August 2008 Desktop Calendar Wallpaper

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Here is the desktop calendar wallpaper for August 2008, from Kappad Beach, North Kerala. Click on the image to get 1024x768 version.

Friday Photo: Mountains and the Sky

Friday, July 25, 2008

Views from Auli, Uttarakhand.

Monsoon Stories on India Travel Blog

Monday, July 21, 2008

For the season of rains, here is all the reading and images on India Travel Blog.



* Chikmagalur - Charmadi and Mullayyanagiri in the rains
* Driving to Coorg in the monsoons
* Driving in the rains to Jog and karwar
* Riverside picnic places around Bangalore
* Trekking on the tracks to Yedakumeri
* Hiking Brahmagiri Peak in Coorg
* Muthyala Madu
* Tubing in Kaveri
* Cherrapunjee
* An FAQ on monsoons
* Book Review - Chasing the Monsoon
* Monsoon image gallery

Friday Photo: Bridge, People and Temple

Friday, July 18, 2008

Laxman Jhula, Rishikesh.

Skandagiri

Monday, July 14, 2008

'I can't believe there is such an amazing place so close to Bangalore,' said a friend when I showed the photographs. It was getting predictable - show pictures of Skandagiri to anyone, tell them it is just 60km from Bangalore and wait for them to gasp and react with those words - 'I can't believe...'

A year ago I had uttered these words myself on a morning after finding pictures of Skandagiri in my mailbox. Skandagiri is a small hill that is just two hours drive from Bangalore. Earlier unknown, it came into light when a few people trekked up there and came back with amazing pictures of the hill ranges peeking through the early morning fog. In the time of internet and group emails, Skandagiri instantly became famous. People have since been going there and camping overnight to see the dramatic mornings with waves of clouds kissing the hills, and to watch the sun come up slowly amidst them. Skandagiri also has a place in history with a small fort on its top built by Tipu Sultan.



I was longing to visit the place, and when a local photography group planned for a trip, jumped in without much thinking. On the next night of full moon, we packed our camping gear and drove towards Skandagiri. We had all the night at our disposal to climb up, which means we started pretty late in the night. When we assembled outside the city, had our dinner and finally reached the base of the hill, it was already midnight. Hiring a guide and starting the trek took some more time and we started only around 12.45am.



Skandagiri looked deceptively small and easy to conquer from its base. 'Two hours,' we were told, but we brashly estimated for 45 minutes of easy walk. Our guide took us through the route that first lead to the lateral part of the mountain and then up on an easy slope. But it got steeper as we walked and we slowly started increasing the expected time to reach up. It was hardly 15 minutes of climbing when a few wanted to halt and rest. The mountain was getting the respect it deserved from us, playing the hard way. Not even five minutes of rest and our guides was herding us up threatening, saying that we will never make it in this pace before sunrise. We moved on grumblingly.


But you can't keep a bunch of photographers on their tows for too long. It was not much time before we found a nice rocky place with wide vistas of the planes below. Full moon shone brightly in the sky with a few stars flickering here and there, and dots of light from Chikballapur town a couple of kilometers away sparkled below. A gentle breeze blew continuously and rejuvenated us from the tiresome climb. Tripods came out from the bags and cameras mounted on them, we started clicking the endless vistas below. It was nearly half an hour before the guide overpowered us and forced us to move on.

The bridle path to the peak took us through patches of boulder strewn shrub jungle with a few big trees here and there. It got steeper as we moved up. We were deceived each time when we looked up and presumed it is going to take only a few more minutes to the top. We finally made it in little more than two and a half hours, tired and hungry.

On the top of the hill is a small rocky plateau with a short wall assembled with rocks, covering the perimeter of the plateau and making up the Tipu’s fort. In the middle stands a small ancient temple dedicated to Lord Ganesha. Once at the top, strong westward wind blew relentlessly and brought the temperature down by many degrees from the place where we started. Getting into the temple was the only way to escape the wind but the temptation of the bright moonlight and views of the barely visible plains below kept us outdoors. Around 4 am we were suddenly encompassed in thick fog with hardly any visibility, when we decided to pitch our tents and make an attempt to sleep.



The chill of the wind hardly allowed us to get any shuteye, and unwillingness to miss the sunrise meant we were up in no time. We woke up in the bitter cold, to see the entire world below us covered in clouds even when the altitude where we stood had a clear weather. A few summits in the distance came into view on and off as the clouds played with the wind. It was like a large pile of cotton candy spread on the earth as we looked from a height, and I wished we could float among them. When the sun came, he came up from the layer of clouds below like a small orange ball far away in the horizon. Once again cameras came out from the bags and tripods were laid out to capture those beautiful moments forever. The magic lasted for nearly thirty minutes when eventually the fog cleared to make way for a bright day. We then made our way down, still finding it hard to believe that we have a place so beautiful, so close to the city.

