Sweltering Summer and Colourful Sunset

The summers are humid in Bengaluru nowadays. The rains are not materializing still. However, the clouds during sundown are adding magic by painting the sky with vivid hues. Almost everyday, we have versatile scenes. While capturing them in city with better foreground is difficult due to work, its only on weekends, we can move to lakes and capture some beauties. The pictures follow are the ones which were shot enjoying sundown from Jakkur lake. Hope you enjoy.

The winds slowed down as dusk creeped in. The water was still and reflections were crisp. The winds slowing down also signify brewing thunderstorm activity in later days. But till now we haven't received healthy rains. Hope the rain gods bless us soon with cool showers.

ಚಿತ್ರ ಬರಹ - ಆಕಾಶ ಎಂಬ ಹಣೆಗೆ ಸೂರ್ಯನ ಚಂದದ ಬೊಟ್ಟು!

ಅರೆರೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಚಿತ್ರ ಬರಹ! ಆದರೂ ಟ್ಯಾಗ್ ಮಾತ್ರ ಒಂದೇ ಇಟ್ಟಿದ್ದೇನೆ (NKHPhotoBlog)! ಒಂದೇ ಕಡೆ ಇರಲಿ ಅಂತಾ!

ಗುಡುಗು ಮಳೆಯ ಸೀಸನ್ ಬಹಳ ಜೋರಾಗಿದೆ. ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾತ್ರ ಬರುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ. ಸುತ್ತಲೂ ಸುರಿಯುತ್ತಿದೆ ಅನ್ನೋ ಸುದ್ಧಿ. ಸಂಜೆ ಆಕಾದಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂಡುವ ಬಣ್ಣಗಳು ಮಾತ್ರ ವರ್ಣನಾತೀತ! ಚಲಿಸುವ ಮೋಡಗಳು, ಅದರೊಂದಿಗೆ ಸೂರ್ಯಾನ ಕಣ್ಣು ಮುಚ್ಚಾಲೆ, ಸೂರ್ಯಾಸ್ತದ ಸುಂದರ ಬಣ್ಣಗಳು ಸಾಕು ಒಂದು ಒಳ್ಳೆ ಪ್ರಾಕೃತಿಕ ಚಿತ್ರ ತೋರ್ಪಡಿಸಲು.

ವಾಕಿಂಗ್ ಮಾಡುವಾಗ ಕಂಡ ದೃಶ್ಯ! ಪ್ರತಿದಿನ ಇಂತದೆ ಏನಾದರೂ ವಿಶಿಷ್ಟವಾದ ಚಿತ್ರಣಗಳು ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಆಕರ್ಷಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಅಗಲವಾದ ಮೋಡದ ಮಧ್ಯೆ ಸೂರ್ಯನು ಪ್ರತ್ಯಕ್ಷನಾದಾಗ ನನಗೆ ಥಟ್ಟನೆ ಹೊಳೆದಿದ್ದು "ಆಕಾಶ ಎಂಬ ಹಣೆಗೆ ಸೂರ್ಯನ ಚಂದದ ಬೊಟ್ಟು!". ನಗರದಲ್ಲೂ ಸುಂದರ ದೃಶ್ಯಗಳು ಕಾಣಸಿಗುತ್ತವೆ ಮತ್ತು ಅವುಗಳನ್ನು ವರ್ಣಿಸಲುಬಹುದು ಅಂಥಾ ದೃಶ್ಯ ನೋಡಿದಾಗಲೇ ತಿಳಿದಿದ್ದು.

ಅಮೃತಹಳ್ಳಿ ಕೆರೆ ಸುತ್ತ ನಡೆದಾಡುವಾಗ ಸೆರೆಹಿಡಿದ ದೃಶ್ಯ!

ಮತ್ತಷ್ಟು ಸುಂದರ ದೃಶ್ಯಗಳನ್ನು ಕಣ್ತುಂಬಿಕೊಳ್ಳಿ! ನಗರದ ಸುತ್ತ ದಪ್ಪ-ಪುಷ್ಟ ಮೋಡಗಳು ಸುತ್ತುವರಿದಿದ್ದರೂ, ಸಧ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ದೂರದ ಜಾಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಸುರಿದ ಮಳೆಯ ಕ್ಷಣಿಕ ತಂಗಾಳಿಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ತೃಪ್ತಿಪಡುವಂತಾಗಿದೆ. ಇಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಸೆಕೆ ಇದುವರೆಗೆ ಕಂಡಿಲ್ಲ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ!

Photo Blog - Sunset Mobile Meditator

Religious principles underscore the need to find joy in simplest of things around. Its not always about writing elaborate content or flaunting your travel story to the globe. It's the little things around you which gives tiny but vital content to scribble things. The elaborate blogs are read only by few and most of the readers heed to pictures in blog. I am also in that path of transformation of simplifying things or rather finding joy/content/topic/rant in simplest of things around. Here it starts!

Sunset is to review your day and take actions of forthcoming events. What went good, what went bad, what could be better. For some it's ruminating past and learning from mistakes. For some it's relaxation post grueling day. The contemporary generation indulges in smart phone powered with internet for relaxation. Perhaps binge watching comedy reels or shorts relieves them of strained life. Whatever may be the reason, the body soaked in evening sun is good for this gentleman to some extent than doing same operation in confined room.

