I scribble random thoughts, ramblings of my travel, and few photography addons in this blog
These pictures almost an year old but nature looks fresh in mind even today. We hiked Kunagallu betta last summer post thunderstorm season. This was perfect moment to hike with fresh green everywhere. After reaching the summit, the vastness of nature enthralled us. The flowing arkavati, the never ending mountains, the expansive greenery was ineffable. Although I am planning for detailed blog, just realized that pictures were overwhelming. Hence splitting few for this post. Hope you enjoy!
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The blog belongs to first half of 2026 written at the beginning of harsh winter days. I had to visit native to foresee arrangement and complete pending tasks for twin boys ceremony scheduled this February. Had some free time to wander around village and here is picture sequence of the stroll!
As soon as I landed in native, I was greeted by warm weather which I was eagerly waiting for.
Once done with daily routine, I went for short walk. Not much interesting vegetation due to protracted dry season. Amidst the aridity, there are gems!
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The traditional home of coastal karnataka!
ಬಲ ತೂಕ ಕೋಲ! This year's Bhoota kola celebration is in full swing. Due to major celebration at Udupi, the kola concluded quicker than usual. Here is glimpse of nature along the trail to reach the temple.
The protagonist and his assistant in portraits
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Sun though still wakes up late until fag end of February. So the notion of winter doesn't fade until then
The mid day stroll on Sunday wasn't that bad either. In fact, it was fascinating to capture the palm trees bottom up. The Sun was mild and weather was cool.
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The last part of the scribble. The one straight oscillating road which is always my favourite. This looks dry now but during monsoon, this place is one of my favourite to capture the road till horizon flanked by greenery!
I have been watching commuters scrambling for UPI payments especially when BMTC buses are fully loaded. Some struggle to enter right PIN amidst the jostling crowd. Some enter additional digits while negotiating the instant brakers. Under such conditions, UPI-Lite seems to be perfect option. Perhaps many commuters aren't aware since till date I see people paying directly via bank account through PIN. UPI-Lite can be advantageous when bus is packed with crowd. No PIN for sub Rs.500/- payment and no issue of Bank outages. Also new ticket machine from BMTC gracefully presents the QR with fixed price. Hence no need to enter the amount manually. Your UPI app notes the exact amount and prompts you to pay. If UPI-Lite option is chosen, its one click. Since this method is akin to wallet, there is no bank intervention needed. Also since maximum cap is 500 per transaction, users can safely use this option in urgent scenarios. This saves time of conductors who struggle to issue tickets during peak hours and also relieves you from entering PINs which when entered wrongly can lock your UPI after certain attempts. It also speeds up ticketing process which otherwise conductor will be forced to pause the bus before moving to next stop.
So try out UPI-Lite today! I generally, top-up max 200 per week to cater my BMTC tickets. I also travel under large crowd and this method has been largely convenient so far!
As of now, BMTC is the only vendor I am using UPI-Lite for. I haven't explored much but for sure its useful for quick transaction with street vendors.
Ultimately cash is BOSS!
This is from my experience so far. I had few instances to back this
(i) The QR doesn't show up in ticket vending machine occasionally despite multiple retries. Conductor explicitly asked for cash
(ii) The data network doesn't turn ON at times which is mandatory for UPI payments
These instances definitely need cash or you will be forced to deboard the bus.
Fortunately, I always carry cash. I am not overconfident relying entirely on digital tools 😀
Disclaimer
1) I am neither influencer not a developer of payment apps. I dont know if UPI-Lite balances can be used for gaining interest by app providers. Hence there are no payments done to write this blog 😂
(2) I am not spying on their PIN or account balance :-D.
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
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!
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.
First rain of season doesn't make large impact, but triggers lot of positive hope for future.
