Paadooru is my native village situated near Kaup, Udupi District of Karnataka. The blog is dedicated to beautiful landscape of KAUP Beach and my village Paadooru
Here I shared a short blog on Kudremukh Ghats. That was on winter season. The attraction of western ghats is during monsoon season with leeches :). Here are some pictures captured during our journey towards coast last week.
As we know, the monsoon started with lame note and later gained
fierce momentum during month of July. The deficit as of now in Karnataka
has drastically reduced and at some places it has recorded excess. Mere
two months of torrential rain has transformed the dry lands to lush
greenery. The western ghats were no exception too! There is never dearth
of rain in these regions however threat of El-nino was looming over the
region fearing drought like situation. Now everything is washed out
by ferocious monsoon season :).
Enough of story! This
Ganesh chaturthi, I had been to hometown to drop parents back. How can I
miss the lush green rainforests. I drove 220kms in 2:30hrs to enjoy
more time in Shiraadi ghat and I was well satisfied to capture those
water spots and enjoy the roaring Gundya river for sometime. There were
many tiny gleaming waterfalls which I could not capture due to lack of time. Sometimes due to fog/rain, mother forced me not to expose camera out. Also
intermittent rains hampered my program but that is how rainforests get
their name! I am satisfied with whatever opportunity I could gain. After
final prayer to goddess chowdeshwari, it was time to drive towards the
coast to reach niche. Many occasions I had desire to halt here for maximum
amount of duration to spend quality time in between woods. It is difficult
to manage while we have set goals and pathetic road conditions :(.
Nevertheless, this time it was not so much bad :). May be it is better
to ride two wheeler along the stretch to fully enjoy nature (ofcourse with a puncture kit to save from disastrous highway). Hope you
enjoy pictures. No HDRs this time and most of them captured using 2stop
GND filter. Using GND filter along with CPLs creates near HDR images
(not all times). I did not use CPL this time (not sure why), hence had
to reduce highlights on images to reduce white patches on silky flow of
water.
ONE OF SMALL WATERFALL
CLOSER LOOK
THE HEART OF RAINFOREST
STREAM SNEAKING FROM CANOPY
This time I waded through small stream to capture full glimpse of galloping Gundya River near Chowdeshwari Temple. On top of it, I drank little bit of water from the pristine river and it was tasty too :).
GALLOPING GUNDYA RIVER
ONE MORE SEASONAL WATERFALL
MAGNIFIQUE GUNDYA RIVER
Options used in darktable:
1) Shadows and Highlights
2) Vibrance
3) Saturation and brightness
4) Local contrast
5) High pass filter with overlay as mask
6) Luminosity curve (manual) to increase Green and Yellow color appearance
7) Color zones (for few images)
8) Color temperature
I usually make use of soft GND filter 2 stops, half way down. Since I had actual GND this time, soft GND was not required.
Here is the short compilation of clips shot during our journey. Hope you enjoy it!
Do tune to Andy Blueman's rainforest.
A perfect combination of soft bass and synths creating rainforest
ambience. The music on an entirity reveals perfect rainforest
environment comprising of thundering waterfalls, roaring streams, clanky
insects, flying birds, heavy rains and wilderness. He has promised to
complete this tune soon which is good news. I love this music very much
and remembered when I was in between dense jungle and thundering Gundya
river. You may need to use headphones to hear the full set of instruments used to create rainforest environment. Absolutely stunning! Just perfect music!
With this post, I am introducing actual smileys which I believe conveys impacting emotions than textual ones. I made some changes to blogger HTML template and as a result smileys are here for you. It slows down loading of posts slightly but there is nothing deterministic hard real time requirement ;). Hope you enjoy :D.
After a day long stay in Yana, it is time to immerse myself in musical world. It has been long time since I attended carnatic concert. This was organized on eve of Sode Paryaya completion at Sri Krishna Math, Udupi. It was worth attending too! Sri Menon with his clear saahithya, bhakti and melodious tone, mesmerized the audience. It was equally supported by the accompanies providing full honesty to the concert.
Violin: Sri Ajitkumar
Mridangam: Sri Arun
Ghatam: Sri Krishnakumar
Saadinchene - Aarabhi - Tyagaraja (small neraval and swara prastaara)
Sangeetha Jnanamu - Dhanyaasi - Tyagaraja
Jnanamosagaraada - PoorviKalyani - Tyagaraja
Balagopala - Bhairavi - Mutthuswamy Deekshitar. (One of my favorites. Sung with enoromous devotion and bhaava. Made full honesty to Bhairavi). This was followed by dexterous tani avartanam which vibrated the soul of audience
This new year, I had been to Yana. Here are some scribbling from my itinerary. One of the beautiful places of UttaraKannada covered with dense rainforests. I did write a brief note on this place during MahaShivaratri here. This is an expanded view of the previous post. Hope you enjoy the same. As always, comments and critiques are welcome. 03 Jan 2014,
Yana is popular tourist attraction situated near Kumta Taluk of Uttara Kannada District. It is known for the surreal rocky landscape amidst beautiful thick western ghats. This region is also home to wide variety of medicinal plants as well as King Cobras. From many years, I have been planning to visit this exotic destination but everything in vain despite being hardly 200kms from hometown. This time I made up my mind to visit the beautiful place and spend few hours in middle of western ghats. My first travel in new year turned out to be quite exciting too! I do not have to venture into distant locations to feel nature. Within 200km radius of my hometown, I have lot of glorious spots to visit during leisure. I have plans to cover still more locations nearby my place before venturing outside region.
