It's all about out of the routine....& landing at a lovely place (luckily) !

It’s been a period of “lazy to write”, “which one to write about?!” kind of moods for a while now and the few incomplete (and weirdly named) word documents are just filling up my folder making me feel high….anyway I have written so much. Who cares about the content or completion? ;) Work(Office & Home) and photography assignments plus dance classes have been so occupying and getting impatient is so obvious here. Beena continues to hold the esteemed (dearest) position of my very patient sister to laugh along for any silly topic that we discuss. Ani’s attempts to talk in Tamil with her cute rhythmic baby tone is a fancy add on :) !

Getting to see Saras(especially her ironical high school boy look & the officer  and pistol stories!) was a huge break – too many interesting things to share with each other, very short outings and getting to eat all the yummy delicacies at her place , all at the same time you see. 

On a weekend just after this, I realized that I better venture out for photography before I go frenzy and rampageous being in the busy city life. The location was a place called “Nandi hills” which is around 60kms from Bangalore and the route is pretty easy to figure out because of the very popular and finely designed new airport on the way. As we drove along, there were a lot of bikers (riding THE best of bullets & imported bikes) with traditional black leather jackets on and I almost wanted to jump out and take a lift from one of them (car appeared less interesting at that moment). After all, the place is known for bike rides, quick trips and adventures, we also spotted jazzy looking imported cars (Sarah knows the model names;)). As we were nearing the little blue tinged hills covered with mist, the road behind looked very scenic and reminded me of country songs. If we had carried speakers, Sarah(by force) and I would have danced along with the sophisticated looking strangers on bike there – their lucky good fate ;)

I always had imagined that this hill would be a rocky elevated space where photographers rush every weekend to capture sunrise, sunset...mid day sun and all the versions of the enormous fire ball(some of them slip and fall whilst those attempts - to die and appear later in the newspaper). But I was totally wrong and regretted for prolonging this visit till this auspicious day!

                                                                                     Okay, the scenes(if visualized well) were exactly like:

 (1)There would be an upward steep landscape with few rocks….greenery around and out of nowhere, an arched pillar with morning mists passing above – so poetic!

(2)The road to hilltop would be so neat with huge eucalyptus and pine trees on both sides playing around with the clouds as sunlight peeps in to kiss the ground from all possible directions – mesmerizing!

I was wondering that perhaps one could shoot a short movie or album (as effective as professionals) at a location like this! It was like a wonderland (at quick reach) unleashed as we proceeded further. The temple at the highest altitude is known for its antique structure and divine powers and is adorned with pillars and metal work - very attractive. Seems it was built during the period of the Banas, Cholas, Hoysalas and the Kings of Vijayanagar. But I was intrigued by the fact that how did they manage to build such a huge “Theppakulam” (the huge pond with at least 30-40 steps on all four sides) above there.

There is another pond inside the temple too with fine architecture and sculptures spread along the surrounding stone pillars. Everything…everything was crystal clear, fresh, dust free – that’s a likely story!There is also a lamp tower in front of the temple and it is lighted every evening by a boy who wobbles up the tower (we couldn’t wait till then though!). After the temple visit, there are places to have breakfast but not worth it (glad we carried some stuff to munch). The photographers were only keen on capturing every single living being found there, also the obviously eye-catching huge array of flowers (over a hundred species). Poor Sarah had to pose for me amongst the trees…hugging, leaning (of all things) and twisting her body for the lights to fall on her face exactly. I heard she has lost interest completely in modeling after that day:-P 

Oh…and how would I forget to mention about the guest house with a rich appearance amidst the flower garden! They could be rented for a day or two and the rates sounded far too reasonable. I decided that I should head back there sometime, to stay and explore the little forest with all the sweet time I can take – also visit the spot where people love to click sunrise/sunset as they fall down the hill :-O. From my side, I managed to click a few babies, lots of flowers, the temple, pond, trees, mist, mom, Sarah…and a series of “Magical Monkey Moments”. Plus clicking ourselves in all weird poses…like jumping high to catch the flowers up on the tree (obviously knowing we can’t), biting the huge crocodile (made of stone) and this entertained the little crowd around. Can’t forget the scene of Sarah screaming out like in a horror movie cause a Monkey almost came as near as leaning on her!  Common girls…you dress up all pretty and don’t blame the Monkey man for that ;) 

 

I felt glad that I could discover a perfect place for the rest of my concept shoot(it almost had all the locations I had dreamt of) and its much easier if someone like Dad would drop us and pick us up(a little luxury) from the spot. An old grandpa for whom we sponsored lunch, posed with Sarah for a picture in return ;) As usual, I forgot places I had wished to stop at(onward journey) while coming back cause it was already mid day and it got too much for my head to hold back and write(am sure I missed out stuff here too). 

 

 One thing I was sure about was, anyone who goes there would definitely not feel like getting back to the city, indeed inevitable! Generally, it is that people who visit or migrate to Bangalore have the tendency to slowly drift towards addiction to the climate and culture here (largely increased traffic and population is a drawback) – and looks like places like this would additionally create more attraction. The best part of this minute is my huge grin that I did manage to finish one of my scribbling with a combination of few interesting snippets with a decent vocabulary.