Monsoon Diaries (10/06/2024) - Slow Monsoon Start

This year monsoon has been lethargic as every year. We had good pre-monsoon rains in interiors and coast for a week. But the acceleration has been broken by summer cyclone over Bay. That has slowed down the monsoon intensity. Even though monsoon onset has been officially declared, the rains aren't significant in coast. The North coast of Karnataka enjoyed great rains due to Upper Air Circulation. The region received monster rains but South coast was deprived of rains. Even till date, the south coast hardly clocked 300mm in span of 15 days which is alarming. Hope situation improves in July when La-Nina returns.

Meanwhile Bengaluru city after harsh heat wave in summer, is enjoying daily rains. Most of them fall during evening hours or night. Even though rains are not intense as thunderstorms, it is enough to keep the saturation in tact and greenery of city. The following are pictures from evening sky.

The sky glows with surreal patterns every monsoon evening. The presentation gets stunning after evening rains.

Even though action is concentrated in western horizon, the east also looks pretty post sunset

Every monsoon morning/evening, I try to capture few moments of glorious sky along with timelapse. Most of the time the pretty timelapses are photo-bombed by pretty cloud patterns. Hence timelapses are restricted to max 5s in duration. Hope you enjoy!

A summer walk around village home

Native visit has been rare nowadays. Kids schooling mandates us to absorb the city life for most part of year. Fortunately, the final exams were done quite early which enabled us to visit native in March itself. After few days of attending functions of relatives, I had chance to roam around our village house for an evening summer walk. The humidity is high but environment is pleasant. No negative thoughts, mind feels relaxed looking at those trees. I took kids along with me so that they have some refreshing time.

Plenty of clouds dragged to mainland thanks to sea breeze. However, no summer rains yet. Last week it rained for couple of minutes but not significant enough to raise ground water. We walked deep into fields and saw this colorful sunset. Few residents also cultivate jasmine flowers here. These fields pose arid look now which turns verdant during monsoon season.

Jackfruit output is low in our village this year. A low hanging jackfruit which belongs to known people attracted my attention. With less yield this summer, low hanging jackfruit is item of theft when it matures.

This mighty Banyan tree has been culled either due to natural reasons or man made. Most likely during previous monsoon season because this area is considered as sacred by land owner. Wide variety of birds nested and rested on this tree which is now decimated. Not sure if it resurrects back. Hopefully this tree can foster birds in its undergrowth 

Village residents playing cricket amidst lush greens is delightful to watch. Few people play volleyball too during monsoon season. This enjoyment is inexplicable and can only be enjoyed watching/playing.

A net wrapped along the forest periphery. Not sure if it is to prevent ball from entering forest or prevent people from throwing waste into forest?

The dried coconut leaf seemed like snake. Kids were yelling snake! snake! to entertain themselves

The last picture of birds gazing at horizon during sundown. The red-whiskered bulbul and oriental magpie robin were perched on electric cable just enjoying last scenes of day. Meanwhile I left camera battery charger at Bengaluru. So it will take sometime to capture and post bird pictures which was dormant for almost an year.

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.