Valley of Flowers is a mystical region of the Himalayas that has been quoted in various texts, old and new. I remember reading about it in Swami Rama’s book, “Living With the Himalayan Masters” a long time back ago, before I did any kind of photography. The interwebs tell me that this place even gets a mention in the Mahabharata. Mythology and spirituality aside, Valley of Flowers was discovered as we know it today, by Englishman Frank Smith in 1931. But it is botanist Joan Margaret Legge who is remembered in the Valley. A grave marks the spot where she died while collecting flower samples.  Truth be told, reading these facts mean nothing, compared to the actual experience of trekking to the Valley and reading the following words written on Legge’s grave:

“I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes
Unto The Hills
From Whence Cometh
My Help”

Having actually felt the silence, beauty and solitude of the place, I can confirm that the above words carry great depth. In spite of bad weather, a tough ascent and chilly winds, the Valley filled our hearts and minds with great peace and satisfaction. The government of Uttaranchal has done a good job  in ensuring that the sanctity of the place is preserved. All along, we felt we were in the lap of Mother Nature, and not in some artificial man made park. This actually means a lot, considering the kind of crowd that visits the more popular destination adjacent to the Valley – Hemkund Sahib. In fact, having lost a day, we chose to visit the Valley twice, skpping Hemkund completely. Because the choice really was between walking in the clouds through flower beds, v/s mingling with horses and pilgrims huffing and puffing up the mountain to the Gurudwara up at 13800 feet.  Of course, Hemkund Sahib has its own fairytale like history. And it is situated in an equally splendid location. Apparently you can see 7 snowy peaks on a clear day from Hemkund, apart from the beautiful high-altitude lake situated there.  Vivek from our group did go to Hemkund, but he was not treated with any spectacular views owing to foggy weather. He did the ascend on a horse, which is an experience by itself. But every step of our journey threw up its own challenges which I’ll briefly outline here.

The Itinerary:

Ours was a well planned trip. The tour was customized with Gharwal Mandal Vikas Nigam – Uttarakhand’s State tourism department. In their Bangalore office sits a very interesting character called Anurag Dangwal. Our interaction with Anurag started almost a month in advance. At our first meeting, after listening to our options, we fixed a tentative itinerary, decided on what kind of rooms we will stay in and what kind of vehicle we will travel in. He gave us a quote which more or less suited us. Before our second meeting we schemed on how we can bargain on the quote and went prepared. Only to get a new quote which was almost 10% lesser than the first one with no bargaining done!  Here is how the itinerary looked like:

Dat 1: Fly BLR – DEL and travel to Haridwar by train. This is when we had our taste of cattle class, traveling by second sitting instead of AC chair car because of a ticketing mistake from yours truly.

Day 2: Haridwar – Rishikesh – Joshimath by vehicle. On this day, the least anticipated and most ridiculous reason delayed our entire trip.

Day 3: Joshimath – Govindghat by vehicle. Govindghat to Ghangaria on foot. 14 km of ascent up the mountains!

Day 4: Ghangaria – Valley of Flowers trek.

Day 5: Ghangaria – Hemkund trek.

Day 6: Ghangaria – Valley of Flowers trek.

Day 7: Ghangaria – Govindghat trek. Govindghat – Birahi (beyond Joshimath) by vehicle.

Day 8: Birahi – Rishikesh by vehicle.

Day 9: Spare

Day 11: DEL – BLR

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The gear I use is a means to an end. And the end result in photography can never be defined. For some, the RAW file out of a camera is the end result. For others, it is the final color-managed print on archival paper. I belong to the latter category, and for this reason I also own a Canon Pixma Pro9500 archival printer. I try and shoot with the best of what I can afford, and I use post processing techniques keeping my desired end result in mind. Post processing is an important and often ignored ingredient for good photos (but I haven’t listed the hardware and software I use).

I have used a variety of crop and full frame camera bodies from Canon. I have used third party lenses in the past, but these days I shoot exclusively with Canon lenses. I also own a variety of accessories, some of which like the Canon Remote Switch RS-80N3 are not listed below.  I’ve build this collection of photography gear over a period of time, and it has cost me quite a bit of time, money and effort. It is always fun to try out something new, and camera manufacturers keep us happy by releasing new models on a regular basis.  I am not the one to upgrade to a new model every time one is released, but I like those who do so. Simply because they feed the second hand market. Buying used stuff helps me save a considerable amount of money, and ensures that I don’t feel the pinch when I make the next upgrade.  Again, in times like now, the internet has made it easy for gear-heads to trade on online forums. Thankfully there are very few touts on these forums, and I would consider buying and selling safe (unless it is ebay.in).

