DeepawaLi

Diye jalte hain

Colorful Lights

Rise and Shine

Jaanapadha Jaatre BhaavaChitragaLu

The stage is all set!!

Dusk falls

One...Two..Three...Action!

Stalls at the jaatre Maradha BombegaLu



Bhaagyadha BaLegaara...

Over the weekend

I went out with my college gang (sans 2) on Saturday. We had already booked tickets for a Kannada movie - Aishwarya. Few of my friends wanted to watch it, so I tagged along even though I had watched it once before :-(( The ending of the movie is simply unbelievable!! We watched the movie amidst a continuous narration and fussing of Sheetz. The others liked it.

The plan after the movie was to go to the “Jaanapadha Jaatre” happening as part of the Suvarnotsava (50th Karnataka Rajyotsava) in front of Vidhana Soudha. The program was scheduled to start at 5.30, so we hung around Garuda Mall until then. Nars joined us there and after a rather sad lunch (veg sandwich - not grilled!) went to Scary House in the mall. I was all excited to go see it. Sheetz dropped out as she had had enough the first time :-)

Well, the Scary House is a passage you need to traverse with big Arrow marks showing the path. It is very dark inside with faint lights here and there. What makes it scary? The sudden noises and appearances of "ghosts" and floating skeletons with rolling eyes. At first I thought the effects were cool. There was even one Veerana (A Ramsey movie, I think) style Purana Haveli ka Darwaaza which was banging. The noise effects were very good. Towards the end a weird masked-waala bhoot suddenly got up from a khabr or something and advanced towards me. Thomp! Thomp! Thomp! Eiiikssssssssssssssss...I screamed :-) Then at the door a zombie like kid came in front of me (reminded me of the doll in Child's play) wielding a club or something. Phew! Thankfully I didn't have nightmares that night.

After having some chocolate-dipped wafers and cakes, we proceeded towards Vidhana Soudha picking up Sush on the way.

I really looked forward to watching the display of Karnataka's various dance forms and songs. The stage was attractive, but we couldn’t get a better close view. Had to settle for watching the show at quite a distance. There were food and handicraft stalls lined up and these were showcasing Karnataka's various districts. Hmm..let me re-collect what the food stalls had to offer. There was kajjaya, husli(very theeka and good), joLadha roTTi, masala dosa, chitranna, chaats too!! Tasted most of them. Oh! There was Kodagina kajjaaya :-), some Raagi HuriHittu and other stuff too.

Food aside, there were handicrafts stalls – wooden crafted god figurines and I guess one stall was displaying dolls and wooden artifacts of ChannapaTna. The wooden bangles were very pretty and I bought one.

The program started a bit late around 6.45 or so. There was Dollu KuNita, then some other dances including a very nice rendition of Challidharu Malligeya. Since we weren't getting a good view and it was getting late, we decided to leave after few more songs and dances. After another round of eating, we left.

The crowd-turnout was really huge despite the almost non-existent publicity the event had. It should have been showcased a little better. But it is a very good step taken to promote the culture and talent of people of various places in Karnataka other than Bangalore!! I personally feel it should be organized in all the districts and also outside Karnataka to promote tourism and also in spreading Karnataka's rich heritage.

Inside the Golden Temple

   
The different forms of Buddha                      Inside the temple

      
Pillar to Post                                Colorful Painting

Amidst Nature

Differnet Shades

View from near the Peak                      Jalala Jalala Jala Dhaare

Tala Cauvery                                               Misty

Hoove Hoove..

In the rain

Close-up

Bright

More on flickr: vinz

 

KoDagina Cauvery (Cont’d)

Day2: (KHNH Style)

It was raining all the while, so we took our own sweet time to decide on what to do.
We even bought honey, coffee powder, pepper and cardamom from the owner. The place is famous for that right!?!

There was a waterfall nearby where we planned to go in the morning. The place being restricted (was on a private property I guess) it was really superb. The water was very cool and pure. We hanged around there for a few hours, taking snaps and collecting stones too!! ;-) Hmm...Coming to think of it, it was supposed to be displayed in B's cube. Let me check!!

Then we set off to Tala Cauvery. We played Antakshari in the Qualis on the way and it was real good fun. The plan was to cover BhagamanDala and Tala Cauvery. But by the time we reached there, it was covered in mist and we just visited the temple and came back. The trees there looked awesome in the mist-covered backdrop.

We then proceeded towards Kushalnagar and took a quick stop at Raja Seat. By that time, my travel sickness took a toll. It was re-assuring to know I was not alone. Kar also suffered from it. I quickly shopped for a lemon in the churmuri shop near the entrance of Raja Seat. One thing for sure, he will never listen to my advice again. :-) Missed eating more churmuri though.

Armed with lemon juice, in the rain, I started clicking away the flowers in the garden at Raja Seat. They were very pretty and colorful.

