Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Majestic Village trails

South India is going south in terms of weather with majority regions recording record minimum temperatures. Bengaluru city saw mins dipping towards 11degrees which was once in decade event. The unprecedented weather seemed to be contagious with the coastal Karnataka witnessing mins in range of 16 degrees. The icy weather has given raise to influx of fever related issues. We stayed in our native which was predominantly tropical region but now experiencing plummeting temperature. It was too cold to sustain for natives. Since we descended from more icy weather, it was not brutal to us even though we never switched on the fans. Fortunately the cold weather lasted only during concluding weeks of December and later tapered off. Even though weather is cool, its not harsh.

Meanwhile, I was lazing during my vacation days in native. It was busy but enthralling days. We visited multiple places and met most relations. There were frequent family gatherings which kept us busy and upbeat. On one of the occasions, my wifey had left few items at one of relation's house. I went for quick pickup of those items through village trails lasting for 2kms.

These majestic village trails was impressive sight. These fields have been harvested now but without winter crop. Most of them do not cultivate winter crop due to risk of unseasonal rains. Even then, the scenes were delightful and worth the stoppage.




The roads are quite narrow even for cars passing each other. But the fields flanking it are stupendous. Monsoon season can offer quite enticing scenes here. I would definitely drive if I get a chance somehow.

The paddy fields are adorned with coconut palms dotted with traditional homes.




Few farmers have sown second crop of year and its yielding good results. The low lying areas generally harvest second crop due to water table availability


Not to forget the adorable pets raised at the house!


Overall I overstayed gazing at the natural world. The call from wife for protracted outdoor stay confirmed it :-D

ಟ್ರಾಫಿಕ್ ಕಡಲಲ್ಲಿ!

ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಒಡಲಲ್ಲಿ 

ಟ್ರಾಫಿಕ್ ಮಡಿಲಲ್ಲಿ 

ಪಯಣಿಗ ನಾನಮ್ಮ 

ಖಿನ್ನತೆ ನನಗಮ್ಮ!


Safe ಆಗಿ ಬೇಗ 

ಸೂರನು ಸೇರುವ 

ಇಂದಿನ ಗುರಿಯಮ್ಮ 

ಎಂದೆಂದಿನ ಗುರಿಯಮ್ಮ!





ಮುಗಿಯದ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ವ್ಯಥೆ 

ದಿನನಿತ್ಯದ ಟ್ರಾಫಿಕ್ ಗಾಥೆ 


ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಮಂದಿ ಇದಕ್ಕೆ adjust ಆಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಕೇಂದ್ರಕ್ಕೆ ಹೇಳಿದ್ರೆ ರಾಜ್ಯದ problem ಅಂತಾರೆ ಆದರೆ IT ಮಂದಿಯ tax ಮಾತ್ರ ಚಪ್ಪರಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ತಿಂತಾರೆ. ರಾಜ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಹೇಳಿದ್ರೆ ನಮಗೇನು ಮಾಡಕ್ಕೆ ಆಗಲ್ಲ ಅಂತಾ ಕೈ ಚೆಲ್ತಾರೆ. ಒಟ್ಟಾರೆ ಎರಡು ಕಡೆ ಡೋಂಗಿಗಳೇ ರಾಜ್ಯಭಾರ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಜನರು ಮಾತ್ರ ಏನು ಮಾಡಲಾಗದೆ ಕೈ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ದಿನನಿತ್ಯ ಬವಣೆಯನ್ನು ಅನುಭವಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ!  

Sunday, July 19, 2026

First thunderstorm of summer season

There was surprise and blessing as we landed in native place for our summer visit of the year. The hot and humid weather was at its peak. It was no different in heart of rainforest of Shiradi Ghat too! Zero clouds and sun blazing through the calm forest


The dark clouds in evening showed signs of providing temporary respite from the sweltering weather. It did rain for a while and thus accentuating the humid weather. We thought that rain is done for day and unsure of its next presence. Summer rains can be weird and unpredictable. One drizzle and rains may abscond for weeks. Here are some shots of skies from that day.


As the sun slipped beneath the western horizon, the heavens echoed with a deep, rolling rumble, heralding the approaching storm. The lightning grew sharp and thunder started roaring. In a few minutes, rains started pelting too! We had torrential rains lasting for 45 minutes and relief for the entire night!

Although I couldn't grab the rain moments due to risky show in sky, I went for a long walk to aftermath of rains next day. Here are some morning musings!

The weather was cloudy but atmosphere was fresh. There was hope of more rains looking at the sky!




The summer rains are aptly called as mango showers. The loose mango hanging on the tree fall due to the wind as well as the force of the rain. We have a lot of mangoes on the tree, but only few mango showers. Most probably these mangoes are still in nascent stage.



There are no puddles, but the ground is considerably moisturized, primarily because we had thrashing rains for nearly more than an hour. Even after 12 hours of rain stop and prolonged dry season, the ground is still wet!


That was really a long rain. It started with the light rain. Then it stopped all of a sudden. We thought the game is over and we'll have to bear the humid weather for rest of the day and we'll have to wait till the next day evening to expect some more rains. But the nature did not betray us. It rained, rain, it rained massively for the next one, one and a half hours. And us really getting a, providing us a temporary relief from humidity. The fallen leave holding up the rainwater was one of the testament to the overnight rain.