Picture taken at Jakkur Lake, Bengaluru

Photo Blog - Summer sizzle

The high humidity is battering the city and non-speaking creatures are constantly searching to relieving thirst. The plants too need watering twice a day. The dog is no different. The dog must be cursing me "Hey buddy! Stop the camera, help me, open the bottle!"

This guy caught opening the bottle apparently. He must have learnt from humans flaunting their drink walking along the road. Many youngsters do it. Apart from thirst it also gives energy due to excess sugar. Hence dog may be trying to achieve both by opening bottle. Perhaps it does not know that bottle is empty.

Or is it just simply playing and I may be exaggerating it's actions.

Taken near my house after evening walk at Amruthnagar, Bengaluru

Transit time birding near Mulbagal

08 April 2023,

Joyed after visiting the World's only Garuda temple near Koladevi, we were heading back to Mulbagal to visit Narasimha Swamy temple. The town of Mulbagal and surroundings contains ancient temples and sacred places which I will write soon. On the way to mulbagal, we chose a different route which landed us to this beautiful lake. I thought of exploring it briefly.

Initially I did not take out my camera but soon I dragged it to my hand. First look gave me the commoner red vented bulbul with beautiful background. This bird is omnipresent in India and can be spotted in backyard as well!

Few moments later, this guy popped up. It has been long time since I saw Eurasian moorhen. The bird was closer by which enabled me to shoot clearly. Later the bird noticed me and flew to distant place.

Biggest surprise was the pied kingfisher hovering over the sky just before hunting its meal. I took few action pics but couldn't grab entire series especially the dive. It's hovering resembles the large kites and feels like bird is tiny kite. It has been singing from long time but I couldn't recognize its voice early on. Perhaps I could have pictured it on perch. Once catching its meal, bird moved to inaccessible part of lake. It's captivating to watch this tiny hunter flapping it's wings in mid air, locking its target and diving towards the pond for its meal

I have been trying to get the pied kingfisher in frame clearly but its difficult to spot them in urban areas. You need to travel to rural areas to spot them!

The silence of bucolic world draws you to stay away from city mayhem. The Kolar district is regarded as arid region which uses to face severe water shortage in earlier days. There are not many waterbodies in district, I guess has no rivers. The only water survival mantra here is the lakes spread throughout the district. They are designed to sustain the water shortage during summer. Thanks to copious rains from past 3 years, the water bodies are healthily flowing even in peak summer and avian world is thriving. The long term plans of designers of such areas is paying off even now.

From maps, this lake is named as Mudiyanuru lake. The lake current storage is healthy despite the scorching summer. The recent pre-monsoon rains have also brought up fresh grass shoots. These regions received torrential rains during pre-monsoon recently. Even though the lake seems dirty due to twigs and leaves, they are pure than well maintained city ones. Please do not trash such pristine water bodies.

Check out my Bird Series blogs here : NKBirdSeries

Drooling Thunderstorm Skies

02 April 2023

It has been two weeks since Bengaluru city is reeling under scorching heat and excess humidity. In fact, when I check MET department report, the minimum temperature of coastal Karnataka seems to be lower than Bengaluru. What a contrast! Check MET record below. The minimum temperatures are far below normal in coastal Karnataka. Its scary as well since this might lead to poor moisture build-up and consequently lacklustre monsoon! Hope things turn normal soon

Despite the high humidity in the city and healthy cloud build up during evening, we are yet to see a decent thunderstorm yet. The fans are revolving at full speed and water consumpttion is also high. Even though non-precipitating clouds sizzle the night, they turn the evening sky vibrant too! These scenes drool-worthy for photo enthusiasts.

After tiny bird hunt during morning hours, myself with kids went for evening walk around lake late evening. This tiny solitary cloud in the sky creating interesting themes during sundown. The walk from entrance gate till the play area was fun filled with frequent stoppages to capture the mood of solitary cloud. Especially when the cloud completely shadowed the Sun, the sky looked dramatic!

Before we reached the play area, this solitary cloud created magic over the sky completely blocking Sun. This culminated in crepuscular rays fueled with dramatic colors. It was if sun screaming with hands open "help help" to escape from clutches of cloud. The wind was gentle but not calm. The reflections appeared in final picture but little distorted. I took nearly 20 pictures en-route and thus quenching my thirst of snapping magical skies. Here is remaining set.

Colorful evenings can be pretty in monochrome as well. Life as well can be happier with simple living.

The primary motive of evening visit was exclusively for kids play. While kids were scurrying through the walking track to get to play area, my sky indulgence apparently disturbed their excitement. I apologized them for getting late. After sweet interruptions, we reached the play area. I had to monitor their movements, hence did not photograph further actions in sky!

The kids successfully achieved most of the play equipment present here in jakkur lake. Even the hesitant ones, kids managed easily today. Kids were happy and at same time famished due to intense play. We had yummy dinner at home to fill the tummy!

The sky kept its resplendency during departure as well. The cloud cover amplified during twilight hours and solitary cloud got more friends. The solitary cloud seem to be have disappeared in process but sky kept its charm alive!