Long break monsoon period

26 July 2020

It's has been nearly 10 days since monsoon lost its charm in coastal Karnataka. This is peak ploughing and planting period for paddy cultivation and absence of rain is shivering farming community. The striking sun and humidity is not good sign. This is the time when the monsoon drenches region with moderate rainfall not hampering the nascent sapling. Now the water has to be pumped from passive sources such as wells or bore-well. MET department though has assured active spell of rain from today. Only nature can guarantee its truthfulness. But there is yet another trouble. The department is also forecasting above normal rains in August and September. This is the harvest period and more rains would obliterate the hard work. Only time will say if this mercurial pattern will come true.

Meanwhile, this break in monsoon is shooting downpours interior region. The capital city of Bangalore is also experiencing heavy rains amounting to 60mm and thus replenishing water table. The north interiors are bearing brunt of exceptional rains crossing 150mm mark in a day. The standing crops are being washed away by flash floods and thus destroying the hard work of farmers. The positive side is that the water containers are filling to maximum and thus relieving from drinking water issues. The Malnad region though is yet to see roaring monsoon session. There has been no instance of inflow to major reservoir crossed 15k cu-secs yet. The Ardra monsoon was disappointing. Hope we will have interesting monsoon season as we land into August. 

Sun entering Ardra star is considered to be period of intense monsoonal activity. This year it has been significantly disappointing and the trend of lousy run is continued in Pushya star as well

This image was taken in Bangalore but this is how also it looks in coast now where blue skies should have been elusive sight during this time

Hopefully the bleak phenomenon does not turn out to be permanent break monsoon period

What surprises during this period is the reverse cloud movement from East to west instead of South west. It feels like the monsoon renamed itself to north east monsoon.

Amidst lockdown, it feels even monsoon somewhere locked itself down away from mainland.

Climbing the rock mountain

This is post of summer 2018 which was lying in corner of my hard disk. It is time to divulge this post here in blogger. Hope you enjoy!

 

 

My nephew showed impromptu interest in climbing the distant rock hill situated in our village. It has been years since I too climbed. After a tasty tea and Brinjal Bajji, we set out for our expedition.

The first trail hunt was the usual backside of the hill which is the easiest way. Unfortunately, we could not spot the trail since it was covered with shrubs, thorns. There was snake too which ended our hunt for back trail. It has been years and hence backtracking was not possible. We came back to try tracing the front trail. We walked over fields carefully trampling the thorns so as not to hurt ourselves. The dense arid vegetation was intimidating due to presence of serpents but the presence of thorns were advantage. The snakes would find it difficult to slither through them. After-crossing 2,3 fields, we spotted the safe base point for hike.

We began our climb. The abrasion and jagged rocks provided additional grip while hiking. It was not a linear hike. Many times we had digress from trail and find smooth path. Sometimes, thorns created issue. We had to leave our utility bag in middle to negotiate thorny trail. Overall that was easiest hike, not something we can brag about. Last patch of elevation was damn easy and we were elated on reaching summit. The views were mind blowing. The real beauty of landscape is from elevation. DSLR was must but pessimistic mind did not carry it.

Once hiked till summit, we relaxed and took some pictures. Since we kept our utility bag in middle of hike, there was no water to quench our thirst. We had awesome 360 degree aerial view of our village with dense vegetation and dry fields. The peacocks were screeching though due to onslaught of their habitat by the ISPRL project. Here is a picture of ISPRL project which stores crude oil for crisis times. We don't when will the rock mountain below us will be drilled for oil storage. Before that event occurs, we sure want to hike again to have final memory of our visit.

This hike would be exhilarating during monsoon but not feasible to climb due to slippery path. Nevertheless, the views of arid summer were also fabulous. I repented pessimistic thoughts of not carrying DSLR. There were astounding perceptions to capture. We had exhausted a litre of aqua when we reached home. At the same time, we soaked in perspiration. The shirt was glued to the body due to unrelenting sweat. We had tough time detaching from main body. Once done, the cold shower relaxed us a bit.

On the way, we had majestic sunset behind our family "Daivasthana" alongside the tamarind tree. I captured these images with low spirit since I missed my DSLR.

On a final note, the density of pictures overwhelmed the text in this post. That is the memory I want to carry. Visual memories are long lasting than just scribbling the experience.