Betal Tekdi and Chorla Ghat

I usually sleep early and get up early in the morning. Sometimes as early as 4 am. Well, nothing wrong in that. ‘Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise’ goes the saying. But I believe some researchers have shown that people who sleep late and rise later are wiser and wealthier and the early risers are fit for nothing. There was no need for them to take the trouble of doing research. They could have just taken a look at me and come to that conclusion.

What I wanted to say was that this habit of mine is troublesome when I visit someone for an overnight stay. If the household contains one or two unfortunate ones like me who can’t sleep long, it is fine. The family will be used to the disturbances created by the early risers. If it is a family of late risers I am in trouble. I will be wide awake at four and to stay in the bed would be a torture. If I get out of the bed I am bound to switch lights on, make some noise or the other and be a nuisance to those fortunate ones who would be enjoying their beauty sleep. I can get out of the house for an early walk but it involves requesting the lady of the house for permission to enter her bedroom and take the front door keys from under her pillow. 

When I visit my brother in Pune, I am fine. He is an early riser too and usually joins me for a walk. I visited them recently and we went  to ‘Betal tekdi’ near his house early the next morning.  Betal tekdi, called so because of the presence of a small shrine of ‘Betal maharaj’ at the top, is a hill range extending from  Kothrud to Chatushringi in Pune.  It is a lovely place and I had been there earlier. This time I carried my camera and got some pictures. I was intending to go there the next morning also and explore the other side of the hill but it started raining. We dropped the idea.

It was raining when we left Pune and it rained the whole day. The effect of some depression in Arabian sea.  We drove through the rain all the way back to Goa. But the clouds cleared up for sometime just as we were descending the Chorla Ghat between Belgaum and Goa, and the view from the top of the ghat was breathtaking. Both the sets of pictures are here.

The view of 'Betal Tekdi' as we started the climb  - from  behind the Loyola High school, Pashan Road. 

The path runs through a wooded stretch, very pleasant early in the morning.

The sun appears behind the shrubbery as we reach the top.

The plateau at the top

A view of the city of Pune - as seen from the tekdi.

Another wooded stretch on the way down

My sister in law lights some lamps and flower pots to celebrate Diwali 

The clouds  hug a section of the Sahyadri - one may easily mistake the look for the waves of the Arabian sea breaking on a hill slope.

If one can extend the imagination, one may even imagine the Himalayas

Clouds part to allow the camera to capture small stretches of tilled land in Sattari taluka.

Such a wonderful sight. Feel sad to think that we are bent up on destroying it

The final shot before Iam back in the car. 

But not before capturing these way side flowers enjoying the unexpected shower.

Jayalalithaa The Goddess

As expected ‘Puratchi talaivi’ J Jayalalithaa  has been released on bail and as expected AIADMK supporters are dancing. The fact that The Supreme Court has been quite stern in its remarks about their leader and that it has asked the High court to dispose the case in three months has not marred the celebrations. People lined the road from the jail to the Airport in Bengaluru to see their leader free once again. I heard that the roads in Chennai were lined by ladies holding ‘Aarathis’. My sister who told this said that she would not have believed it had she not witnessed the sight herself and ended by saying ‘stupid people and a shameless creature’.

I wondered what makes these people (Not just Jayalalitha’s supporters. Laalu yadav’s people do the same in Bihar and Yedyurappa’s men do it in Bengaluru) overlook the misdeeds of their leader and stick to them in spite of the overwhelming evidence against them.

We have had a centuries old tradition of being ruled by Kings and queens. A king is expected to be wealthy and exhibit his wealth. He is expected to live in a palace. Wearing a crown studded with diamonds and a dress embroidered with gold threads is normal for him. Nobody asks the king where and how he got his money. He may indulge in all sorts of excesses but he is still just next to god. “Raja pratyaksha devata”. We carry that sentiment in our genes and now we have ‘devathas’ in the form of our ‘Netas’.  Tamilnadu, with its temples of MGR and Jayalalitha, is the best place to witness this sentiment.

Jayalalithaa is not just the queen but a goddess. It is nothing for a goddess to have 10000 sarees and 30 kilos of gold. Nobody grudges that.  In fact, we rejoice over that fact and wish to see her in all her bejewelled glory.  Now, on top of that this goddess is a very generous goddess. Her ‘prasadam’ in the form of a plate of Idli sambhar costs just one rupee and a ‘thali’ of ‘Mahaprasad’ is just three rupees or five. She showers mixer grinders, TV sets, bicycles, clothes and what not ‘chappar phadke’. She is actually everything that we expect a goddess to be. If some ignorant people call her corrupt and put our goddess in a jail it enrages us but we swallow it. This is ‘Kaliyuga’. People tend to do such things. But when our goddess is back amongst us, nobody can prevent us receiving her with ‘aarathis’.