Hampi - A monochromatic viewpoint - Part III

So many rocks and so many structures, but what about the life they hold, support and help thrive and grow?  Though there are plenty, just shared a few here for the one reason that these lifeforms in monochrome will not do justice to their colorful selves and also of course with 3 parts this blog is just about long enough, of which I am very aware.. :)

The family sat on the top most available rock in the area, looking down at us curiously. Serving as the vantage point, it was comfortable and spacious enough for an entire troop. All the Langurs on this rock were mothers with their young.

Another smaller family of macaques sat on a different rock soaking in the warmth of the rock lazily while the younger ones were up to their own mischief, exploring the terrain. With hardly any predators around these families are quite comfortable and thriving here and it is not uncommon to see large families moving around here and there.

The bird life is incredible as well, but of course not all birds take on kindly to monochrome and I hope these Francolins do not mind me draining out their color in this image.

Bhima's gateway was being guarded by multi legged giant millipede. It was the breeding season and the young ones were just entering into this world in a swarm and there were swarms everywhere oozing out their nests. It was easy to miss them when they just look like red patches on the mud. Only when you look closer and see them swirling around, you realize they are more then just a patch on the ground.

And here are the swarms...

and another huddle ...

And who can leave out this king from the blog, the great Indian Eagle owl, the ruler of the canal, the silent hunter of the night, the noiseless flight master. I could not help myself in pulling out the brilliant orange eyes from the monochrome. They are hypnotizing after all..need I say more?

With that ending this 3 part blog on Hampi and a great big thanks to all of you who have managed to stay through it. For all those of you who have visited Hampi and know the ocean of mysteries, art and fascination it holds, you'll definitely know that neither 3 nor 30 nor 300 blogs can do justice to this place, but here is hoping one day I can bring in some of the lesser known aspects about Hampi also to you. Thank you.

Photographs and work by Tharangini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

Backyard designs

There was a time when I used to travel a lot, I mean a lot, but then a lot of things changed and for some reason I saw my travels getting reduced more and more. This of course greatly impacted my source of subjects for photography and it was making me increasingly restless and an outlet was desperately needed for expression through my camera. So we decided to take a short trip, one floor above to my terrace where I had managed to accumulate a few potted plants and have a view of some trees that peep out from between the multitude of buildings that seem to crop up overnight. I call this series the 'Backyard designs', though ideally it should be named the terrace designs.

Eco friendly Fireworks.....The pollutants covered the sky. It was Diwali and every firework as pretty as they were, were equally making the air un-breathable. These little ones were just a weed growing everywhere and invading the pots, but in doing so they made their own statement, bursting out like fireworks and yet being so Eco-friendly.

Summer showers - The sweltering hot afternoon was suddenly invaded by dark menacing clouds and as the warning thunders and lightnings announced their arrival the summer showers poured down with glory and glee leaving their mark everywhere. There were no complaints as the soil drank thirstily and the leaves bathed in the cool sprays.

The gentle curve of the spinach plant was decked up in the pearls from heaven as the lonely ant on its way home stopped by to quench its thirst against the evening sky.

Freshness brewed once again...

The last drop held on savoring a few more moments before it had to mix with the soil. The last drop was appreciated for just being, it was precious, and there was no doubt...

A silent conversation ensued in the evening among friends, exchanging the notes for the day as the sun bid goodbye, dragging behind it, the last few rays. It was time to let the night take over and the moon to rule the sky.

Alone in the spotlight....

A whiff of the gentle jasmine fragrance, intoxicating as the breeze carried it away to sweeten the world around it......

A windy afternoon...and none were spared, the leaves shook and rustled braving the impact, holding on the tree, being as brave as can be as the wind unleashed its fury in all its glory.

Hanging in there...

As the crow flies...

I think it rained...

Photographs and work by Tharangini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

A simple life in black and white

Is life really as complicated as it seems or is it just plain black and white and we add everything else in between just for our own entertainment. As much as we complicate life is it possible for us to equally simplify it and in doing so is it possible that we can realize life can be equally beautiful both ways. Photography has been more than just a passion for me, it has been something that has got me through some of the really crazy wacky times in life, a mode of expression and an escape route as well. This blog is dedicated to the simplicity of life, life in black and white, life without complications, life as beautiful as it is, no confusion....

