Starbucks, Costa, Java City, Barista, Café Coffee Day, India Coffee House, Lavazza…..serve the most preferred beverage of the world, COFFEE!

On a beautiful September morning as I walked amongst the coffee plantations there were green coffee beans all over the floor, nothing unusual but as I stepped on them the curiosity to feel them made me pick one. While I touched, smelled and tasted it a smile broke my face.

The green coffee bean undergoes a long process of drying, powdering Etc to ultimately come out as one of the aromatic beverages of the world. But initially when I held the bean in my palm it was hard to imagine that the same insignificant bean which hardly anyone of us notice does not even come close to smelling like the coffee yet it churns out the most aromatic beverages of the world. Isn’t Nature wonderful?

The green coffee bean has a message for us J

We meet people in our lives, few of them become friends for life and few remain acquaintances. Sometimes it so happens that we refrain from taking a step forward to know another person or underestimate another person because they are shy, introverts, of our own insecurities Etc. But just like how an initial insignificant looking coffee bean takes time and goes through a process of finally becoming an aromatic beverage a shy, introvert person may take a little more time to open-up. But that doesn’t mean we give-up on them, I guess with a little more patience and love who knows we may end up making a new friend for life, discover a great writer, singer, dancer Etc.

In my life it has happened that people I thought I wouldn’t connect with have ended up becoming friends for life be it from another culture altogether. And when I look back I smile about how going a little out of the way has helped me discover great souls!

So the next time you hesitate or take a step back from knowing someone think about the coffee bean .

Is this why they say ‘a lot can happen over coffee’?

Adios

Jo

Photograph by friend Mayur Channagere

In our lives every moment is dependent on trust yet often we say ‘I cannot trust you’. Most of us feel Trust is difficult to gain or show, isn’t it? When one of the deep desires of every being is to be Trusted. Well life has its moments of tears of sorrow and tears of joy and when I feel like giving up on life I have silent conversations with the Mountains and they seem to tell me ‘Sweetheart, you have climbed me many times because you Trust yourself and Me. So do not give-up, things will be fine, Trust Me’. Nature inspires in many ways and the Mountains have always conveyed the importance of Trust to me. So the next time those tears of sorrow roll down your eyes, you know who to go to right?

Photograph by friend Mayur Channagere

I remember the beautiful quote by Dalai Lama ‘when we are children we need the Kindness of our parents and when we are old we need the Kindness of people around us so why not we show our Kindness to others in between our childhood and old age’. Well I can only smile from my heart while reading this quote. Kindness is not as difficult as we think it is, all we need to do is learn from Nature. It never discriminates. In spite of cutting down trees, it will always provide you the shade to rest under after a tiring walk. Kindness begets Kindness.

Photograph by friend Mayur Channagere

The three most precious words ‘I Love You’ touch any being whether it is words or an act of kindness. Be it a plant, human, animal the deep desire is to be Loved and Cared for, since we have evolved from nature. Colors of nature have always been an inspiration to humans for love, just like the soothing colors of a sunrise or sunset, silently telling us ‘everyone of us come from Love’. The next time you watch a sunrise or sunset listen and feel with your eyes to experience the power of Love.

Photograph by friend Mayur Channagere

‘I cannot take it anymore I want to get away from everything’ and tears rolled down my cheeks. Every inch of my body said ‘I do not have any strength left’. Hmmm…. I do agree there are cloudy and bright sunny days in our lives but just like there are no bad weathers but just different beautiful weathers, cloudy days do come with their share of learnings. But to accumulate the Strength needed in the face of adversity just seems impossible. Have you ever looked at the mountains when it is raining, windy, stormy and finally on a bright and sunny day? They seem to be there and face it all yet stand tall and silently tell us ‘Sweetheart, this is Strength’. Mountains have been a major inspiration in my life as a source of Strength. So the next time you feel down, think of the mighty mountains.