So do I own my dream camera system? Will I stop ‘upgrading’? I don’t think so. Vitamin M is generally a problem, so it takes time to own a upgrade-proof  system of camera bodies and lenses. Also, yearning for the ‘best’ is like chasing a mirage.  I associate talks of ‘best’ with new comers. I have heard many a newbie ask, “which is the best camera” (generally followed by “Nikon or Canon?”).  And I hate to own stuff and not make use of it. Or worse, be a holiday shooter who takes out his expensive camera once in a blue moon or only to capture a blue moon. So along with Vitamin M, time is an important factor in deciding what I would buy next. I could go on and talk about how skill, the right company and motivation also matter, but let’s not get there .

Finally, a word of appreciation. Dealing directly with the US offices of companies like Canon, Alienbee and LowePro  has shown me how business should be conducted.  I’ve only experienced excellent pre-sales and after-sales support, something I cannot speak of with respect to their Indian counterparts.

PS: If you are wondering why I own all this gear and what my intentions are, read this.

My friends and I planned a trip towards Mysore on a Sunday, keeping the temple town of Melkote as our final destination. We had multiple agendas, but no fixed plan. We left Bangalore at 7 am, stopping at Kadambams near Channapatna for breakfast. Famous for its puliyogere, Kadambams didn’t fail to satisfy three hungry photographers.  Stomach’s full, we decided to make our next stop at Ranganathittu.  It was a wise decision, because we managed to get a boat just for ourselves as the crowds hadn’t started coming in yet. Niranj, the bird photographer in our group, had a field day shooting Painted Storks, Swallows, River Terns, Pelicans, Black-Headed Ibis’  and other species I couldn’t identify.  The boatman was good to us, and we paid him extra after the ride. So here’s a tip – if you want to photograph birds at Ranganathittu, reach early, hire a boat for yourself and strike a deal with the boatman to take you to where the action is. Most boatmen oblige.

Mysore was our next halt, because we had to pick up Nagesh’s wife. The mid-day heat was bad, so it was very comforting indoors. From there we headed out to have lunch at a Punjabi restaurant within Mysore (!) and headed back on the Bangalore-Mysore highway towards Melkote which happens to be in Mandya district. The route took a little longer than expected, and we reached Melkote only by 4:30. Another friend, Chitra, was already there with her family. We visited the famous Cheluva Narayana Swamy temple first. Then we headed towards the temple pond, also known as Kalyani. Bigger than most temple ponds, this one is apparently popular having appeared in many regional movies. Unfortunately I didn’t find much to photograph there. Being summer, we were all tired and thirsty. But we had to climb up to the Yoganarasimha temple. The sun was setting by the time we began our ascend. In about half an hour, we were at the temple. The sunset from atop the hill was disappointing, and soon we were down and back at the main street.

Melkote is famous for more than just its temples. The Iyengar community have perfected the art of making the tastiest puliyogere. Melkote puliyogere is apparently well known far and wide. Thanks to the ladies in our group, we got a chance to feast on this delicacy along with curd rice at Subbana’s mess.  Talking to the owner, we learnt that his family has been running this business for almost a century now, and he ‘exports’ his puliyogere to Bangalore by sending it via the government bus. Sitting in his old mess with no power,  listening to tales of  puliyogere and gobbling it was an experience by itself. We packed enough for home, and bid Subbana’s mess good bye. When we stepped out, we were greeted by clear star studded skies. What a wonderful sight it was! It was also a great way to end our road trip. We were back on the highway, and we reached Bangalore by around 10:30 pm.

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Road trips are fun. Especially in  the monsoon and immediately after. What better place to experience post-monsoon than South Canara?  Four of us set off in my car just to do that. We left Bangalore early one Friday in November, planning to reach our destination by evening. The destination  being a village called Kervashe near Karkala.

