Hebbal - The lake beckons

As the day wore on, my cousin, Lakshmi suggested we go to Hebbal lake post the meeting.. Always game for a bit of exploring and photography, i umped at the suggestion, we packed our gear and as we were to leave home, the client called saying his daughter was unwell and he had to take her to the doctor... What this meant was more time to spend at the lake and we could leave earlier... :)

Knapsack- check

Cameras-my cybershot and her DSLR-check
Binoculars-check
Some cash-check
Our mobiles and housekey and we were off by 4.30... -checkcheck

Paid entrance fee and walked into the park, spotted a few birds on the ground -- the love birds..couples hidden behind bushes and a coracle left alone...

Our feet took us towards the water and there we spotted a few guys fishing.. one guy would reel the fish in dropping it onto the ground where another guy sat cleaning it up... A few yards away, we spotted 2-3 Brahminy kites, and in a few seconds they were in air, circling right above these guys and in a flash swooped down grabbed a fish and off it went into the sky.. Wow moment...!! 

Pulling out the binocs, we spotted a few Grey heron, Pond heron and a pretty looking Purple Swamphen. 

Why not go to the other side we thought and began exploring the park some more.. It was my 1st visit, and i found it calm n quiet .... Took shots of a few intersting flowers, the setting sun, the buildings beyond the lake and as we were beginning to settle in, a deep shrill whistle came floating in the air..It was time to leave..... 

As we rode back home in the auto, the sun was beginning to set, and we could see the lovely colours against the city scapes... Short yet sweet was what the visit was....!! :)

Could stare at them for hours as they went home... together!!! in sync.. what a sight...

Trivia from wiki: Hebbal Lake is located in the north of Bangalore at the mouth of National Highway 7, along the junction of Bellary Road and the Outer Ring Road (ORR). It was one of the three lakes created in 1537 by Kempe Gowda.

[Skywatch Friday] Ablaze

As we got back home after a short sweet visit to Hebbal Lake, the city lights seemed to be competing with the sky lights... 

A day later, as i was on the train taking me back to Chennai, the sky seemed to light the way keeping me company for as long as possible... beautiful..... 

For more beautiful skies, go to Skywatch Friday

Lal Bagh...Flowers, Feathered friends, and Fotography

It was saturday, and i was up at 5.45am - much to my aunt's surprise and ready to scoot by 6am.. What was the occasion? Was going to Lal Bagh Gardens to catch the sunrise and shoot a few pictures of the beautiful gardens... the previous night, while chatting with a friend, he mentioned that he had plans of heading to the gardens and i jumped saying am coming...Infact i wasnt even sure if i had my camera since i was staying over at an aunt's house just that night [ had asked friend to bring me his digi cam]

Lady luck was grinning down at me, i had my camera...Borrowed a shawl from aunt[am not a shawl sweather person, but travelling by auto in chill weather can be taunting..hence the cover]... Reached the gardens at 6.30 and began the journey that was not only beautiful but peaceful.

In the midst of all the walkers and joggers, i stood out strolling through the various lanes, soaking in the beauty of nature, clicking at random things that caught my eye..Paused near the glass house to see if anything from the flower show remained.. The Qutb Minar and A lady with the pot of water were the only ones waiting , as if they knew i was coming...

As i strode along the gardens, a sense of calm and peace settled over me...Amidst the morning busy bees, i happily let myself get lost.. There were times i paused to enjoy the sight of squirrels scurrying about, the Brahmini Kite chase a lone crow, few stray dogs look at me like they knew me and were protecting me....

Those few hours were blissful..I was lost in my own world, with my thoughts and cherished it all.. My friend, the one who was to have come early, reached about half hour later, and from there on, we chatted, took more photographs and caught up on our lives..

Explored new parts of the park i had never been to, shared a few laughs over the pelicans that were flying about, one sitting right on top of a dead tree.. the crows longing for attention eeverytime we tried taking a picture of the pelican or the lotus in the pond or the lovely palm trees...

Spotted quite a few grey heron, pond heron, kites, kingfisher, drongo, spotted dove, bulbul, cormoron, parrots and some others which i had never seen before... Shot a video of a bird so i could show it to my cousin to identify it.. Was good fun....

There are times when being alone is just what we need and for me, it is precious. I long to escape the hustle bustle, people, thoughts, deadlines, future and everything else that make our Life what it is...

With so much around us, i realised, its all upto us to find what makes me happy, what keeps us grounded and what drives us ahead...

For more pictures of Lal Bagh click here ... Off on another adventure!!! write to you soon!!