Jaggery baskets by the road

The Rameshwaram-Ramanathapuram stretch has such baskets placed in frequent intervals stacked neatly by the road. While returning from Rameshwaram to Bangalore, we stopped at one of the vendor and enquired on the item. We initially thought that it was ice apples since there were many palmyra  trees. He mentioned that they were jaggery baskets. These natural baskets produced from palmyra tree leaves are good packaging for jaggery balls. They provide protection from heat and air gaps make sure jaggery doesn't dissolve. The vendor was kind enough to provide us samples.

The vendor had three types of jaggery marketed directly from traditional Sugarcane mill. He said the mill is little interior. 

Plain jaggery costing 250 per KG

Other is jaggery mixed with spices

400 per kg is misri (rock sugar), similar texture as Gondh. Good to have in milk and pepper for throat infection as per vendor. Also good for health since it is unprocessed

Here is picture of plain, spiced and misri respectively in order

Closeup of spiced jaggery and misri

Sugarcane is sourced from sugarcane fields of Ramanathapuram close to Vaigai belt. The district seems to be backward compared to other TN districts and hence people largely depend on tourists for income.

Somehow I trusted the vendor and bought small quantities to home usage.

Prices seem overrated. Not sure if it's real price or inflated for tourists. He informed that jaggery is also exported to other countries. The vendor is also well-versed in Hindi which shows demography change. For business to thrive, you can't bind regional sentiments which most people are aware even in TamilNadu.

Monster rain shafts

Monsoon onset has been declared over Karnataka. Barring few regions, there is no sign of monsoon-ish rains. The coast even though experienced heavy rain during onset for a day now silent with Sun peeping out. The MET department issued red alert for 3 days but hardly any rain fell over the region. Even though the wind speeds are high, the rainfall has been below 40mm over the region. Mostly El-nino is culprit swaying the monsoon moisture somewhere else. This year rainfall would be deficient as per IMD. Hopefully it turns false. Meanwhile after the onset, the monsoon is struggling to raise up. Its lethargic advancement is triggering fears among the crop growing community. The rainfall also hasn't been significant so far. The ghats are yet to experience monsoon like weather.

Meanwhile, the monsoon brings some of best rain shafts over Bengaluru lasting for few minutes during evening hours. I captured them alongside the gusty winds. The rain shaft was tempting to capture for which I climbed the overhead tank terrace. The overall pictures also turned out well. 

The usual sign of no rain along the east direction. The isolated clouds stream sunlight only to limited region which is interesting to watch.

The rain shaft moved to further north-east and visuals of distant rain was visible from our terrace. No rains fell over our region.

Traffic snarl snaps!

Nowadays commuting to office is depressing than ever. The meagre 5km stretch consumes 45 minutes of brutal commute. Perhaps most of fuel wastage results from this standstill traffic which no government wants to solve. We have unfortunate regimes in centre who extort exorbitant taxes from citizens but elude from responsibility. Other hand, we have confusing regime in state who are busy with infights. While centre wash hands stating a different incumbent regime in state, they should be ashamed of looting hard working citizens of high taxes without providing any solution. The state is busy doling out freebies and hence left with none to listen to city's woes. The corrupt politicians don't care about the people's pain. They let them suffer and patient Bengaluru people have been sustaining it.

Meanwhile, the traffic snarls are deteriorating everyday. It is jarring to realize that we spend more time in traffic than ever before, and the trend shows no sign of reversing. Politicans are expanding cities without a plan. The tiny patch from Channasandra bridge to KR Puram railway station easily drains 30min at least. Its becoming difficult to find frequent city buses as well. I waited for nearly 20 mins to catch a bus. Fortunately, I could spot a window seat. Since the bus was ordinary, the windows aren't sealed. As usual, the bus was dead stop over tin factory fly over. Instead of moaning, I captured few glimpses of Benniganahalli lake. The overlooking tall hitech buildings added charm to overall scene. Positive moments while waiting for vehicular movement to resume. Not sure how long this beautiful lake can sustain the pace of awkward development. The tall buildings overpowering the nature is truly concerning which nobody wants to address.

Ironically, the flyover meant to reduce traffic jams has become a shelter for them :-). There are many  things which need a larger reset in this country