Deserted village

04 April 2020

An older post which was hidden somewhere in mobile notes. This was documented nearly 3 months back. Hope you enjoy it now as well.

The lockdown is in force. The village is deserted. The village which was almost deserted is now completely silenced due to ongoing lockdown. The noise is only fluttering of coconut plantation. The euphony of melodic birds is dominating morning time. The egrets are fearless due to reduced human activity and flying freely over the fields. Hopefully, the silence will be broken in the form thunderstorms just to have temporary relief from scorching weather. The vegetation also deserted due to lack of rains. It rained few drops couple of days back. Hence there is hope. The clouds are continuously ferrying over troposphere which strengthens our hope.

Distant hope of thunderstorms

I am at a place where night temperatures are above 28 degree Celsius and humidity crossing 80%. The biting ants are out of burrows to escape heat. Despite the soaring mercury, we drink boiled water. They say virus dies in hot & humid conditions but that's not predictable. Who knows if it gets quickly adapted to any temperature? That's why it's called novel and mystical too. Ignorance has costed developed countries astronomically in terms of human lives and economy. So let's be humble and stay at home instead of assumptions until a suitable medicine is invented.

The silence of human civilization is bringing cheers in wild all round globe. The nature is enjoying and wild is fearlessly roaming. This shows that wild does not need human for survival. They are thoroughly enjoying the quiet time. Probably god heard their prayers too

Hinduism believes that every living thing earth has part of God in it. Through this pandemic, the God wants to teach humans that this earth is not exclusive to human civilization. God has created this beautiful place for everyone and nobody has exclusive right on the resource. Remember there is someone above man's intellect. The pandemic is beyond human control and only saviour is the supreme lord. Let's be humble and understand that the universe is under supreme lord and no-one has control over it. Let's seek asylum under supreme lord and believe that current crisis is fallout of human greed and ignorance

Take care everyone.

Much awaited pre-monsoon rains

Cyclone amphan has its influence in coastal Karnataka too. Good amount rain fell for couple of days and thus blooming the parched ground. The humidity is still in tact which is good news for advancement of SW monsoon. The cyclone is likely to delay advancement of monsoon by 9 days which is alarming but weather experts have predicted normal monsoon. But this shift in time is difficult for farmers to outset farming activities. The uneven distribution creates jitter in farming community on the pattern of rainfall. Hopefully we will have less fluctuations and farmers can peacefully cultivate paddy.

Meanwhile, this was one of the best pre-monsoon rains witnessed at my in laws place, a village near Kundapura this year. After a long wait, 3rd week of May saw heavy pre monsoon downpour for nearly 30 minutes. Till then the water problem was terrible and people were praying for rains. The heavy downpour filled umpteen relief in people of the region finally and temporarily released water starvation. Look how the parched regions are desperately waiting for rains. The dry shrubs also depict the absence of rains from many months. It is quite ironic that the region which receives 5000 mm annually suffers from severe water shortage around fag end of May. Probably this is consequence of non uniform distribution of rains which are concentrated only during months of June to September. Keeping the concerns apart, enjoy the solid rains for a while :-)

So I kept natural things natural. All pictures are straight from camera with zero edits

And yet another pre-monsoon rain video but this time from Kundapura village. Hope you enjoy!

Prelims of Monsoon

23rd May 2020

Fag end of May, it's common sight to witness huge stream of clouds visiting evening skies. Thanks to strong onshore winds, the clouds are seamlessly moving from Arabian sea to landmass.  The amphan cyclone faded away just in a day but with a huge tale of destruction. The prolonged stay of cyclone would have further aggravated the advancement of monsoon. Now that fear is wiped out and MET department has released good news of no more cyclonic activity predicted neither over Bay of Bengal nor Arabian Sea. This further fosters smooth advancement of monsoon activity.

The lockdowns are relaxed, the businesses are blooming again. Consequently, I too decided to travel back to Bangalore tomorrow. There are many circumstances which made me to take decision and rather tough one. The monsoon would soon make its landfall in our region assumed to result in decline of Internet speed quality dampening WFH activity. Hence I inevitably chose to travel to Bangalore. On my penultimate day of stay, I captured the heavy band of clouds flying from west towards mainland. The humidity is still high which is excellent news. The intense cloud activity and high humidity sets perfect environment for onset of monsoon. I thought it would rain at night but it did not. Hopes are soaring. We will have good monsoon season this year as per MET department but not even. Let's hope for best and pray god for prosperity.

I don't know when can I revisit my village due to ongoing pandemic. As of now, with heavy heart, I am bidding adieu to the beautiful nature. I had longing to stay for a month to enjoy those pearls of heaven. But I can't. Sometimes you need to accept the reality and move ON.

Ten days of Pre-Monsoon rains

May 23, 2020

The contrast is eye catching. The initial lull activity of pre monsoon rains accelerated in our village during early days of May. Now the fresh grass shoots are beautifying the village. The verdancy has brought back the photogenic face of nature in the month of May. Today I ventured to those green fields flashed by stunning light and caught the portrait of nature. Oh! what a majesty and beauty of nature The peacocks were playing all over the field. The sky was clean and the vegetation was greener. This is the picture a landscape photographer yearns for. The monsoon would soon begin in our village. The atmosphere will turn more beautiful thanks to artificial streams, turbid rivers and heavy clouds.

Here are pictures post the healthy of rains of may. The vegetation resembles the early days of monsoon in June. I call this as prelims of monsoon. There is something positive even during pandemic.