Thanks to healthy overnight rains, the ground is sufficiently wet. The negative side is that we don't have power yet, but hopefully it resumes soon. Finally, a reprieve, a short reprieve, we can say, from the humid weather. The day is cloudy and still hot, triggering hopes of further rains. There are forecasts till 31st of this month, and hopefully it materializes. Even the most tortured part of the ground, which is battered by sun, is wet thanks to the energitic show from rain gods. Hope we see a healthy monsoon season as well, alongside the summer rains.


Plenty of dried leaves strewn all across the road. It may be because of falling from the trees, or maybe the strength of the rain water which has pushed those leaves from sideways to the main road. Whatever may be, but it shows the might of nature presented yesterday.



Not only smaller ones, even the nascent leaves of coconut tree also seen downfall thanks to windy rains. Remember, however invincible you may feel, there is always someone mightier standing in your path.



And don't underestimate anything provided by nature. Anything dried on the ground has more value today, thanks to the ongoing war, which is blocking the crude supplies. And people use it for different purposes, like boiling water, and to some extent, the cooks for cooking as well. For large-scale cooking, people use firewood nowadays in our village. And it's been, it's like we are going to primitive, we are going regressive. It may be a good thing or bad thing, but the time is the king and never forget the roots. The food for the large gatherings nowadays are primarily prepared on the firewoods, and cooks are told to get accustomed to that due to the shortage of LPG cylinders. We need need to get adjusted. The war may close down soon or may not, but it's a lesson to us. Look for alternative kinds of energies and also not to ignore where we started from. So nothing is obsolete. It's all the time which start revolving and may come back to the same pattern.


The nature would be the happiest including the cattle egrets. The ground will soon turn green which will provide them temporary food supply for a few days.


All the feeble vegetation have found liberation after this rain. . The rains are a must, especially they bring a lot of joy when they are sparse. They are sparse. Even though you store, you have multiple sources of water sourced from somewhere, the ground vegetation needs the rain. Even though you manually water them, it doesn't fit for them. They need rain. They bloom only when there are at least there are intermittent rains. It's not that they can thrive in only manually watering. The rains are a must for them.


A beautiful sunset to conclude the blog. Sun smiling in between clouds through unfiltered atmosphere is one of the best sight to watch.


First rain of season doesn't make large impact, but triggers lot of positive hope for future.

Saturday, July 18, 2026

Trifling moments of marriage ceremony

While major focal point of marriage is on bride and groom, crowd, opulence, food and rituals, I tried to capture few trivial moments from marriage. Here are some of those I gathered during marriage ceremony of closer relative. I have covered subjects/objects connected to marriage and not humans mostly!

Lets start with the celebration stage just before rituals began. The grand look comes with cost! The natural flower decoration fringed by artificial flowers. Since natural flower isn't reusable, the decorative method is expensive




The digital artist with art on his digital eye. I like those patterns on the lens perhaps visually displaying his passion. He is the one who carries the ceremony to eternity by capturing memorable moments of celebration


The remover of obstacle lord Ganesha. The CCTV watches for suspected traitor but lord reminds that he is the invisible cctv who watches our karma and indirectly influences our life


The drums were once considered as special or rare have been normalised in contemporary marriages.


The nadaswaram is another rarity nowadays. Nadaswaram is a traditional long piped instrumernt played in temple traditions. People here usually consider saxophone as standard. But the nadaswaram team was surprise and they performed flawlessly.



The coolers are must in tropical regions where the marriage halls aren't equipped with air conditioners. Even though it's exclusively for bride groom duo, presence of crowd in sabhe obstruct it's flow.


Clowns are new attraction. These were only seen during village fairs but now mark entry to marriage ceremony as well.


The palanquine & clown rests after energetic and tiring celebration.


The usual visitor during ceremonies. They try to find some food or snatch something useful for them. They are symbol of grit amongst the crowd or inevitable for survival due to diminishing vegetation?


While there are numerous arguments in favour of introducing unique ideas into marriage ceremonies, others are concerned about squandering money on unnecessary additions. Most of them feel like icing on cake which is ephemeral. While people who can afford extravagant wedding ceremonies often flaunt their celebrations, those who cannot afford them may become trapped in unnecessary spending in an attempt to keep up. While I stick to budget on most occasions, situation trap me as well and thus resulting in overspends. However there is no golden rule, I believe to stick to the budget eventually!




Friday, July 17, 2026

Minimalism

After a wonderful play at Chamadka waterfalls, a rejuvenated soul proudly drove towards Madhuru temple which was our next destination. In between the winding road, the dense forest opened up the skies quite instantly. That was coconut plantation amidst the dense vegetation.  The upper region was unused and hence dense weeds had grown owing to monsoon season.



Next comes the interesting part! This lone tree standing amidst the shrubs quite confident! It was perfect stage for capturing minimalist picture. We stopped vehicle and captured few random pics. These minimalist pictures turn out excellent if we have right surroundings. However, we find difficult to live minimalist lifestyle. We always want to be taller than others and hence choking ourselves. Minimalism has no limit nowadays. Perhaps, we need to be complacent at some point of time to enjoy such beautiful nature art!









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