The plan was executed just a day back. My parents were running on ill-health and I decided to travel alone. Travelling alone is not a new experience for me nowadays. I enjoy travelling alone as well as with friends. Father wanted car for specific purpose. Hence I decided to drop the drive. The other option was none other than wonderful Konkan Rail route. Wow! thats a cute decision. Eventually plan turned out to be travel to Kumta in Konkan railway and hire an auto to Yaana. Everything was set now except for waking up early. The train departs from Udupi station around 7:45AM and I had to start by 6:30AM from my village to reach 20km distant station.
Early morning, the village woke up to slight chilly weather (bit unusual in coast) and dancing fog. I packed essentials and ready to start by 6:30AM. My father joined me till railway station. Enroute, I enjoyed colorful sunrise reflecting on beautiful Udyavara river sneaking through coconut trees. It was easy drive till railway station and reached within 20minutes due to feeble traffic. There was not much crowd too! My father left the station and I collected the ticket which was costing only Rs.35/- for 191kms. There was hardly any person in ticket queue too! The train is Mangalore-Madgaon passenger which runs to and fro on same day. It requires 6hours to reach Madgaon along Konkan railway route. Few minutes later, a dissappointing announcement was aired stating the train would arrive by 8:15AM :-(. The railways never improve in time :-(. Finally our train arrived at 8:20AM and we were set to go. I could easily grab a seat inside relatively empty bogie.
The train started chugging towards north and our first station was Barkur. I missed shooting beautiful swarna river however was foreseeing a colorful journey past Kundapur. Mere 30 minutes of journey, here we are at Kundapur station. I grabbed the footboard and managed easily since there were less crowd on board. Here starts my shooting too! Those memsmerizing hillocks, mighty rivulets, swaying coconut trees teasing river, the beautiful fields makes journey an enduring experience to cherish. The route is best visited during peak monsoon season during which one can see water and greenery everywhere. Not to miss those kissing clouds towards hillocks too! The stretch between Kundapur to Gokarna receives very heavy rainfall during monsoon season (averaging 4000mm) due to the fact that western ghats are relatively closer to coast. I shot good videos of rivulets all along with paddy fields. One can see majestic shiva statue of Murudeshwara too from railway line. Excitement increased as we reached breath taking sharavati river basin of honavar followed by 3 tunnels. Sharavati river has the longest built bridge along the Konkan route and train journey along the stretch is simply mind blowing. From Honavar station, kumta is 15 mins journey. Around 11:20AM, we reached Kumta station which was an hour of delay from usual schedule.
Lack of morning breakfast was eagerly driving famished soul to a decent lunchhome as early as possible. I hired an auto to Yaana from here and asked him to stop at decent hotel for lunch before resuming journey. He took me to a very good hotel along highway (Panduranga hotel) and meals here was perfect for me (less spice and salt). It was tasty too! We resumed journey after lunch and I had first distant glimpse of beautiful aghanaashini river of Kumta. What a great landscape it has. Those blue waters coupled with serial coconut trees swayed all along banks makes it perfect place for nature lovers. This place has been one of my favorite spots ever since I came across. One can enjoy landscape from highway bridge provided the traffic is less. If you have your own arrangements, you can reach divgi to have broader look of the river.
From Kumta, Yaana is around 30kms in distance. We crossed NH-66 to reach SH-69 which is Kumta-Sirsi highway. The roads are well laid and still in good condition. Few kms later, here starts beautiful stretch of lush green rainforests. Uttara Kannada has dense and wide cover of rain forests barring few kms of coastline. 12kms after, we reached Aanegundi cross. From here, Yaana is around 16kms. One has to drive through very thick rain forests to reach Yaana. The rainforests are very dense which shrouds the region with sheer darkness even during scorching mid-day Sun. The region was decorated with lush greenery by these tall woods. Also the stretch is home to wide variety of medicinal plants and wild animals. The road leading to yaana is average (some times well paved and few stretches have nasty pot holes). There are numerous streams along this stretch which finally meet aghanaashini river. The interesting fact was that despite many months after monsoon retreat, the streams had considerable amount of water. The first 6kms is somewhat straight road while remaining 9kms is ghat section road with steep hairpin bends. The road is also narrow and difficult for a bus and a car to negotiate simultaneously. Our journey was delayed mainly because of such incidents. After enjoying the journey along the beautiful forests, we reached Yaana gate around 1:30PM. From here onwards, one needs to trek for 1.5kms to reach the Yaana.