Photograph by friend Mayur Channagere

‘October 08′ as I trekked the Himalayas at 13000 ft I struggled for every breath in the thin air but was not ready to give up. When I reached the top I cried and went on my knees unable to believe I had made it. During sunset that evening as I sat starring at the lovely mountains an unconscious smile broke my face and my eyes yet again became moist not for the fact that I had made it to the destination but this time for the fact that Nature had made me Humble and I realized in front of the majestic mountains I was just a speck’. No classroom can teach us the beauty of Humbleness except for a classroom called Nature.

Image from the Internet

As I trekked along the beautiful mountains and valleys I was thirsty and needed to quench my thirst. At a distance I saw a beautiful pond and headed its way. I sat by the lake, cleaned my face and drank some water. And as I dipped my hands to drink some more of it, I saw a reflection of a man smiling at me, scared I slowly turned to find him still smiling at me. I asked him ‘who are you?’ he said ‘well, they call me God’ I broke into an instant laughter and said ‘then what are you doing here on earth?’ to which he said ‘I saw you trekking alone so thought of giving you company’ and smiled. I said ‘sure’ and we walked in silence for a long time then I asked him ‘I have always wanted to ask you many questions, but do you have the time?’ he smiled and said ‘I’m always there! Let us sit and have a chat’. We sat and the conversation started –

Me: Why are you not there when I need you, when I’m in distress, when I feel like talking to you?

God: I’m always there around you.

Me: But I do not see you like I do today!

God (points to his surroundings): Do you see the mountains, trees, sun, flowers, water, sky, clouds, and birds?

Me: Yes

God (smiles): Well I’m always there in my best form ‘Nature’

Me: But how can I have a conversation, you wouldn’t be able to respond?

God: Oh yes my dear you can, all you need to do is listen with your eyes open and you will get your answers

Me: Ok, then tell me what ‘selflessness’ is?

God: A tree withstands all the torture by humans yet when you are tired of walking in the hot sun it still gives you shade to rest

Me: What is ‘kindness’?

God: The ‘sun’ does rise everyday to bring you light and sustain life on earth in spite of the disrespect man shows towards nature.

Me: What is ‘unconditional love’?

God: A flower always gives you happiness and expects nothing in return

Me: What is ‘strength’?

God: The mighty mountains

Me: How do I derive strength when I encounter problems in my life?

God (takes me to a pond and makes me touch the surface of the water with my fingers): Did you see the ripples formed?

Me: Yes

God (after a few seconds): Are the ripples gone and is the water still now?

Me: Yes

God: Well that is Life, ripples are your problems but after sometime they shall pass and your life would become calm like the still water

Me: Why are there stars in the night sky?

God (looks up): Well it resembles life, I mean when life seems dark like the night sky there are shining stars to guide you.

Me: Why should we go through sorrow, happiness or a mix of emotions in life?

God: It’s just like all the weathers. They are not bad weathers but just different kinds of good weathers which completes the cycle.

Me: What is ‘humbleness’?

God: The Ocean, vast yet so calm

Me: What is the ‘melody’?

God: Listen to the sound of a stream

Me: What is ‘faith’?

God: The fact that I’m always there

God: Ok dear I shall take your leave now

Me: I have one last question

God: Yes

Me: Why does man ‘fear’?

God (smiles): Because his heart has lost faith

God disappeared and I had tears of joy in my eyes. As I continued my trek I realized God’s presence in Nature, no wonder we often go back to nature to find inspiration and answers.

Image from the Internet

Staring at the horizon I smile
Life has been this way for a while

Long ago a dream was born
To which I had the strength to hold on

The dream was so pure
I knew it would come true for sure

One fine day you come along
To take me where I belong

Neither infront of me nor behind
But you walk along with me

Through silence I ask ‘will it come true?’
Your smile says ‘it will, dream and listen through my eyes’

Love

Jyothi

Image from Internet

Arz hai -

Hawa aisi chali ki aapki yaad le aayi
Hawa aisi chali ki aapki yaad le aayi

Aisa laga barso hue hame mile
Aisa laga barso hue hame mile

Aur aapse Guftagu karne ka dil chaha

Shukriya
Jyothi

However certain places on earth never fail to capture my attention and here is one such moutain I would definitely want to trek before dying or die while trekking because even though there are marked trails, I have heard that there are great chances of getting lost due to the presence of umpteen no. of trails. It is -

Mt. Roraima – The Lost World
Location Venezuela/Brazil/Guyana
Range Guiana Highlands

Mt. Roraima: A National Geographic Channel Photograph

And you also get to experience the world’s highest waterfall ‘The Angel Falls’.

