Elephanta Caves Mumbai...!!!

The cave temples to Siva, on the island of Elephanta, in the Bombay harbour, contain some of the most magnificent sculptures in the Deccan. The dating of the caves seems to be controversial. They were probably finished some time between 450 and 750 AD. The complex is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Access from Mumbai is by boats leaving from the Gateway of India. There are three entrances to the main temple in the complex- from the north, east and west. The main gallery is divided by columns into equal rows and aisles. To the west, and outside this area, is a square sanctuary containing a monolithic Linga. The huge, high-relief works in the main cave, on both sides of the three entrances and on the south wall, are characteristic of the cult of Siva and considered to be among the most perfect expressions of Indian art of their time. The most well-known is the six metre high Trimurti, showing Siva in the three roles of creator, preserver and destroyer. This sculpture is supposed to be one of the centerpiece.

d point where boats will left u...!!!

Toy train which will take ppl to the caves starting point...!!!

d very first stone sculpture which you will find near cave 1...!!!

Cave 1

Cave 1

Cave 2...!!!

The most well-known is the six metre high Trimurti, showing Siva in the three roles of creator, preserver and destroyer. This sculpture is supposed to be one of the centerpieces of the Indian sculptural tradition.

The garba-griha itself encloses the main lingam, representative of Shiva and male energy, while the southern wall showcases Sadasiva, flanked by chapels to Ardhanareshvara and Gangadhara (the bearer of Ganga, from her fall from heaven).

Statue...!!!

Creator, Preserver and The Destroyer.....Lord Shiva.

A sculpture of Shiva as Destroyer.

All i wanted was to climb...!!!

World-renowned Slovenian climber, Tomaz Humar, considered as one of world’s greatest-ever mountaineer, has been found dead in the Himalayas.

The shocking news comes days after the 40-year-old informed that he had broken his leg and was stranded up at 24,000-foot in northern Nepal. Gerold Biner, flight operations manager for the Swiss Air Zermatt, which was conducting rescue operations, said that Humar’s body was recovered early on Saturday by a three-man rescue team.“They called me, to tell me that the rescue mission was over,” The Telegraph quoted Biner, as saying. He also added that Humar was climbing a difficult route up Langtang Lirung, which made the rescue efforts even more difficult.

The rescue team is now attempting to bring Humar’s remains back to Kathmandu, where his family is waiting Earlier on November 9, Humar had contacted his base to inform that he had been injured while climbing Langtang Lirung. Rescue operations were soon started to find Humar and Sherpas trekked the snowy slopes where he was supposed to be. But they failed in their attempt. Heavy snowfall later in the week forced climbers to postpone searches because of increased avalanche risk.

Find more about Humar @ http://www.humar.com/en/index.php

Trek from Magodu water fall to Shivaganga falls

ohhh....man...still i dont believe that i am alive. If you are a real trekking freak then you must go to this place but if you are not then for sure you are going to put our life in a trap which had been set up beatifully by nature. I never heard of this place until an old trek friend of mine called me n told about this place. He told the plan that we will be going from Magodu water falls to Shivaganga waterfalls, both comes in western ghats neat yellapur and after that we dont have any plan even we dint know the route which we are going to try n how we trek there. That was the only plan we had that we are going except that nothing. Finally 5 brave souls[sathya,yogan,adarsh,wasim n me] left the bangalore with a hope n excitement of encounter with mother nature. We were totally 5 but at a time only 2 us knows each other before this trek so that means some more new friends. From bangalore to yellapur is about 400km. After reaching yellapur we had our breakfast at bus stand. You will not find much shops/restru to eat over there n after this also you are not to see any shops until the trek is over :).
From yellapur you have to take again one bus to Magodu villege n that will be 15-20 mins journey. The point where the bus will left you need to take left and trek on pukka road till the road ends...:)[dats around 1-1.5km]. We reached the Magodu water fall by 9:15am and got fresh over there seems that there was a park where ocasionally local school children comes for a day picnic n then the real breath taking n life time trek got started. We started getting down from the top of the hill to go the base of Magodu water falls.

Starting point of trek for Magodu waterfall...!!!

Initially there are proper steps are made but very soon they will disapperd coz many are still under construction. We were crossing through thick bamboo jungle n thorny bushes n even too slippery big boulders with the help of roots hanging down from the trees.

getting down to base of waterfall...!!!

still in the mid of jungle...!!!

while getting down...!!!

