Bannerghatta 5 Wildflower

Often overlooked, one finds wildflowers in any empty space where they vie for attention amongst several other species.

Bangalore is blessed to have lots of wildflowers growing all over the city. It was only a few years back that all that could be seen was Parthenium,  a wild plant native to South America, which caused several kinds of allergies to people.

However, with concerted effort this plant has almost been eliminated and now, one can see resurgence of the original wild plants that were missing for several years (decades)

Bannerghatta 4 Wildflower

Sometimes beauty lurks in the unlikeliest of places. It was on the path towards to the Butterfly Park in Bannerghatta when I chanced upon this gem hidden in the thicket beside the path.

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Bannerghatta 3 Bird of Paradise - Strelitzia

Paradise probably comes in various colours but here on earth, these bright colours are how we know about the Bird of Paradise flower. Its gorgeous colours on tender petals the bright sunshine and great company made taking this photograph a real pleasure

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Bannerghatta 2 Pink Cosmos

Following up on the previous post, I continued exploring for more flowers. The bright sun threw up a few surprises, with this pink cosmos peeking out from under some bushes�.

the delicate colours were lovely in the shade and reflected light.

cont.

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Bannerghatta 1 Orange Cosmos

A new camera and and an advanced learning curve prompted a visit to the Bannerghatta National Park near Bangalore. An unusually mild December day (after 3-4 days of intense winds and chill breeze) was an added bonus. The Canon EOS 7D Mark 2, the latest offering from the Canon stable is a camera so advanced, that an old Canon hand like me, who has been shooting a Canon 40D for more than 6 years (I bought it in March 2008) had to re-learn all the bells and whistles of the new camera.

Bannerghatta as usual did not disappoint. There were wild flowers galore and the first suspects to be shot were them. Although, these flowers are more domesticated these days filling up most gardens in Bangalore than growing in the wild, I was lucky to chance upon a dry lake bed wherein one could get a great variety of these Cosmos flowers.

The whole day was fun and as subsequent posts would show, the new camera did not disappoint. Although, as a photographer, I sucked. Its back to the manual for a while re-learning all the new features

cont.

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Tiger in the bamboo

Most of interiors of South India are dry thorn scrub or dry deciduous type of vegetation and bamboo is seen extensively in some parts.

This photograph was taken at the Tiger Safari at the Bannerghatta National Park outside Bangalore.

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Ganesh Ratha Temple

Any visit to Mahabalipuram is incomplete without a visit to the group of stone carved temples situated in a park near the city centre. The first of these temples is a beautifully carved temple called Ganesh Ratha or the Chariot of the Elephant headed God, Ganesha.

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Kryptonite ….

Some crazy ramblings of a wandering soul….

While scrolling through some old images of mine, I came across a photograph of this alien looking Praying Mantis (Order Mantodea) that I had photographed at Hyderabad. This set me thinking of things that are creepy in different ways (several friends were weirded out when I showed them this pic )

And that started another train of thought. I was transported back to my younger days (lost in the depths of antiquity ) when one used to read Marvel and DC comics and see the great Superman brought to his knees by Kryptonite, which was wielded in true ‘gangsta’ fashion by the ‘evil’ Lex Luthor. I was wondering about all the things that can get one down, on ones’ knees, either literally or figuratively.

A beautiful woman has brought many a man down (and maybe a few women) on their knees by just her looks and poise. Add intelligence, wit & humour to it and one has a lethal combination that is more potent than any C4…