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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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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! 


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Comments

  1. MridulaNovember 24, 2012 at 1:38 PM

    A perceptive auto driver and lovely pictures of the bird!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarNovember 24, 2012 at 8:08 PM

      Thanks Mridula! and such perceptive chaps are really rare

      Delete
  2. Rebecca SawNovember 24, 2012 at 4:14 PM

    Hi hi! I have sent you an email Hope you received it?

    ReplyDelete
  3. DietmutNovember 24, 2012 at 9:56 PM

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

    ReplyDelete
  4. Airport Limo ServiceNovember 25, 2012 at 7:10 PM

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

    ReplyDelete
  5. R Niranjan DasNovember 26, 2012 at 3:04 PM

    Lovely clicks!!

    http://www.rajniranjandas.blogspot.in

    ReplyDelete
  6. SanandNovember 27, 2012 at 6:57 PM

    Superb clicks and useful info.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bindhu UnnyDecember 4, 2012 at 11:19 AM

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

    ReplyDelete
  8. Manu PonnappaDecember 4, 2012 at 3:31 PM

    Nice photos.. Thanks for sharing..:)

    manuponnappa.blogspot.in

    ReplyDelete
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