Map

Few interesting links on Mt. Roraima -

http://www.medicalaviation.org/venezuela/auka.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Roraima

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_highest_point

http://www.gryphonproductions.com/thereallostworld/flash_content/flash_content.html

Happy trekking/climbing
Jyothi

‘Hello! Is it you?’
Cos I haven’t a clue!

I wait for a while
To see you smile

You climb without giving a ear
But I can wait for years

I pray that you look at the night sky
And you will know why

The moon whispers in your ear
‘Do you know she is here!’

You smile and wonder
‘What is she here to say!’

You look-up and glance
The stars ask you to give me a chance

You turn and say ‘give me a clue’
All I can say is ‘i’m proud of you’

Has it ever happened that after coming back from a trip/tour/project Etc and while you were reviewing your images you were about to delete an image because it wouldn’t fall under the category of ‘good ones’ and said ‘hey! wait a minute this may not be a typical good one but there is something about this one!’ ? You smile and it went in to your saved folder.

If your answer is yes to the above one then you have company. Today while I was reviewing my images there were few which caught my attention for different reasons.I viewed it from a different perspective .

Let me take you through few of them I took which were riveting for different reasons:

Wild Dogs (Dholes) photographed @ Bandipur – The above images may not be the typical good ones, but when I took a look at them for the second time there was something about them. The Dholes in their habitat looking away made me wonder ‘what was going on in their mind?’. The trees in the background and the foreground added to the images. When I was concentrating on the first Dhole suddenly my attention shifted to the one behind it and a lot of drama is added to the image by the second one (behind the bushes). This created a kind of mystery around the enitre photograph.

This image told me a story that probably the pack was out on an evening stroll and suddenly they seemed to be anxious about the uninvited guests. Especially the Dhole looking up has such a curious look on its face, whereas the rest of them seemed least bothered.

Oh when I saw her I couldn’t help but photograph her because it was so beautiful to a see a pregnant Dhole. I wish I could see her pups one day. She looked the most beautiful. This image has a part of her face behind the bushes and when I saw her expression I wondered if she was scared for her babies more than anything else. Probably she wanted to protect them at any cost and was worried how to. Again the habitat adds a lot to the image

This image has all the elephants moving away and the baby at the end added that special touch to the photograph. And the entire family seemed to be tired of seeing humans and their intervention and hence one of the natural reactions was to move away. Again the lovely habitat and brown color add drama to the photograph.

Oh this is my favorite image because if you closely observe, the eyes of the elephant speaks volumes, they are captivating. It felt as if it had kept an eye on us. The photograph itself adds a lot of drama, with the other elephants behind (blurred), the main one is on the extreme right trying to move away to its left. And boy! the grass in front of it gives it a special touch.

Has it ever happened that after coming back from a trip/tour/project Etc and while you were reviewing your images you were about to delete an image because it wouldn’t fall under the category of ‘good ones’ and said ‘hey! wait a minute this may not be a typical good one but there is something about this one!’ ? You smile and it went in to your saved folder.

If your answer is yes to the above one then you have company. Today while I was reviewing my images there were few which caught my attention for different reasons.I viewed it from a different perspective .

Let me take you through few of them I took which were riveting for different reasons:

Wild Dogs (Dholes) photographed @ Bandipur – The above images may not be the typical good ones, but when I took a look at them for the second time there was something about them. The Dholes in their habitat looking away made me wonder ‘what was going on in their mind?’. The trees in the background and the foreground added to the images. When I was concentrating on the first Dhole suddenly my attention shifted to the one behind it and a lot of drama is added to the image by the second one (behind the bushes). This created a kind of mystery around the enitre photograph.

