the mountains here which are part of the Western Ghats.

About Nature Nirvana.. I can rate it as one of the best. It is unique, as the resort is located in the middle of jungle, surrounded by coffee plantations.. Inside the resort area, you can find exclusive lake, valley, and a water-falls.. The food in the resort is excellent, camp fires, sports and games, trekking, boating, books are added attractions. While you take a stroll around the nature, you will be guided by the resort dogs- it is funny and amazing. The dogs in the resorts are very friendly and will keep on accompanying you whenever you went out of the campus..

Also the resort is having cats, which is funny to watch. In the night, there is errie silence in the night, which is distracted by the sounds of insects, howling of animals, birds, bats, reptiles. And you can spot sudden twinkle in the night from dark corners, and if you watch carefully, it could be light glowing insects.. mina mini poochi!!!

Moreover, this resort is ideal for Corporates to conduct one or two day training program...the strength could be around 50 persons... for more details please refer the link 

http://www.naturenirvana.com/

Bangalore -Where is Mango showers this year?

23 March 2013, Sunday

Bangalore was always known for its pleasant weather; it would be great if we continue to have that kind of a pleasant climate. But this year 2014, March,  looks like we are headed for tough times. Barring few drizzles during the first week of March, there is absolutely no cloud formations in the everning so far this year. 

As per hearsay, Bangalore used to get round the year rains, and particulary Summer used to be pleasant in Bangalore. When I was young, during school vacations, used to visit Bangalore - during summer holidays like hillstations, Ooty, Kodaikanal to Bangalore, as we used to consider Bangalore as another cool place for Summer Solance....

However, now the things changed. This March temp touching 30 to 35 deg C range., and no cloud formations in the evening. Old Bangalorieans used to tell, that in Olden days, whenever the temp sours it invariably rains in the evening at Bangalore. I am yearing for those kind of climatic conditions in Bangalore...

But, it appears the City is moving fast, clearing the greenaries and the lakes cover... which is also one of the reason for this harsh Weather....AS our Father of Nation Shri. Mahatma Gandhiji rightly pointed — 'The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.' 

Bangalore is famous for its pre- pre monsoon showers fondly called " Mango Shower"... but now where is that?  No showers and No mangoes!!!!

Some solutions:-

It is not too late, in the existing available vacant lands, clusters of green covers can be developed, and massive plantation drives and afforestation schemes can be done on priority basis with the whole hearted support of the citizens can bring back the old pleasant climatic conditions back to Bangalore....

Visit

Nandi hills is located near Bangalore airport. Approx 60kms from city. After Airport, take Highway to Hyderabad, at around 10kms, the first major left leads to Nandhi hills. Approx 12 kms from the main highway inside. There is a Bharat Petroleum petrol pump on the way to Nandhi hills.

The hills offers perfect weekend drive for youngsters, nature lovers, photographers, bird lovers... as this spot offers, long drive, good road, drive in hill with more than 40 curves, abundant nature in the hill, with variety of birds and much scope to strool around...

The hills are now a popular tourist spot during summer. The state horticulture department maintains a garden for the tourists. The pressure of tourists on the environment here is great with a considerable problem of litter, noise and physical disturbance. Skanda giri is a nearby tourist place.

1. Tipu's Drop - the famous place from where Tippu Sultan threw his condemned prisoners to death
2. Tipu's Summer Palace and Fort - During the Ganga period, the Chikkaballapur chieftains built a fort. Tippu strengthened it further and also build a rest house. This used to be Tippus summer bungalow. It is not open to the general public.
3. Horse Way - A stone doorway in the fort on the North-eastern side, is believed to have been the horse way for helping soldiers to climb the wall on horse back.
4. Secret Escape Route - A secret passage on the west, is believed to have helped the Kings to escape during unforeseen attacks.
5. Temples - there are temples dedicated to Sri Bhoga Narasimha, Sri Ugra Narasimha and Sri Yoga Narasimha and you can see beautiful old temples.
6. Gavi Veerbhadra Swamy temple: on top of the hill, on the way to the Sultanpet, from Tippus palace, natural formation of huge boulders has been transformed into a magnificent temple.
7. Children's Playground - The Horticulture department maintains a lovely garden for children to play games like the slides, merry-go-round, swings etc.
8. Nehru Nilaya - where Jawaharlal Nehru used to stay, now a guest house of the horticulture department of India.
9. Gandhi House, where the Mahatma himself stayed, is under the management of DPAR (Protocol) Government of Karnataka and is reserved for the stay of important dignitaries.
10. The Horticulture Department runs a vegetarian restaurant and the Karnataka Tourism Department runs a vegetarian / non-vegetarian restaurant "MAYURA".
11. Rivers - the rivers Pennar, Palar and Arkavati originate from these hills. Most of the sources have dried up. Amruth Sarovar is a beautiful water lake that brims with lucid water all the year round.
12. Brahmashram - it is said that Sage Ramakrishna meditated here.
13. Muddenahalli-Kanivenarayanapura - the home town of Sir M. Visvesvaraya, the legendary architect of modern Karnataka. Along withKanivenarayanapura, it is the site of the upcoming Sri Sathya Sai Baba University and College of Medicine, 600 crore Visvesvaraya Institute of Advanced Technology, and a 70 crore "Silk City".
14. Paragliding - Nandi Hills is one of the unique place in Karnataka which offers paragliding activity.
15. Cycling/biking - Nandi Hills is cyclists paradise, a good ~400 meters of altitude gain in ~7 km of ride, The bikers/cyclists from Bangalore storm there on weekends and holidays. It's a very good hill training spot for them.

