Skywatch Friday�The Gol Gumbaz of Bijapur

The very symbol of Bijapur, the Gol Gumbaz towers over all the monuments in the town. The monument is a mausoleum built in the 17th century for the Sultan of Bijapur, Mohammad Adil Shah and it is proudly referred to as the �structural triumph of Deccan architecture.� The dome , one of the largest in the world was supposed to be like a budding rose, emerging from the petals of the flower that stood at its base and hence it was called the �rose dome�.

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Inside Story - Saat Khabar�a �grave� destination in Bijapur

My last halt in Bijapur turns out to be a bit of a grave destination and the setting of a cold blooded tale. It is well past five in the evening and I have been on a whirlwind tour of the heritage town where almost every monument is a mahal or a mosque or a mausoleum. But I have not had my fill as yet.

The auto driver is a bit sceptical when I tell him that I want to head to Saat Kabar. He tries to dissuade me . � There is no road. You may have to go there walking on your own. The auto cannot go there,� he says . He warns me that it is rather isolated and there will be no one around. But I refuse to be cowed down .

We drive down, leaving the dusty town and hit the highway. A detour takes us across a few scattered homes as we watch some boys play cricket on the empty grounds. The auto stops at a dead-end. All that I see in front of me is just a bit of dense undergrowth and a clump of bushes. There is no path. Thorny thickets are thrust in front of me as I walk behind the auto driver looking out for snakes. On one side is sheer wilderness and on the other lush fields.

We keep walking and suddenly I spy the outline of a monument peeping at us through the trees. Brick red in colour, it seems to be on the other side of a high compound wall with no path to access it. I stop and look at it towering in front of me, the unkempt branches of the trees snaking towards it, shrouding it from public view.

It is eerie and quiet but I wonder if this is the Saat Kabar or the sixty graves of the murdered wives of Afzal Khan, the army chief of Adil Shahi 11. The graves narrate the gruesome fate of these women who were killed by none other than their own husband. The tragic story is set in the 17th century, at a time when Chatrapathi Shivaji wages war against Adil Shah 11 . Afzal Khan leads the forces but is distracted by an astrologer who tells him that he will not survive the battle. The jealous and possessive commander decides to kill all his 60 wives lest they remarry after the war. So, he beckons them to an isolated spot and pushes them into a well and murders them. One of them tries to escape, but is captured later and killed as well.

I am actually standing in the middle of nowhere amidst wilderness looking for these sixty graves. Suddenly my auto driver calls out to me. He is ahead of me, near a clearing and I make my way through the shrubs only to see a vast open space . There lie several graves , made of black stone, arranged neatly in rows, sending out a silent epitaph to those women. Some of these stones are broken , while they lie open to the skies. Afzal Khan apparently wanted to be buried near his wives as well, but he never returned from the battlefield.

The silence is ominous here, almost echoing the last cries of the women who were pushed to their death here. I feel a shiver and hurry back to the safe confines of civilisation.

This was published in my column , Inside Story in The Hindu Metro Plus

The force of the cascades - Feeling Alive is Awesome

There can be no other feeling more wonderful than dipping your feet in cold , running water and feeling the spray on your face as the cascades knock you down with force . Try bathing in a waterfall , when the rocks are slippery and the water almost lures you to a different world. There is nothing more exciting and energising in life .  You throw your hands in gay abandon and let yourself be purged by the milky white waters rushing through the cliffs in mountains and descending downwards to join a wayward river.

My earliest memory is a bath in the Courtrallam Falls, often referred to as the Spa of South India. With the Western Ghats bordering it, the mist of Agasthiyamalai in the background, the waters of Courtrallam is formed through several rivers that have their source up in the hills and they bring down with them medicinal properties. There are nine waterfalls in all here, but the three main ones are the Old Coutrallam, the Five Falls and the Main Falls. I was barely a child when I went to Courtallam as our native village is down South in Tirunelveli, barely an hour away .

During my recent visit, I drove down to another beautiful falls, called Manimuthar, an absolutely stunning scenic spot, lost to man . A few monkeys and some locals join me as I let the waters rejuvenate me .

Waterfalls either come with a fancy name or they do not have a name at all. In Kodaikanal, the tourists are familiar with Silver Cascade, but deep inside the mountains is a fall that has taken the world of advertising by storm. This waterfall was one of the earliest to be branded and we walked through rain and hail to experience the force of the cascades.

Recently I visited Goa and saw an entirely different side to the beach country. Goa is not just a destination � it is a state of mind. I travelled into the deep forests in Goa and hiked around and came upon this cascade of waters. Not all waterfalls are famous or have a name, but sometimes its the experience that you remember. We spotted snakes and birds and listened to the hooves of gaurs who thumped around the rocks as they left. In Mollem, we crossed two rivers and a wildlife sanctuary and climbed up rocks to see the milky white Dudhsagar Falls , but that will soon be another post.

