Photo Blog - The Royal Avenue

It has been busy week with family shifting to new location within Bengaluru. The current location is as lively as earlier one but slightly hot. I miss Amruthahalli lake and bengaluru vibes of previous stay. The current location hosts streak of apartments all along with lesser vegetation. This was taken in one of morning walk while scanning the neighborhood for familiarity.

The apartments could be seen throughout the street. The trees seems to be lost lives or affected by deep concrete base?

Not everything is as royal as seen in picture

As concrete bloom

Threat on nature looms

It has been long time since spring passed, but trees still stays bland

And the roads are caved in to threat level. Soon they may reach dangerous mark

The depth of collapse is difficult to gauge if it rains!

Photo Blog - The Legend!

It is rarity to see this legend nowadays. The AMBASSADOR car which is a sturdy, heavily built, people friendly car was discontinued for some reasons. The car used to be overcrowded and heavy baggage. Still it sustained the wrath of human 

The magnificent beast we spotted seemed to have been unused for long. The assumption stemmed from the plants shrouding the LEGEND. Surprisingly, the exteriors are in good condition :-). It means unused but yet maintained. Not sure! Yet another possibility is that owner parking in this location regularly. It looks to be rare possibility since the branches of plant is in good condition and at the same time, the owner would park it in neat location.

A respect to the LEGEND via monochrome image

A summer evening at Maravanthe Beach

This should have been written earlier but the sluggishness to edit pictures delays the blog post frequently. I have finally decided to write about the summer experiences in Maravanthe beach. Here how it goes!

7th May 2023

Oceans have tremendous ability to calm your mind. The sound of waves, the sunset along the horizon, the energetic tides are healers and boosters of life. It has been hectic year so far with native visit pending from nearly 5 months. The primary reason was kids schools, new school hunting for 1st standard and new house hunting. The hectic work of school hunting and new rent house eventually ended on positive note which ushered us to plan native visit.

My in-laws are constructing house close to Udupi. They will be vacating the current house near Kundapura soon. Therefore it was needed visit to Maravanthe beach to relish the memories. Unsure when we will have visit again to this beautiful heaven. On a fine evening, we decided to spend time along the sprawling shore of Maravanthe beach.

The tides were high and sunset was due. The barging tides struck the boulders and raise high showing its might. The crowd was high being Sunday! This beach is not friendly geographically in terms of play. Still mad tourists risk their lives for inconsequential selfies. The other part of it was, the scenes were apt for shooting sea tides. I captured few from mobile camera.

Someone was showing up frequently beneath the sand.

Giant waves dominated the evening. I am not sure if I can frequently visit Marvanthe from now onwards. Here are the majority pictures I captured during serene evening to relive the memories.

The sunset beside sea is tranquil.

Once finished with beach activity, we had darshan of deities situated in Mahavaraha temple beside souparnika river and sought blessings for our new beginnings.

Hear the roar of sea via video!

Photo Blog - Before the Storm

The monsoon is making slow progress which is providing additional room for thunderstorms to flourish in Bengaluru. The sluggish progress of monsoon has forced school authorities to postpone schools indefinitely till rains arrive. This grave situation is rare is coastal Karnataka but that rarity has arrived. Let's pray for healthy monsoon hereafter!

Meanwhile, the Bengaluru city continues to receive healthy rains. Daily 20mm rains made sure that city has enough water reserves. It was surprise storm few days back here in Bengaluru. The evening rains always surprising and pours without a hint. The skies were blue with few distant cloud. Suddenly clouds from west pushed towards our area and it poured for 30mins with thick droplets. This is the scene before storm

And this is how storm looked during night!

Photo Blog - Alone yet strong!

This is the picture I took at rural part of Mulbagal town. I was captivated by the scenery en-route to Garuda temple at koladevi near mulbagal. I even had found Pied Kingfisher here. During my subsequent visit to Kurudumale Ganesha temple to attend Benne Alankara for Lord, I planned sojourn to this beautiful lake. The nearby field hosted this large coconut tree amidst the agricultural land. The clouds above provided beautiful landscape.

The tree stood tall withstanding wind and rain. Perhaps it is stronger and tall. Even though surrounded by myriads of crop, it can still stand stronger! We also need stand tall and stronger in life despite all circumstances. Be in right path as well! It can withstand any amount invasion or bullying over the times. The tree taught me a good lesson that day. The winds were strong and tree was alone. Still it stood high and strong. I felt as if it spoke to me "Till I am alive, I will stay strong!"

We stopped by the lake for a while. I couldn't spot pied kingfisher this time.

Felt blessed after having darshan of Lord Ganesha at Kurudumale adorned with Benne!

Photo Blog - Rushing Clouds

Monsoon is yet to make proper onset over country. Meanwhile thunderstorm continue in Bengaluru city and thus bringing down night temperature. The cycle of high humidity and evening rains are continuing. The water bodies are having good party during summer. If every house has rain water harvesting facility, then city has enough water table to sustain till next summer.

While having casual walk in Varanasi main road, the strange cloud rush captivated me. I felt like frontline clouds were rushing and enthusiastic to pour over city, while the back-benchers seemed to be lousy :-D.  The front ones were like "Lets go Lets go!" but the back benchers seemed to be "I cant move anymore, tired of pouring, lets stop here!". Finally back benchers won and we did not receive any rains. Yes, this is natural phenomenon due to wind patterns, but something artistic popped in my mind. Hope you too feel the same!

Last birding at Amruthahalli Lake

Perhaps, last birding at Amruthahalli lake. I have relocated to new area to move near to the office. Consequently, this seems to be my last birding at this lake for now. Even though lake was empty throughout my stay of 8 yrs, I have emotional attachment due to the birding opportunities. Now the de-silted lake is blooming back with support from summer rains. Hope the works of authorities fructify and brim the lake to full mark! So whom we got for last turn.

I have been waiting for these swallows to settle down on perch. Today finally I had opportunity to photograph them still. The birds were busy preening and basking. Unfortunately, poor light from east shadowed by clouds did not provide ample light to photograph them. The blues need stark sunlight to capture in camera. I moved away after birds also moved due to annoying photographer :-).

The pond heron was in contemplation mood. The reflection was drooling. The clear water was boon!

The absconding waders are back to lake now. The spot billed ducks, the eurasian coot, bronze winged jacana, glossy ibis and many are back to lake. I did not capture black-winged-stilts though. 

The lake bed finally. There is plenty of water now. Hopefully the lake would fill 30% by end of monsoon.

Good bye Amruthahalli Lake!