Apart from these, there are other interesting places like Anjaneya temple, Nellikayi Basavanna, Antaragange, Baananthi Bande, Bhoga Nandeeshwara temple etc. [Courtesy: Wikipedia]

Some snaps;-

Sparrows ... come and occupy your nest!!!

The World Sparrow day is round the corner, to create awareness and to protect the precious Sparrows March 20th is being celebrated as a World Sparrow Day..a

We relocated from Baroda to Bangalore on July 2012. In  Baroda, I had kept a Sparrow Bird Nest in house balcony and seen four cycles of Successful egg hatching, incubation and new chicks coming out and flying  Out...

However in Bangalore, Marathahalli, though our flats is surrounded by lush greenary on both the sides, I could not spot Sparrows around..



We moved to Bangalore more than a Year back from Baroda, and  trying to invite Sparrows but in vain. Though our flat is surrounded by thick woods n greenary on both sides, spotting a Sparrow is very difficult and rare..

Hung two artificial sparrow nest - one made of wood and other made of Clay... but both are empty and awaiting for its first tentants!!!

 World Sparrow day is round the corner - March 20 every year... looking forward to have a Sparrow Guest soon!!!! In Baroda I could successfully invite sparrows in the nest and seen four cycles of egg hatching, incubation, and new chicks coming out and flying out... a happy feeling.. cannot be described in words...

Celebrate World Sparrow Day.. help to preserve the dwindling Sparrows... bring back that pleasant Chirping Sounds from Sparrows back!!!

Taking care of injured visitor

Charan told that a pigeon was found near the gutter in the school, unable to fly owing to injuries in the feather. It was crawling near the gutter to safeguard itself from dog and other birds of prey attack. Some of his class mates took it to the class teacher and the students gave some food... boiled rice to it..Though injured it was lively and having the will to survive as it cheerfully eat whatever the children offered to it. Before returning back home the kids, kept the Pigeon in the locker..which is having enough space for air and kept some more food for overnight.

Yesterday, Charan took some wet and conditioned wheat and bajra and a shoe box to bring the pigeon home for further treatment. It appears the other kids also happy to give the pigeon from school locker to charan for taking care of the injured pigeon.  We kept that fellow in a box with water and food, near the love birds nest... The pigeon seems to be happy with the new friends and started moving here and there. Also the regular pigeons came through the balcony and greeted the injured fellow...

a pic - posing for the camera... injured but not out!!!!

monsoon clouds and South India

a dream come true trip

The Great Indian Monsoon is quite a fascination for me since my childhood. I used to watch the skies of Chennai when I was a kid..and over a period of time, I could recognize, when it could rain by observing the cloud pattern and the  movement of clouds .. I used to tell my mother whether it will rain or not on any particular day, though it could be a cloudless and sunny day..

Many times as per  my forecast it used to rain in the evening and my mother used to wonder, how I could predict the rain correctly in the morning itself...of course many times, my forecasting goes wrong also...My mother used to tease me to become a weather reporter!!!!

Also one of childhood dream was to see the first arrival of monsoon, the first hitting of monsoon on June 1st at the tip of kerala coast..


fortunately my dream came true this year.. I visited Kerala/ Cape on June 1st,  the first day of monsoon hitting the Indian Sub-continent for 2013.. covered Trivandrum, Kovalam, Kanyakumari, Cape, Nagarkoil, papanasam, tenkasi, kuttralam,..just the western side of southern tip as well as the leeward-rainshadow region of western ghats.. some pictures to share..

Nature's wrath- an practical experience

This week I had been to Palakkad,  Kerala. ( April 29 to May 2).  Everytime I used to visit our family deity temple at Chittalancherry - around 60 kms away - towards Trichur NH way. The entire route is a delight to sight as the landscape is bestowed with Natural beauty. Rich greenery, green paddy fields, flowing rivers, lakes, ponds and small hilllocks and water bodies. I used to cherish and enjoy travelling through the route owing to its natural beauty.
But this year, I was disappointed - It was complete dry, and there is no greenery and the paddy fields are brownish and soil is cracked... with parched lands... I cannot believe that I was in Gods own Country.. The water level in the wells are rock bottom and otherwise water bodies are completely dry... It appears this part is really facing the drought like situation- moreover, during my previous visits during this period - April - May - school vacation period, I used to enjoy the kerala- evening rains and thunderstorm. I remember in my childhood days, during this period, it used to rain the the afternoon / evening almost daily with thunderstorm. Some days the rain starts in the evening, and it keep on pouring till next day morning. All the water bodies, temple tanks- will fill to the brink and the next day the whole place looks like waterwashed, fresh and clean. But this year - on the above four days, I witnessed teribble hot, humid, sultry conditions, it gave a feeling like i was in a desert. Felt, Very uncomfortable, sweating and tired. I realised that due to man's greed, he plundered the nature and now it is the turn of nature to take revenge. Atleast we should realise it is not too late to check the degradation, by taking massive efforts such as afforestation, rain water harvesting, preserving nature. I had taken some pictures on the way from my mobile and posting here for your perusal.