Belur and Halebid

Our first halt was for breakfast at Kamat Yatri Nivas near Channarayapatna. We feasted on idlies and dosas, finishing of the tasty meal with some really nice coffee. Tummies full, we headed towards Belur and Halebid, trusting my Mio C520 GPS for the right directions. It had helped us to stay on track right from when we left home,  without which we would have probably been heading towards Tumkur instead of Hassan.

Just before Halebid, we saw a bunch of guys using a noisy machine to remove the husk from corn ears in the courtyard of a typical country side house.They’d throw a  bucket full of corn ears into the back of the machine, and from the side it would pour freshly de-husked corn.  It was a very interesting sight for us, just as we, with our cameras, were to them   After spending 10-15 mins playing the perfect city slickers by standing and watching these guys at work, we thanked the supervisor and carried on.

Halebid was surprisingly not so crowded when we arrived. Just as we got off the car, there was this guy trying to sell me photos of Kama Sutra poses for rupees 2. He had somehow picked me from our group of four, and he kept repeating the “only rupees 2″ part. Why would I pay him that money when I can see the poses carved in stone for real? Once inside the premises, the girls insisted on hiring the services of a guide, which frankly I wasn’t interested in. The guide was repeatedly stopping for me to catch up with his narration, which I was not because my camera (and the aforementioned poses) held my attention better. Only after Sandeep told him a bunch of times to not wait for me did he realize I am not going to lend my ear. Anyway, I don’t remember what he said and I am sure none of the others do. I do distinctly remember that he had mugged up his lines pretty well and was dropping funny one-liners in broken English at regular intervals. Good fun it was.

After Halebid, we headed out to Belur. The roads were starting to get nasty as would be the case through most of the journey. At one junction we had a choice of either following a confusing sign on the road, or the GPS. And guess what? Our GPS was right, which we learnt after driving 5 km into the wrong direction (which btw was an awesome stretch of road and hence more inviting). We backtracked and took the correct route, which was slowly changing to more of lush, green countryside and less of barren highway. We even managed to stop by a sunflower farm where I did some memorable shooting.

Belur is not too far away from Halebid, but it was lunch time when we got there. So we first stopped at a  restaurant (the only one that looked decent enough). After lunch, we explored the temple premises of Belur. Once again, we hired a guide but this time around we got more than what we paid for. The guide was a very nice chap (so was the first guy actually), and overloaded us with trivia. This combined with the carvings on stone held us spellbound. Belur, unlike Halebid, has a functional temple and so had a lot of Indians doing what most Indians do at temples.  After some customary photos and failed bargaining with a chap selling tiny bronze idols, we headed out to our actual destination – Kervashe. We included a temple halt at Dharmastala for good measure enroute.

Kervashe

The saddest part of most road trips in India are the roads itself. Especially once you get off the National Highways and onto State Highways. The journey from Belur till Charmadi was back breaking and shock-absorber damaging. The roads were very, very bad. But the scenery around was really beautiful, as it is during post-monsoons. We stopped wherever we could, and soaked in everything. There is something about the damp air during the rains which leaves a lingering memory. At the Charmadi ghat, which btw was a decent stretch, we passed by little streams, waterfalls, leaves laden with rain drops and everything you’d expect to see in this season. The experience was really wonderful until we crossed the ghats and hit bad roads again. Now that part, I’d like to forget. The roads only got worse, all the way to Kervashe. And we were terribly behind schedule. One of the tyres gave in, and we had our first flat. The lucky part is that we were already at Kervashe when it happened.

So where or what is Kervashe? You’ll probably not even find it on Google maps (although my GPS did locate the main road). Kervashe is the ancestral village of my sibling friends Sandeep and Aishwarya. They have a huge century old house there and lots of farm land. The place is around 20 km from Karkala, the nearest town. And 20 km in the opposite direction, near Karkala is Nitte, where I did my engineering. So lots of old memories and places to revisit.

It was 10 pm when we reached Kervashe, and we had effectively covered only around 350 km since we left Bangalore at 5 am. We were exhausted, but in great spirits. We had a sumptuous dinner and hit the sack.  Only that I didn’t sleep too well because I knew I had to wake up early to catch the sunrise.

