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.
Summer always brings a number of parrots to our house. The red berries growing on the tree opposite our house ripen in the heat of peak summer, and attract these birds by the dozen.They blend in so well with the greenery that we know of their presence only by the racket they make. Unfortunately, it has not been all that easy to photograph them so far. This year though, I managed to get some decent pics...
Incidentally, these are called 'Rose Ringed Parakeets', though we all simply know of them by the generic name of 'parrots'! You can see the ring around their neck clearly in the next couple of pics.....
Very nice article
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