In sync on a cloudy morning...

Looking for  a foothold to escape extinction....

The Dart...

Solitude amidst clutter...

The art of grace...

Hope grows...

The Langur Chronicles - 1 The tail held up high and proud, she gathered her young one in her arms, marching away, daring to disturb his game of chasing crows.The leader had summoned and it was time to move. So disciplined and well mannered they were that it was with a wistful wonder the thought crossed my mind, there is always so much we can learn from them....

The Langur Chronicles - 2 . Young and cool with a funky hairstyle, the style and the tail, spirited to the boot, yet when the call came there was no hesitation, no doubt. It was time to follow the troop..

The Langur Chronicles - 3. The tailless spirited young warrior of the troop flew across the walls, the loss of the tail not withstanding and definitely not diminishing any of the enthusiasm or energy in this young soul.....

The Langur Chronicles - 4. The young one, still playful and with boundless energy followed his family as fast as his little legs would help him leap across the rocks. Being left behind was not an option....

The mind and its mysteries, the thoughts, the confusion and the chaos. The beauty, the simplicity and the complexity. The clutter and the clarity. The State of Mind. Undecipherable.....

And a slight variation to end with How about a bit of white on black, the morning puff** to warm up the day... ** Smoking is injurious to health.

Photographs and work by Tharangini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Bannerghatta - Breathing for Bangalore - A Film by Ashok Hallur & Padma Ashok

A human body, smoking a couple of packs a day, choking on it and yet miraculously managing to survive because the lungs are making an extra effort to keep supplying oxygen to the body. Now imagine our city choking under the pollution of the innumerable and more vehicles that are on the road almost 24 hours a day,  water-bodies turning into buildings overnight, trees making way for roads and basically struggling to breath and literally crumbling under this stress and yet surviving because of one patch of forest that is making an extra effort to supply oxygen to the oxygen starved city and keeping it going. 

Bannerghatta - Breathing for Bangalore brings into focus the one lung space near Bangalore the entire city is dependent on for its daily dose of breathable air. Despite the city fast closing in on its fringes and no other lung space to support the city to this extent the Bannerghatta forest range continues to breath for the city, keeping it alive.
An effort by Padma Ashok and Ashok Hallur brings to light the every aspect of this beautiful piece of forest and what makes it so indispensable to the garden city that is fast losing all its gardens and greens. 
The effects of these can be seen and felt in our daily lives with a drastic increase in the temperatures and decrease in the rainfall that is making it very clear about the direction in which we are headed.

Bannerghatta, after being declared a protected area in 1971 has been the home for many diverse species right from the tiniest of the insects to the gentle giants- the Asian Elephants while continuing to maintain its rejuvenating  pristine beauty that comes from the  various flora of the forest.  

This however does not come without its share of daily challenges in the form of poaching, farming in the forest fringes, exploitation of the forest produce and all these resulting in increasing man animal conflict, the decreasing forest space leading the animals directly towards the human habitats, the challenges are many , yet there are those who care and strive to keep this vibrant ecosystem alive and functioning.  The link between each species , between every prey and predator and between them and us is extremely delicate as well as immensely intricate and important. The slightest disturbance to this balance will very well lead to the domino effect and is definitely going to impact the human world too. 

While the forest watchers and officials face the challenge of keeping the elephants and gaurs from straying into the villages everyday, it also becomes the moral responsibility of every citizen of Bangalore as well as all areas surrounding Bannerghatta to ensure that this oxygen factory remains healthy and thriving if we have to benefit from it in the future too. It is also our responsibility to reduce the stress on this forest area by developing  a lot more. 

Though the tree plantations have their role to play, the importance of maintaining the indigenous varieties is immense to ensure the conservation of biodiversity of these forests. 

Bannerghatta is more than just a holiday spot. This forest is working very hard for us and there a few people who are working very hard to keep this forest alive while we benefit from its daily supple of oxygen to this choking city. Isn't it our responsibility too to do our bit? What we need is maybe another revolution, a tree revolution and tree revolutionaries to ensure Bannerghatta does not stand alone and vanish into the oblivion. 

Bannerghatta - Breathing for Bangalore brings to us all this and more in the most precise and crisp manner  with all benefits, problems and solutions and will hopefully inspire many more to join towards making an effort to help the forests thrive. If the forests thrive, we thrive.