This image told me a story that probably the pack was out on an evening stroll and suddenly they seemed to be anxious about the uninvited guests. Especially the Dhole looking up has such a curious look on its face, whereas the rest of them seemed least bothered.

Oh when I saw her I couldn’t help but photograph her because it was so beautiful to a see a pregnant Dhole. I wish I could see her pups one day. She looked the most beautiful. This image has a part of her face behind the bushes and when I saw her expression I wondered if she was scared for her babies more than anything else. Probably she wanted to protect them at any cost and was worried how to. Again the habitat adds a lot to the image.

This image has all the elephants moving away and the baby at the end added that special touch to the photograph. And the entire family seemed to be tired of seeing humans and their intervention and hence one of the natural reactions was to move away. Again the lovely habitat and brown color add drama to the photograph.

Oh this is my favorite image because if you closely observe, the eyes of the elephant speaks volumes, they are captivating. It felt as if it had kept an eye on us. The photograph itself adds a lot of drama, with the other elephants behind (blurred), the main one is on the extreme right trying to move away to its left. And boy! the grass in front of it gives it a special touch.

This one was fascinating because as I lifted my camera to photograph them they all seemed to meet at a point. It was so amazing because it really made me curious as to what those guys were up to. It looked as if they had convened for a meeting to discuss something. What was this behavior all about? And the best part is that the elephants are out of focus and the plant in front of it is in focus which added the much needed aura to the entire image.

Well thinking about each image/photograph from a different perspective reassures my belief in ‘Photography is an Art’ and ‘Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder’.

More pictures to follow soon….

Take Care
Jyothi

At Bandipur as I waited for the Safari to start, suddenly I heard the loud alarm call of the cheetals at close proximity. My friends said that there was a predator out there for sure and listening to that my face broke into an instant smile. Though unsure of spotting the predator as I boarded the bus I asked god in faith to help me spot any of my beautiful wild cats.

After around 10-15 min into the safari, the bus slowed down near a water body after spotting a few cheetals.

Cheetals by the water body

Then all of a sudden my friend Vadi said ‘I think there is Leopard as well  by the water body!’, and my happiness knew n bounds. All of us went silent.

My riveting beauty

Hmmm… that was such an emotional moment that tears of joy rolled down as I had finally spotted one of favorite wild cats in the wild. And I was unable to even life the camera to photograph her. I could hear people around me saying ‘Hey! What are you doing! Take a picture, don’t waste time’!. But at that moment I couldn’t help but take a few minutes to digest the whole episode.

I finally managed to capture her on my camera. It was a female since it smaller in size compared to a male.

She moves gracefully and stealthily to the bushes behind.........

As I watched riveted, she was gracefully sitting under the think bamboo bushes and focused on nothing but the cheetals at a distance. After a few minutes she got up and moved stealthily to the bushes behind trying her best not to miss the prey. But just when I thought she would make the kill the cheetals broke into continuum alarm calls sending a strong signal through the forest. Hmmm…the whole episode was like a movie in my head.

As I got off the bus and headed to the jeep for the guest house I was silent with my eyes still moist. My friends were pleasantly surprised to see me emotional and asked what had happened. I replied with a smile and said nothing, but deep inside I know I had developed a bond with one of my favorite wild cats. Simply put ‘I had fallen in love with her’.

From the terrace of the guest house under the umbrella of stars in the night, I stared into the distant mountains of forests with questions in my head.. ‘what was my beauty up to? where was she? had she made the kill? what was going through her mind when she moved to hunt?……..’. I could sit all day and watch what she did in the wild, i.e study her behavior.

With moist eyes and a smile I prayed for her safety and that episode was the culmination of the entire journey. Like one of  my great friends says ‘nothing like watching a wild behavior…’

And yet again my instincts don’t let me down!

Take Care

Jyothi

Mum holds the paper right into my face and says ‘do you know how crazy the weather is in Agumbe??? Are you nuts to go there???’ I smiled and said ‘chill mum!’. I had my rucksack ready and I had no second thoughts on going ahead since it had been a dream to do Agumbe ‘in rains’ since my college days. The other reasons to visit Agumbe were to connect with the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS) to know about their work and the rich bio-diversity the place had to offer. All thanks to my good friend Harish Shanthi Kumar for coming up with the plan.

