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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.
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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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