A trekker for once…

Sid, is one of the unique personalities I have met so far, an unexplainable phenomenon, a simple yet complex down-to-earth person and a good friend. He is probably the only competitor I have had over these years in being ‘lean’ and mean and just being inches shorter than me. Routine work and an occasional visit to his native is all his life about.

On a trek I had planned, I invited him to join and having no inclination, he refused to undertake such strenuous activity and after being constantly pursued, he agreed reluctantly. As the days got closer, the excitement of this challenges and relishing it no end for once kept him occupied.

Well, he almost missed the entire plan by missing the bus and luckily hopped on in the middle to be received gleefully by us, a firm decision that would change him and challenge him over the next couple of days. With the initial stuffing’s and preparations, we started off slowly on the almost level gradient path and within walking a little distance, I turned around hearing a thud and he was on the ground, a slip and a fall.

(a trekker for once...)

Getting him up, we moved ahead and he was always in between some of us, not to lose sight of him and lest he has a fall again and as I was thinking of the same, he dropped once more now slipping on a stone with another thud. Offloading some of the weight from his back, we moved ahead in conquest of the peak we had set our sights on. The breakfast had fast disappeared and with the sun rising up, the hungry demons in our stomach had started squealing no end.

After the break, we pursued further and now the gradient became a little more steep and we were trekking right out in the open under the mercy of the sun god and it was an all out effort to keep ourselves cool and balanced carrying all the weight along. We passed this and entered a forest patch and then out into an open green meadow, Sid started to hop and jog in a way to get ahead of us and yet again landed on his back with a thud. Now, instead of the moans, he started laughing and everyone joined in (well, we were holding it back for a long time now) and the teasing started and in the process he was challenged to be stable and not fall for the rest of the trek.

Being a confident fellow, he instantly hit upon it and accepted the challenge and got lost in thoughts of the alive is awesome moments once he would have defeated us and the thought of a further fall free trek kept us going.

(a sunset view of a lifetime...)

We reached the top without any more falls as Sid was relishing the challenge and had been more careful stepping in the right places and avoiding slippery stones and carefully moving ahead balancing himself well. Tired bodies and with a little rest, we moved to a nearby hilltop for an amazing sunset view, probably one of the best so far.

Time flew as we spent our time amongst the clouds and clean, fresh air and soon we had to head back the way we came. Now betting had started on Sid’s challenge and he was to gain a lot of praises / favors if he would win the challenge, he surely was now relishing the challenge more and all the more determined.

(trekking in the mist...)

Trekking down a hill is faster but more painful as your legs have to have more balance and lot of pressure is exerted on them. It’s always advised to trek downhill in a cross manner as that helps you balance better and good shoes/sandals that do not slide also help. 3/4th of the way, Sid was just perfect and looked all set in winning the accolades, way to go.
After a small break as we resumed on a fairly even path, over a heated conversation, I cursed him to fall and in the next 10 steps, he slid and fell with a thud again and this time all of us almost fell down laughing and rolling. He had braved all the slopes and slides but had this fall on a flat surface when anybody least expected. Cursing me back, he too joined the laughter and it became so loud that our stomachs started to ache no end. Gosh, that was some wonderful moments in those days!

 (a long walk back...)

From there till the end, he had two more falls and with each fall, the laughter’s became louder and the fun part was that it was from everybody including him. All of us had relished the challenge and enjoyed it to the hilt and he almost soaked in his glorified alive is awesome moments, just missing it by a whisker.

Nevertheless, keeping aside the challenges, we all soaked in our successful completion of the trek, conquering one of the mighty beautiful peaks in the Western Ghats infused with a lot of determination, pride, laughter and team bonding. We surely relished all of this and were soaking in our own alive is awesome moments.

More frames from Ganeshgudi

Well, you have witnessed plenty of posts on Ganeshgudi (The Old Magazine House camp of Jungle Lodges and Resorts near Dandeli) here and continuing them adding more frames from my last visit in November 2012. I and Krishna drove down while Amit, his wife and friend reached there from Karwar.