After walking around one hour we got stuck at a point where was no way. Very soon we get to realize that we are just standing on the edge of straight rock down to the earth n that was around more than 300 feet. we decided that we again go up and find some other new trail to get down. Again we went up take some random left somewhere in between and started gettting down. But alas....some more thrill....again one straight rock but this was having lesser height than the previous one. So we decieded to get down with the help of rope. Sathya tied the rope to a tree and thats the way how we mananged to get down to the base of watere fall. That was the momemnt man...never did rock climbing/rappling in life but this place taught us everything now.

without rope....its impossible to get down from this place...!!!

ROPE is the HOPE....:-)...!!!

After gettting down we had our lunch on the bank of bedthi river n then visit the Magodu water fall once agin from bottom.

Magodu water fall...it had a total height of 650 feet in 2 steps...!!!

@ the base of Magodu waterfall...!!!

n he was preparing mm...mm..maggi....:)...!!!

Now we need to go the other side of the river and trek along the bedthi river. This bedthi river then meets some other river after around 3-4 km from where we need to take the left and reach the Shivaganga waterfalls,but we dont know any thing else except having some blue prints of our very own google map. Actually we wasted lot of time in getting down to the base of waterfall coz of which we fell short of target to camp at samgam of bedthi river. There are actually very nice location to camp on the bank of bedthi river you may get the same feeling of camping at a beach. It was a full moon night so moon light..river..cold breeze..sand..makes it a prefect location for outing n camping.

@ base camp...!!!

Camp fire on the bank of Bedthi river...!!!

Next morning we dont know how much we need to walk so as soon as we woke up next morning around 6 am, we started walking along the river. Almost after one n half hour we were at the sangam of bedthi river.

morning view @ sangam...!!!

We rested over there for a while n pull out our maps to know where exactly we are. After that we kept walking for hours getting up n down the boulders with ropes and putting the big tree trunk between the rocks to make a bridge so that we can cross over the river. After taking the left from sangam you need to be vvv carefull one step without concentration n you will directly fall in river which will flow in full fledge way. Finally around 4pm after hours of trekking we were at the Shivaganga waterfalls. But...the real thirll was waitig for us here. We had to cross the river in which you can not stand for a second because of its heavy flow. We need to cross the river to go on the other side of river and man it was our pure luck some college students had came down to that place for a picnic. They helped us in crossing the river. It was a wide river and we cant throw the rope to them directly.

Finally our destination : Shivaganga water falls...!!!

Most of them were swimmers so they came in mid of river n step down on stones. We throw the ropes to them and then they thowed one end of rope to their friends on the other side of river. This way we got a rope tightly hanging on river and then we crossed the river. From there we will climbed up the hill n then again you need to walk around 2 km to reach a villege where you can get the transport to reach city. When we reached the city accidently we met forest official n the way we were dressed up that time they dint took much time to realize that we were in the area from trekking. After that we got to know that no one had ever done that trek from Magodu water fall
to Shivanganga waterfalls. He even tried to threatn us about telling stories of wild animals in jungle but by that time our trek was over. So in one word this was a termendous trek full of thrill...!!!

Things you must carry : ROPE [coz this is the hope over there :)]
Things you may carry : No need to carry water as you will be walking beside water stream only,suncap,good grip rubber shose.

Kerala Trip...!!!

Kerala (Malayalam: കേരളം?; Kēraḷaṁ) is a state located in southwestern India. Neighbouring states include Karnataka to the north and Tamil Nadu to the south and east, and the Arabian sea is to the west. Major cities include the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kollam, Palakkad, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kannur. Malayalam is the principal spoken language.

@ Alleppey beach...!!!

The Chinese fishing nets (Cheena vala) of Fort Kochi (Fort Cochin) in the City of Kochi (Cochin), in the Indian State of Kerala, are fixed land installations for an unusual form of fishing — shore operated lift nets.^[1] Huge mechanical contrivances hold out horizontal nets of 20 m or more across. Each structure is at least 10 m high and comprises a cantilever with an outstretched net suspended over the sea and large stones suspended from ropes as counterweights at the other end. Each installation is operated by a team of up to six fishermen.

The system is sufficiently balanced that the weight of a man walking along the main beam is sufficient to cause the net to descend into the sea. The net is left for a short time, possibly just a few minutes, before it is raised by pulling on ropes. The catch is usually modest: a few fish and crustaceans — these may be sold to passers by within minutes.

The system of counterweights is most ingenious. Rocks, each 30 cm or so in diameter are suspended from ropes of different lengths. As the net is raised, some of the rocks one-by-one come to rest on a platform thereby keeping everything in balance.

