Bhandardara

A picture says a thousand words. It's such a cliché and I've always hated writing in clichés. Well, why do I open this note with this statement? Answer: To show that it makes no sense at all. 

It's true that I love taking pictures.

It's true that I have taken a lot of effort to work on my photo blog.

It's true that a lot of pictures are going into this note as well.

But what's also true that along with the note, there will be an entire story, which will make the story a complete one and not something that you'll interpret by just looking at the pictures that you see.

So while a picture says a thousand words, a picture with some text along with it will tell you more.

Table top. One of the several points at Bhandardara

This break was good for me. It got me thinking about a lot of things and I'm still thinking even after I'm back, which is a good thing. I suppose I needed to get out of the madness of routine and needed 48 hours to myself in a secluded place that was green, had a large water body and most importantly, no cellular network. Bhandardara gave me all three.

It's 10.36 on my computer screen and I type this thinking that 18 hours ago, I was at this incredible place with no cellular network. That's the first thing that made me like Bhandardara. I had to come to one particular spot in the resort to make the call home to tell my family that I was okay. Other than that, I had my phone switched off for most of the trip.

Bhandardara is an incredible place. The place we stayed: The MTDC resort had a direct view of the Arthur Lake. The lake is quite magnificent by itself. It has a 22-kilometre radius and is 270 feet deep without any shallow. We thought of boating, but felt too lazy to do it. The ripples that formed on the surface of the lake also indicated that swimming is not a very smart idea here, unless you're a local, of course.

Sunset at Arthur Lake. Thought that I'd screw around with
the settings here

There are a few places to see. The table top point, which is in the first picture is a popular picnic spot. There are a couple of dams, the Amruteshwar temple: an ancient temple built for Lord Shiva. There are a couple of points for trekkers: one of them is the Kasubai peak, which is the highest peak in the Maharashtrian Sahyadri range and the other is a trek up to the Ratnagad Fort. Our guide told us that the Kasubai Peak is an easier trek than the Ratnagad Fort because it's a straight path.

The Kalsubai Peak is the highest in the Maharashtrain Sahyadris at 1,280 metres above sea level

One of the best things about the trip was also reuniting with my camera. She had to be taken for repair because the aperture in both the lenses was damaged. So she came back as good as new. I got to experiment with a lot of pictures and a lot of colours. Thankfully, Bhandardara gave me the opportunity to mess around. Here are some of the pictures I did manage to take and I must admit that for these, I don't need to put any captions.

I owe this trip to Jhumur and Ron. They've been quite awesome for the longest time and put up with my tantrums and mood swings. So this one's for you, guys.

As usual, I find it hard to conclude because there is just so much in my mind and I don't know where to end. Plus my brain's dead. I've been up since 4.45 am today, so that doesn't help my cause. It's a miracle that I've managed to get so far tonight. I was focused on writing this one to mainly bring the photo blog back to life.

So going by the way I started this note, I think I'm going to consciously work on revamping the photo blog as well.

Indian art

Karla Caves

Karla Caves is a complex of ancient Buddhist Indian rock-cut architecture cave shrines developed over two periods - from 2nd century B.C to 2nd century C.E. and in 5th - 10th century. Even though the caves were constructed over a period of time and the oldest one is believed to date back to 160 BC. Located in Karli near Lonavala, Maharashtra, the caves are on a major ancient trade route, running eastward from the Arabian Sea into the Deccan. Karli's location in Maharashtra places it in a region that is the division between North India and South India. Buddhism, having become identified with commerce and manufacturing through their early association with traders, tended to locate their monastic establishes in natural areas close to major trade routes so as to provide lodging houses for travelling traders. Also, when you look at the second picture, showing the three lions, it shows that the caves were carved during Emperor Ashoka's reign

Periyar river

Tea time

Munnar is full of tea plantations and scenes like these are very common. The lady cutting the tea leaves realized that I was taking her picture only after our vehicle stopped. She then requested me to show her the picture and said, Super!

That's why they call it the Nilgiris

The Nilgiris translate quite literally to the Blue Mountain. I always wondered why they named it, but after going to Coonoor, I guess I got my answer

Peacock on a tree

Hungry monkey

And yes, he eats the damn banana sideways

Three Idiots

At one of the points outside Ooty, I caught these three guys looking deep into the valley. It turned out to be an interesting photograph at the end

Black gold

I took this picture from the Swami and Swami tea factory located next to our hotel in Coonoor. The sun had just set and the clouds were gathering for some evening rain. Although it didn't rain that night, the gold and black turned out quite well

The world is beautiful

A rare shot that i got, where the clouds reflect on the lake

The flowers

I visited the botanical garden at Ooty last week. The place is a disappointment, but I managed to capture this image of these two flowers that I'm quite proud of

The thinking monkey

The headline says it all