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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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Birds From my Window - Purple Rumped Sunbird

Starting the week with this gorgeous bird I see from my window every single morning when I send Samhith off to school....





The Purple Rumped Sunbird is a regular at our colony, and I see them everyday, busy sucking nectar from flowers. They are, however, not at all easy to photograph, and I have only been able to capture these since this one arrives every morning, just before 8 AM, perches on the wire for a while and looks all around peacefully before getting to work! 


For a tiny bird, which is less than 10cm long, it is amazingly colourful!


Look at all the different shades of blue/ purple it has, on that tiny body!


What better way to begin a week, than with such a colourful bird, right?

I live in Mumbai, in a colony lucky enough to still have plenty of trees and open spaces. The best part of living here are the birds I see from my window, every single day. "Birds from my Window" is a series, where I regularly feature photos of birds I see from my home. To see all the posts in this series, click here. 

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Location: Chedda Nagar, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Comments

  1. CharuOctober 6, 2015 at 10:53 AM

    It's gorgeous! You are lucky to be able to spot so many lovely birds right from your window :)

    ReplyDelete

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