Karkala town has numerous lakes and one of them is Matadha kere lake which is easily accessible on drive way. I behold this lake every time during transit to Bangalore via Karkala town. The lake is situated adjacent to Karkala bypass road. The picturesque lake never failed to fascinate me on every drive. The dearth of time always pulled me back from stopping the car and viewing the serene landscape. This time, I made my mind firm and stopped the car. That was quite fast photo shoot with clouds mirroring on quiet lake. The recreation place though is not well maintained since its open 12 years back. The shrubs may have hidden serpents which may be detrimental to daily promenading. The time during the visit, I saw zero human presence and probably due to paltry users, the lake area is not maintained. Not sure, just a guess!
Back to track! Here are quick 5 minutes snap from fleeting stoppage.
This is continuation from the previous post, presenting pictures from nature reserve of coastal Karnataka and Malnad region. Since the pictures were taken during transit to Bangalore, they may not be well composed. We had limited time and hence took photos to cherish the memories rather than from photography perspective. Consequently, the DSLR was asleep and only mobile camera was active. Hope you like them as well!
These guys want some delicacies as well!
The extended monsoon has kept the greenery on crest of Western ghats alive. That's one of the beautiful sight to watch. Even though the vibrancy did not match that of monsoon season, the beauty was enough to become enamoured with. Time to stop the car and snap some memorable pictures. The only blemish was the dry clouds floating over the region which clouded the real beauty of region. Many seasonal waterfalls were still alive but without energetic roar. We could see large crowd enjoying the beauty of endearing rainforest. The narrow roads were problem but the absence of large vehicles were plus point. Hence no room for traffic jams in middle of forest :-D. Enjoy pictures from our fleeting stay amidst the jungle.
Tall pinnacles cascaded towards infinite horizon!
Transit vehicles rejoicing the beauty of nature. In between, an ice-cream van wants to leverage the presence of crowd hoping for decent business. Interestingly, few bought it as well despite the cold winds streaming through the hillocks.
The corn fields as we moved away from Malnad and reached the grassland. This was caught near Belur. Once again poor colours due to presence of clouds.
Apologies for wrong information. This bridge is constructed near Mundaje across Nethravathi river. Now the blog has correction :-)
16 November, 2020
I have numerous pending blogs hiding in my disk. That is the reason why you see blizzard of posts from past 2-3 days. Here is yet another post for you!
This post is continuation of my previous blog titled "Concluding day of native visit". The shiradi ghat road as I have been blabbering, is in desperate condition waiting for repairs. Hence we decided to travel via Charmadi ghat since the roads were palatable despite being narrow and curvy. The other advantage was absence of truck traffic due to narrow and steep roads.
The first stop to photograph the nature the day when we were heading back to Bangalore was Matadha kere landscape along Karkala bypass ( I will post the images soon). Later comes the majestic look of Western Ghats from Naravi town. The next stop I wanted was the lake view at Guruvayanakere. But there was no space for proper parking since the roads were narrow and lack of support space beyond road surface. Hence I had no choice other than to skip. The look was fabulous though.
The third stop was surprisingly the bridge post Ujire town! The pristine western ghats from bridge lookout can lure anyone to stop and enjoy for a while. It was majestic sight to behold the green crested mountains (thanks to extended monsoon) from the bridge walkway with North-East monsoon clouds reflecting over the swamp. Initially I was bit disappointed with presence of clouds which would thwart the azure look of the scene. Even though the shadows were little hazy and unclear, the reflection was enough offset my unhappiness. This is bridge constructed across Nethravathi river. Enjoy the serene pictures from bridge.
This visit to native was not intentional but driven by family obligations. Nearly 2 months after the visit, we planned to travel back to Bangalore to check home condition. It was not an eventful visit this time primarily due to pandemic. We were not able to leverage the stay to visit few nearby historical places. In terms of monsoon, I would say it was the best. We had record rains clocking 300mm+ in September. Also my interest in bird photography grew astronomically and I am fully involved whenever opportunity appears. The bird series photo sharing will soon be presented in my blog. Stay tuned for that!