Sunrise the next morning was a little unexciting. I was up and outside shooting by 6 am, much to the surprise of Sandeep’s uncle and aunt. Staying in a house as old and as big as the one in Kervashe and owning farmland means that you need to have a daily routine just like in a factory. So the inhabitants of the house are up by 4 or 5 am, and start their daily activities which includes picking flowers for pooja, milking the cows, soaking rice for ganji (staple breakfast) and of course feeding the dogs. Workers who tend to the farm start coming in after sunrise, so the second part of the routine starts then. In spite of being busy, our hosts were extremely hospitable to us. Of course, only after they could find me. Cos I was away, somewhere deep inside the surrounding woods photographing bugs and insects

By 8 am my lazy companions were up and we finally got started on the walk to a nearby river we had planned the previous night. Prithvi, Sandeep’s 6 year old cousin was our guide.  Prithvi is one happy child. His backyard has more trees than you can count, his best friends are two eccentric dogs and his playground is paddy and rubber plantation farms. Nice no?

Now one thing about the monsoon season in coastal places is that in spite of all the charm rainfall brings, when it isn’t raining, the humidity levels are generally high. So by the time we reached the river, we were sweating quite a bit. We also caught a brief shower on the way, which only added to the fun. It was 9 am when we got to the river, and it was not as charming as it would have been had we got there at 6 or 7 am. Nevertheless, I got my off-camera lighting kit outside the bag and did some portraits with the strobes.

Hunger calling, we reached home after spending an hour or so by the river. Mid-day showers followed breakfast. Mid-day showers are awesome and dramatic. We hung around indoors and watched the rain. Reminded me so much of my summer holidays   Lunch and an afternoon siesta later, we  headed out to Karkala to relive some old memories. We also had to fix our flat tyre, and catch up with a common friend. Sandeep met some old buddies while the girls and I feasted on some local chat once we got there. It was 6 pm, and the skies turned threatening once again which I found totally exciting. I was planning to click thunderbolts after climbing up to the hill where the Gomata statue stands. But all three girls freaked out at the idea because they thought I’d be struck by lightening. I was reprimanded for my crazy notions and made to shut up and eat my chaat So much for planning your award winning Nat Geo shot.

If daylight gave us visual treats, evening time set us on a nostalgic journey as we drove back to our college to drop the common friend. It was dark, but that only meant we had to visualize a lot from old memories. Nothing much had changed in Nitte, and yet everything seemed new. It has been 10 years now, but it felt like just yesterday I was cycling back to my room, 4 km away from college, near this tiny village called Kemmanu where three of us stayed. Or it was only last week that I was walking back on the same road at night, with only starlight and the eeriness of glow worms on one particular tree to show me the way. Sandeep and I were college mates, so this time we were the guides and dropping trivia all along the way.  Those four years of college were the most significant in my life (as in any one’s life), and so many times in the recent past I have wondered how different things would have been if I had a DSLR in my hands back then. We had so much time on our hands and nothing to do. We had so many beautiful places around and only conversations to make memories with. But that is how life goes.

It was 8:30 pm when we reached the hostel gates where we bid goodbye to our companion of short duration and headed back to Kervashe. Post dinner, the girls and I headed a little away from the house into the courtyard where I set up my gear for photographing star trails. Spooky stories filled the air as I was doing my thing, and I shared my bit of ghost tales to keep the spirits high (pun intended).  Shots of star trails weren’t happening as expected because of cloudy skies, so we headed back in for some good sleep.

Back to Bangalore

The next morning was when we were to leave Kervashe back to Bangalore. We kept procrastinating our start time, and honestly none of us wanted to leave. I didn’t waste the opportunity of the extra time the delay gave me, and I was back in the woods shooting. But all good things must come to an end, and so it was soon time to say good bye to simple living, clean air and the mischievous Prithvi. We had planned two more appointments en route – breakfast at Sandeep’s uncle’s house in Karkala, and lunch in my cousin’s house in Ujire. Everything went as per schedule, with the only hitch being the parathas for breakfast didn’t permit me to do justice to lunch.  Or maybe it did, because 10 km away from Ujire we hit a flat again. This time it was a little worrying. Being a Sunday we couldn’t find a vulcanization shop, we were behind schedule and we’d soon be in the ghat section with no spare tyre. After throwing some ideas back and forward (which included an extended vacation in Ujire) we decided to say our prayers and continue our journey. Luckily we covered the ghat section with no further problems, and had the flat fixed near Chickmaglur when we reached there around 5. Thanks to the delay and bad roads, we had reached only Belur by dinner time. After food, Sandeep (who did most of the driving on this trip) wore his F1 hat and got us to Bangalore in 4 hours. It was around 3 am when I dropped off my travel companions at their respective houses and reached home for some well deserved R&R after 3 fun filled days.

