Sumit Bharati

After long time returned from office when Sun was just setting. Looking at the view from behind a tall building went into old memory lane and come up with few lines. आज फिर से डूबते सूरज को देखने की ललक जागी थी, उड़ते परिंदों को नीड़ का रुख करते देखने की आस जागी थी। यूँ तो शहर की ऊँची इमारतों ने सूरज का पर्दा कर रखा था, पर छलकती लालिमा से मन तृप्त करना कहा मना था। बिल्डिंग के पीछे क्रिकेट खेलते बच्चों ने बचपन की यादें ताजा कर दी थीं, शायद इस समय हमारे अंतिम मैच की दूसरी पारी शुरू हुआ करती थी। परिंदों का झुण्ड ऊपर गुजरता देख उन्हें हाथ दिखाने की याद आयी थी, उनके निलयन की मधुर-कर्कश ध्वनि सुनने की उत्कंठा फिर से जागी थी। शायद मैं बचपन और अपने छोटे कस्बे को बहुत मिस करता हूँ, शहरी कहीं के- आज कोई ऐसा ना बोल दे, बहुत डरता हूँ। (26/08/2014, 6:13 PM)

"Ardha kilometer seedha hogi…"- Words of a septuagenarian fell into my ears as I left my seat to get down from the bus. I just swayed my right hand and thanked him. What I could understand from his Kannada words was - the village is at half a kilometer in the straight direction. After getting down, I looked around and had a feel of the weather. It was a pleasant cloudy Sunday morning with birds chirping around. Time was 7:20am. I saw the word Lokadalalu vaguely inscribed on a dilapidated cement slate standing beside the road connecting Holalkere to Hosadurga. Holalkere is a taluka in Karnataka, around 35kms from Chitradurga.   I looked ahead on the road leading to the village and my excitement went high. My sight went through a slightly curvy and empty road and ended at misty hills. May be the end point was the Doddahotrangappa Hills, having this thought I started walking ahead. The fresh and clean village air pumped my lungs and with doubled energy I progressed fast...

Thinking about nature, what comes in our mind are flowing river bouncing over rocks, dense forest with myriads of trees, a series of hills and hillocks, chirping birds, grazing animals and many such things. And amidst all these, a temple-not so far, where bell doesn't ring so often, but gives internal peace and relieved feeling whenever it does so. If you could imagine such a place, probably you may find its name as Dabguli. Few days back on www.meetup.com I found a newly created group named Bangalore trexplorers . The organizer of this group claimed to take us to some of the less known and unexplored yet interesting places in and around Bangalore. Being an eternal nature lover and travel enthusiast I joined the group and found Dabguli as their first place to explore. In my office curiously I asked few of my Kannadiga colleagues about Dabguli but they turned up their unaware faces. And my curiosity went high. The trip was scheduled on Sunday, Dec 15, 2013 and 7 people includ...

Ranganthittu is the biggest bird sanctuary of Karnataka and nearest to Bangalore. I planned to visit this place on Sunday, March 17, 2013.  Saturday I googled for some basic information like, how to go, where to eat, what to see etc. While googling I found that March is not the best time to visit the place. But same time came across few reviews which gave me hope that I can expect enough bird that won’t disappoint my visit. As I always prefer train over bus for travel, chose the rail route to visit Ranganthittu. Charged my camera battery, checked my camera, lenses, tripod and I was ready for the next morning train at 7:00 am. Train started on time from Bangalore. Felt little bored because most of the people around were Kannada speaking and I was not able to interact with them. The best part of the train journey was missing. As I looked out of the train window, alternate swathe of agricultural fields and small residential setups on both the sides of track rekindle...