A few images and a small clipping from the film. It is set to be released soon. Do watch.

Kalasipalaya - A Debate

It was with great indignation, upon reading the news that 24 trees were going to face the axes for a new bus terminal at Kalasipalaya, that we (Vijay Nishanth [ you can contact him on Vijay@vruksha.com] and myself) set out to document the trees and almost 8000 of parakeets that roost in those trees despite the obvious mess and pollution and indescribable noise levels all around. We had to make 3 attempts to get all the details. With the kind cooperation and the support of a local temple priest we managed to get access to the temple roof and a rather shaky metal scaffolding from where we had a vantage point and view of the entire place.

One side barren... other side with sparse disappearing greenery....

It was immediately obvious to us that the trees that would face the axes were the only ones in that entire area, taking in the pollution of almost on a rough estimate 500 buses and innumerable other vehicles. It was also extremely difficult to even imagine as to how all the parakeets came to roost there despite the pollution.

Shimmering dust in the evening light...

One of the home to the 8000 parakeets...

and un-breathable air...

By 5:45 pm the families started returning home. First it started in small batches and then we were surrounded by parakeets all around.  The fading light and the sun against us permitted only some really pretty silhouettes in the evening, but the sight was incredible. The trees were soon full and very surprisingly the noise of the traffic actually drowned in the parakeet calls.

Roosting time

Dark shapes outlining the branches 

and a couple against the brightly lit temple premises....

We knew however one more visit would be necessary to get these birds in good light or at least enough light to be able to see them well. But as we said our thanks and goodbye to the temple priest we heard another side to the story too. This area, the 1st one to get electricity in all of Asia was still the most filthiest place. The roads, the footpaths all dumped with garbage, stink all around and how did people even live there? He was glad that at last something good is happening to that area. We knew then that we had to cover both sides of the story.
Early next morning the 1st stop was anyways for the parakeets and this is what we saw.

Probably more parakeets than leaves on the trees.

and then some more....

And so many more....

Well now that you get the idea... we had another area to cover and this is what we saw...

The ground realities....

What is behind the buses stays behind the buses...

Plastic Delicacy....

and the freshest of flowers of course....

Can food get any more tastier than this? 

How much more sacred can this get?

We understood that this area needed development and there was no denying that, but the trees in this area were the only one to take in all the poison and clean the air to whatever extent they could besides of course being the home for these really strong heart parakeets. So where is the solution? This place needs both CLEAN and GREEN... Is there any option to achieve both? Can there be alternate greening? These people deserve cleanliness. The temple priest had a valid point by wanting the area near the temple to be clean. The vendors who spend their day in the filth in an effort to make a living deserve a better place, but we also need the trees to compensate for the pollution and all the poison in the air from what is possibly one of the most congested and polluted areas of Bangalore... So you tell us cannot development and environment go hand in hand instead of being in eternal combat with each other?

The threatened species of trees are : Rain tree, Copperpod, Peepal , Eucalyptus species

This small poem was written by me more than a decade ago,. I do not remember which indiscriminate chopping of our green friends led me to pen this, but for some reason I did not share it then.

However nothing has changed over the last few years, with trees continuing to be the silent victims. I suppose this poem will very much echo the sentiments of all the tree lovers worldwide.


IF ONLY TREES COULD RUN

Wouldn’t it be really nice…

If all our trees could run and save their lives.

From the axes and machetes and the wrath of the human race.

The blind murders of our green friends, such disgrace.

Can we create the rains?

So essential for growing our grains.

Can we recreate nature’s beauty?

That our trees endow upon us in such great bounty.

Can we create fresh air to breath?

Can we produce food for all to eat?

The birds and beasts are fast becoming extinct !

When are we going to sit up and think?

Of the consequences we are well aware..

Yet we choose to close our eyes.

Wouldn’t it be really nice…

If all our trees could run and save their lives.

Do we have all the answers for the children of tomorrow?

Can we tell them that the natural calamities

Are results of our destructive activities.

Can we offer them a solution

For the all around pollution.

Will it be too late when we realize finally,

We cannot cut our trees indiscriminately.

Since we fail to analyze….

Wouldn’t it be really nice…

If all our trees could run and save their lives.

Tharangini Balasubramanian

Photographs and work by Tharangini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.