Migratory Birds at Kokkare Bellur

This summer holidays, we visited Kokkare Bellur twice in a gap of six weeks. Kokkare Bellur is not a bird sanctuary; it is managed totally by the locals. Every year in the months of November and December the migratory birds fly long distances to this particular village to breed. By June the chicks are fully grown and these birds are gone.

The birds nest on the tamarind trees and the locals treat them like the daughters of the village. The tree is left undisturbed and the owner of the tree even foregoes the harvest of the tree in which the birds have built their nests.

Each tree had around 20 to 30 nests all closely spaced. Click and enlarge, you can see the chicks, white fluffy ones.


Six weeks ago when we visited there were tiny chicks of the Painted storks. The mother birds were looking at us suspiciously.


Last week we were amazed to see all of them grown up. But they looked ugly; they are yet to get the colored feathers for which they are called as Painted Storks.


The village is a favorite haunt of other birds like Herons, Ibis, Munias, Bush chats and more. This tree was dotted with Black Ibis birds.

The Spot Billed pelicans are one of the globally endangered species of bird. Kokkare Bellur was earlier known for these spot billed Pelicans. About a decade back, they used to arrive in thousands in the months of November and December. Unfortunately now the numbers have dwindled to just around 100. I could get just one good shot.

Mysore Amateur Naturalists (MAN) an environmental group, based at Kaokkare Bellur is working hard to revive the Pelican population. While we were there we met Mr. Linge Gowda, the President of Hejjarle Balaga, who explained to us the various activities they are doing to protect these species.

They have made a special enclosure to protect the chicks that fall down from the nests from dogs and crows.

… after six weeks… the chicks have grown, we saw them flying short distances. Soon they will join their parents in their flight to new grounds.


How to get there: Kokkare Bellur is 80 kilometers southwest of Bangalore on the Bangalore- Mysore road.

For more Camera Critters visit Misty Dawn's.

Drinking Glass of the Working Class

One, not so fine evening...
Death knocked again
Death knocked the doors of working class
who found comfort in their drinking glass!

Relaxing after a day's hard work
their drinking glass filled with slow poison
so they thought, but alas!
it was instant poison.

WORK is their curse
so they thought for they knew not
it was their drink
which was cursed.

Reduced to mere numbers
the faces and names...
as happens after every tragedy
started another blame game.

Blame the administration,
or the failure in PROHIBITION
or is it the uncontrollable greed
of the illicit brewers breed?

Providing compensation
nay, not the solution,
instead provide
better working condition.

Bring the culprits to book
and all those crooks
who continue to fill the glass
of the poor working class.

Onus is also on the literates
to save these illiterates
yet another, the deaddiction camps
run by the society's champs.

Let this be a lesson
to the survivors of working class
to stay forever away
from their drinking glass.

Picture from The Hindu.
Written in a moment of despair, anguish and helplessness, after reading about them continuously for more than a week.

Temples in Devanahalli

Weekend at Devanahalli.

The small town inside the strong walls of Devanahalli fort is dotted with many temples. The Venugopalaswamy temple is one of the oldest here. The sculpture in this temple is said to be comparable to the temples of Belur and Halebid. The courtyard is spacious; the walls of the temple depict various scenes from Ramayana, and the pillars have beautiful statues carved on them.







I was disheartened to find that the temples are not maintained well at all. Now that the international airport is coming up there, I wish the Government would set aside some fund for the maintenance of these temples. Temples there are dedicated to Ranganatha, Chandramouleshwara and many other Gods and Goddesses.





There are many other new temples coming up and in a few months after all the paintings of these temples are completed, it is going to be more colorful.

Save the Honey Bees

Bees are disappearing at a fast rate; this will very soon lead to the disappearance of fruits and vegetables from our dinner tables. Not only these, various other delicious foods too will disappear. The Colony Collapse Syndrome in which the bees from beehives abruptly disappear is catching all beekeepers of US of A and Europe unawares.

The exact reason is not known yet, but the suspects are many:

• Mites
• Pesticides
• Global Warming
• Mobile phones
• Sky rise apartments dislodging the green trees
  

The Bigger Picture in Bangalore

The city of Bangalore is expanding and deforestation is dislodging the honey bees from their natural habitats. The trees of Bangalore are being cut down to widen the roads. The hapless bees end up making their hives in the balconies of the sky rise buildings. Understandably the residents of the flats are not too happy to coexist with them. As a result, pestcides are sprayed and hundreds of honey bees are left dead. If only they were relocated with the help of a dedicated organisation.

The CUPA (Compassion Unlimited Plus Action) is doing a great job in Bangalore rescuing animals in distress. One phone call to CUPA is all that is required to save an animal. Even the snakes of Bangalore are taken care of by Mohammed Anees. But there are none to thelp out the bees.

You may be wondering the relevance of this picture of the idol of Goddess Om Shakti in this post. Observe the picture below, you can see the bees have made their hive under the left elbow of the Goddess. This sight was my motivation for this post. The bees seem to have made a wise decision choosing that spot.

Can We Save the Honey Bees?

Saving the honey bees too, along with other animals should be given priority.

Recently the Khadi & Village Industries Commission has launched a pilot project in the ‘land of honey’ Kodagu district, south Karnataka. This is close to Bangalore. About 2,000 apiculturists (bee keepers) will be brought into the cluster development scheme to develop an apiary in the state.

‘The CUPA’ and ‘The Khadi & Village Industries Commission’ together can support the worthy cause. The two bodies can coordinate, and jointly put up efforts in relocating the honey bees to the apiaries around Bangalore. Once the apiaries around Bangalore take up the responsibility, I am sure the citizens of Bangalore will be too happy to inform the concerned department to help relocate the bee hives.