INTO THE SKY - THE TALL WOODS
MAIN ENTRANCE
ONE OF THE HUGE LIMESTONE ROCK
THE DENSE CANOPY OF RAINFOREST
The trail is not straight but not much steep either. There are numerous streams nearby the place. The tiny streams cascade to form a larger stream which eventually meets aghanaashini river near Kumta. The trail is easy to manage. We did cross 2-3 streams enroute before reaching the monolithoc rocks. The last few steps can be covered either with steps or the trail. Due to my recent treks, I managed the 1.5kms in matter of 15 minutes comfortably however with prolific sweating :-). Being well known tourist spot, the place was crowded especially with school children. It was joyous to watch those intermittent streams with pure and sweet water (I tasted from one of the stream too!). The entire trail is covered with brown soil which is unusual in coastal Karnataka being predominently covered with red soil.
THERE ARE MANY ENROUTE
SPECIAL BOULDER STRUCTURE
WE NEED TO CROSS THESE
There are around 61 limestone rocks around Yana. Out of which, two are largest. One is Bhairaveshwara shikara and other mohini shikara. They have mythological importance too. The place is mentioned in 'Skanda Purana' and 'Shaiva siddhanta' The Bhiaraveshwara is dedicated to Lord Shiva and has a temple beneath the rocky hill. The shiva linga inside the hill is self-originated (udbhava). The temple is called as Ganga Chandika Bhairaveshwara temple. The name Ganga signifies the water dripping on shivalinga all through the year while the chandika signifies the Paravathi bronze idol inside temple. It is believed that Shiva-Parvathi resided beneath the hill to repress demons. The complex look of the cave temple gives feeling that it is not man made but naturally evolved. The daily offerings is done to the shivalinga originated on the boulder. The visitors are not allowed to enter sanctum sanatorium of temple except during Mahashivaratri when the place gets heavily crowded. Some enthusiasts even visit during peak monsoon season. The shop keeper mentioned that it is not easily manageable due to presence of leeches.
WE ARE ALMOST THERE
SILHOUETTE OF MOHINI SHIKARA
ONE MORE VIEW
THE PLACARD DESCRIBING YANA
Fable:
The priest narrated the above fable to everyone who visit the temple, gently and crisp. The fable is narrated only in Kannada though. There is intention behind narrating fable to everyone. People visit the place as excursion spot rather than having sacred feeling disturbing the peace of temple. The priest narrates the mythology in an attempt to make people aware of the place. He also requested us to cascade the information to people who are willing to visit the place. The narration was crisp, clear and prudent.
The name Yana:
Earlier during British era, the pilgrims had tough times to reach this place. They were toiling towards Yana through deep dense jungles. When Britishers enquired these people trudging towards this holy place, the people responded saying they were on "Yana" (Yana is Kannada means travel or pilgrimage). This habitual response over years, named this place as Yana :-). This story was also narrated by priest of temple.
Once we finished the darshan, we went to circumambulate temple which is around the rocky hill itself. One has to leave footwear before proceeding to circumambulate. We entered inside the rocky hill and it was natural AC :-). Due to our trek, we were profusely sweating and the region under this rock provided great relief. What an experience :-). The boulders inside have weird alignment. The trail at some places is too narrow. Watch out for flying bats :D. There are no steps to climb down instead rely on the natural rocks. After finishing the circle, we came across vast honeycombs engraved on the rocky hill. Do not pelt stones at them to grab some honey ;-). Once we finished the circle, it was time to rest in nearby shops and have some liquid.
THE CONTINUOUS FLOW OF WATER FROM BOULDER
ENTERING AC ROOM :)
BENEATH THE BOULDER
THE EXIT
EXIT PATH
We had brief friendly chat with local shopkeepers before concluding the journey. In matter of few minutes we were at the entrance gate. Along the descent, I stopped at few places to have deep breaths to enjoy those pristine air arising out of healthy rainforests and drank water from flowing streams. All along, people were seen toiling upwards desperately wanting to reach culmination. They were inquiring us the difference distance from relative point :-). During my ascension, I was ahead of many travelers who started along with me, however the auto driver was quicker than me :-). This was because he had lot of experience climbing hills. Once we reached the gate, we started back to Kumta. In matter of 30minutes we were back in Kumta. The main attraction point driving down along Kumta-Sirsi highway towards Kumta is the gorgeous Aghanashini River. It has breath-taking landscape. I enjoyed the place for around 15 mins before proceeding further. I could have shot better glimpses if I had my arrangements which would have enabled me to travel towards Divgi area to have much broader look. As of now, I was happy to spend atleast few moments of bliss here. It was 4PM when I reached Kumta Railway Station. Since the train arrived an hour late during my to journey it was expected to arrive with same delay. The scheduled time of depart from Kumta was 3:50PM. Consequently due to delay, I could get ticket to Udupi. I handed over money to auto driver Sri Ganesh and thanked him for support. We exchanged phone numbers in case if required during my next itinerary. After brief talk, we bid adieu and myself entered the station platform. Wherever I hired auto, the drivers were kind to me. Be it in Kolar, Devarayanadurga or now in Kumta, I never faced problem of cranky auto drivers. May be it's my luck :-).