15^th July 2009

Place: Kempegowda Bus Station

Time: 21:30 hrs

The excitement was just building up and our adventure started at the bus station itself with the driver refusing to come to the platform due to traffic jam. So with not much of an option left we ended running in between buses to finally hop on to the right one thankfully and we started our journey towards Agumbe at 23:00 hrs instead if 22:00 hrs .

On the highway and how can I not have my favorite pyala of chai! So as soon as the bus driver made a quick stop I eagerly got out to sip some tea and continued our journey towards the wettest point.

16^th July 2009

Place: En route to Agumbe

Time: Approx 07:00 hrs

De-tour was taken due to flooding everywhere and we were expected to reach Agumbe around 09:00 hrs. Hence we decided to stop by Thirthahalli for a quick and yum breakfast with idli, vada and my favorite chai!

After the grub as we continued our journey towards suddenly the bus came to a halt. The bus driver had run into a thick bunch of high-tension wires! Luck did not let us down since there was no power in the wires else probably the bus would have blown up! As if in a movie !

As impatience to reach Agumbe was taking over I suddenly saw the beautiful mist uncovering the board which said ‘Agumbe’ and my face brightened with a smile . It was a feeling of being on cloud nine!

There are only two auto rickshaws for the whole town of Agumbe. We hopped on to them to reach the ARRS campus where we had booked our accommodation. As I was beginning to get a feel of being in Agumbe the auto rickshaw driver stopped since the later part of the road was inconvenient for driving. As we got out of the auto guess what happened!! the land of the King came alive as I felt the first few drops of rain on my face and in a matter of few seconds I was wet from head to toe. It was as if Agumbe said ‘Welcome to my Land’  @ Ahhh…. What a feeling! I wanted to scream in joy but had to do with a smile from ear-to-ear! .

As we entered the lovely ARRS campus we had a warm welcome by Vipul Ramanuj (Research coordinator @ ARRS), Ramnath Chandrashekhar and Dayani Chakravarthy. We quickly unpacked and barged into the kitchen for another round of breakfast and black coffee which was the best I have ever had! And then guess what!, we met a friend ‘a baby spectacle cobra’ in the backyard of ARRS. Oh! It was gorgeous or what!

Since we had kept our plans open, after a discussion with the ARRS folks we decided to plan on a day-to-day basis so on this day we decided to get a feel of the rainforest and do some photography. As I stepped into the rainforest and crossed a big stream, I looked at the magnanimous rainforest canopy above and wondered ‘boy! what a miniscule we are in front of nature’ and smiled. As night approached we headed back to the base in time for dinner and an amphibian walk with Vipul and Gautam Ramachandra (from ARRS) and we got introduced into the world of amphibians. As we spoke away into the night it was soon time to hit the sack.

Baby Spectacle Cobra

Rains

The beautiful Rainforest Canopy

Stream and the Forest

ARRS

17^th July 2009

Place: Agumbe

Time: 08:00 hrs

Every morning it was such a nice feeling to wake up to nature’s orchestra rather than to the irritating sound of traffic, pollution etc like in the cities .

Anyways we decided to embark on stream crossing and reach a water fall which was trust me ‘a photographer’s paradise’. As I crossed the stream in the thick rainforest I really got a feel of being in the Amazon jungles of India. We did not know how time flew. After a quick lunch and rest for couple of hours Vipul took us to Agumbe town through a shortcut which turned out to be ‘out of this world’. You come across shola grasslands, homes built amidst nature! Awesome! We picked up chocolates (since I was dying to have them ) and few more eatables. Also we ended up having yummy Mangalore bajjis and the lovely kashaya (if you are in Agumbe you gotta try it, you can trust me on that one ).

Waterfall

Stream and the Forest

18^th July 2009

Place: Agumbe

Time: 08:30 hrs

We decided to re-group and couple of us headed to explore a cave which housed bats and other mammals. Others headed to the same water fall for more photography and we joined them later. It was superb again!