One of the most gorgeous waterfalls  down South is the Athirampally Falls bordering Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The mist, the spray, the foam, the rainforests, the mountains in the background � Athirampally is absolutely gorgeous as she takes a fall into the valley below. We hiked up and crossed the border and saw the Vazhachal Falls gently tumbling down the rocks.

And finally the Chitrakoot Waterfalls in Chhattisgarh. Now, this is an experience I can never forget. The fury of the cascading waters was echoing in our ears as we woke up to see the massive waterfalls greet us from our rooms.

We took a boat and went right below the massive waterfalls and let ourselves be completely drenched . The spray hit us, the foam blinded us and the sound was absolutely deafening, but what an experience ! Something that needs to be soaked in.

More alive is awesome experiences include Shimsha in Karnataka ( I am yet to visit Jog), the Corbett Falls up north and of course, the Hogenakkal Falls in Tamil Nadu . 

Skywatch Friday� a haunting tale in Coorg

This Skywatch, we visit Coorg to hear a haunting tale behind an ancient temple. For more lovely skies around the world, do visit Skywatch every Friday.

I was gazing at the reflection of the dome in the waters when the temple bells shook me out of my reverie. It has now become a habit with me. Almost at every portal of a temple, I stop by to hear sagas of intrigue and passion and tales of Gods and demons. I often lose myself in these myths that lend an air of mystery to these monuments. A haunting tale , I believe echoes from the silent walls . But I wasn�t prepared for this story. � This temple was built because of a ghost ! �exclaimed my driver a while ago as he pulled into the parking lot of the Omkareshwar temple.
It was dusk in Madikeri and there was a slight nip in the air .� You mean, its haunted ? � I asked giving him a quizzical look and looking up at the domes of this early 19^th century temple built in the Indo sarcenic style. The lights came on giving it an ethereal feel as the reflections danced in the waters of the tank below. I felt a slight shiver although I dismissed the ghost story and went right in.
The temple dedicated to Lord Shiva , however did resonate with a tale of a king haunted by a ghost . It was the early 19^th century, when Coorg was ruled by the Haleri king Lingaranjendra, whom the history books paint as a tyrant. Violent, whimsical and with an eye for women, the king hardly fought wars during his reign. Instead he hunted tigers and women with equal vigor and was known to have a veritable zoo in his court and an ever increasing harem.
Our story starts one summer morning when a poor Brahmin comes to Madikeri with the intention of giving his daughter away to the Raja�s harem, as he was unable to take care of her. He however changed his mind and left Madikeri after listening to stories about the king from Subarasaiah, another Brahmin who lived in the town. When the king heard about the incident, he mercilessly beheaded Subarasaiah�s sons besides slaughtering the Brahmin as well.

Lingarajendra went to sleep that night only to be woken up by Subarasaiah staring at him .The visits continued as the king became distraught as the spirit hovered around him. The dead Brahmin had become a demon or a Brahma Rashasa . Tantriks finally advised the king to build a Shiva temple and bring a linga from Varanasi to appease the demon . The king however did not recover fully and died within a year.
The temple built in IndoSarcenic style has domes and turrets and overlooks a beautiful pond with a mandapa in the middle. A light they say perpetually glows from the sanctum. Even today, I hear, the spirit of the demon roams freely in the sacred grove within the temple premises where the Brahma Rakshasa resides.
The twilight hour slowly turned dark as the starry night sky reflected in the waters as I left the temple. The story left me wondering why mortals sometime behave more like demons.

Birding in Ganeshgudi�the many shades of blue

In Ganeshgudi, you see many shades of blue when you go birdwatching. The Tickell�s Blue and the white bellied flycatchers, the verditer , the monarch, the malabar whistling thrush, the asian fairy blue bird and the blue capped rock thrush show off their plumage as you gaze at them lovingly through your lens. Here are some birds that make you go blue in your face�

Asian Fairy Blue Bird above and the Blue capped rock thrush below


The verditer above and the malabar whistling thrush below


Tickell�s blue above and the white bellied flycatcher below

The monarch

Skywatch Friday - Sunset in a barren field

There is beauty in barrenness. Many a time I have stopped in the middle of a road journey while journeying through obscure villages just for moments like this. 

This was photographed while driving through some cotton fields in North Karnataka. To see some amazing skies around the world, visit Skywatch. And if you like my photographs, you could join me on my Travel Page on Facebook.

Skywatch - At Shettihalli Church

When I first visited the ruins of the submerged church in Shettihalli ,  four years ago, I could barely go near it as it was almost floating under water. During my second trip , I found it still surrounded by the backwaters . However I managed to go near the church during one of the dry seasons and this is how it looked then.

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Skywatch - River Bhadra and her moods

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Where would you like to be this Monday ?

The Monday series is back after a short break ..how about being in a place where you can get refreshed by the monsoons that have just set in ..The skies over the Shettihalli church looked like it will open up any moment and it drizzled for a while as well

Skywatch - The sky , the earth and a lone traveller

There is the husband surveying the world beneath his feet from the hills of Karnataka, India .

