Cloudless SUNday

09 November 2025

Its been literally buzzing sky in the city of Bengaluru with everyday cloud activity or rain. The winter was struggling to set in thanks to consistent disturbances over the ocean. The saga of clouds seemed everlasting. Even yesterday had sparse clouds gathering throughout the day and disappearing by evening. The people were feeling under the weather due to high variance in day and night temperature.

I had to pick up my bestie from bus-stand. While waiting for bus to arrive, this was scene I captured. The stray dog did not show any sign of winter yet. The curling up tightly is sign of intense winter. But this guy was peacefully sleeping at bus stop stretching its body freely.  Perhaps its stout physique also helps provide additional warmth.

The remnant clouds of the day displayed artistic patterns.

Next day clear sky finally showed up today. The day finally arrived, the citizens desperately waiting for. It was cloudless SUNday with sun shining brightly over city without a speck of cloud. The delicate sun was palatable for sun-bathing even during noon time. The chilly breeze made sure not to aggravate the heat. Its been days since we observed squeaky clean skies. Felt like clouds have taken holiday on Sunday. Not sure if it's for while or just Sunday. The feverish weather turned pleasant early morning with chilly breeze buffeting city. If this pattern continues, the day too would turn colder as day progresses towards winter solstice. I stayed in terrace for a while absorbing some amount of Vitamin D.

Clean and clear city skies. Perhaps we had best AQI today!

During evening hours, we decided to take stroll in Kalkere lake. Since days are turning shorter in North Hemisphere, we started early around 4AM and reached lake. The civil works that began almost year back have clearly seen backseat with lethargic progress. The rugged path was difficult to negotiate and dusty too! Perhaps the reason for less crowd today. The well maintained lake promenade was turned into trash by local administration. The benches are strewed nearby and there is no place to sit. Absolute mockery of tax payers money. Freebies have hit hard and basic amenities are illusion now. As of now everlasting civil works have completely Sullied the lake. Milling around lake was one of major relaxation around city. But this time it was more of dodging debris. Hope civic authority would soon conclude the renovation work which was never needed. As more political parties, including pro-development ones, adopt socialist principles, real development is starting to look like a mirage. 

There hasn't been much maintenance of lake itself. Mostly weeds are overpowering the area. The lake has relatively less water resource compared to previous years. The absence of concluding thunderstorm season may be was prime factor

The hazy city skyline was a testament to rapid urbanisation around lake

Despite the ordeals, the avian activity was the positive part of lake visit. couple of birdwatchers seen spotting the winter birds at lake walkway. I too spotted many of known birds. The lake was buzzing with enormous aquatic birds include pied kingfisher. Pied kingfisher was surprise find here. I had been desperately searching for pied kingfishers when camera was alive. Unfortunately, my camera is dead and I had to content with just eye watching. There were many instances when kingfisher took flight and aimed at the prey. The pied kingfishers were busy hunting and seems to have found the catch in couple of strikes. I was desperately missing my camera to capture their flight and strike shots. The light was also plenty and it would have been easy grab with 600mm lens. I was engrossed in bird watching for few minutes before moving on. The flight of pied kingfishers for fish catch was too tempting for a camera catch. Apart from kingfishers, there were ibis, ducks, grebie, pelicans, stilts, egrets, herons and many more were captivating to . At times, the brahminy kite was disturbing the peaceful bird flock on eater. Sometimes you need to enjoy and be content with available resources.

Few more shots from lake to conclude. The urban landscape is slowly invading nature. Cloud free day sustained for whole day. With greed of real estate taking over the lake contour coupled with brazen corrupt officials, I am afraid that lake would soon loose its charm.

This was captured near the parking area which is bit away from lake.The dangerously placed high tension transmission tower amidst the residential area highlights the level of corruption. The residents of the region do not allow parking nearby lake since it disturbs the sanity of area. 

The bumpy walk force the body to expend more energy than usual. Since we did not consume any snacks in evening, wife and kids turned hungry. On way back, we spotted "Child Monk" ice cream shop but skeptical of visiting the new outlet. Wife craved for ice cream and we chose child monk to savor ice cream on cold day. After skimming through google reviews, we found the outlet had decent rating and ice cream was dairy based. I wouldn't choose if it was soya based.  We tasted tiramisu and few scoops (tuty-fruity, dry-fruits and gulkhan). Honestly this was our maiden visit and it was not worth anymore. Google rating of 4.8 seemed overhyped or scripted. The cream seemed to be diluted and felt watery after consuming. Tiramisu was more of dominating chocolate brown cake more than ice cream. This would be our last visit for sure.

When the sky turned solid

While unhanging the dried clothes from terrace, I had this surprise. That was solid rainshaft well contrast with sky. Since I carry mobile on every terrace visit, I caught the scene wholeheartedly. Perhaps, there was intense shower on the path of rains-haft.

I quickly dropped the clothes off at home and returned to the terrace. By then, the rain shaft had become widespread, and the remnants had left behind patchy clouds that spoiled the contrast. The actual fall now shifted facing the hanging bridge. Overall, no rains overhead but cool breeze throughout the lifetime of rainshaft. I had cool images to capture at the end of day.

As rain shaft drifts forward, the contrast begins to decline. You don't feel rain-shaft anymore

These wouldn't be possible unless short shower interrupted us during lunch hours. The clothes were drenched for a while, delaying their removal until evening. The rest was a rainshaft story!

