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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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Red Flowers

Looking back, collating the images from my summer trip, I realized that we had seen many flowers, and most of them were red!! Here, take a look -

Red Passion Flower - can you see a bee buzzing in there?




Red Ginger
I saw these two flowers in the resort in Bangalore where I attended a wedding. Is it any surprise that I clicked them instead of paying attention to the ceremonies?

Lobster Claw or Hanging Heliconia

Flamingo Flower
These two were abundant in the compound of our hotel at Wayanad. It was impossible, not to click them!

Blood Lily
As to this one, it stood out proudly, the only splash of colour, in an otherwise green landscape, at the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary Visitors Enclosure!

Beautiful, aren't they? And with such interesting names too!!!

P.S. Many thanks to Flowers of India for helping me identify them!

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Comments

  1. MridulaSeptember 24, 2013 at 4:41 PM

    Beautiful collection.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bindhu UnnySeptember 24, 2013 at 6:16 PM

    Nice clicks, Anu. Never seen a red passion flower and red ginger flower.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarSeptember 25, 2013 at 4:35 PM

      Thanks Bindhu! I hadnt seen these either! had to search to get the names too :D

      Delete
  3. SujitSeptember 25, 2013 at 2:15 PM

    Awesome...
    Really nice collection,

    ReplyDelete
  4. IndraniSeptember 26, 2013 at 1:57 PM

    These are lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousSeptember 26, 2013 at 3:53 PM

    I like your post and everything you share with us is current and very informative,you have done a fantastic job
    Car Hire Punei

    ReplyDelete

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