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Odisha Part 2 - Puri: The Experience of Jagannath

The temple of Jagannath at Puri is one of the four most important temples across India. Sometimes called the Char Dham – Badrinath in the north, Rameswaram in the South, Dwarka in the west, and Puri in the east – these temples mark four corners of our country, and each of these temples has a connection to Adi Shankara. He is said to have travelled to each of them, thus marking a sacred geography of India, long before the country actually existed. Among these 4 temples, 3 are dedicated to Lord Vishnu, while only Rameswaram is dedicated to Lord Shiva, though the lingam there is said to have been installed by Rama. Further, Shankara set up Mutts at 3 of these sites (or very close to these sites, like at Badrinath, where the mutt is at Joshimutt), while the mutt in the south is at Sringeri in Karnataka, quite a distance away from Rameswaram. Coming back to the topic, I have visited Rameswaram most often, Badrinath during my childhood, and Dwaraka a few times, but Puri had stayed out of re...
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Water Birds at Gokarna

Driving through Gokarna in the monsoon, the last thing we expected to see were birds. Therefore, when, in the middle of nowhere, when Samhith excitedly shouted,  "Amma!! Flamingo!!" I didnt really believe him. I didn't believe my eyes either, when, a little way off, there was indeed a bird, which, from a distance, did look like a flamingo. We requested our auto driver to take us closer, without disturbing the birds, which, to our relief. he did, with a smile, here is what we saw....



Yes, it was indeed a flamingo!



And it wasnt alone. These ducks gave it company...


These are Lesser Whistling Ducks or Lesser Whistling Teals, which seem to be quite common birds, but nice to see nevertheless! Thanks Karthik for help with the identification. 


This little cormorant was busy drying itself.....



And a little farther, was this Lapwing...



Common birds they might be, but seeing them so unexpectedly, certainly perked us up!

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Location: Gokarna, Karnataka, India

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 5, 2013 at 9:21 AM

    Chancelesss!!!! superb Click YAr!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. vaidehiNovember 5, 2013 at 8:48 PM

    Superb images !!!
    www.vaidehivaidehi.blogspot.com.au

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sankara Subramanian CNovember 6, 2013 at 4:11 AM

    WOW! Flamingos in and around Gokarna is so rare. Either you were extremely lucky or bird migration patterns have started to change. Either ways, it was good you could see these birds. I am going to give it a try too and see what comes my way :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarNovember 6, 2013 at 2:32 PM

      Thanks Sankara! we were indeed lucky, but am not really sure if it is a change in the migration pattern. there was just this one flamingo around, so it was probably lost or made the place its permanent home :D but it was nice to see it nevertheless. but do go and see if it is still there!

      Delete
  4. Paresh KaleNovember 6, 2013 at 7:14 PM

    First time seeing flamingos see around Gokarna, never knew ! TFS

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownNovember 7, 2013 at 10:09 AM

    the pictures are really great...
    the cormorant, is the best one, the moment captured is awesome...

    pulkit

    ReplyDelete
  6. MridulaNovember 9, 2013 at 5:16 PM

    The lapwing reflection looks so good!

    ReplyDelete
  7. kritikaJanuary 12, 2017 at 8:02 PM

    Hi, loved the photographs, would love read about kaikondranahalli lake birds.

    ReplyDelete

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