Uttara Kannada is great place for nature lovers. The region is blessed with exotic waterfalls, shimmering hilly beaches, exhilarating landscapes, vast cover of rainforests, heavy monsoon season, beautiful temples and rivulets. I have been exploring this region from quite sometime and each time I find new places around it. The Kumta-Siddapur and Kumta-Yellapur stretch is home to myriad of splendorous waterfalls with vivid landscapes (especially the magnificent 5 stage burude waterfall). I still do have lots of places on paper to visit here but not sure when will it get materialized. This time I could not visit Vibhuti Waterfalls since we did not take Gokarna-Sirsi route. Please do not miss the Vibhuti Waterfalls if you plan for Yana. Also there is house self-constructed by an enthusiast nearby Yana which is environment friendly and designed for energy efficiency and maximize ventilation. I once thought of staying in Kumta to visit Vibhuti waterfalls and Apsarakonda beach. Later I decided to defer the waterfall visit to peak monsoon season and beach to sometime during summer.
The scorching sun at west was waiting for its time to sink down the horizon. The weather was warm and slightly humid. I love warm weather of coast which keeps me away from sluggishness. The train arrived honking gently to Kumta station at 4:45PM. It was relatively empty too! I enjoyed the Sharavati river basin during my return journey too! This is third time I am enjoying the mighty river and willing to enjoy it forever. As train neared Murudeshwara, I enjoyed the golden hour Sun shimmering the Arabian Sea with beautiful yellow spectacle. You can have glimpse of Arabian sea from train near Murudeshwara. Nearby Bhatkal, I enjoyed those ecstatic sunset of winter with bright red-orange rays. I could just hope if at all train stopped right now but that did not happen :-). My eyes enjoyed to the fullest though ;-). The entire stretch is perfect place for monsoon timelapses with beautiful landscapes! Previous new year, my journey was special traveling along Subramanya ghats in train. This time it was the magnificent Konkan railway journey for the new year. I reached Udupi at 7:20PM and thus ending one more memorable journey. I boarded a city bus to Sri Krishna Math and later enjoyed wonderful carnatic concert by Dr.Srivatsa Menon.
The route:
From Kumta, there are two routes to reach Yana. One from Kumta via Anegundi cross along Kumta-Sirsi highway. The trek distance is 1.5kms if you approach via this route. The other route is via the same highway but deviate along Gokarna-Sirsi road. From this route trek distance is mere 500mts. I strongly recommend the second route not because of smaller trek distance but due to presence of Vibhuti Waterfalls. One of the beautiful waterfalls of western ghats which can be visited during monsoon season, as well as 2-3 months after monsoon season.
Food:
Kumta is nearby and hence no problem for food. The shopkeeper at the gate informed that they would prepare on request. The shops nearby Yana sell only snacks and beverages. There are no churumuri shops though :-(.
A humble request:
Yana is brutally littered with plastic and other non decomposable wastes which is eyesore sight to watch. It is propensity of Indians to garbage unprecedently without knowing consequences. If you are visiting the place, please do not garbage this beautiful nature. Authorities have placed sufficient garbage bins to dump the waste. Please make use of them. Understand and respect the habitat of wild animals and have a heart for lovely rainforests of India. Kindly do not visit this place if you want to celebrate and make merry. The place is sacred and maintain the sanctity of this unique temple.
The mistake this time:
I shot many pictures and videos during my travel. I was quite unaware why the videos were bit unsteady and pictures required bit more trial to stabilize. As I reached home, Alas! I realized IS was off on my lens :-(. This was done during my star trails experiment the previous day and I forgot to switch it ON :-(. Last time during my train journey I did the mistake of inserting earphone to microphone jack. This time no grinning. I am utterly dissappointed with my dismal show. There is something wrong with me since this cannot be perpertual. I am trying to work out strategy before getting started. After few hours of contemplation, I realized the need to be attentive, patient and neatly prepared before starting travel :-(. Fortunately, since the shutter speed was moving beyond 1/100s, the IS was not required but videos turned out bit unsteady. There are software approaches to correct such mistakes but they are never close to on board approaches. I corrected the few shaky videos with KDENLIVE but deeply dissappointed with my frivolousness :-(.