Rain played spoilsport, but still we had a pretty good time at the camp and witness to some amazing moments giving an insight into the world of avians.

Earlier posts on Ganeshgudi here...

Enjoy the frames and will be waiting to hear from you :)

(the flagship species of Dandeli)

(A shot in the near darkness, no flash used and I don't advocate using them on birds too...)

(One of the smallest woodpeckers in India, a prized catch...)

(Supersonic flyers... very pretty Doves)

Drive-o-phobia

Guru, in his late twenties, small and stout, non-stop talkative person is one of the core members of my team, inseparable from the group. It’s all lively and active when he’s around and no dearth for jokes and humor. A person who believes in today and lives for today.

He knew driving and had mastered it recently just after I had done the same. For me driving was just like a fish taking to the waters, picking up the skills instantaneously. He was through the basics and was at peace driving in the city to an extent.

As a team member, we have always seen him being confident and with loads of ‘let’s do it attitude’ whatever be the situation or the challenge, as a team we have relished many challenges together as they have come.

With my driving skills now fit for the highway, we embarked on a long road journey through the nook and corner of the state, day and night, traveling through the wonderful countryside, braving the rains and cold and soaking in the clean pure air and the majestic sights that we were to witness.

As Guru knew driving, he was keen to help me out with the part and there lay our and his biggest challenge in accomplishing that as we soon realized. Behind the steering wheel, his confident voice started to jarrr, sweat brows visible on the always ‘cool as a cucumber’ face, the never stopping talkative throat became dry, slight shiver in the hands, agile reflexes getting mixed up, we soon realized this was some ‘block’ or rather ‘a fear’ enveloping him while driving on the highway.

We were a little taken aback by this, but recovering soon, we knew he had all the abilities to do it, probably just needed to come out of his shell, throw the fears away and be confident. This was a challenge for him to prove himself and a challenge for us to help our friend accomplish it and we were very sure it could be done and all of us together could soak in the alive is awesome moments.

(misty dawn break well before the ghats)

We stopped instantaneously, offered him water, spoke to him distracting from the topic, tried infusing him with confidence, egged him on and resumed our journey when he was ready. The terrain had now turned into ghats (hair pin bends and zig-zags) and the roads filled with good number of potholes, the challenge ahead of us had doubled!

He showed no signs of giving up and we made our progress slowly and steadily negotiating the potholes and the heavy truck traffic on the road. He was tense and so were we when we approached the passing trucks closer than expected but our man held his nerve and there were shouts of oohs! aahs! from the backseat, we were relishing the challenge.

Always egging him on and giving him tips to stay calm and guiding him in averting the traffic/potholes and constantly encouraging him, we were making him feel comfortable and relaxed and he was responding well trying to outdo his fears and drive confidently.

Slowly but steadily, he showed signs of coming back to his self, appearing much more relaxed than ever and the last stretch of ghats were covered in a jiffy. Soon, we stopped after the ghats were conquered and instantly he let out a wild scream, and with exchange of hi-fi, we knew his fears were now out and he would be much more confident driving in the future. A challenge for him, a challenge for us, both ending successful relishing the stiff challenge no end and soaking ourselves in the alive is awesome moments of glory and success.

(waterfalls break on the way...)

Note: Drive safe, be safe!
Speed thrills but kills!

You can challenge Virat too... here!

Lone Traveler

I started traveling in a group, a group of my friends and always preferred to travel as a group with friends or like minded people. It was fun all the way and you never knew how time flew with people around be it either the long journeys or mid-day time when you rest or the long chats in the night. I was so used to travel with others that the thought of traveling alone would push me back a bit or rather postpone or cancel the trip itself. I used to do this to accommodate people to join me.

