Birds At Borim

We ignored the mid morning summer sun and spent an hour and a half around the

marshy backwaters of the river Zuari, near Borim - Goa today. I have been seeing

thousands of these water birds there on my way to Margao and back during the

past weeks but haven't been able to get down and get closer. We went there with

the intention of taking a proper look today. We had to trespass through some

private property for a closer look and we did that assuming that the owners

did not mind.  The fact that they wern't around helped !

It was a happy one hour in spite of the heat and we were

glad to find more than a dozen species of birds.  

There were Small egrets, Greater egrets, Small cormorants,

Greater cormorants, Black headed ibis, Black ibis, Sand piper, Paddy birds,

Purple heron, Grey Heron, Moor hen, White necked storks,

Black winged stilts, Whistling teal, Greenshank, Small kingfishers,

Brahmini Kite and Painted storks.

 

In my eagerness to go closer I got my foot stuck in the black swampy

clay but managed to extricate myself and obtained a few pictures. 

Don’t look for clarity and detail.  We (me and my son akshay)

have managed to the best of our abilities

and the abilities of our cameras.

Egrets and Cormorants 

Flock Of Egrets

Egrets in flight

Black Ibis

Black headed Ibis

Black Winged Stilt (picture by Akshay)

Greenshank (picture By Akshay)

A lucky individual's house next to the waters !

Marsh sandpiper (Picture by Akshay)

Me. Just before getting my feet stuck in the marshy clay !

Paddy birds

Purple Heron (Picure by Akshay)

A flock of white necked storks

A Greater Egret receives guard of Honour by a flock of Whistling Teals !

A wild flower growing on the banks 

 

M N Krishna Rao Park, Basavanagudi, Bengaluru

M N Krishna Rao park is one of the well known landmarks in Basavanagudi,

Bengaluru, named after Sri M N Krishna Rao, who was the acting dewan of

Mysore in (1941) and a philanthropist. He had been honoured with the title of

‘Diwan Bahadur’ by the British Government. Mr Rao had made a generous

donation for the construction of the park as well as a pavilion inside the park.

The pavilion is now a library. 

This park is a place which we frequented as children. We also used it as a

shortcut to reach N R Colony from Lalbagh west gate. 

I visited the park last evening after a very long gap. The major part of the park is

(and has always been) a playground and it was being used to its capacity with at

least twenty different groups playing cricket there. Infact, the entire park was

nothing but a big playground, containing few trees, during my childhood. Now,

In keeping with the trend existing in almost all public parks, most of the remaining

part is used to build a walking track and children’s play area. 

But there were one of two corners which did look like a park and also looked

very appealing to me. It was not only because there were less or no people

there but because of the great trees. Old, beautiful and majestic. 

I spent about half an hour there taking the scene in and taking these pictures. 

Since it is time consuming to put the pictures in the sequence I want them to be,

I haven't done that. I have left them as they appeared !

One of the old trees which attracted my attention.

A less frequented path. I love the granite slabs

Another beautiful tree

And one more

Quiet and peaceful "Kallu Mantapa". The building beyond that is the library

A nice corner

A place where many young ones were exercising, trying acrobatics, practising a play etc etc. Don't know what exactly it is but seems to be a place for the young ones to mingle and do what they feel like !

Play area for small children

A corner of the park looking like a park !

Bust of Sri M N Krishna rao

Play ground - Mostly Cricket

Loutolim In The Morning

The road to the airport from my house in Ponda runs next to the river Zuari

for a distance of 6-7 kms.  It passes through the village of Loutolim which still

has some coconut groves, paddy fields and backwaters.  The place is very

appealing in the early morning stillness. Whenever we have someone to be

dropped at the airport for a morning flight, I slip into the car and get

out at Loutolim. I did that again this morning and took a stroll in the cool weather

taking the pleasant scene in.

Sunrise as seen from the bridge at Borim

Same sun, different view !

Backwaters in Loutolim

Morning mist covers the village 

Ponds formed by the backwaters

A house which caught my fancy !

Hibiscus in a front garden.

The faithful gather for the morning mass

'Three crosses' chapel at a village corner

Dudhsagar - Re Visited

The Dudhsagar falls in the western ghats, at the border of Goa and Karnataka can

be approached at three points. 

You may walk from Castle rock in Karnataka and reach the top of the falls.

Travel by train and reach the Dudhsagar station which is exactly in the middle,

next to the Railway bridge. Walk/ ride in a jeep from a place called Kulem In

Goa to reach the bottom. None of them convenient or enjoyable but you always

find hordes of people in the vicinity of the falls. I was one among the hordes,

yesterday. 

I went trekking to the bottom of the falls in January 2012 and decided that I

would not go there again. It is a 25 km walk up and down and almost half of it is

on a railway track. Walking on the railway track is a pain. Figuratively and literally. 

Then at a certain point, you get off the track and walk on the stone strewn mud

road under a constant threat of being run over by a jeep ferrying people to and from t

he falls. At that time you would feel that the railway track was better! You may escape

the threat by travelling in a jeep and end up wishing that you hadn’t.  All said and done,

it is not a pleasant trip. 

But my friends decided to go there again yesterday and much against my wish,

I decided to put my joints and muscles to test once again. They had conveyed me

to the falls and back, with difficulty, eight years ago, when they were younger.

I wasn’t so sure of them now but  the fact that I am sitting at home and typing these

words indicates that they are still trustworthy. Here are some pictures from yesterday’s trek.

The surrounding hills and forest are beautiful, the streams on the way are refreshing.

but if you are particular about the falls, better enjoy one of the umpteen pictures/videos !

Evening time : Mhadei - Opa

The rainy season is nearing its end. The clouds are receding.

Blue sky is visible again and the golden sun set is decorating the world! 

I hope in the months to come, the all pervading pandemic would set

and make our world brighter!