The related blogs of Sharavati and Aghanaashini River are here:
It has been long time since we climbed the monolithic rock hill. Finally here are some ramblings from our experiences :-). Hope you enjoy the same!
23 Nov 2013,
Following our candid visit to Hogenakal waterfalls, this was another one. People in internet world were commenting about complexity of the hill climb and many of them had retreated. We were bit skeptical again as to go or not suspecting our own strength. However Rajesh was still confident of making it and we decided to give it try. Since distance from city was mere 50-60kms, we planned to commute by bike. Eventually it was climbing the one of largest monolithic rock hills of Asia this saturday. The Saturday morning was unusually cloudy. I believe it was effect of cyclone 'HELEN'. The calm snippy weather from past few days was masked by somewhat humid and gloomy weather all of sudden. We planned to reach early since the rocks get heated up as day prolongs to noon. However the cloudy weather provided some favorable conditions to climb during odd hours of day. Even this time, me and Rajesh were the only candidates for travel.
Myself and Rajesh started our journey towards Mysore road around 9AM. As expected, the city roads were already clogged with vehicular traffic and we had snail ride till Mysore road. Later on, the ride was very smooth and reached Macnhinbele Dam around 10:45AM. The reservoir did not seem to have water storage as compared to our last visit. I took some shots here and we moved on. The day was very hazy due to presence of clouds and consequently bad day for photo shoots. Despite having good CPL filter this time, the photos turned out to be too much hazy :-(.
MANCHINBELE RESERVOIR
From here Savandurga is 13kms. There is proper signboard which guides vehicles to divert along appropriate route. After manchinbele reservoir, keep watching for signboards installed by Tourism department. The last 13kms is ride along the forest. The forest is moderately dense with feeble civilization. This area is marked as reserved forest which mean no agricultural, plantation or human related activities are permitted. Some people have also spotted leopards and bears along this route. The road is tortured with humongous amount of potholes. It was not at all smooth ride till we reached Magadi main road. The road from Manchinbele dam meets Magadi Road 2kms just before Savandurga. From this junction, the diversion point is half a kilometer away. One can spot arch leading to Savandurga with many shops as landmark. From here 2kms along the muddy road, leads to foothill of Savanadurga. Around 11:30PM, we were in Savandurga and ready to climb!
FOREST ROUTE
WE ARE READY TO CLIMB
Savandurga is one of Asia's largest monolith rock hill. The peak is around 1200m above sea level. This is prominent among adventurous rock climbers. There are many paths leading to peak however we moved along designated trail where one can climb without any gears. The department has marked the trail on the rocks and boulders and hence no question of losing direction. As we started our climb, we could see many people climbing down. It means that people prefer early morning trek to avoid heating up of rocks by Sun. The cloudy weather provided conducive environment to climb the rocky hill. At times, I felt only two of us were climbing and others have already finished the trail :-). Just before the climb, we enquired the people who had already the finished the climb. On an average it was 90mins as we heard from people.
We started climbing slowly towards our destination. May be I started in hustle and consequently got tired at early stages itself. Rajesh suggested me to climb the grade comfortably so that I don't suffer early tiredness. That worked out as well. Within few moments I converged :-). Since Rajesh is experienced trekker, his heuristics had helped me here ;-). We were slowly climbing towards the peak. There is nothing on the way except for boulders and tiny protective walls. These structures were constructed early during Magadi Kempegowda regime to combat enemy lines. The structure is made of red stones and stones are bound using mixture of egg, limestone and other ingredients. It is really surprising to note as how materials were transported in olden days. We finished the first stage of climb and here comes toughest among all stretches! The gradient is bit steep here and authorities have carved small imprints of foot to allow smooth climb. Still I had to crawl for some distance to reach the finishing line ;-). It does not end here :-). Later on, one has to careful walk through narrow lines to reach peak of second level! Do not dare to look behind. It will be too much intimidating and earth's gravity tends to pull you down ;-). Along the journey, we came across group of kids belonging to scouts and guides returning back from successful climb. Rajesh warned me not to compare ourselves with kids since they can easily climb up and down due to lesser weight :-). Even my nephew climbs these grades pretty easily :-).
GRASS ON ROCKS
CACTUS
We were toiling towards peak and sweating hard. Even in cloudy and bit cool weather, the river of sweat was all over body. By the time we reached second stage, entire shirt was under sweat. At times we felt like removing the shirt and progress further :-). The ridge before second stage was bit difficult to negotiate since it was very narrow. At last we managed to reach second stage. Our only concern was now the return journey. We were quite mystical about climbing down the steep grade. Eventually we threw our anxiety and decided to think about it during return journey.