Solo traveling was something that I never dreamt of doing nor wished for it to happen for 2 reasons, one being I didn’t want my friends to miss out on places I visit and the other reason being that I would be bored to death.

Traveling alone was a challenge to relish for me that well was being avoided by me by a safe distance for many years. Well, as the years passed by, things change and you have to step out of your comfort zone if you have to do something. Sometimes, nobody would be ready to travel along with you even with the best of their attempts and you are left to travel alone and one such instance came up when I had a fortnight long trip that had been planned for months in advance and none were available to accompany me.

Desperation soon turned into frustration and frustration into a challenge, let me do it myself in my own way, let me explore on my own, let me show the path to others, let me infuse confidence in others, let me do something new.

With the bookings done and preparations ready, there were days when butterflies were creating havoc in my stomach with thoughts of missing trains, losing valuables, getting lost bothering me no end and overcoming them was a relishing challenge in itself. I used to get myself back on track with the thought of being done with that successfully and enjoying the success and savoring the alive is awesome moments.

Overcoming all hiccups I took off with a high degree of confidence, pepping up my spirits now and then, keeping myself occupied reading books, watching movies and indulging into my camera when on field and never letting myself to be bogged down even for a while.

I let myself free, relishing the challenges that came by, may be the lost wallet incident, or may be the breakdown of the jeep in the middle of nowhere, or rushing through traffic to catch my train, or facing intimidating people.

On the positive front, I met lot of new people, made many friends, built contacts, savored local delicacies, traveled by various modes of transport, met interesting people during train journeys, was humbled by the generosity of the villagers, taken aback by shrewd business minded people and importantly relished each and every alive is awesome moment of my solo travel. Back home, I’m still relishing under the success of my maiden solo travel, I tough challenge that I had to face and pleased that I could do it, a true blue alive is awesome moment for me.

Relishing Challenges!

Relishing challenges... my way!

Being of a mild frame to look at, I’ve always been the topic for jokes and inadvertently for humor amongst people; In a way, I never bothered but relished them with glee and also housed a secret wish of achieving things that I was supposed to be not fit of…

Yezdi’s, Java’s, Bullet’s are the cult bikes that I have grown up seeing and always used to look at them with amazement and I could feel my inner thump resonate with the machine’s. But alas, owing to my slender frame, I was never given an opportunity to ride these in spite of me knowing biking! The wish soon turned into a challenge and the seed of fulfilling, relishing the challenge grew over the years secluded deep in my veins.

After years of patient wait, an impulse decision and next thing was the booking of an 350cc Royal Enfield bike done and grinning at everybody. The reason of happiness was evident but none knew the background behind it. Now, I was getting a bullet all for myself, no more asking and no more being pushed around.. but I had to wait for at least 8 months to downrun all the talkers and challengers, for that 'alive is awesome moment', for more challenges that lay ahead.

The day arrived, I was all excited right through and I could feel the instant connect with the thump pounding away instantly in my heart. As I lay my hands on the bike, the grin became wider and bigger and as the beauty came to life roaring all its might, it sure would be the beginning of a new journey together relishing challenges and enjoying alive is awesome moments.

An answer to all my detractors to say so was when I successfully completed my solo ride of 1000kms on my Thunderbird in the rains, an alive is awesome moment to say the least and a ride that would not erase out of my memory soon...

Being the adventure junkie, I’m relishing challenges and looking forward for more.

Birding places around Bangalore

There are many birding spots in and around Bangalore (Bengaluru) which is worth a visit for the birdie lovers.

1. Lalbagh botanical gardens: Right in the heart of the city is the Lalbagh, which provides garden and wetland habitats. Experience: Avoid weekends and holidays and choose secluded areas away from the crowd. Plenty of bird life if you have a keen eye and lots of butterflies too and also look out for the majestic trees.

2. Madivala lake: Located near BTM layout on the peripherals (this lake has now reduced drastically in size owing to urbanization all over) is another option. Experience: A promising place with diversity of bird life but the lake gets suffocated fast!

