Krishnayyana Katte lake near foothills of BR Hills

We had joyous weekend since company provided off on uncommon day. The plan was to visit Biligiri Rangana Betta (BR Hills) and it was executed perfectly. The weekend whizzed by thanks to glorious rains. The atmosphere was clean, the vegetation was green and summer rains provided added colors to overall scene. The surrounding still looks partially arid but prediction of abundant rains will soon accentuate the greenery of the regions! I will elaborately write about our visit some day.

My better half was browsing web for nearby attractions. The one she found was Krishnayyana katte just nearby forest check-post of BR Hills. Perhaps this was the one which seemed like small puddle from hill summit. Once the stay concluded, we descended straight to Krishnayyana katte. This is lake primarily built for irrigation and drinking needs. The amazing part was the BR Hills as its backdrop. The serene nature surrounding it adds additional charm to this beautiful lake.

Being in desolated area surrounded by forest and hills, the lake is guarded by electric fences to prevent people from descending to lake bed. This may be to prevent littering the area or illegal activities or even prevent water accidents. Not sure if electric fence is operating or not since it's damaged at few locations

Spillway is located at lower bed of lake which is obvious which facilitates automatic draining of excess lake water. A pipeline runs parallel to spillway path which means the water is used for irrigation and drinking water purpose.

There is large unofficial parking area where you can comfortably park car. The tiny speck is our pride chariot!

The tree shadowing the state highway provided interesting perspective!

Last year our state witnessed drought and hence lake may not be flourishing. There is anticipation of excess rains this year. Perhaps the lake would be partying around October timeframe and we hope it does so. The farming area too was green. In fact, entire stretch from kollegal to BR hills was flourishing with vibrant greenery!

Stairs leading to lakebed is constructed. Not sure if it was for maintenance purpose or for tourism during early days. As visitors reach beyond threshold, authorities are forced to close down fun activities due to lack of civic sense among people.

We browsed through lake walk path for a while under hot-humid sun. The rains have cleaned up the sky and blue sky was visible even under intense sun. Plenty of aquatic birds were also spotted including pied kingfisher. I couldn't capture any since camera has issues now.

These lakes are backbone of the surrounding area which receive relatively scanty rainfall and no river flow. The construction of lake nearby foothills turns such lakes more useful since the vegetation attracts more rains. In winter season, this place will be heaven which can accommodate migrant birds easily due to presence of vibrant nature and devoid of human chaos.

Here is short video from lake

Pai churmuri stall - Khumbhashi {Anegudde}, Kundapura Taluk

This one is renowned stall amongst locals and recently among tourists. The primary attraction is Churmuri which is local delicacy which is prepared using puffed rice, coconut oil and spices. My mother-in-law informed that it takes 30 mins to serve the plain churmuri {just puffed rice blended with spice powders & coconut oil}. Looks to be so when there is rush. However, during odd times like the one we visited, it took hardly 10 mins. Lets get to the churmuri in detail!

The plain churmuri {without vegetables} needs to be pre-ordered. Its standard packet costing Rs.60/-. The normal churmuri costs Rs.40/- per plate. Its same as plain one with cut vegetable toppings (onion, tomato & bit of lime juice?}. So what's the product differentiator? Its the quality of puffed rice and spice powders. Even the spice is not high, my kids too ate them without complaining. Even the coconut oil smelt fresh! The cost of product is high for various reasons. May be because of popularity or quality of materials used. Overall worth visiting once.

The shop is located right after the welcome arch of temple towards left. 

Here is shop timings. If you wish to take a pack, pre order while going to temple and your crispy delight is ready during return!

The plain churmuri needs to be pre-ordered because it takes time for old uncle to prepare. If you ask instantly, he gets angry :-). Brusque uncle could be difficult to handle. If you wish to savor this crispy delicacy, then bear the slow & steady uncle. My wife too asked for the churmuri packet which infuriated the uncle. Somehow he gave an extra packet which he had but with warning that this would not be case every time!

The only disadvantage with the shop is mobile payments are not accepted

Overall worth the taste! I have not experienced such crispy puffed rice till date. The spices were also excellent and not too extreme. Even kids can easily savor this evening snack! You could even combine local cool drinks with churmuri to ward off coastal humidity.

Colorful Morning!

From unprecedented heat wave to unprecedented pre-monsoon rains. This has been the story of our beautiful State Karnataka this May. The blazing weather transformed to pleasant conditions in matter of 10 days. People who trolled the Bengaluru city for severe heat wave has been muted by beloved nature. The nature is flourishing, greens are glowing, waterbodies are roaring, the lakes are resurrecting, the clouds are dancing. The rains are here almost everyday which is helping to control the weather and shut the critics. The water scarcity is suddenly disappeared and its water excess in certain districts. Certain towns received extremely excess rains that people want summer back 😂.The dams are witnessing healthy inflows even before monsoon onset. Entire state is benefitting from pre-monsoon rains. The nature's reward for sustaining the heat-wave is wholeheartedly enjoyed by people!

Meanwhile, the mornings after healthy rains are stupendous. While I couldn't capture few of stunning sunrises, I managed to capture by waking up early one fine day. The rains which lashed overnight turned morning colorful. Here are few pictures

Photo Blog - Lazy Morning

Humidity is high in our village touching almost 100%. On my routing early morning promenade, I saw this two dogs lazily lying in middle of road. At first, I thought the black one was moaning the death of other which was idle over road. Later I found that the one which was asleep on road was lazily rolling over the road to get relief from itching. The sweat is causing intense itching to everyone here.

The other thing is that it was unclear which way black dog was staring. I thought it was towards the Sun since it did not move even though I was strolling towards them.

I moved further closer to them but still no movements from black guy. At least the other moved a bit which indicated that they were just resting

Black dog's look became clear as I neared them. It was evident that black dog was staring straight towards me from long time :-). He was either anticipating someone or spying on my movements from days😂 It looked like silhouette against the blazing morning Sun.

Here is hazy look from closer distance. Now I am 100% sure that he was spying on me since I started my stroll! I did not move further towards them since they were already anxious and would started barking soon! The other guy is like "leave him bro! He is daily walker in this area. Nothing to worry about :-)"

Mediocre days

Things are not normal these days. Everyday turning mediocre and lousy. There are several setbacks from work end which earns our bread and butter. The recession is affecting almost every domain in world and people are loosing jobs. Even trivial mistakes are reason to chop people from jobs. Getting jobs are also slimmer due to less openings. The increments are either unavailable or not matching raising prices. Not sure how 2024 will pan out in terms of job stability and financial situation.

Meanwhile, the inflation in Bengaluru raising day by day. The government to fulfil free needs of its manifesto is astronomically raising prices of electricity bills and property taxes. This is directly hitting tenants like me in terms of rentals. The rental soon will go up despite the slowdown. The salaries are not matching soaring prices in city. The water crisis has reached painful situation. The ordeal of people who live with minimal water can be seen in news everyday. Lot of difficult times for people with administration misbehaving with life of people just to appease few sections of society :-(.

The partial rejuvenating parts are these colorful sunsets. Intermittently we witness such splendid sunsets which provide hope of beautiful things awaiting at the end of day. Eventually, its only hope which can sustain our life in tough time.

In Vedic astrology, Sun is symbol of self-esteem and Saturn of humbleness. There is difference between ego and self-esteem and we pray to lord to show those subtle differences.  Prayers to the Sun god to shower the world with happiness and bless us with colorful days ahead.