People Photography!

Hmmmm…. Inspirations are many for this, really wanted to try out something in this space. Here are few snaps which I like!!!

The first one is the snap of a BaBa. At his age he was sitting quietly there doing this routine pooja. No!! he is not the priest of the temple, interestingly unlike many other temples from south; this one didn’t have any priests and one can actually visit the sanctum sanctorum of the shiv temple and perform pooja there. Later I found out that this practiced in most of the temples in NORTH. What really drew my attention was the calmness/coolness of the baba :-)


The second one is the one which I enjoy most, taken during morning hours, where in my niece wakes us up pretty early with her morning ragas :-)

Need to experiment more in this space. Wish me luck :-)

In the company of clouds

On a rainy day during this monsoon, I was hunting for some good destinations in and around Mumbai which are economical and could be covered within a day. Well need less to say! After a pretty expensive trip in chauffer driven car to LONAVALA and KHANDALA we were really looking for some pocket friendly options! After some googling and bit of research we zeroed on a spot called Tungareshwar (a wild life sanctuary) on the outskirts of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivili.

After getting down from a ST bus at SATIWALI one has to walk for around 1.5 kms to reach the highway junction (Mumbai- Ahmedabad). From here you will have company of our UP-BIHAR Bhaiiyyas for a while on either side of the road till you reach the base point. Its here from where actually the trek starts. The entire trek can be divided into 3 parts,
-Ascent till Tungareshwar Temple, roughly 3~4 Kms
-Ascent from Temple to Ashram , around 7 kms
-Descent from Ashram to Parol( which goes to Virar) around 8 Kms

The second and third leg of the journey is pretty exciting, with most of the noisy Mumbai crowd get exhausted at the first pit stop, then one can enjoy the serenity of the nature along with hustle and bustle of the birds around. Well... Thanks to the incessant rains, except for the beginning we were not fortunate enough to have the company of the birds all along our way. Hmmm…. hang on…. with Monsoon in full swing we could see crabs all along our ascent till the Ashram.

All along our way it was pouring cats and dogs with a little break at regular intervals. When it stopped raining clouds will come along and make the scene more memorable with the visibility of only few feet! We waded through the rough terrain to reach ashram. It was during this time my friend was little worried on what would happen to two souls wandering in the jungles if something/somebody attacked us :-). Nevertheless it is not that hostile place either! Except for some ANTI Maharashtra slogans written here and there by our bhaiyyas from UP and BIHAR.

Upon taking shelter at Ashram premises wherein the visibility was further reduced, we were greeted with cup of herbal tea. We were really not a in a position to say NO :-). After waiting for the “Baba’s Darshan” upon the insistence of a disciple, we headed our way back home. The descent terrain was pretty rough compared to the other one. With monsoon at our backs we finished descent pretty fast to reach a village called parol. After hitch hiking a ride in a Vikram(A big auto which can accommodate around 10 ppl) to reach a nearby bus stop, we took a bus to reach Virar. Return journey was pretty eventful since shivsaniks had called for a bundh, but our good luck made us to reach home safely.

Summary: Roughly 18 Kms trek (both ways) which can be planned for a day.
Difficulty: Moderate
How to reach:
Take a train on central route to reach VASAI JUNCTION (takes an hour or hour and half from Andheri). From VASAI take a ST bus till SATIWALI village (this is around 15 minutes journey). From here walk of around 20~30 mins will take to the gates of Tungareshwar bird sanctuary.
Best Season: June till November
Back Pack: Nothing special required, have some energy bars, candy’s and some lunch. During monsoon water would be available all thru the way. If you are not very particular about the hygiene factor you can relish the fresh water.