The next day too I witnessed a similar rain-shaft but far north instead of south. Again, no rain but only entertainment

Maiden visit to Udupi Shri Krishna Bhavan and Mysore Pak at Venkateshwara sweet meat stall

We had been to Chikpete to finalize the cards for kids threading ceremony. It was tough experience though. They have limited template for threading ceremony. We chose one of the card and went to designer shop. The card vendor is different and printing is owned by another vendor. We spent almost an hour or more bargaining and negotiating with printing vendor to match the card to our design.

Wife gruelled the vendor to match up to her expectation. The vendor too was non-cooperative which is normal in chikpete I heard. Despite having array of card shops, the vendors are adamant to stick to their template. They are not willing to budge from their standard design. Deviating from standard design will increase their work which they want to avoid. They charge GST on cards as well but provide individual UPI account instead of merchant account for payment. Quite doubtful if they file GST returns 🙂.

Along with vendor, I too got tired listening to their heated argument. Finally, both of them wrapped up on a well-integrated design. The count of cards, print was finalised. We did the full payment including GST. He said we would DUNZO the finished cards to our home. The carrier charges have to be paid by us though!

I would say, not worth spending time here. We had no options since travelling to native to print cards would be more expensive than in Bengaluru. The argument with vendor was tiresome but was worth since his design & content were extremely deviating. Moreover, the vendor wasn't very flexible, as if we were asking for the cards for free. We were even charged for the wastage and samples.

Chikpete card shops need lot of discussions and arguments to make it right. They are stubborn to retain their template. If you have cheaper option in native, that would be best choice. Wandering through chikpete would be tiring and dissastisfying due to vendor attitude

Tired after selecting and editing the invitation card for kid's threading ceremony, the famished soul was angst with deprived energy. The only evening option in Balepete was the iconic Shri Krishna Bhavan. It would be our maiden visit to this eatery.

On a calm Saturday evening, we entered the retro looking eatery with hope of finding satisfactory food. The dhoti wrapped servants transformed us to Bangalore of bygone days

We ordered Masala Dosay followed by Tea. While we adults ate one full plate, the kids had half plate each. The servant was kind enough to cut the dosay into equal half parts with extra plate and coconut chutney.

To my surprise, this was one of best dosay I had in Bengaluru so far. It beats the most crowded Vidyarthi Bhavan and CTR for sure in taste and quality. The Dosay was mildly crisp and soft. It was perfect combination of both qualities. There was nothing to complain about. The chutney was too good and less spice. The palya (masala) was equally matching the chutney's charisma. They prepare Masala Dosay only with Ghee which is plus point. The dosay was mildly smeared with ghee which means not overwhelming for both tongue and tummy. Other famous joints pour enormous amount of ghee/oil which is heavy to eat. The tea was good in taste and aroma. Kids had sweet badam milk drink as well.

To conclude the visit, we tucked into some badam halwa, a last-minute order. The badam halwa too was delicious. The original badam taste touched our tongue with moderate sweet. The badam halwa here is worth the buy.

The prices are on higher side unfortunately. Great taste and quality comes with price. The masala dosay was costing aroun 95 while badam halway at 60 per wrap. It is worth for occasional visit. There are plenty other variety of south indian eateries here. Heard their South India Meal which they serve for lunch is also worth the try. Perhaps, the narrow lanes of chickapete is the blocker for the restaurant to grow. Despite then, the crowd here wasn't tiny.

I wanted to have second bite of halwa but some part of stomach was reserved for relishing Mysore Pak at Venkateshwara Sweet meat stall, a few distance away from here.

Their signature Mysore Pak is one of the best in city. It is light on ghee and not overwhelmingly sweet. Good thing is they sell it in small quantities just to consume on spot. Alongside, I got lured towards Chole-Bhature which was too good as well. Since every member was nearly full, single Bhature was shared amongst four of us. Next time, I will definitely have it them full plate provided I don't get gravitated by Udupi Krishna Bhavan's dosay :-D.

The narrow lanes, overcrowding of chickpete doesn't place both eateries in a strategic location. Perhaps thats why we see lesser online influencers visiting this place. Parking here is menace even for bicycles. The traffic police frequently patrol the area which increases your chances of being fined for No Parking. But there is no dearth of visitors to both the places. People who shop in Chickpet often visit these places to satiate their famished appetites.

This was scene in Baiyappanahalli Metro station. A satellite model made of electronic scrap. Took me to college electronics lab with inductor, capacitor, resistors, chips and many more. That looked pretty artistic!

Final Note:

We had Masala Dosay on another day during our casual visit to Chikpete. But this time it was disappointing :-(. Not tasting same as our previous visit. Even though hungry, the dosay did not taste great. So, the taste is inconsistent from time to time and don't blame me if you didn't find it satisfactory. If you are lucky, you can taste the better bite during your visit! I captured the painting of Lord Krishna honouring his friend sudhama. It signifies the humbleness of Lord and loyalty in friendship

The Mysore pak at Venkateshwara sweet meat stall maintained same standard though. Its always the best in city for Mysore Pak I believe which comes at higher cost than other outlets. Instead of trying out Chole Bhature, we tried chocolate volcano sweet. This was chocolate dipped in rabdi? The sweet was too good once again with gentle sweetness. Just like the way I want :-). In fact, the balanced sweetness enriched with moderate ghee is what I like here alongside India Sweet House. Not too heavy on tongue or tummy!