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The Vaishnodevi Experience 2023

My first trip to Vaishnodevi was unimpressive. Climbing was hard, and it only served to highlight how badly out of shape I was, while my in-laws managed to cope so much better. Further, I hadn’t quite realized that the cave experience wouldn’t be the same as I had imagined, since the original cave was only opened at certain times a year, and that we only entered a newly created tunnel, one far easier to access, and hence more manageable with the crowds that thronged the mountain shrine. The resulting experience at the shrine, for barely a fraction of a second, hardly compared to what I had expected / imagined / heard about. So, for me, Vaishnodevi was like any other temple, nothing to write home about, something that was reflected (though not explicitly mentioned) in the blog post I wrote then.

Camouflage!



We noticed this insect just because it jumped as Samhith was trying to pick up a stone! Otherwise we wouldn't even have known it was there! Any idea about which insect it is?


Comments

  1. Nice picture but I have no idea what the insect is.

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  2. I cant identify it... but I like the way.. you've clicked a pic of this little thing and made him a celebrity.. :-)

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  3. Don't know the name of the insect Anu.

    Can see, however, the deception because of the similarity in colors to its background. I guess that's what they mean by camouflage!?

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  4. May be one belonging to grasshopper family.......

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  5. We saw a rock agama brilliantly camouflaged against the colourless rock in Nandi hills recently..will find out reg the insect

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  6. This is brilliant! I wouldn't have called it an insect had you not mentioned it. it looks more like a crooked root.

    No idea what it is. Though it seems like a shorter grasshopper/cricket variety. These guys are experts in camouflaging. So, I am assuming that this insect is related to them.

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  7. That is a cricket.
    Brown version of grasshopper.

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  8. @Mridula: thanks.... I wouldnt even have realised it was one, but it jumped :)

    @Patty: :) I never thought of it that way... but then again... wonder if it would know, what would it think???

    @Celine: Absolutely! I used the pic to explain the word to my son!

    @Chitra: yes, it did look like that....

    @Lakshmi: Isnt it amazing, the kind of things we see these days now that we carry a camera around, and look for things to shoot??? I never even noticed them before!

    @Indrani: thanks a lot! u seem to be the only one who has any idea about the insect....

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  9. @Sankara: you were right! Indrani just commented that it was the cricket variety! and even i wouldnt have realised that it was an insect... just cause it jumped i managed to notice it... and thankfully it stayed still long enough for me to take a pic!

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  10. Damn, i was looking for the insect in the picture and then realised i was staring right through it... :)

    What a camouflage...yep, i also think its a cricket family insect only.. Amazes me to think God thought so deep to create such mysterious creatures as well ..

    Samhith must've been intrigued... :))

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  11. Well spotted and neat image...Thomas

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  12. Good shot...but don't know what the insect is....

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  13. it does look like a cricket from this angle...

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  14. Once in the area I was studying there was a locust storm and I was also a volunteer in the campaign to eradicate them. The creature you have photographed looks like that very monster!. Good shot.

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