karnataka

I've often said that #travel doesn't have to be expensive. In Dandeli we stayed at a campsite called BeOnTheTrail that charged us ₹1000 per night for pitching three tents. This included the use of all facilities on their campsite including a bathroom with geyser, and a campfire each night. Boating was ₹100 per head, kayaking was perhaps ₹300. In Gokarna we are paying ₹500 for pitching a tent at a campsite by the beach. Food at both places was about ₹2000 per day for six people. Petrol has been expensive, costing us more per day than stay and food, but we could have used public buses instead of a car.

That said, I recognise that travel is a privilege. Not everyone has a job that they can work on remotely, or can get leaves from. Not everyone has a car to just up and go. We've paid dearly for the space to store all of our camping gear. I have Sharada to take care of my plants when I'm gone. The list goes on. Just because I'm not spending much on this trip doesn't mean that I don't have other hidden means that enable this trip.

So, umm, if my travel pics encourage you to take short breaks more often, that's very nice. If they make you feel that you don't have the means to enjoy life as much as others, then I'm truly sorry I've made you feel this way. I wish I could tag Instagram pics in a way that you could filter out the travel pics.

I went camping with some friends three years ago, to Kasauli. They reached out to say that that trip would always be a core memory for their kids. And that my kids would have so many more such memories. Which is very generous of them, but it is also true. If you do have the means, and you have kids, yet you just sit on your butt all weekend, or all you do is luxury travel that doesn't let your kids connect with nature and with rural India, then really, get off your butt and go somewhere.

#Sunrise in #Gokarna

Out for a #morning #walk. These are some #fields near our #campsite.

The king. Chilling brightly in the middle of Cunningham Road.

The guards smiled as I took the pic. He has a fan club 😁

More magic from #Alvekodi

#Karnataka #incredibleindia #clouds #sea

I don't think we've ever experienced anything quite like the #Alvekodi #Sea Walk.

#Karnataka #incredibleindia #clouds

#Maravanthe is the opposite of #BabaBudanGiri. It looks better in pictures than when you're actually there.

#Karnataka #nature #indiaclicks

Being #blue at the #Alvekodi Sea Walk.

#sea #Karnataka #Ambedkar #clouds

#Maravanthe was a bit of a let down. I suppose it's the kind of place that only looks glorious in drone pics.

#Karnataka #India #indiaclicks #incredibleindia

So many big #fish in the #Tunga river.

#Karnataka #nature

Baba Budan Giri. Pictures cannot capture the beauty of this place.

#nature #Karnataka #naturephotography #india

The view from #Sravanabelagola.

You can almost see the curvature of the earth 😳

#clouds #Karnataka #panorama

The Southern Plains Grey #Langurs also took full advantage of the foliage in the forests of #Dandeli to hide.

#nature #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #wildlife #indiaclicks

In January we went camping in Dandeli. There we met the Grey Malabar Hornbill, a.k.a. dhanesh, gobre vaayre or kaldal hakki.

#birds #goa #Dandeli #birdsofindia #nature #naturephotography

M2 contemplates the lake one last time before we leave. Good times were had. Memories were made.

The elder one dialed things up a couple of notches and took the dinghy out into the sea. The island was too rocky and he couldn't find a place to tether his boat, so he came back. He saw lots of big red and yellow crabs on the island.

#boat #sea #island #rowing #karwar #karnataka

This pic turned out rather nice

#boating #boat #lagoon #karwar #karnataka

More boating. This time with towing.

#boat #boating #karwar #karnataka #camping

Camping under trees and the stars.

The campsite came with a swing and a hammock.

#camping #swing #hammock #trees

M1. Boating. With a headlight. On an inflatable boat we picked up five years ago and never got to use. Till today. Big day ha ha.

#boating #boat #karwar #majali #karnataka

We look happy, but some of us are cold and sleepy

Lots and lots of birdies in a tree

#early #morning #boat #rides be like...

Halp. My knuckles are white from climbing.

Why my child is like this?

I could take a million pictures, and they wouldn't do justice to the beauty of the place. People come and seek divinity in the temples here. But the real peace is in the nature - the rocks, fields, birds and animals.

Spot the #langur chilling out in the #paddy #fields, as the #sun sets over the #Tungabhadra in the background

Far away view of our #campsite in #Hampi

A far away view of our #campsite in #Hampi

Barbequeing seems like such an inordinate amount of effort. And yet being out in the hills, under the open sky, with a chill in the air, it's all so therapeutic.

Smoked barbecue. Made by smoked children.

I really have no good answer for why we didn't go camping or caravaning for more than an year.

After what seems like an eternity, we are back at it again.

Le street art of Bengaluru

I was Arthur Dent for a day 😁

As I ambled about Jayanagar after a very satisfying round of sundaes at Corner House, I saw these.

Monster money plant gonna get you tonight.

Bangalore has been run over by beautiful women wielding beautiful #mookuthis. It is an epidemic, of the delightful kind.

Featured here is my childhood (youthhood?) friend, famous superstar, and lifelong Daler Mehndi fan club chairperson, Bindhu Malini @bindhumalini .

If you haven't heard of her, please crawl out of whatever rock you've been living under, add Bindhu Malini to your Spotify favourite artists list, and soak up her soulful music. You can also add her equally talented and delightfully random husband Vasu Dixit. Then you will have full flavour.

The café I was at, had a fly on the wall. Was it listening to my conversations. But I was sitting there all by myself.

Could it listen to the musings of my mind?

Will it keep my secrets?

There is much beauty in the little things.

There's just something about #tree #canopies