ನಮ್ಮ ಬಾವುಟ

೫೯ನೇ ಸ್ವಾತಂತ್ರ್ಯ ದಿನಾಚರಣೆ ಸಂಧರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ
ಮೂರು ಅಥವಾ ನಾಲ್ಕನೇ ತರಗತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ
ಒದಿದ ಪದ್ಯವೊಂದು ನೆನಪಿಗೆ ಬಂದಿತು.
ಆದರೆ ಇದನ್ನು ಬರೆದವರು ನೆನಪಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಇಲ್ಲ :-(

ನಮ್ಮ ಬಾವುಟ

ಏರುತಿಹುದು ಹಾರುತಿಹುದು
ನೋಡು ನಮ್ಮ ಬಾವುಟ
ತೋರುತಿಹುದು ಹೊಡೆದು ಹೊಡೆದು
ಬಾನಿನಗಲ ಪಟಪಟ

ಕೇಸರಿ ಬಿಳಿ ಹಸಿರು ಮೂರು
ಬಣ್ಣ ನಡುವೆ ಚಕ್ರವು
ಸತ್ಯ ಶಾಂತಿ ತ್ಯಾಗ ಮೂರ್ತಿ
ಗಾಂಧಿ ಹಿಡಿದ ಚರಕವು

ಇಂತ ಧ್ವಜವು ನಮ್ಮ ಧ್ವಜವು
ನೋಡು ಹಾರುತಿಹುದು
ಧ್ವಜದ ಶಕ್ತಿ ನಮ್ಮ ಭಕ್ತಿ
ನಾಡಗುಡಿಯ ಮೆರೆವುದು

ಕೆಂಪು ಕಿರಣ ತುಂಬಿ ಗಗನ
ಹೊನ್ನ ಬಣ್ನವಾಗಿದೆ
ನಮ್ಮ ನಾಡ ಗುಡಿಯ ನೋಡ
ನೋಡಿರಣ್ಣ ಹೇಗಿದೆ

Side Effects of getting “Bangalored…”

Scene Uncle and Aunty on a evening walk decide to buy “SOPPU” ( PALAK)

Aunty : Estappa… idu ( How much for these?)
Vendor: Hattu rupaige mooru (3 for 10)
Aunty: Enappa!... 5 koditeeya.. (Can you give me 5 instead)
(by this time there are couple of IT-BT folks back from a heavy duty office work are there..)
Vendor: Illa.. bekadre 3 tagolli.. Illandre beda..
(Some of the folks who have just come... take palak from vendor and just walk away with out even couting the money he has given back..
Aunty frowns and just walks away..)

Couple of day’s back I came across an intriguing conversation, when I visited house of my colleague who is residing in an area where in lot of IT-BT folks/families prefer to stay. His mother was complaining and telling us how the road side vegetable/fruits vendors/auto drivers/small and medium shop owners have changed their attitude towards a simple middle class Bangalore family!
As one of my colleagues puts it the cost of living in some areas like BTM/Koramangala and Indiranagar is higher compared to other parts of the city. From my own experience, When I was looking for 1BHK accommodation for my self few years back, and when I bargained for the RENT.. the landlord gave a weird look( as if I am alien) at me and said, “What you are bargaining here!..No Way!!!!”

Well, Now Getting used to these kind of surprises very often aunty has decided to do a weekly shopping at Gandhi Bazaar in her own usual way 

Public Transport

Inspired by Aruna and out of sheer interest I started experimenting with Bangalore public transport system some time back. (my earlier post )
Well, it wasn’t that smooth ride at the beginning, but with a bit of luck/timing and a bit of knowledge, now I am kind of more comfortable and accustomed to public transport system in Bangalore. At least I can say that I have taken a leap from “ Oh… Busssaaaa……. Bedappa…” to ..“ Oh .. Bus….. Why not….. let’s try……..” level!
Having used the dreaded/much efficient transport system of MUMBAI where in bus timings are pretty efficient and reliable and actually you can plan your journey and depend on MUMBAI’s sub urban train network and including BEST service. Things in Bangalore should definitely improve after introduction of METRO/MONO rail networks and a bit of more planning and discipline by BMTC in improving point to point routes.

Some useful links:

VOLVO
GRID ROUTES
WITH MAP