Devanahalli Fort

Last weekend we were at Devanahalli Fort. A majestic and imposing structure, its vicinities yet to be devoured by the land sharks. This 500 year old fort gained some importance recently and all because of the international airport coming up there, the historical relevance unfortunately lies covered in dust.

A lone board stating the protected status of the monument stands there. So nothing should come up in and around 200meters of the monument, that is if all abide by the ‘Rule 32 of the Ancient Monuments and Archeological Sites and Remains, 1959’. Major part of the monument is in ruins, though some part of the structure has withstood the ravages of time.



History of the Fort
It was built in 1501 by Mallebyregowda a chieftain under the king Immadi Narasimha of Saluva dynasty. The fort was under the control of Mallebyregowda‘s descendants till 1749 when the Dalawayi of Mysore, Nanjarajaiah, occupied it. Later the fort was taken over by Hyder Ali. After the Mysore war it passed on to the hands of Lord Cornwallis in the year 1791.

This place is historically significant for yet another reason, may be the most important of all-Tipu Sultan was born here in 1750. Hyder Ali and Dewan Purnaiah, the Dewan of Mysore too resided here.



Walk on the walls of the fort is sure to give you goose bumps. I was imagining how many soldiers of Tipu Sultan must have lost their lives in this place, fighting valiantly against the troops of Lord Cornwallis. That was almost two centuries back. The walls must have been stained by the blood of soldiers. There, on the walls of the fort were several holes running through the entire thickness of the wall. The soldiers must have aimed at the enemies inserting their guns and cannons through these holes. We walked through the semi circular part of the fort wall which withstood the ravages of time till now. The view around from that height is great.


The thick fort wall, even the longest arm can't reach the other side.



The fort abruptly ends here.

Inside the lofty walls of the fort is a small town similar to that you will find in a picture book of Malgudi Days. There are many temples some very old, some not so old and some just under construction. Temples there are dedicated to Venugopalswamy, Ranganatha, Chandramouleshwara and many other Gods and Goddesses too. More about the temples in another post. :)

The 20 acres of land inside the fort is divided and owned by many private owners. Have a look at the various sites and the site holders’ names in the Wiki Map of the Fort. Soon these land owners will fall prey to the tempting offers of reputed builders. Then all you will find inside the granite walled fort will be high rise apartments, shopping malls and multiplexes. Till then every proud Bangalorean should visit the place to pass on the heritage and legacy of the place to the future generations.

How to get there?
After you land at the international airport, don’t zoom off to the Bangalore city to attend meetings; instead start off in the opposite direction on Bellary road. Drive for 10 kms and you are sure to hit the fort. Those of you who are in Bangalore, take the Bellary Road, it is 45 kilometers from the city.

Update: Trip to Devanahalli Part - 2.

Self Erasable Paper

The paperless office is still a myth. Paper consumption in offices is skyrocketing day after day. Even with the advent of various digital communication means like desktop publishing, content management systems, e-mails, e-books and business deals getting sealed at lightning speeds, it is Paper which is running the show. Studies ahve revealed that about 40% of printed pages are viewed only once, then they are put to shredding machines and finally to the waste bin. There are no indications whatsoever in the reduction of its consumption.

Various companies are trying out innovative methods to switch to ‘less paper’ office if not ‘paperless’ offices. But when Xerox comes touting about such efforts, it does raise a few eyebrows. It is now trying to erase its image of being just a paper company. The latest its research lab is publicizing about is the self-Erasable paper.

The print on erasable paper fades out with time naturally or on exposing it to a special light or to heat. Sounds like magic right? The technology used is; the paper is coated with same molecular compound as that in tinted eyeglasses. This compound darkens or lightens depending on the amount of UV light in the environment. It reacts to certain wavelengths of light. Images and text are printed on the paper using these special wavelengths.

The prototype printer that is being developed does not use toner or ink Instead it uses paper that is coated with photo chrome molecules and a light bar with a specific wavelength of light as the writing tool. The cost of such papers is three to four times the regular papers and the main advantage is it can be used hundreds of times. Xerox intends to come out with this product in another few years.

Reading this, triggered my thought process and I am quite delighted about the possible uses and saving trees in the long run.
Possible usages of such papers as I fore see are:

• Companies that generate information and reports which become stale overnight and those that need frequent temporary documentation can benefit with these papers.


• Reports that are distributed to employees for supervision purposes and then are to be shredded can be written on such papers.


• Reports which are to be updated frequently can be done by reloading the used reports in to the printer and write over them.


• Children’ drawing pads. (In this case however special pens have to be manufactured for this- opens up a new market.)

You cannot use these papers for all purposes. There are limitations too.

• Using them in Newspaper industry the biggest paper consumers is not a good idea, unless you want the truth to vanish in 24 hrs.


• And the bosses need to be careful and double check whether the memos are being issued on a non-erasable paper or not.


• Users have to be careful while writing over them, wrinkling or messing the paper will jam the printer. So copier machines with better feeder tray rollers are required for this.


• Use the same color to rewrite, to make it difficult to find out what was written on it before.

The last two points makes me think: isn’t Xerox actually building up a base to market its future products. Products those are specific to the Erasable Papers i.e. their copier machines… some long term planning here. Xerox is doing a commendable job and if the product is delivered successfully, it will save a lot of paper.

Well anything that goes to save Trees-a vital part of our ecosystem, is most welcome.

Image from: Focus on Innovation.