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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.

Indian Roller

The Indian Roller is a bird which is quite common all over India, especially Southern India. It is the State bird of Karnataka, and we saw it quite often on our visit to Hampi, Aihole, and Badami.





However, I never managed to get a decent photograph. On my recent trip to interior Maharashtra, we were surprised to see the Indian Roller all over the place. So often, in fact, that Samhith now prides himself on being able to identify it from a distance!!!



We spent much of our time in the bus looking out for birds, even though we couldnt always identify them... and every time we saw a Roller, it was nice to see Samhith excitedly pointing it out. I wonder what the other passengers thought of us!!!



I did manage to photograph the bird finally, when we were travelling by auto. And each time, the auto driver appeared surprised that I was stopping to take photos of birds!!!! The last one said, "Mumbai might be a big city and life there might be wonderful, but I guess you don't see birds there, do you?" How right he is! 


Comments

  1. A perceptive auto driver and lovely pictures of the bird!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mridula! and such perceptive chaps are really rare

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  3. Indias roller, this is a very nice bird. A beautiful day for you. Greetings Dietmut

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's rare to find at our place. Nice to see the pic of this beautiful bird. Thanks for sharing. ~ Tariq Mehmood

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lovely clicks!!

    http://www.rajniranjandas.blogspot.in

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice shots! Didn't know it's the state bird of Karnataka. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice photos.. Thanks for sharing..:)

    manuponnappa.blogspot.in

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