We had a pit stop for food and by the time we reached the Golden Temple, it was dusk :-(. Everyone had to bear my fussing about it. So couldn't take proper pics of the colorful temples and their interiors. But the place is just too good. It is very serene inside and you feel at peace with the world. The colors used inside for the wall paintings, the pillars, the carvings are very bright ones and amazingly the color combinations were totally in sync. I also bought a "Round" Chakra ;-) kind of a small wall-hanging.

We loitered around there till closing time and then went shopping in the nearby shopping complex. No prizes for guessing. It was raining again! :-) Bought a few petty things.

Then we continued on our journey back home. Started watching Sholay, commenting on the evergreen dialogues (With Kar and Ravi, no one else were interested as usual) and history of the movie and its comparison with the soon-to-be-out remake. I didn't even realize when I dozed off and when Mysore came. It was around 12.30. So we stayed back at Sandy's :-) place and slept till 5.30. Left Mysore then and reached home at around 8.30.

Am Glad to have got away from the mundane routine for a weekend and "kick off my shoes and relax". Well, it wasn't relaxing but refreshing nevertheless!!

KoDagina Cauvery

Way back in 10th standard, we had gone to Coorg/Kodagu on a class trip. The lush greenery, serene atmosphere was so enthralling; I promised myself I would go there at least one more time. I could keep up that promise this weekend. :-)

Few of our colleagues planned the trip and I readily joined. My sole aim, which I made more than clear, was to visit the Buddhist Monastery. The colors used there are simply outstanding.

We left on Friday (6th) night and as usual I slept comfortably for most part of the journey. Watched the start of the movie Aptamitra in the Qualis (It had a VCD-DVD racked up).

We reached Madikeri very early and there was a Code M situation. :-) Mist! Surrounding the place where we were to stay. It was a farmhouse with the owner conducting adventure camps. The place was named "Jungle Mounts". So we were advised to stay in the city for an hour and so and we finally reached the place at around 8.00. Breakfast was a Malnad specialty (came to know of this later at home :-)) A kind of Idli made of Rice and Coconut. Twas ok-ok. But the homemade jam was yum!

Clicked pics of nearby flowers for a while and then we started off for the half-day trek. The trek to the peak was a rough 8 kms and it was traversable for half the distance through vehicles. So we were dropped off half-way by a jeep and off we started to trek the remaining. The walk was very nice with small waterfalls in our path. We, the gals, could accomplish conquering 3/4th of the peak and so opted out of the remaining and enjoyed the chocolates and snacks. :-) We did save the apples for someone though ;-)

The trek back was really fabulous. First I, Kar and Ravi started discussing/gossiping about Hindi movies/music. :-) Second, there was a slight drizzle and by the time we realized, it was raining full-swing. It was just too lovely. But with the rain, came the leeches. Need I say more? :-(

The jeep ride back to the farmhouse was too cold!!! :-) We rode standing in the jeep facing the wind and rain. Just too good!

After lunch (paapad and pickles were the best), the instructor there had kayaking lined up for us. You can take a wild guess as to who the official photographer of the sport was!! :-) Your's truly. The first-time kayak-ers (Is there a word like that??) had fun too.

We rounded up the day with a very good game of Uno (Courtesy:Sudks) and the highlights of the game was the no. of cards Shesh had to draw (Courtesy:Sudks, Me, Bhuv, Manj), the utter confusion we faced with so many special and wild cards and their usage. If we had continued, it would surely have turned into Calvin-ball :-)

A bundle of joy

It's amazing how the arrival of someone in your life can change your world totally!

Priorities change; schedules are altered keeping him in mind, the focus of the entire family shifts. But it is truly worth it. His one smile makes my day. I come home and see everyone pampering him to the core. Needless to say, I join the bandwagon too :-)

Everything is all still and hush-hush when he is sleeping. We wouldn’t want to earn his wrath if he wakes up. Do we?

I call him grumpy (With a Capital G) He sulks like there is no tomorrow. But yet, when he makes a sad face and starts crying, your heart goes out for him. The best part, he tolerates all my gibberish and even thinks it’s a lullaby. It puts him to sleep, you see. :-)

Super aunt to the rescue!! :-))) Yeah. He is my nephew. Hardly 2 months old and 2 feet tall and its quite astonishing how he makes us all dance to his tunes already!!!!

One of my friends wished him to be prosperous and successful. Amen!

I also wish him to be happy and spread joy all around like the Christmas season (I always wanted to use that phrase!! :-D )

Meri ghar aayi ek nanhi pari.
Chandni ke haseen rath pe sawaar.

I wish there was a song as cute as this for a baby boy!

Kuch Tasveerein

A different Pottery barn :-)

mehndi rang layegi

Hariharan in concert