Post lunch I learnt all about tracking King Cobra and though Vipul would disagree I must say I did good tracking as a beginner . And later part of the evening was a nostalgic visit to the ‘Malgudi Days’ home. Guys, I would say it is a must visit!

Cave

Malgudi Days home

19^th July 2009

Place: ARRS campus

Time: 08:30 hrs

It was the last day @ Agumbe and ARRS and I decided to take it easy while the others went on their way to do some canopy photography. I spent the whole day getting to know more about ARRS and the team. It was such a fun filled day since I made a visit to Vipul’s pond and aquarium and got a free-of-cost manicure by the tadpoles .

Finally the time had come for us to say good bye but with a promise of going back often. My eyes were moist! What an experience it had been!

Hold on the adventure did not end there, after we reached the bus stand we were told that the bus had already left (thanks to the stupid bus driver who the previous day has told us that the bus would leave only by 20:30 hrs and not 20:00 hrs. Sigh! Well I smiled and thought ‘all part of the adventure’ so with not much of an option we boarded a bus to Shimoga hoping to catch our bus to Bangalore and yes we did! .

As I try and force myself to end the blog (else I can go on and on ) I must say a few things; I cannot forget all the wildlife documentaries we watched as a group, we were like kids, except that buckets of popcorn were missing haaheee…Mind you! The ARRS team can come across as quite a prankster, including Rom I heard. Oh that can be another blog altogether: D.

Thanks to cook Suresh who made us yummy food while our stay @ ARRS. Vittala is the best King Cobra tracker and he can surely tell you ‘how King move’ and ‘how king not move’

The team @ ARRS Vipul Ramanuj, Gautam Ramachandra and Dheeraj are stupendous and are assets to ARRS. The amount of knowledge they fill you in on can make a halo appear behind your head . It was such an amazing learning experience and I can’t help but say I learnt quite a lot. But for them learning about the rainforest would not have been possible. With them ARRS can only grow from strength to strength! Hats off to Gowri and Rom and the entire team! Read this – YOU GUYS ROCK!

It was such a pleasure to know about their flagship project King Cobra and the King has started to fascinate me . I also got to see how the ARRS guys rescued a Crested Goshawk.

Oh yeah how can I forget the other companions in the forest: Malabar Pit Viper, a gorgeous unidentified Forest Crab, Hill Keel Back, Green Vine Snake, Tadpoles, Grasshoppers, an Orange Forest Crab, Bull Frog, Praying Mantis, Skittering Frog, Malabar Grey Hornbill, Brahmini Worm Snake, Bufo (frog),Bronzed Frog, Blue Eyed Bush Frog, Indian Bush Frog, Hawk Eagle, Porcupine Quill, Rufescent Burrowing Frog, Bats, Wild Fig tree, Grey Hornbill, Malabar Giant Squirrel, Flying Squirrel, Hard Spotted Woodpecker, Racket Tailed Drongo, Pandana trees and of course my leeches which gave me so many bites .

I still have an unfulfilled wish of seeing my Rhacophorus Malabaricus (Malabar Gliding Frog ! May be next time….

As I held the green vine snake, a hill keel back, a frog and a crab gently in my hands I realized how beautiful these wonders of nature were but @ the same time wondered how they got stressed  just by holding them. So just imagine what greater human interventions can do 2 nature! Sigh!

The Green Vine Snake

Malabar Pit Viper

Unidentified Forest Crab

The beautiful Mist and the Forest

A big take away from ARRS and Agumbe is that ‘life is as simple as one makes it’ . If there are heavens on earth then Agumbe is surely one of them .

The whole experience reminds me of what

And as I listen to Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’ it reminds me of the last day @ Agumbe and I re-live the experience…..

To know more about Agumbe/ARRS do visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agumbe and http://wikimapia.org/1181447/Agumbe

Last but not the least Harish, Praveen and Shreeram thanks for making it a fun experience guys!

Until the next experience….. take care

Jyothi