This time the talk of the town in palakkad is when will it rain as this region not witnessed rain as usual. However on 30th April, evening, T.Clouds developed on the way to chitalancherry, however it soon dissipated without rain..

I remember, this river used to be full in normal days, but this time it is almost dry...

The agricultural paddy fields used to be a treat to eyes.. green and fertile.. but this year it is parched, dry and brown..

Looking for rains.. clouds drifted away...Hoping for a plentiful and bountiful monsoon this year 2013 to save this part.

where it has gone

I was rejoicing when I was relocated to Bangalore, because of its climate. Last July -2012 I was shifted to Bangalore from dry and hot Baroda. However, last year monsoon was a failure and I could not enjoy the monsoon rains in Bangalore. For the past 9 months, I could not experience any rain that can be qualified enough to call a heavy rain !!! Because I have seen plenty of heavy downpours in Mumbai as well as Baroda. During monsoon seasons in Mumbai / Baroda when it rains it rains cats and dogs.. This is the rain clouds- pre-monsoon thunderstorm of Baroda, before my re-location to Bangalore. I still remember that particular high intensity, localized T.Storm with gale., that I could not see things beyond 5 meters while driving... an unforgettable experience...

About Bangalore, it is Situated at a height of 949 metres (3113 ft.) Above the sea level, the city is blessed with salubrious climate throughout the year. 

Late 1990s:-

Most of the homes and schools in Bangalore didn't have fans till the beginning of the nineties. In summer while the rest of India wilted in the heat, Bangaloreans would snuggle under warm blankets at night. Thus Bangalore came to be called the Air-conditioned city in India. The city has dry tropical savannah type of climate. The rains are very frequent and the summers are warm. Winters are cold. But no weather goes to its extreme. One can visit the city any time of the year and enjoy the pleasant climate but it is advisable to avoid the rainy season between July and September. This typical climate attracted the retired people to make Bangalore their home giving the city another nickname “ The Pensioner’s Paradise”. However, the city once famed for its refreshing climate is now traveling the polluted path to heat and dust.

I also visited Bangalore in 1998 and 2000, where in I enjoyed the wet and cloudy weather. I enjoyed the partially cloudy skies through-out the year. There will be sudden rain, not very heavy, but just sprinkle waters from above.. and wet the road, washes the trees and flowers, and make you fresh and energetic.. 

The current scenario:-

Yesterday, ie on March 28th 2013, it was reported 36.4C.. one of the highest in the past 8 years. More over I could not find the cloudy skies, there is no thunder clouds formation in the evening. This is quite unusual of Bangalore. Old Bangalorians used to say, it used to rain daily in the evening - they used to call "office showers", between 4.00 to 7.00 pm in the evening, coinciding their end of the office hours, while returning back home. I could not witness such a showers even once for the past nine month.

I could see mindless construction across Bangalore. Even the rich and fertile lake side land masses were turning in to reality. There is 100% transformation of Bangalore when compared to 1990 era. It is clearly reflecting in the nature. Cloud less skies in Bangalore is the norm of the day.. and the day temp is crossing 36C. Please refer a climate pattern of Bangalore taken from a website:-

Today, in summer the maximum temperature can rise to 36°C while the minimum temperature can drop to 20°C. In winter the maximum temperature can rise to 27°C and fall to less than 17°C. In spite of the maximum weather of 36°C, Bangalore is considered to be one of the coolest cities of India.

The monsoons begin in July and carry on till September. This is a lovely time when everything turns lush green. About 85% of the rainfall is recorded between 4 and 7 in the evening. Hence carrying an umbrella would be a wise thing to do.

Bangalore has a pleasant climate. The greenery of the city is an added attraction along with the climate. The numerous gardens and parks, streets lined with trees are very soothing in what would have been a jungle of concrete.

Mahatmaji is right is in his sayings:- The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed." It appears that we had already made irrepairable destruction to the nature of Bangalore, atleast is some concrete action needs to be taken like massive tree-plantation drive to bring back Green Bangalroe and the Cool and Pleasant Bangalore back.

Not just a Cup of Tea !!!

For me drinking Tea is no more ... a just cup of Tea !!! all because of our Bala's tamil movie.. "Paradeshi". The movie make such an impact on me, that It made me ponder over the underlying hidden things in a Tea.

This is one of the best movies of recent times. This movie remains me of  Spilberg's Schindler's list. Bala's Paradesi deserves winning an Oscar like Schinder's list. I am not going to tell about story of the movie, requesting all of you to go to theatres and watch this fantastic movie. All tamil film viewers should support good movies like this.. Hats off to Bala..He proves ones again he is a genius and differently different Director.