Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Wild Flower of the Season

 Blue Tiger butterfly on the yellow rattlepod.
 Tanner's Cassia flowers profusely. It is also a medicinal plant.
A morning glory.
It is a joy to find wild flowers in an urban situation!

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Wonderful Western Ghats

 The Western Ghats were thickly forested in the beginning of the 20th century, but now there are only pockets of the dense rain forests remaining. I visited one such spot near Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district last week. A beautiful wild flower can be seen in the photo on top.
 A gurgling brook called Shalmala flows in the dense forest. A hanging bridge is constructed to connect the sparsely populated villages.
We wereastonished to see hundreds of shiva lingas carved on the rocks in the brook. According to legend, a childless chieftain of the area in ancient times was advised by a sage to do so. After getting the lingas carved, the chieftain was blessed with many children.