ಮೈಸೂರು weekend

ಮೈಸೂರು is the second largest city in the state of Karnataka, India. It lies about 146 km (91 mi) southwest of Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka. The name Mysore is an anglicised version of Mahishūru, which means the abode of Mahisha. Mahisha stands for Mahishasura, a demon from Hindu mythology. Mysore has its mention in the Mahabharata as Mahishaka Kingdom in ancient India. The city is spread across an area of 128.42 km2 (50 sq mi) and is situated at the base of the Chamundi Hills.
Mysore is famous for the festivities that take place during the Dasara festival when the city receives a large number of tourists. Mysore also lends its name to the Mysore mallige, the Mysore style of painting, the sweet dish Mysore Pak, the Mysore Peta (a traditional silk turban) and the garment called the Mysore silk saree. In an exercise carried out by the Urban Development Ministry under the national urban sanitation policy, Mysore was rated the second cleanest city in India in 2010 and the cleanest in Karnataka.

In this there are no photos of the city or places around ಮೈಸೂರು, its about a weekend trip to ಮೈಸೂರು after the Dasara festival.

After a very long time, i got a chance of taking photo's of ಮೈಸೂರು palace in the night and there are some of the birds photographs around ಮೈಸೂರು.


Pheasant-tailed Jacana
Tailor Bird

Common Kestrel FemaleAshy Crowned Sparrow Lark Common Coot ScalyBreasted Munia
Black Ibis Male
Black Ibis Female

Spot bill Ducks

Thippagondanahalli Reservoir

Thippagondanahalli Reservoir, also known as T G Halli Dam or Chamarajsagar, is located at the confluence of the Arkavathy(ಆರ್ಕಾವತಿ) River and Kumudavathi River, 35 km west of Bangalore, Karnataka. It is one of the source of drinking water to the city of Bangalore and surrounding areas since 1930. The lake is a man-made reservoir, created by the building of a dam which was inaugurated in 1933. Bharath Rathna Sir M Visvesvaraya supervised the construction work.













I never thought there is a such a beautiful place just next to Magadi Main Road!!! really a very nice place for a half day trip for the Bengaluru city people.

Matsya Mela 2011-

Matsya Mela 2011 (Fish Exhibition 2011)

This was the first time this mela was organised by the fisheries department of Karnataka. The exhibition took place at Palace ground, Bangalore from 18th to 21 Feb 2011I had visited with my nephews. Once we reached Palace grounds, we saw there was hectic traffic on the road. The entry to the exhibition was through Tripura Vasini gate and entry to Matsya Mela was free. The erected dolphins side by side at the gate and the entrance we were allowed to walk inside a mouth of a fish.


After entering into the mouth fromthe entrance, on to the right hand side, we saw a pond which is showing a reflection of sunset. there were few crabs in the pond to make us feel the Matsya Mela.
Further inside we saw the display of aquariums with displaying various kind of fishes. There were really very different types of fishes, but it looking like entering into Auqarium Musem, we came to know most of these aquariums were part of some competition put on display by hobbyist.



To view the complete set of pictures visit, @ManjunathBK

ಶಿವಮೊಗ್ಗ: ಆಗುಂಬೆ

ಆಗುಂಬೆ: Sept 4th -5th
The plan for this trip was started from 2 weekes back, this was all started by new office colleague (kesava ), there was last moment of cancelling the trip as two of them fall sick, till last moment we were deciding yes or no..at last somehow we managed that we will go no more second thoughts.






We had planned to go in KSRTC and booked the tickets from Bengaluru -Agumbe direct, the departure was at 2200hrs, we all met in the Majestic Bus Stand. We were amazed to see that the bus started at sharp 2200hrs without waiting, which was good change after a long time..they started to keep up the time.






We reached Agumbe around 6am, enquired about the place in the busstand hotel, they told that is it a walkable distance you all can walk it is hardly 3km. We also decided to walk and enjoy the climate..while we started to enter the road which leads to the Kalinga (ARRS) we were welcome by two stray dogs...and they escorted us in the right direction which was strange and nice ..as we were walking one dog used to be in the front and another was backing us. After walking for sometime we rested and enjoying the morning mist of Agumbe in the open area..and the dogs stopped waited till we start the walk. We walked and walked..there was no sign of any human being at all and no the could started to cover us, the dogs also left us from there and suddenly heavy rain started pouring and now we started to run...the road from here was fine, we saw a farm house and went inside and asked about the ARRS and that the was the place..:-) at last reached. We were soaking in water and it was still raining heavily, unpacked the things to check if the bags got wet in the rain and to make sure the cameras are safe. After half an hour the rain stopped and we talked to one of the co-ordinator and they explained our program for the day, they told us to roam around the place around and you can find many frogs, insects, if lucky find the snakes and they told us they will take us a night walk in the road which came as many things happen only in night like we can see the Scropions in night with the help of Ultra violet lights, where the scorpions glow in ultraviolet lights.
After lunch we walked around the camp with the help of co-ordinator and found some exciting falls and water stream and did some macro shots of insects, spiders, bugs, while seeing all these we were also donating blood to the wild (leeches started attacking us and were doing their work).






After roaming around and taking photos of the insects, flies, lizards and spiders the time was 1730..we checked on the night walk, they told us that they will start after the dinner and that would be around 2030. We had dinner and got prepared for the night walk. Outside the camp it was very dark and with lots of leeches and rain, the walk was to be remembered for long time.

When we all came out of the camp and joined the road...the photo shoot started with the Bucket mushrooms the walk was for more than 2hrs and ended with bicolored frog.

I really enjoyed the walk and shot some beautiful photos...snakes, frogs, lizards, mushorooms. But was not able to shot the scorpions in UV lights, i didnt belive that watching the scorpions in the night with UV lights is so beautiful. Our luck it didnt rain while we were on the night walk and we were able to photoshoot very nice photos.






From this trip, i really felt i really need to have a Macro Lens and flash gun is a must. This was my first photoshoot trip purely, i have done many trips but for the mean of photoshoot this is my first trip and i really enjoyed a lot and i was in the right place to start my photoshoot trip :-).
This was a awesome trip to be remembered for quiet long time.

Brahminy kites @ Manchanabele Back Waters

Manchanabele dam is small artificial dam erected by the government of Karnataka on river Arkavati for irrigation and drinking water in the village of Manchanabele. The dam is insignificant in terms of structure or architecture. But the beauty is in the backwaters it has created surrounded by stone structed rugged hills. This is very good for family picnic, friends outing or couples. If you are going there in the day then do take tent or large umbrella to escape the sun. One can go do various activities here – starting from bird watching, hiking, rock climbing, boating, photography or spend time in leisure.