The third stage is much easier than rest of two. The steep is around 60degree in slope and can be managed very easily. After you climb this stage, you will find abandoned structures and small pond. This is not the last point :D. From here one can view the Nandi temple. There is proper marking and trail to reach the place. This path not so straight forward too! We need to walk through the narrow boulder openings sometimes [bit hard for heavyweights like me ;-)]. There are also chances of sliding! Again a healthy 20 minutes walk+climb for short distance. Just before we reach the nandi, there is again small steep slope one has to cross and narrow passes.
GUARD WALL BEING USED DURING BATTLES
ONE OF THE STRUCTURE
POND WITH MANCHINBELE RESERVOIR VIEW
NARROW PASS
WE ARE ALMOST THRE!
At last here we are in peak and there were good number of people resting at this place. Rajesh checked the time and it was 12:50PM. Wow! We had reached finishing line in 80 minutes which was less time than normal person takes ;-). To be honest, we would have reached early if I had climbed sanely :-). My pit-stops added bit of delay ;-). Nevertheless, we were happy to reach the peak since many had retreated in middle ;-). The view from top is breathtaking with earth's gravity tempting you to jump ;-). But please do not jump or else you will end up in heaven :-). I took some pictures but again haze added too much noise to photographs. We also enjoyed the view of Manchinbele reservoir and Thippegondanahalli reservoir which are clearly visible from peak along with cool breeze. We had oranges and water after reaching peak. After some time, myself and Rajesh were the only people left in peak. We had healthy 60 minutes break in solitude and sky showed signs of downpour. 2:10PM sharp we started climbing down. It was slightly drizzling too! Even gentle drizzle will jeopardize down-hilling. There are also marshy regions along the way at some places. Beware of them and avoid since they tend to cause slippery. Good thing about the place is the rocks itself have so much grip on them. Unlike smooth rocks found in waterfall area, the asperity on rocks here adds much more grip to your footwear.
WE REACHED TOP :-)
NANDI TEMPLE
NANDI STATUE
While climbing down, huge boulders once again attracted us. Also there were marks of desperate lovers craving for attention :-). It is difficult to understand psychology of such stupid attention seekers spoiling beautiful nature. Moving on, climbing down was pretty much easy that we easily went past the steep grades. We never felt fatigue too! All our worries were rendered futile :D. A smooth crawl along steep slope will easily get through them. We had unnecessary apprehensions about the same and eventually nothing was complicated as predicted. I remembered sayings of my father to never regret past and not to worry much about future. Everything takes its own time to calm down! Even Rajesh is such calm and down-to-earth person who never hesitates to criticize even me :-). I have learned lot from him (and still learning) to be yourself than impressing others.
Enough of fable :D. There are so many lizards matching the texture and color of rocks and difficult to spot unless they are moving. Nothing to worry since they are harmless and run away seeing humans. The last stage of journey, we spotted monkeys looking out for food :-). They are fun to watch unless not attacking you ;-). Overall, a moderate trek altogether despite of above mentioned complications (do not compare with Kumara-Parvata or Kodachadri ranges). The only lamenting part was the haze which provided untidy atmosphere for photography. Not a good for photography at all since most of them were filled with tremendous amount of haze. End of day the climb, crawl and bend provided great workout for entire body and we were excited after returning successfully. Also we were thankful to mother nature for holding natural umbrella for us by covering sky with clouds without any rains.
Beneath the hills there are two temples. One is Lakshmi Narasimhaswamy temple situated right beneath while other is Veerabhadraswamy temple situated a few meters away. Most of the people usually visit Savandurga for temples than climbing. There are many petty shops nearby foothill selling tender coconut, liquid stuffs and light food items. Gift your body with refreshing tender coconut after completing the trek ;-) and we had it too! Myself gifted with churmuri as bonus item :-). There are no hotels nearby. If you finish the trek by 3PM, it is possible to have free meals in Veerabhadraswamy temple. We were slightly late around 3:15PM. Prior to that we had consumed good amount of season's fruit which was orange. Again it was Rajesh's suggestion to have season fruit. He was right when said, it is healthy to have particular season's fruit which grows in abundant naturally. Nature yields proper fruits for respective seasons to counter seasonal changes.
LAKSHMI NARASIMHASWAMY TEMPLE
VEERABHADRASWAMY TEMPLE
Some tips:
1) Rajesh had good grip shoes while I was wearing chappals. But do avoid chappals and get good grip shoes if you wish to climb. I did that mistake but got through smoothly but please do not commit that mistake.
2) Avoid rainy season and hot Sun. Rains transform the rock to marshy surface and it will be too mcuh slippery. Start as early as possible and target to finish by 11AM.
3) Many vendors sell glucose powder here. If you foresee energy drain, please carry one for you!
4) Carry your own lunch if you do not wish to have it in temple.
