The Travel Connection

The birding trip on 1st of January has set a trend for this year. And here we were yet again on a short drive to the outskirts of Bangalore. The elaborate lists on Ebird made Hoskote lake a birder's paradise and we couldn't wait to get there. Though we were a tad late for the migratory birds, we headed out to the grasslands around the lake. After some misses, we hit upon a road that lead us close to the lake. A short walk and we were by the marshy water edge. Without the wellies, we could not venture further and all the water birds were mocking us from the bank on the other side. Without powerful binoculars or telephoto zoom, we could barely recognize the far way  birds. But to see the few up close and personal, made our day! Indian Silverbill Little Egret Painted Storks White cheeked Barbet Sandpiper January 2016 Hoskote Karnataka The Travel Connection: Indian Silverbill ...

Hessarghatta is the location of a man made reservoir in what was once suburban Bangalore. The best part of getting to the place is the wonderful drive after you leave behind the concrete jungle. The grasslands is good for birdwatching and coracle ride.But the early afternoon did not help us spot any birds on this day. Like with most , our lunch stop was at Taj Kuteeram. A quaint little place with earth architecture to boast. The dance village Nirtyagram which is opposite Kuteeram was unfortunately closed and we missed the opportunity to explore dance. A relaxing afternoon with decent food and a stop over at the horticulture institute made it a quick day break from the monotonous life. Totally recommend it! Date : March 201 5 Place : Hessarghatta , Karnataka Tip : Relax! First : Swan so iree The Travel Connection: “Every person needs to take one day away.  A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future.  Jobs, fa...

Red breasted Parakeet Common Myna Rose Ringed Parakeet Asian Pied Starling Cattle Egret and common crow Yellow footed Pigeon  and Parakeet Blue Throated Barbet   My recent trip to kolkata left me with few unexpected surprises. The stark contrast of the day to day life out there from the one out in Bangalore was expected but to see friends of the feathered kind galore amidst of the harsh life in a metropolitan city left me in a state of amazement. The first morning in this city was the best i had in a long time. Though we were staying in the heart of the city, we were woken to chirps of hundreds of sparrows. It was a bitter sweet moment as i was enjoying the wake up call, i also recalled that the sparrows of Bangalore have almost completely disappeared. I wish sparrows would come back to Bangalore and feel at home like they do in Kolkata The second morning in Kolkata just got better. We decided to visit Victoria memorial ...

Nandi Hills is a popular destination for the newbies of Bangalore. On weekend you have  the adjust maadi Bangaloreans with the will not adjust good ole monkeys giving you company on top of the hills. If one wants to avoid the crowd, a good alternative is to drive to the foothills and visit the Grover vineyard and Bhoga Nandishwara temple. Grover vineyard offers tour and wine tasting. But we decided to leave that for another day. It's not a good thing to mix wine and divine. What do you say?  The divine we wanted to pay our respects to is housed in a temple built in 810 AD. Is that around 1200 years old. I leave the Math to you. Correct me if i am wrong. The temple houses Bhogha nandeeshwara and Arunachaleshwara and is a beautiful example of a dravidian temple.   The complex is very well maintained and also house the most beautiful kalyani- a  huge stepped tank enclosed by a cloister wall , vasanta mantapa ans tulabharamantap....

If you don’t know what a twitcher is then, this might not interest you. No it has nothing to do with the Blair witch project or maybe it could. In the Blair witch project, there were three film makers who hiked into black hills to film the legend.  In the twitch project, three of us had journeyed through the hard roads of Karnataka, fought the potholes, and conquered the crowd to film the migratory birds. Like with all discoveries, we chanced upon Ranganthittu on our way back to Bangalore as we had taken some crossroads. Our driver tried to dissuade us from venturing into the waters claiming that the sanctuary closes by 4.00pm. But nothing can stop us “the mighty twitchers”. OK technically I am not a twitcher as I don’t walk the distance to spot the rare birds, but even the everyday birds are becoming a rare sight. So I guess the term twitcher is fine. It was a mixed crowd on the boat. As most of us were birding enthusiasts, our guide agreed to take us on a long...

Weekend day trips – Can anything be better than heading out of the city. But before heading out, one has to get over the hurdle of getting the group to agree on a place and the date. After a long time, a big group of us had managed to make plans. But on the day of the trip, from a group of 8, we were down to 4. Why don’t plans always fall in place? All days trips lead to Mysore road. This was no different.We were about 5 kms into the trip when we were stopped by the Bangalore traffic police. It was the end of the month and the cops are like werewolves on a full moon day. Is that politically incorrect? Now twihard fans know werewolves can be good too! They always look out for their loved ones. Don't you agree? So Getting back to the  honest cop. He claimed we had run a red light and without batting an eyelid, asked us to grease his palms. Grease is a very useful lubricant. It can make you dance like Travolta, let you transfer money without  IFS...

When I got to know this place is called the "Scotland of east" I was eager to holiday there once again. Considering Scotland is one of my favorite spots, Coorg had lot to keep up to. Coorg is a district in Karnataka and you can either stay in the plains by the river Cauvery or in a coffee plantation high up in the hills. Considering it is summer, I choose to go up into the hills as high as possible.  The place I wanted to unwind in was situated at foothills of the highest peak in the region - Thadiyandamol about 5700 feet above sea level. The palace estate got its name from the nearby 17th-century Nalnad Palace and is one amazing home stay in the Kakabe area of Coorg. The quaint little wooden structured rooms with the balcony overlooking the valley are a perfect place to rejuvenate. The friendly hosts, the amazing local food for breakfast, simple home cooked food for lunch and dinner made the trip to this place worthwhile. To the dismay of ...