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Odisha Part 6: The Yogini Temple of Hirapur

I fell in love with this temple the first time I set eyes on it. Back in 2017 , I had been excited to see yet another Yogini temple, when I visited Puri. The resort I was staying at (and writing for), had arranged for a car and driver to take me around. The driver was happy to take me to most of the places I wanted to go, but when it came to Hirapur, he was appalled. He knew of the temple, but had never been there. It was a tantric temple, one not visited by women, and certainly not women travelling alone. He tried to convince me not to go, but my stubbornness and persistence paid off, and he reluctantly agreed when I told him that if he didn’t take me, I would find another driver who would. All along the way, he kept going on about the sinister things that happened at the temple, the tantric rituals that were performed at night…. An Odisha brahmin who took his religious duties very seriously, to the extent of stopping the car to perform the sandhyavandam when he deemed it time, he...
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Blue Oak Leaf Butterfly

On our recent visit to the Maharashtra Nature Park, we were early as usual and waiting for others to turn up. Not having permission to enter the campus itself, we were sitting near the entrance, Samhith jumping up and down. Even as I was wondering how to make him settle down, we noticed a butterfly hovering over the nearby tree. I despaired of taking a photograph, since in my limited experience, butterflies rarely stop long enough to allow me to focus my camera and take a decent pic. This turned out to be my lucky day, since the butterfly settled on the tree and refused to move.
I inched as close as I could and managed to get quite a few shots in before I realized that the reason why the butterfly wasn't moving too much was that its wings had been injured. there was a large tear on both its wings, though it did fly away after a while, reassuring me that it could still manage to fly and take care of itself. The butterfly was so beautifully camouflaged that both of us simply stared at it for as long as it sat on the tree, even after I had clicked to my hearts content. Here are the photos of the Blue Oak Leaf Butterfly.....







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Location: Maharashtra Nature Park, Dharavi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

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