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Skywatch - Standing tall

With all due respect to John Keats, my favourite poet - " The poetry of the earth (and sky ) is never dead.."

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So where would you like to be this Monday ?

I would like to be here - where I was over the last weekend -up in the hills , deep inside the forests,  on a cliff enjoying a 360* view of hills and watching the mist come and go ...

How was your weekend ? 

Where would you like to be this Monday ?

Would you like to be here this Monday ?

I was at Sira lake yesterday and was mesmerized by the clear blue of the waters . Bordered by an old fort built by the Nayaks, which is in ruins today, Sira was once a province of the Mughal dynasty and the town was its capital.

Inside Story - Onake Kindi - rock art from a prehistoric site

We passed through lush fields as we drove down from Anegundi.    There were neither huts nor shops in sight. All that we could see were columns of boulders randomly stacked on top of each other.  Our auto stopped in front of some paddy fields as my guide Virupaksha announced our destination. � Onake Kindi - This is a prehistoric site madam .�

The sun�s rays beat down rather mercilessly as we crossed the fields and climbed our way through a steep narrow pathway in a rocky terrain. The path led us to a wide plateau of tall grass , where we found ourselves ringed in by hillocks. There was no one in sight. �Keep a watch for snakes,� came a word of caution,  as we wondered where we had landed.

The idea of heading to Onake Kindi  came up when I asked Virupaksha about  megalithic dolmens in a site  called Mourya Mane . I learnt that it was much further and high up in the hills and Virupaksha convinced me that he would instead take me to a prehistoric site closer to Anegundi, which had some rock paintings.

As we walked through the grass and looked around the boulders, we found a rock with some red and white markings, which had some stick figures of humans and some animals like the bull. In another boulder was a circular diagram which looked like drawings of sun and moon, but we could not figure out the symbolism behind it.

On my return to Bangalore, I started researching on the prehistoric sites near Anegundi and learnt from Professor  Ravi Korisettar , an authority on the subject that the rock painting  belonged to the Iron Age,  somewhere around the period of about 1500 BC .

(PIC : Aarti K)

 �The faded circular painting is a very rare depiction of a megalithic style of burial. If you look closely, you can see a human body in the middle and a lot of burial goods, surrounded by a  stone circle� said Professor Korisettar , from  the  Department of  History and Archaeology from   Karnatak University in Dharwad.

The sun and moon like symbols , the ladder and the water depicted on the rock probably referred to their various beliefs .� We can only interpret these images; the sun and moon for instance can be seen in some hero stones as well which probably suggests immortality,�  added Prof Srikumar Menon, a Faculty of Architecture from the Manipal Institute of Technology.

You will find the bull in almost all paintings . It is a reference to the bull cult, which was a male fertility symbol, � explained Professor Korisettar , talking about the symbolism in rock art.

I had not understood the significance  of the paintings when I had seen those crude red sketches on the rocks. However as I delved deeper into it, I realized that we were probably looking at some of the most ancient forms of beliefs that are rather deep rooted within us  today.

This story was published in the Metro Plus today in my column, Inside Story . I thank Professors Ravi KoriSettar and Srikumar Menon for sharing a lot of insights with me and Santosh Martin for putting me on to them. Its amazing to see how every corner of our country is so rich and it makes travel a wonderful experience for a simple vagabond like me . 

Hampi - A perspective

Mahanami Dibba - Hampi

Built by king Krishnadevaraya to celebrate his victory over the rulers of Udayagiri, this is the Mahanami Dibba. Virupaksha, my guide told me that this is where the kings presided over a ceremony or a festival, especially during Navaratri . As this post coincides with Navratri, I couldnt but help wondering about the celebrations in that era. Climbing up, I saw the entire landscape of this forgotten town, lost in ruins. I took this picture when I was leaving the Royal Enclosure. It just made me think how we are so tiny and our achievements , even more insignificant and yet, we gloat over them. Even a mighty empire like Vijaynagar had to crumble one day.

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Hampi - Photo essay on a nomadic life

We met a few nomads in Hampi and the women folk shyly spoke to us. They are mainly from  Belgaum, but they hardly have a destination called home. They move from villages to villages, often working as shepherds or rear cattle and live in temporary settlements. Their belongings are usually their horses and a few vessels which they carry along with their bundle of clothes.

They work in and around the villages in Hampi until the monsoons are over and then they begin their journey towards their home again. However, when you ask them whether they are headed home , they just smile and say no..When pressed for an answer as to where they are headed, they simply say - " To the next village."

India through my eyes - rustic life

While returning from Daroji, we stopped by at a small village near Hampi to have tea. The locals gathered around us and the mothers asked us to take photographs of their kids. They were extremely happy to see the photographs and within minutes, the entire village, which probably consists of a few houses had gathered around us. As I left the hamlet , I saw the happy faces of these people and told myself that happiness is not that elusive after all.