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]]> http://pixelshooter.net/travel/belur-halebid-and-kervashe/feed/ 0 http://pixelshooter.net/travel/gujarat/ http://pixelshooter.net/travel/gujarat/#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 12:24:02 +0000 Pratap http://pixelshooter.net/?page_id=301 This is a place holder for my Gujarat trip write up.

Many thanks to Uday for carrying my tripod on this trip and generally putting up with my photography excess

On this trip I shot with a 40D, 5D, and a bunch of lenses.

For now, here is how it went:

(20/12/2008) – Khan’s Engagement at Chennai

Day 01 (21/12/2008): Ahmedabad

Day 02 (22/12/2008): Ahmd/Heritage walk

Day 03 (23/12/2008): Ahmd/Tourist Home/Sarkej Roza/ Adalaj Stepwells

Day 04 (24/12/2008) – Sabbath, bloody Sabbath

Day 05 (25/12/2008): Ahmd/Modhera/Little Rann of Kutch

Day 06 (26/12/2008): Bhuj/Crafts village/

Day 07 (27/12/2008): Bhuj/Kavada/Kala Dunger (Oh, the wonderful sunset)

Day 08 (28/12/2008): Bhuj/Mandvi

Day 09 (29/12/2008): Ahmd

Day 10 (30/: 12/2008): Ahmd

Day 11: (31/12/2008): Pune – Dandiya Night

Day 12: (01/01/2009): Pune– Wedding

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Update: You’ll now find photographs at the end of this write up. Click here to go there directly.

Bhutan is nestled in the Himalayas between India and Tibet. With a reputed tour operator and a little money, you can travel through the picturesque terrains of this small kingdom in a cozy 4X4, with a guide filling you with trivia that you can later recall when explaining photographs to friends. You’ll see snow capped mountains, oriental and architecturally beautiful Dzongs, do some trekking, visit handicraft stores and maybe participate in a local festival (if the timing is right). Tourism is big here, so Bhutan is very tourist friendly. Two of us, a childhood friend and I, visited Bhutan in February 2006 as backpackers, minus the tour operator and a 4X4.

Our route was as follows:

Kolkata – Siliguri (NJP) – Phuentsholing – Thimpu – Paro – Phuentsholing – Siliguri – Kolkata

In the next few pages I have written about the experiences we had in
Bhutan. You’ll also find photographs of this beautiful country
captured through my camera. This travelogue is brief and only captures the broad details of the trip. You have to be there to experience the finer aspects of backpacking to a place like Bhutan.

Moving to Bangalore, I heard first hand accounts about life in Auroville from Kien.  He was a German, touring India, and by the end of his stay in India he had seen more of the country in one year than I had in my lifetime. And of all the places, he loved Auroville. He had gotten into the system there, and was sustaining his stay at Auroville by teaching and helping. His girlfriend was already teaching there. So on his invitation, a childhood friend Abhishek and I visited Auroville from Chennai in the December of 2007. We had just attended a school reunion, so there was a wave of nostalgia that was over us. I was only meeting Abhishek on and off over the years ever since I left Chennai in 2000. He was my travel companion to Bhutan in early 2006, so we had a lot of catching up to do. So the drive to Auroville was spent reminiscing about old times. At Auroville, Kien was our all-access card to the life that outsiders (Indians) don’t get to see. It was a lot of fun, but we had only two days there. Our trip also coincided with Christmas, and that added a special touch because we got to attend the celebrations. You should stay in the tree houses they have there sometime. It is fun

The second time I visited Auroville was my friend Sandeep and his girlfriend. I had just purchased my first car, and we drove all the way. It was a short visit again, but this time I knew my way around Auroville. We attended a few concerts the impressive auditorium they have there, breathed in the beautiful and mystical coastal air, and felt like we were in a parallel society for the two days there.  Having a car really helped us get around easily, and we also briefly visited Pondicherry. Honestly, there is nothing much to do in Pondicherry. Auroville is a much better way to quickly escape the drabness of city life.  There is a lot to do, and yet you can do nothing. You can just be.

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