The pandemic is shifting our offices to home and this paradigm is enabling me to frequently visit native willingly or unwillingly. I make good use of every visit enjoying multi-dimension view of nature along with improving my photography techniques. The current long visit which lasted for two months and finally getting concluded tomorrow. I am snapping as much as I could and enjoying every single picture nature portrays. The winter has kicked in which implies feeble rains for many months. My intention was to take as many pictures before the green patch over the surface fades away. My enthusiasm was on high today since the opportunity to shoot nature will be stalled till my next visit.
Here are the pictures shot few days before the journey.
The final shot at Hosaadu
Here are the pictures shot during the day of journey. The early morning scenes of coconut trees with azure skies backdrop is something excites landscape photographers. The NE monsoon clouds even though zombie, adds additional charm to entire scene. I swiftly caught these scenes before rushing to begin the long journey.
The Deepawali, festival of prosperity, festival of light. In India, its major festival and celebrated pompously throughout the nation. The festival when dark thoughts are replaced by enlightening thoughts. The day when good wins over evil. On this day, along with new dress, we celebrate oil bath to keep our skin healthy. Last but not least, no festival is devoid of sweet delicacies :-).
A day before Deepawali, I captured this. It was stunning winter morning (the so called winter ;-). We had chill weather with night temperatures dropping below 20 degrees. Quite unusual here in tropical coast during November. But the most unusual part is the chill sustained only for paltry days. The humid weather was back just before festival began. It is too hot at night. The mornings also extremely humid even in the presence of fog. Such mercurial weather pattern easily paves way for common cold and fever.
Digressions apart, here are the captures from the nature reserve of my village shot during morning cycling routine
I wish on occasion of fabulous festival Deepawali,
Let the light of sun heal all the disease, bring new light of hope to the world,
Let the new harvest bring pristine thoughts in us
Let the pandemic end and its fallout make us humble.
This year monsoon had its uniform show throughout the season but lot disappointing during July month. We believed that monsoon show is over going by pattern. But nature has different plan altogether which is insurmountable.
Being September, monsoon was at conclusion journey. My thought was that I would need to be contented with only intermittent mild showers coupled with intense heat. My premise was wrong and it poured cats and dogs during my stay for couple of days
The Udupi town was under water for whole day. The mercurial monsoon was it peak during September. It was the highest rainfall recorded in this monsoon season in Udupi town clocking 356mm. The place where stayed was also a low-lying region. Being an apartment, we faced relatively less disaster but the water had entered the basement. The MET department had predicted intense rainfall activity for couple of days but they too would not have expected such a high volume of precipitation.
The ferocity of nerve-racking rains began at midnight itself with neighbours turning chaotic, desperate to pull water out of house. But who can overpower nature. Their attempts were ruined since the rains did not subside and finally the residents vacated to their relatives house for safer haven. The drainage water near the apartment was overwhelming and gushed inside apartment premises. My car was also parked and the raising water created nervousness. Fortunately, the rains receded after 7AM and thus reducing our tremor.
Bada-Nidiyoor village near Udupi recorded whopping 544mm in a single day making it the highest ever recorded in Karnataka state. The destruction too entailed. I was crossing the road with knee deep water with overflowing drainage. Entire Udupi district was under water till 20th September evening before rain gods calmed down. It was severe cloudburst that Udupi experience after 40 years. The Krishna-Matha parking area was completely under water creating artificial lake.
Here are the visuals from the deluge day. Hope you enjoy the virtual tour!
Just a day before
The lord is calm as always!
What is rufous treepie doing?
Raising clouds hinting at heavy rains but not to the degree of deluge
The deluge day
It's pouring!
The unrelenting rains which started around 6PM was poured unabated even at 10PM. This was clear indication of upcoming deluge.
There is tree top refugee
After a night of hard work, monsoon has its result during early morning. Water water everywhere!
When the well and flood water fuse. The backpressure from the rainwater drain flooded this house when we woke up. Hope we don't have snakes within
The rescue team has arrived! The go-down LIBERTY shop was completely moisturized
Its not only humans who are affected!
When the dust settles
The next day i.e. on 21st, the skies were like we did not do anything :-D. The humid weather was back along with Sun.
Whatever storm passes by, the lord maintains equanimity, giggling at the man made disaster. The nature and lord are insurmountable. All we can do is watch their might and experience with patience.
Here is the short video of deluge. Experience the blizzard of monsoon rains and immerse yourself in flood waters :-D