Information

Skandagiri is 60km from Bangalore and is located along the same range as Nandi Hills. To reach Skandagiri, drive from Bangalore to Chikballapur(55km) on NH7 where you have to turn left and drive for another 5km. The trek begins from a small temple called Papagni Matha located at Kalwarahalli village. Once you are in Chikballapur ask for directions to Papagni Matha to make sure you are not lost.

The trek to the peak is steep at sections and one needs to be reasonably fit. It takes two to three hours to get to the top depending on your fitness. You can hire guides from Kalwarahalli village at the base of Skandagiri. Forest department charges an entry fee of Rs.15 on weekends.

Friday Photo: Falling Threds

Friday, July 11, 2008

Shastradhara, Dehradun.

Madurai Meenakshi Temple - II

Monday, July 07, 2008

See the first part of this article - Madurai Meenakshi Temple - I

The surroundings of Sundareshwarar temple have a feel very different from that of Meenakshi temple. Open spaces and well lit veranda give way to long and dark passages with shafts of light peeping in from the corners. The main entrance leads me to a mantapa with a Nandi in its middle, facing the main deity. The pillars of the mantapa are covered with carvings of Shiva in his varied forms - Nataraja, Bhairava and Ardhanareeshwara. Continuing the temple's love with garish metallic structures that disturb the harmony of its surroundings, in the middle of the mantapa is a gleaming yellow pillar that stands apart from its environment.

Devotees come and go in quick successions in the hall surrounding the mantapa, circumambulating the gods adorning the pillars of the edifice. A mural of Hanuman covered in kumkum and decorated with a hanging lamp sees visitors like no other. Wick lamps lit, flowers offered and a pradakshina made, they move on after applying kumkum on their foreheads, in a mood that is visibly contented. As I stand in a corner and watch people go by, their numbers in the hall keeps changing quickly between a few handful to many a dozen, but never disturbing the silence and calmness of the environs.



Along the corridors, the outer walls have been a subject of creativity of the artists. Unstructured, yet beautiful and colourful murals crowd the walls - there are warring people, priests, women churning butter, common people - representing life in the times of their creators. Inside, the sanctum is guarded by life-sized murals of elephants on each side of its door, with their trunks raised up. Flickering orange lamps burning along the door frame provide a brilliant, lively decor to the dark interior. The linga rests in the sanctum on a platform, under the shade of a serpent(adishesha?). The impressions of the modern days are visible here too, in the form of granite flooring that contradicts the beauty of dark stone structures surrounding it.

In front of the complex of Sundareshwarar shrine is a small market selling trinkets, arty materials, small statues and images of all kind of gods. The statues are painted in brightest possible yellow that can make the most willing buyer to reconsider. A door adjoining these shops leads to the gigantic thousand pillar hall, inside of which is crowded with thick stone pillars in every direction. The hall is now a museum that serves no purpose but of a store room for haphazardly installed statues that are in a desperate state, which only disturb the beauty of uniform array of pillars.




In the few days that I spent wandering the temple and its surroundings, the brightly lit Potramarai Kulam and its painted surroundings kept pulling me back to its environs. I cherished the morning hours sitting on the steps leading to the tank, spent watching the pigeons flying in and out of the water, admiring the view of the towers that aim for the sky, and sometimes lost, with the complex labyrinth of thoughts in mind melting away into nothingness in the calm moments.



As I moved on from Madurai and its temples, the scale of its structures and the intent of its creators remained as an enigma. Was it a wish to show-off their prosperity to their people and rest of the world? An icon of their moments of celebration? Or was it truly a show of their utmost belief and devotion of the supreme power? I am yet to understand.

Friday Photo: Yakshagana Artist

Friday, July 04, 2008

A Yakshagana Artist in a stage performance.

Travelling.. Kargil, Zenskar, Leh, Ladakh, Nubra, Chhangthang, Western Himachal,..

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

That's roughly how the itinerary is. It is going to be a really long journey, may be stretching to 8 weeks or more.

There will be regular posts on India Travel Blog during this period. I have lined up many posts that were long pending, which will go live over next two months. I am also hoping to update from the road once in a while.

Three Years of India Travel Blog

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

India Travel Blog is now three years old.

The first post was made on July 1st, 2005. It started like a pastime just to maintain my travel-logs, just so that the information remains and be available to anyone who would need it. It has hopefully been serving the purpose, but now has also outgrown to a level of influencing the direction of my life in the last year or so.

Thank you for all your good words and encouragement, and for being with India Travel Blog all along.

July 2008 Desktop Calendar Wallpaper

Here is the desktop calendar wallpaper for July 2008. Click on the image to get 1024x768 version.