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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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Red Wattled Lapwings

We have seen Red Wattled Lapwings in Mumbai, but got a really close look at them while at Mount Abu and Udaipur. Though it was summer, there was plenty of water, and these birds were prominently visible near every water body we visited.


A pair of lapwings at Nakki Lake, Mount Abu....


We saw these birds when we went boating, and couldn't get any closer.....




And then at Udaipur, they were everywhere!

Nehru Park, on an island in the Fateh Sagar Lake, was a bird haven - we saw many birds and lost count of time photographing them. There were plenty of lapwings there.....


Some of them seemed to be nesting... we saw many like these sitting down at the same spot, and wondered if it was a nest.....




We even saw one bird sit down in the middle of the path!



In the same garden, some of the lapwings seemed unafraid of us, and allowed us to come close, giving me some wonderful photos!







After all those male and female lapwings, it was time for the young ones! We saw these chicks at the Udaipur zoo. No, they weren't in the enclosures, but were walking around freely, which only made the experience more memorable!




More information about Red Wattled Lapwings:
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Location: Fateh Sagar Lake, Udaipur, Rajasthan

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