Ramanagara 2

After a fine lunch - that included scarry bajji's -we started our walk down. A fast descent it was, we took a different route, and landed at the base soon. Ramanagara is also know for vultures. And, I was keen on seeing them. Had seen a few flying at a great height. And, it was great to come across these long billed vultures. As Sirish pointed their nests/roosting place. I went delirious. My camera-battery barely had any charge left. So, I had to settle for this single shot that I could manage.


A cropped image. Not a good picture. But, great sight it was. I am keen on going back for them. And, soon a vulture - Egyptian ?? - glided very close to us. We went crazy. Sirish & Megha took some snaps. Megha was following its flight so closely that she stepped on a slimy rock & fell ;-))

Hume ne bhi tere har ek pall ko

Galle se lagayye hai, hai na ;-))

The vulture was majorly posing for us. Sat on a rock closeby & again had a low flight for us. Just before this, Jagadish & Sunand had a race. Hopping on one leg. Distance was the criteria, and Sunand surprised himself by winning it.

Hey Zindagi galle lage ley!!!

This is a 2 day old....what U call it....mmmm...ok...young sheep!!!!! And, Mamtha's mamtha was on full display ;-)) Shot was too bright. So adjusted in the second image. Soon, she picked up another young black sheep, that was a week old. No battery: no snap. This week old chap was frailer than the 2 day chap. Well, well. We had T at a shop, then quickly went back to the GETHNAA building, charged my battery, packed our ruck-sacks, got our dinner, and moved back closer to the T shop for camping.

Well....believe me, these beatles/bugs matted more than an hour!!!! We had seen them mating on the way before, and they still were on job when we came back. With the leader shouting 'Daudke daudke' and a ruck-sack on my back, not so easy to bend and take a macro snap. I thought this was sharp enough..but...

There were paddy fields on the way. And, locations of Sholay. Mega was crazy 'bout it. Light was rapidly fading, we managed to pitch in 3 tents just in time. And, soon the camp was on fire.....err....I mean camp-fire was on. Assisting Jagadish were Megha & Manasa, Megha for some reason didn't have her shoe, and an ant promptly announced its presence.

Mega inspecting her feet. Snaps only with torch light and then with the flash on. We had a great time togather. The sky shockingly was clear. Afer a long long time I saw some constellations, but was quite confused, apart from Pegasus, Taurus, and Orion, couldn't spot the other chaps - thatsAShame :-((

Day 2

These kidoo's were from the tea-shop/house closeby, and were typical highly excited kids. The elder is Anil - 8th std - the younger ?? 4th std.

Shot by sunand.

This is the hill that houses the vultures, and also the Pattabi-Rama temple. Does the name Ramanagara come form this temple ?? The village is also seen.

Well, Jagadish went to get breakfast, but took a long time. We got talking, Mega, Manasa & me are all MES products. So, it was fun talking 'bout MES. A superb close-up by sunand.

Hey...whatz this...Zebra at Ramanagara ?? Well, believe me, these are from Sunand's pyjamas!!!

I thought the vultures were quite attracted to the pyjamas, and kept circling above.

This guy flew low quite a few times. I recall the silvery grey of the underside. And, later Sirish felt probably this could be the short-toed eagle, right Sirish ??

Jagadish was back, and rock climbing funda's were being given. Sirish turned into a cool rebel that day!

Hey...Sunand's pajamas...knots....and what not ;-)

Soon, Rock climbing began. Jagadish & Mamtha were setting up the rappling gear. While the rest under Sunand's direction tried our hands and feet on a few rocks. This was fun. All of us used to majorly labour to climb. And suddenly like a wild bear - Ajay - would come from nowhere, climb-up, mutter something & get down.

At this point, I noticed 3 kids on a rock nearby. Went up and joined them. Names were Hussain, Yousuf, Mohammed (something like that...actually I don't recall). They were studying in 8th, 9th & 10th stds. All of them sat on at the top of a high slopping rock, and were focussed on their job. They were making broom sticks. Yes, they had collected that kind of a grass, and now were cleaning & cutting them at the right places. Conversation, moved here & there. They wanted to get to jobs after 10th. Anything would do kinds. No idea of the options/courses available. Suddenly, one of them asked 'Nimm sambla yeshtu' (Whatz ur salary). Thats an embarrassing question to an IT chap, I quickly quoted a figure of 10K. They kept quite. And muttured somebody they know gets 30K. Well, well. I built on that, talked 'bout possibilities of high salary due to education. Said, they shud atleast do an ITI course. Looked like their parents could really support them furthur. I said any difficulties for studying, contact Sunand...showed him to them. All along their fingure's moved diligently over those grass blades. The gang decided to rapple down, and I went to join them.

Jagadish gave the instructions and came down rappling. Sunand tried to impress us with some fast rappling, but Mamtha who was handling the ropes made sure that it wasn't loosened fast enough!!! The first to come down amongst us was Manasa. Watch her bent knees, thats a definite no-no. She came down quite cool-ly though.

Next to come down was Sirish. He was uncomfortable. He faced the classic problem of trusting. trusting the rope, and the people up. Many of us go thru it.

Sunand, at the bottom was handling the landing operations. Jagadish was pushing people down & Mamtha controlled the ropes.

Megha banthu Megha...Megha banthu Megha

Megha Neeliyya Megha...Megha mandhara Megha!!!

Hey...this girl had a cool walk down. She seems to be smilling in this snap. Boy!!!

The 'Awesome' cousins after their rapple (awesome was their most used adjective).

This is how Kiran started rappling. Notice the pond in the background.

And then me. Guyz made me stop in the middle, turn towards the camera, smile etc etc And, since I used to give funda's like look up....watch for the vultures as you come down etc. etc. They insisted that I stop, look-up & enjoy. Well, well. Thirugubanna ;-)

Last to rapple down was Ajay. He started normally, as seen here, but as he came to the middle region, started mouthing some Lalloo dialogues - guy can mimic Lalloo quite well - as he had us amused, he rappled down quite fast, continued his tirade, and..and..forgot to jump down. I mean, you walk back horizontally, when you are close to the ground, you kind-off jump down. Our man was so immersed in those lalloo dialogues, that he forgot to look down and jump, instead simply landed horizontally!!! He soon stood up all smiling ;-)

Hum ne bhi tere har ek pall ko

Galle se lagaye hey, hain na ??

Most of us had a second round of rappling. And, soon it was time to pack-off.

We went back, had a tender-coconut each, collected our ruck-sacks, and trekked back to the base-camp. A significant event on the walk was the spider hunt. Sirish noticed a spider web which had a cricket caught in it. This web was on the ground, those thick diffuse kind of web. Not the usual 2-d stuff, but proper 3-d web. So this cricket was caught, and as we watched it, a big spider showed itself from under, and attacked the cricket. The first attack though swift was unsuccessful for reasons unknown. The cricket seemed to be immobolised by the web. It showed no signs of escaping. In its second attack, the spider was successfull. It held the cricket firmly - rather seem to hug it closely - I suppose it would have injected something & immobolised it. The cricket was still. We had to hurry back. My camera battery was down.

Well guyz this is how our Ramanagara trek turned out to be. The rain gods kept away. The comradery was unbeliveable. Jagadish as a leader was superb. Frankly, what I perhaps would treasure most was the closeness the group developed, and the sharing that happened. Yes, vultures, man..... I need to get back.

Hey Zindagi galle lagga ley

Hum ne bhi, tere har ek pall ko

Galle se lagaya hey, hai na ??

Special thanks to KMA , Sunand & Jagadish for making Ramanagara happen despite the rain scare. October 28th night to 30th night.