5) Last but not least, there is no trash bin atop hills or along the way. Please carry the garbage back and dump in the garbage area near foothill.
We started back towards Bangalore at 3:45PM along Magadi route to visit Tippegondanahalli Dam. Unfortunately, the place is closed for public visit and we had no choice to contiue our journey towards the city. The state highway is from Kunigal to Sunkadakatte which was very evenly laid. We use to take this road during the time of NH-4 6 lane construction near Nelamangala junction to avoid traffic. As expected we faced traffic snarls. It started raining near Nagashettihalli and took shelter for sometime nearby a shop. The rain gained intensity as we neared BEL circle and one more shelter under the underpass. Furthermore, we rode with the drizzle and it persisted till K R Puram. Later on, there was no rain at all. Next day was all history which was Bangalore's highest rain in Novemeber after 44 years recording 106mm. Fortunately for us, there was no rain past KR Puram and we reached niche pretty comfortably.
The blog turned out to be pretty quite lengthy. Even though I strive to trim it down, I cannot refrain from scribbling those unique moments of journey. Finally the integration of small things creates a lengthy writeup. Hope you enjoyed the write-up. Any constructive critiques are always welcome [images + literature]. Since the day was full of haze not much things could be done. Here is a HDR and panorama composed during the journey. Most of the part is covered with haze and nothing much to brag about! I did capture timelapse but went in vain due to presence of haze.
HDR ENROUTE
PANORAMIC VIEW FROM TOP OF HILL
Time taken for trek:
2hours (80minutes for ascend and 40minutes for descend)
Credits:
One more time Rajesh for his thorough review and riding majority of distance.
Also my beautiful and sturdy bike for bearing the journey despite not being overhauled for many months
All those rural people who guided us to find the route.
Recently I had been to hometown. Whenever I get an opportunity, I love to visit beautiful shorelines of Kaup beach which is mere 6kms from my village. The light house, the dazzling sun, gorgeous backwaters, the distant horizon, compels me to visit as frequently as possible. Here are some pictures shot during the visit. There was colorful sunset in between strip of stratocumulous clouds which illuminated the atmosphere with spectacular patterns :-). Every beach visit has been unique for me with mother nature showing up with vivid patterns.
KAUP BEACH SHORE LINE WITH GORGEOUS BACKWATERS
THE MAJESTIC SHORE-LINE FROM TOP OF LIGHT HOUSE
LOOK INTO THE SKY!
Last but not the least, the visit is never completed without a dose of tasty churumuri :-). But as always there are candidates for it beyond human race :-(.
THE CURIOUS GUEST :D
This guy is owned by some beach worker was lethargically resting on dunes. As soon as he saw my churumuri, he slowly woke up and sat in front of me :-). Since everyone had finished their part and I was the last to finish, I was the only choice for him :-(. I had kept camera for short timelapse and had to drive him away from tripod so that he does not get lured by pole of tripod :D. Also, if I don't feed him, there was chances of taking revenge on me nearby tripod :-). Eventually we fed him with some snacks not because of revenge but his innocent face compelled us to feed some food.
Back to title, I was excited after seeing the dead straight horizon at far end. Looking at the panoramic view of Kaup beach, the title flashed on to my mind. We never know what is in store Beyond Horizon of our life. Just enjoy what is present and what is within the horizon. Don't confuse your life having expectations beyond horizon. Keep yourself busy (ex: nurturing your hobbies) so that you don't program your mind to have nasty expectations. What lies beyond horizon is only imagination and do not expect to happen your way. You can only hope for best. Whatever happens, accept it gracefully and enjoy the journey. Yes, these things are difficult to follow yet we can achieve to certain extent. I am practicing it gradually :-) and as first step, I saw lot beauty in my backyard which I have shared above ;-). Beyond horizon, I don't know to swim and hence settled within horizon ;-).
Also within the horizon enjoy the beautiful composition of British musician Cymatics - Beyond Horizon. He is producing new songs with code name "Innersync". The exciting part of music is the orchestral breakdown. It has heart breaking melody with soothing sound of piano! 20% of blog posts arise out of such compelling music which communicate deep emotions in their chords. If you admire uplifting trance music do listen to music here.
Innersync - Beyond The Horizon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCikrEZ_QxY
If you wish to participate in weekly skywatch theme and join people beyond your horizon, create a blogpost with self-clicked picture containing sky and link blog URL here. Do not miss to visit other people's page and appreciate their efforts too!
Nature always inspires me to take my camera, lens and finally the blogs :-). It is because of such beautiful setup by mother nature which inspired me to dwell into photography. As always been murmuring in blog posts, my main interests are in landscape and timelapse photography however nowadays I am also lured towards HDR and architecture photography. These were some of the HDR shots composed during my recent visit to Kaup beach. Nowadays I love composing HDR shots after I switched to RAW from JPEG. I even wish to capture normal shots in RAW but honestly hard disks are getting exhausted :-(. Consequently for single exposures, I shoot RAW which I find interesting.