@ Tamilnadu Border...!!!

@ Alleppey beach...!!!

Alleppey backwaters...!!!

Khaki Cambell Duck...!!!

Mountain view point

Tea plantaion @ Munnar...

St. Francis CSI Church, in Kochi , earlier called Cochin, originally built in 1503, is the oldest European church in India and has great historical significance as a mute witness to the European colonial struggle in the subcontinent. The Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, died in Kochi in 1524 when he was on his third visit to India. His body was originally buried in this church, but after fourteen years his remains were removed to Lisbon.

The Santa Cruz Basilica, a church in Kochi, Kerala built originally by the Portuguese and elevated to a Cathedral by Pope Paul IV in 1558, was spared by the Dutch conquerors who destroyed many Catholic buildings. Later the British demolished the structure and Bishop João Gomes Ferreira commissioned a new building in 1887. Consecrated in 1905, Santa Cruz was proclaimed a Basilica by the Pope John Paul II in 1984. This magnificent church is a must see destination for tourists who come to Kochi.

Santa Cruz Basilica, a Roman Catholic Cathedral is one of the finest and impressive churches in Kerala. It is a place of devotion as well as a center of historic significance, endowed with architectural and artistic grandeur and colours of the gothic style. Located close to St. Francis Church it is the 'capital church' of the diocese of Cochin.

This is one of the four anchors of the first dredger Lord Willingdon. Lord Willingdon was the principal intstrument in the execution of Sir Robert Bristow's brilliant design of making Cochin a world class port. Lord Willingdon, which was brought from Scotland in 1938, had distinguished dredging carrer up to 1979 in which year she sunk in the outer channel of Arabian Sea in an accident.

Vikas...!!!

Rogers...!!!

Seemant...!!!

Trek to Skandha-giri Peak...!!!

Hmmm...i heard of this peak quite some time back through some mail fwds. Might be you had also seen some mails with subject "a place above clouds" or smthg like that. But the real fun for this trek to do is in full moon night. So was just waiting for the perfect time and for some good company.
Finally the time had come it was the november month in 2008.One of my collegue asked me for a small trek, i suggested them to go this peak. As it is quite near to bangaloren the guys are going for the first time for trek. I found it as a good opportunity, so i too joined the gang. So the plan was ready, from net almost trek related info had been downloaded. Actually its good to have all info with you if you are planing to be on the peak before sunrise coz in that case u have to start during midnight and in that time you wil not find anybody from whom you can ask where to go or not. We were total 14 so having 7 bikes including mine. This was also a special one coz in this trek my bike first time touchs the highway...:).

the peak to conquer

So all were set to start for the trek. It was around 1:30am by the time when we start for this trek from madiwala. As a simple rule of the game 'no overtaking' n 'no parallel biking' n have a safe journey. All of start strated in one line jut behind of each other. Around 3am we took our first break on highway. Had small chit-chat and started again. Upto Nandi hills its a very straight fwd way but actual confusion comes after it. Actually there is a ashram n from there you have to take the right. But there are two ashram with the same name :). So you have to take the right
from first asharam. We were almost lost in night where to go for hill. In the mean time we met another gang of 4 bikers that was also lost. Finally we met one local guy and he tells that he will guide us to the peak with a charge of 250/-. All of us were got exhausted searching for the way to hill, so decided to let him to guide us to the peak. Finally it was around 4:30am we were @ the foothills of skhandhagiri. Now these days there is a parking spcae where people can park there bikes @ 15/- per bike and cars @ 30/- per car. As soon as we parked our bikes we started for the terk coz all of us wanted to see sun-rise. All of us whoever was carrying toarch, had taken out our toarchs and started climbing the peak. It was real fun to climb a hill during night time in light of toarchs. As almost all of the guys were going for trekking for the first time. So they were lacking the basic principle of treking as it is a team game. So who ever was carrying the toarch just using it for to lite his own way and not bothering about others like as some of us were carrying the toarchs so it was the resposibilit yof other to show them the way. But it was not a trekking gruop it was just a mob which is climbing the hill. It sounds quite strange to me and pity for those who were not carrying the toarch. Umm...i was counting it as my worst trekking expirence till date but later on i had one more worsen expirence during trek of sakhleshpur trek...ll tel u in that trek blog. Ok...Ok...no more personnel feeling....we were @ the peak by 5:30 with some breath taking steps during the trek. While climbing the peak we havnt seen anybody climbing the peak, but as soon as we reached the peak there were aruond 50 or more people who were already there. On the peak you can find some old wall of a fort which is considered to be there from time of Tipu-Sultan. One old temple of some lord is also there. Now it is partially occupied by a tea stall, a guys sells tea n bread in morning.