3. Hebbal lake: Just beside the Hebbal flyover is the Hebbal lake, a nice birding place. Experience: A hotspot for Pelicans, Painted storks and other waterfowl.

4. Valley School Road: Lots of places on the Kanakapura road. One of the hot spots is the valley School road. On the Bangalore-kanakapura road, Valley School road is around 15kms from Bangalore, you need to turn right after the NICE flyover coming from Bangalore. Experience: Has become our favorite jaunt for bird watching, already have been here countless number of times, lovely place, wonderful ambiance. Do not venture alone deeper else you would get lost.

5. Manchinbele: Around 30 kms from Bangalore, just before the Tippagondanahall reservoir, on the Bangalore-Magadi main road, take the left turn at the signpost towards Manchinbele dam and subsequently Mysore road. There’s lots of greenery surrounding the hills in every direction serving as a good birding spot. Experience: Lovely place and good for a morning birding session. Access is restricted, beware.

6. Tippagondanahalli (T.G.halli): 35 Kms east of Bangalore, on the Bangalore-Magadi road, you will find T.G.Halli. Experience: Wonderful, lovely, saw many bird species out here but missed the many raptors. If monsoon fails, water levels do down drastically revealing secluded places.

7. Savandurga State Forest: Savandurga is around 60 kms from Bangalore towards the town of Magadi. Manchinbele, T.G.Halli and Savandurga are all in the same locality and can be covered in a day. Experience: Yet to go birding here...

8. Nandi hills: 50kms away from Bangalore on the Bangalore-Hyderabad highway. Experience: Visit here regularly and you wont miss being in the Western Ghats. The sightings every year outdoes the previous years, multiple visits and patience will yield and enviable list from here.

9. Devarayana Durga State Forest (DDSF): Located around 60Kms from Bangalore on the Tumkur highway, this place is quite famous for the Yellow-throated Bulbul. Another must visit place for Birders and nature lovers. Experience: Have made religious trips here, none of birding till now.

10. Bannerghatta National Park: Scrub and forest habitat especially if staying in the Jungle Lodges inside the forest area. Experience: The alley of flycatchers never disappoints. Any time, any weather you still come back with a decent list.

11. Kokkarebellur: Popular for the pelicans (strictly during the "seasons" only, otherwise its a normal village. Its 80kms southwest of Bangalore near Maddur on the way to Mysore. Experience: Had been here twice, once off season and once just the start; 2nd time around saw mostly pelicans in huge numbers and black ibis for the first time.

12. Shivanahalli: A must visit place located on the periphery of the Bannerghatta National Park. The resident swamiji at the Ramakrishna Mission encourages people to visit and offers guides and food. Experience: Seen a lot of bird life on the couple of walks done here, must go regularly.

13. Gulakamale lake: Not only the lake, a little walk around and you will be amazed with the diversity that you will see. A wonderful place a little away from the city. Experience: Mixed bag, seen a lot of raptors and land birds too. Overall, excellent.


Pack your cameras and Happy Birding!


Care for the nature and the nature cares for you!

Umbalagundi falls

Most of the people you would know who love traveling are either the 'single men' or the 'solo women' and its generally said, the freedom is lost after marriage and all the extra-curricular activities come to a halt!

Exceptionally, here is a couple who both love traveling and the amount of exploration they have done is immense, I would repeat immense and the content on their blog is priceless.

Here is the famous couple, Dheeraj Shenoy and Amrutha, rather known in the blogosphere world as Teamgsquare and they blog here at http://teamgsquare.blogspot.com

In a simplistic manner, they say "We generally started traveling, to spend our Sundays more efficiently and make it enjoyable . At that point (14th April 2009) ,we never imagined we would be traveling so many places." - this speaks the volume of travel they have undertaken in the last few years.