One of my favorite hobby is to stare at the sky :D especially during monsoon season to understand the formation of clouds and the storm build ups. Others include watching those glorious rays of Sun sinking down the horizon during golden hour with vivid patterns. Consequently, whenever I travel to hometown, I don't miss a chance to visit Kaup beach or Kudremukh rainforests during monsoon season. While the seascape filled with yellow shines the lovely Kudremukh forests would be painted green with pristine water flowing along brimming streams and thundering waterfalls :-).
The day, there was beautiful golden hour Sun piercing through stratocumulous clouds illuminating the sky with dramatic patterns of orange-yellow colors. That tempted me to grab the HDR shots basically to have the land, sea, clouds and sky and sun exposed in image. The shots are blend of 5 RAW images with exposures from -2 to 2 (except for second one which is 7 [-3 to 3]). Since the SUN was less intense than usual, even shooting towards SUN with 5 expsoures were enough. Usually shooting towards SUN requires 7 exposures. The images were blended and tonemapped with Luminance HDR (Fatal operator) and final touch-up with dark table. For some images, beta value of fatal operator was reduced to expose the shadows well. For second image, I was just hoping for scooter boat to remain steady and fortunately it remained so :-). Later the mighty sea tides turned it 90 degrees towards right. By then, my HDR composition was completed :-). Especially I love the first two images :-). I can use them as wallpapers from now onwards with special tag as self composed ;-).
Boundless scattered light ;-)
Boundless light behind the rocks
Today's theme for Skywatch is boundless light. Now for title, after watching those glorious rays of Sun, this title flashed on to my mind. Boundless light with bountiful colors :D. It seems like the sky is spraying colorful light on earth :D. The SUN obviously has boundless light and energy. It is also star twinkling in distant world! Let our life be filled with bountiful of light amidst darkness. Even if darkness galore, lets make sure we find little light in there.
Finally hear one of beautiful Music from Mr.Gordon codenamed New World from US, "Boundless light". I describe him as musical genius. He was just 21 when he composed such an outstanding music :-). He is right example for enthusiasm and passion. His hard work and passion in musical instruments has drawn such magical talent in him at a tender age. His unique style of crafting uplifting music (especially a brief melody at end of music without bass) has elevated him to epitome of music. Whenever new music roles out of his talent, he is champ! The melodious lead riffs, scintillating orchestral melody are his specials :D. They are absolutely stunning :-). I have to learn lot from this young guy's passion which helped him to achieve such musical loftiness. He has been one of my favorite music producers since introduction from "Rise Above". Even though I have not found like minded people who admire such music, I am inclined to this genre which are filled with boundless emotions and energy, despite the absence of vocal. It has been more than 3 years of journey into Uplifting trance music and chillout music for me and my interest towards it keeps elevating with introduction of such musical talents :-).
As far as this music, the emotions start at 1:50, later with boundless orchestral melody at 3:00, with outset of spectacular breakdown at 4:01 and finally the light arrives with blazing speed at 4:52 :-).
Enough said, hear it here!
New World : Boundless Light(Emotional mix):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y95CW5KnlaI
Also do not miss equally beautiful remix of the same by TouchStone:
New World - Boundless Light (Touchstone Remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uLfMrIHzRI
Finally if you wish to participate in skywatch theme and share with boundless world, create a blog post with a picture (self-owned) inclusive of sky and link your blogpost here (skyle). Note that text is not mandatory! Also do not forget to visit related posts from other member's too!
Never knew there was a place to share common theme in a blogpost. Recently I stumbled upon this site which lets you to add your blog post pertaining to a theme each day. For Friday, it is Skywatch :-).
Skywatch should have blog post with a photograph inclusive of sky. For this theme for this Friday, here is HDR of Kaup beach light house shot few weeks back. I just love the colors :-). It seems like lighthouse is ready to launch itself to sky :D. The final image was brutally tweaked to obtain the desired effects (name it white-balance, shadows&highlight correction, sharpness, contrast, saturation, level etc.. etc..)
KAUP BEACH LIGHTHOUSE
Despite brutally tweaked, the image is devoid of any noise or distortion. Thats major advantage of shooting in RAW and compose HDR. I am enjoying the workflow right from start of Luminance HDR till the end of dark table. Dark table is too cool :-) gives fantastic results and its open source too!
Nowadays its difficult to find time for myself to elaborate a topic and hence nothing much detailed post. When I am free, will try to share my workflow so that people can comment on improvements.
Into the Sky, hear beautiful music by Afternova one of my favorite music producer and fly into the sky. It has one of the finest orchestral melody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbaz9eWw6i8
