Categories: kerala

A Week in Kerala

I spent a week on a short but fruitful sightseeing tour of Kerala, and returned back yesterday. My earlier experiences with Kerala was restricted to Wayanad district and Munnar, except for a short journey to Kochi when I was a kid.

During this week of travelling, I discovered what Kerala is all about and why it attracts so many tourists. I covered all the popular tourist circuit of Kerala including the beaches at Kappad near Kozhikode, Cherai beach near Cochin, the venerable and the must do – Fort Kochi, the ever popular Ayurvedic massages, the backwaters trip on the Vembanad lake and south India’s most well known tiger reserve – Periyar.

The trip gave an excellent introduction to Kerala and has worked as a good precursor for taking my own time someday and spend more time travelling to the corners of this beautiful state. As usual, I shall write about all of it in detail with photographs here sometime in the days to come.


Photo Essay: Chikmagalur – Flowers Galore, Kurinji and More…

I had traveled to Chikmagalur two weeks ago. I was there, among other things, to have a look at the rare Neelakurinji flowers which are known to flower only once in 12 years. This was the year of flowering and they were in full bloom. In Chikmagalur, they bloom around the hills of Bababudangiri, also called Chandradrona Parvata.

While Kurinjis were the flowers I was looking forward to, I saw plenty of flowers different varieties all around. My first sight of flowers in abundance were much before I was at the hills. It was fun to see some jolly folks plucking lotus from a pond.

lotus from the pond

I also saw many touch-me-nots spread out in large numbers. Though they are pretty common, I think it has been a while since I had seen them before. So much for living in a city!

touch me not flower

As I approached the town of Chikmagalur, I saw this hoarding inviting people to visit the hills to see the Kurinjis.

Chikmaglur

According to this, the flowering season is from September to November. So if you haven’t been there yet, hurry before they are gone!

Kurinji flowers

As I climbed up the hill, it did not take me long to see the Kurinjis. They were in plenty, and they were everywhere. Some hills were entirely covered with just the Kurinji plants.

Kurinji Flowers

They looked beautiful and covered vast vistas of the hill range.

Mullayyanagiri

But they were not alone. There were so many flowers, many of them tiny, I could not not even count how many types were there.

flowers, mullayyanagiri

And they had generously spread out all over the slopes and made the hills look prettier than ever.

flowers, cihkmaglur

And they came in many colors and sizes.

flowers, chikmaglur

flowers, chikmaglur

Some of them were so small, I would never have sighted them without looking hard for them!

flowers, chikmaglur

But the most beautiful of the lot that I saw was also the biggest among them.

flowers, chikmaglur

There were plenty of visitors to the hills, but to my surprise, almost everyone seemed to be oblivious to the flowers. But I was having a great time among the flowers and had no time to bother about that.

flowers, chikmaglur

flowers, chikmaglur

Purple flowers, I guess were the most dominant of all the lot, with Kurinjis having taken up most of the space. Small white flowers came next, followed by yellow ones.

flowers, chikmaglur

Flowers of many colors spread together on the slopes was a treat for the eyes.

flowers, chikmaglur

This pink flower below was one of uncommon ones on the slope. I would not have found it, had I not walked around so much around the hills.

flowers, chikmaglur

But alas, it looks like we just can’t enjoy the beauty of these hills without doing our bit to spoil them. There were some disturbing sights too. Like some garbage, etc..

It was very pleasant day among the flowers, and watching the sunset among the Kurinjis before I headed back was a blissful moment.

Kurinji

Let us hope to preserve this pristine place and keep it clean and beautiful!


Categories: misc

MY VARANASI IMAGES AND WRITE-UP ON LANDSCAPE MAGAZINE

My Varanasi travel notes and accompanying photographs have appeared on the October issues cover of ‘Landscape’ magazine, New Delhi. It was due for a while, but I did not know it was going to be on the cover! Even more surprise was a double page center blow-up of this photograph.

You can also read the Varanasi travel report on this blog.

Below are the pictures that were published in the mag.

1. Jain Munis walking on the ghats
2. Drying saris on the ghats
3. View of the ghats
4. Women enjoying the boat ride
5. A view of the ghats
6. Women in Prayer
7. Preparing for the aarti
8. A woman worships peepul tree
9. A Sadhu on the ghats
10. Ganga aarti
11. A woman in prayer
12. A Sadhu makes offering to sun

You can see more images on the Varanasi album in my image gallery.