Read on for their post on a relatively unknown falls, Umbalagundi in Madikeri...

the hidden view...

Summer Spa-Umbalagundi Falls

The winding roads of Madikeri are always a pleasure to drive, anytime of the year and are always full of surprises. One of our old road trips led us to a beautiful waterfall, hidden amidst the green dense cover by the road side. Since it was summer this time, we expected less or no water at all at the falls. But to our surprise, when we stopped by to peep in to check the water level, it did not disappoint us! A trek down, about 30 feet takes us to the downstream of the waterfall. A short walk along the stream leads us to the water fall.

the starting point of descent...

The flow was average, which gave us a chance to explore the waterfall further. As we walked closer to the falls, we found a possible way to trek up and move on to the upstream side of the falls. After a few minutes, we were quite happy and excited to have reached the next tier!

closer look at the lowermost tier...

The view was mesmerizing, which made us more curious to explore further. A few steps ahead, we could see the next tier of the waterfall. We had to cross the stream in order to reach this tier and since we also found a great place to actually experience the force of the waterfall, we safely reached the rock over which the water fell with great force.

the second tier...

Slowly and carefully watching every step we took, we reached the slippery rock, sitting on which we enjoyed the water fall. It was an amazing feel especially during the summer!!!

the upper tier... summer spa

As we had time constraint, we had to end our exploration and return. An additional surprise while returning was the presence of a big fig tree which had borne fruit and the taste of it was delicious. It was Nature at its best.

the great wild Fig...

To read about our previous trip to Umbalagundi waterfalls, click here

A new day, A new beginning...

Next up is a very famous blogger from Mumbai who has 500+ bloggers following her and who is quite popular with Indian as well as overseas readers and is surely one of the top and most popular travel blogs in India and my favorite too. She wins accolades and awards at the drop of a hot and is often out on a all-expense paid holiday.

Often people maintain a diary that has all their hearts and souls written and is kept private, but here is one diary that is specifically written for the reader and the reader is as well part of every yatra undertaken...

Delighted to have Arti, the person behind http://myyatradiary.com feature on my blog and by the way Arti is a spiritual blogger and loves traveling to spiritual destinations and take us along by scripting it on her blog in detail.

Here is a special post from MYD to Huchchara Santhe, take a look...


The sky is dull and listless, like a beautiful sketch in bluish gray. The sun is no where to be seen, hiding behind a misty cloud cover with its colorful box of crayons. 15 minutes have already passed by; the day has cracked but...

Where is He?

‘Will come out’ a few locals in their jogging trail assure bringing me out of my reverie of disappointment. Eagerly, I stand still, my eyes fixed towards the sky. The early morning air is crisp and brusque, and the beach idyllic displaying all signifiers of a worldly paradise: a quaint, densely wooded coconut plantations looming besides a deep salty sea, forested mynahs high up in the canopy chattering away until hushed by the wild melody of a roaring surge of the ocean.

'When' is my only question?

As if in response, an early morning zephyr blows gently across the water causing the elements in the picture to swing and dance. The leaves start rustling and…

...the skies get a touch of life.

I see Him, finally: A massive blob of red; peeping coyly from behind a cloudy curtain and endless coconut trees. Even though, the day has broken long back I cant help but get overwhelmed.

Partly shrouded, partly visible:
The play of the sun is a stunning sight to behold.

Standing still in the morning light of the silent beach side, my spirits soar each time, every moment I see it blossom and bloom one more inch out of its shell. Flashes of soft lightning diffuse over hazy skies and browny blue, surreality still expanses of water. The rising of the sun has caused the setting in the sky to look like a mini carnival.

Fully bathed in new found hopes and pristine purity, I close my eyes and say a silent prayer.

This energy will carry me through the chaos of the day… and beyond.

A new day has arrived, a new chapter begun… I have to move on… I have to continue my expeditions in this mad world…

Huchchara Santhe: The journey … shall, continue.