sun-rise @ hill

wid bike partner @ hill top

sign of temple @ hill top

the beautifull n dangerous part of trek...!!!

while getting down @ small shiva temple

We stay over there for around 2 hrs and had some rest. Now its time to get down from the hill. I thought of it would be easy as it is already the case for other treks. Getting down is more easy than climbing. But really speaking getting down was more tougher than climbing. It took around 1 n haf hour to all of us to get down.

Can see skandha-giri on back side

Overall it was mixture of good and bad expirence. But you cannot expect much from guys like these who are trekking for the first and doing it just for the sake for the trekking....better to leave it. For me it was a wonderfull n breath-taking ex for being to this trek and it was quite tough wrt to my expectations for this trek. So one more addtions to the list of peak conquered and lets see which is the next one....!!!

Visit to Pune...!!!

Huuufff.....well its time for one more trip.....by dis time i was thinking of giving trekking a small break. So what else comes to the mind to met some outstations friends. So the plan was to visit pune to met a college friend over there. Well apart from meeting old ones, plan includes to visit some sourrounding places also. So me and vikas went to met another vikas :).
We booked a volvo bus ticket through ksrtc. The journey to pune was quite comfortable coz of volvo. we started from blore around 5:30pm and reached pune main bus stand by 8:00 am. My friend was waiting there to pick us to his home. we were meeting after around 1n haf year so had a small get to gether party @ his room only....PARTYY....:).
Well doing party party it was around 4 pm, den we decided to visit mulshi dam owned by TATA.
As a medium to go there we were having a pulsar and one safari urf ram-pyari aur na jane kya kya(hamara BAJAJ super)...heehehee.

wid vikas on our shan ki savari...:)

wid another vikas

Thas was around 20 km from our room. On the way while going there you can found some bit of indian grand canyon. Dont mind they are just small hills which look alike grand canyon, which is originally in US. It took around 1 n haf hour for us to be there. Entry to the lake near the dam is strictly prohibited so what one can do is just have a look around for some scenerys or else can spend some quality time at the bank of lake, which most of the people do via having small picnics.

evening scene @ mulshi

one more...!!!

After spending some time over there we started to get back to our room. On the way we had just 1 or 2 small stops just to have a look over pune city in night. It was 9 by the time we were at our room. Started to make some plans for the next 2 days but cudnt reached to any concorete one n while discussing the planning everyone got asleep.
Next day we got some plans either to visit khandala etc or go for any near by beach. Finally decided to visit the beachs of divya-aagre and sri-vardhan which were aournd 170 km from pune one side. We hire a taxy for 2 days to cover the near by places of beach.

on the way to Sri-vardhan

We started around 12:00 pm and finally we reach sri-vardhan around 5:30pm.

sun-set @ beach...!!!

This place is not so much commercialised and very few people knows about it. As it was the getting dark so we first book a room for night stay. After that we just roam in the town for few minutes and plan to go to beach. We bought some stuff for snacks and head towards beach. We came back from beach late night and had some dinner over there in some local restru. Next morning as soon as we woke up we went directly to beach to have some bath and games :). One
important thing about beach at sri-vardhan, its a wonderfull beach with its clear water. Even you can easily see sand grains in sea form height of 3 feet. we spend around 5-6 hr over there and its time to go back.

one more shot of sun set

claimed to be pyramid and taj-mahal

masti...!!!

hum teen...!!!

We went to our hotel and did check out over there. Now its time to visit sourrounding places. There are the 2 more places must see near by, One is diyva-aagre and other is one ganpati temple which have a very old gold murti of lord ganesha. So we head towards divya aagre first. There a very beautifull road stretch of 3-4 km along sea beach.

a very first glimpse of divya-aagre

some where in divya-aagre

old ganpati temple in divya-aagre

We had 1-2 small stops to just have a look aournd and then head towards ganpati temple. We visit the temple by 3pm and then started towards pune by 3:30pm. We were back to pune by 10pm.

once upon a time

Over all the trip was quite intresting and pune city is also good...no long traffic jammmsss as here in bangalore.
The plan was also includes to visit mumbai but coz of some unavoidable circumstances was not got possible @ that time. Hope to cover some other time in life....till den let see what comes in the journey...!!!