The city of Kashi is filled with temples, big and small, old and new. There are temples at every corner, and you never know where you will stumble upon a small shrine. There are idols beneath what remains of trees (there are hardly any trees any more within the core area of the city), there are saffron covered forms resembling deities which seem attached to walls, an especially incongruous sight when the idol itself appears to be old, while the wall is evidently new…. And there are surprisingly large temples rising from what appear to be a bunch of houses. The city is sometimes colloquially said to be as old as time, and some of the shrines and temples are said to date back to times unknown, at least the deity itself, if not the structure. Not much remains of the ancient structures anyway. The city has seen more than its fair share of good and bad times. It has seen the heights of grandeur, and the lows brought about by destruction. The city that exists today has grown so haphaza...
The first time we headed to Kukkarahalli Kere, all I intended
was to spend some time relaxing out in the open, preferably reading my book,
while Samhith played around by himself. But with sights like these, that was
not to be!
I first read of the lake in a magazine, which mentioned it
as one of the less known green lungs of the city, far from the touristy crowds.
It sounded inviting enough, but I would never have headed there if we hadn’t found
ourselves at a loose end every evening. Everything in Mysore seems to shut down
around 5 PM – the palaces, the museums, the art galleries, the zoo…. What were
we to do then? I couldn’t possibly expect Samhith to walk with me aimlessly
along the streets. Since I didn’t want to spend time in the room, engrossed in
the idiot box, I chose instead to head out to the lake, where the vast, green
expanse, created over a hundred years ago, proceeded to charm us!
These Purple Moorhens, plentiful in the marshy area around
the lake, were the first to capture our attention. We hadn’t seen any before,
so out came my camera at once, all thoughts of reading forgotten!
As we walked along the banks of the lake, eager to see what
other birds we could spot, a movement in the trees caught our attention. It took
us only a few moments to spot the bird – a Grey Hornbill! Over the next couple
of days, we saw lots of these birds, but I couldn’t manage a decent capture. The
only time I did was at the Karanji lake, but more about that later.
With so much water around, there were plenty of water birds….
Such as Pond Herons…
And Purple Herons…
The next time we found ourselves with a couple of hours to spare, off we headed to the
lake once again, this time all set to watch birds… and we were well rewarded
for our enthusiasm too! The other side of the lake seemed filled with birds…. Even
more than the day before! As Samhith said, it felt we were back at Ranganathittu
Bird Sanctuary (yes, that’s for another post too!)
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| White Ibis and one Grey Heron... far off on the other bank of the lake. |
And besides, what we had assumed were ducks, turned out to
be a family of Common Coots, another bird we had never seen before!
Many of the birds we saw are common ones, but for us, it was
a wonderful experience, more so since we didn’t really expect to see any of
them in the middle of May.
Besides, this was the perfect opportunity for Samhith to renew
his acquaintance with birds… and in the five days we spent in the city, we had
plenty of such opportunities. You will have to wait to read more about them!
Nicely captured images Anu. I saw my first purple moorhens and common coots in Delhi at the Okhla Bird Sanctuary. There is something so exciting to see some bird species for the first time, even if it is common enough, isn't it? :)
ReplyDeleteOne of my friend was talking about Kukkarahalli Kere a few days ago and now I landed on your blog post... I think I should make a plan to go there. Thanks for nice photos.
ReplyDeleteI am Sure You Had a Beautiful Evening.
ReplyDeleteThe snaps Are Beautiful & this is the first time i am watching some of them.
Good spotting and good shots! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely time you spent by the lake! I wish one day I could travel with my son, like you. My son has already developed some liking towards birds (at least that's what I think) and he loves to travel. Hope this doesn't change in future!
ReplyDeleteThank you for penning this down, although i regularly visit the lake for jog, but fail to recognise the birds,
ReplyDelete