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.

Rachenahalli Sunset Archive

 It has been more than 6 months since we visited the Rachenahalli lake 2kms away from our house. This pandemic is aggravating every day. It seems like the peak is yet to be reached before the dust settles. The pandemic is confining us indoors even though there is yearning to freely roam to experience the beauty of monsoon. Today while rummaging through my hard drive, I found these beautiful pictures of sunset from Rachenahalli lake caught somewhere around summer of 2019. I deeply regret underestimating those days. I was under the impression like "Yet another sunset". This attitude is rebuking now. It is difficult to move out of home. These experiences, be it small, be it nearby, we should cherish always, we should value always. Who knows, what locks us in future? Enjoy the scenic views now

Monsoon 2020 has set in

On June 4th, IMD officially declared onset of South West monsoon 2020 over coastal Karnataka. We can also sense the onset by the free flow of clouds from SW direction towards mainland. The monsoon is yet to gain momentum though. Thanks to out of blue cyclones, the monsoonal pattern fleetingly getting distracted and thus hindering the normal advancement. We still have sunny skies at native which is unusual at this point of time. MET department are hopeful of accelerated monsoon spell from 9th June.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying the terrace from my rented apartment. The sky raisers are threatening to obstruct the views permanently. I don't have control over the ever growing concrete pinnacles. Till the last drop, I will enjoy the elevated view and grab some timelapse.

During my casual stroll atop terrace, I catch these magnificent thick monsoon clouds. These are assorted pictures photographed in a week of time during our evening terrace visit. It rains in city area sometimes and sometimes over head. Consequently, sometimes we can only experience thick clouds with occasional thunder and cold winds. Somehow these nimbus clouds lure me to grab pictures in burst. I cannot resist that temptations. Many times, that impatience leads to illegible pictures which I repent once i download it to my desktop. This time, it did not happen even though emotions were high. I clicked pictures absorbing the beauty of monsoon and enjoyed the distant storm whenever possible.

Finally a beautiful sunset

Final spells of pre-monsoon rains

Cyclones are persistently haunting India monsoon season. After amphan, its turn of Nisarga over Arabian sea waters. The warming up of ocean is major concern for the onset of monsoon. They inspire cyclones and thus hampering the smooth onset of monsoon winds. The Nisarga also doing the same damage by disrupting the normal monsoon pattern. Consequently, the coastal Karnataka is yet to see their first monsoon rains. The MET department has announced the delay of monsoon rains making into mainland of coastal Karnataka but at the same time assured that monsoon would be normal. Hopefully it turns out be true.

Meanwhile, the Bangalore skies have been seeing cloud activity and mild wind but no rains from past 4 days. Today, during our casual stroll in apartment terrace, a huge band of clouds moved over our head and showering the region for 10 mins. The cloud formation was beautiful and rains were ad-hoc. I term it as ad-hoc rains since the cloud cover was not vast. Probably, the clouds were abundant with moisture. We covered ourself beneath the overhead tank platform which gave us maximum protection.

I was in no mood to return home. It was sure that rains would not last long and post rains something interesting would pop-up. My prediction did come true fortunately. There was full rainbow as well as distant isolated storm. My mobile camera was busy capturing the wonders of nature and I was busy enjoying the natural phenomenon. The kids too enjoyed in rain water. The photos were captured during the glorious day and I was enthralled post capturing the scenes. Looks like these will last spells of pre-monsoon rains and we look forward for welcoming the monsoon clouds sooner. Till then enjoy the nature glimpses caught on the fortunate day.

A lush blue sky to begin with

The clouds are almost over our head

A nascent rainbow post rains

As sun appears again, the brightness of rainbow amplified

A distant isolated storm and its close up look

Finally, the picture after atmosphere cooled off along with smiling moon

Good news is that, MET department finally declared outset of monsoon in coastal Karnataka. However, the rains are yet to gain intensity. We may need to wait further for strengthening of monsoon clouds over arabian sea. Hopefully, the monsoon will soon get over from the side-effect of Cyclone NISARGA and shower happiness on people of farming community.

Here is a collection of Pre-Monsoon 2020 timelapse. The shots were predominantly taken in Bangalore with contributions from my village near Udupi and in-laws village near Kundapura