where Sanskrit is taught, and still used extensively. We visited a couple who have settled down there, having built this beautiful house:
Lakshmi Narasimha temple, Mathur
We then went to the shAradA temple at Kudli
as it was about to close.
On 100417, we visited the Sakrebailu Elephant Camp.
Kiran decided that we would return by the afternoon train rather than wait for the overnight one…so a memorable visit to Shivamogga came to a conclusion!
Here’s K2 on his actual birthday, the 28th of January:
With his sister:
Fixing the dishwasher when it ain’t broke:
Forking it out:
He had a birthday bash with a friend:
Hitler wonders what he’s done with his mpustache:
The family with the cake:
Here’s KTB, riveted by her first theatre experience:
Here’s a pic of sibling love:
And finally, here’s KTB describing “a shark eating a fish,under the water,eating a fish and two clams sitting on the ground talking to each other, and watching the shark eat the fish, and the pearls never fly out of the clams when they talk.”
My wonderful grandchildren…the great joy of my life! Thanks to the parents for most of these pics.
I had decided that I would not go any nature trails this morning (Vijayadashami Day) as it was a holiday…but since KM suddenly announced that he was going for golf, I decided to join Rohit Girotra and visit Valley School.
I’ll be putting up the pictures of the birds and butterflies (and the occasional dragonfly!) on Facebook, but want to share a funny incident…
As soon as we started up the path, we found our usual escorts waiting..this time, it was two dogs. They always follow us, or go ahead…but are generally around for as long as our trail lasts.
While I was looking at the profusion of Coppersmith Barbets and Red-whiskered and Red-vented Bulbuls in the fruiting Ficus tree…a delight to watch….there was a commotion, and I realized that the dogs had attacked some bird, which I could see flying up, in an ungainly fashion, into the tree. I levelled my binoculars and exclaimed…it was a
GREY JUNGLEFOWL!
I have never before seen a Junglefowl sitting on a tree; after all, it is the same kind of bird from which our domesticated fowl are descended, and they are ground birds for the most part, and cannot even fly in any sustained manner.
I realized that it was only the scare that made the bird jump/fly into the nearest tree, because it went up and down on the branch, looking for a way down!
Here’s a video of the bird doing that:
I watched him (all that plumage! Of course it’s a male!) for a while, and he finally dropped down into the undergrowth (the dogs had wandered off by this time, and hopefully, he will be alive to tell the tale to his hen…and eggs!)
As a bonus…here’s what our morning opened with….a
LOTEN’S SUNBIRD
singing on top of a tree!
An interesting incident in a lovely morning of birding and “buttering”….
We are leaving for Maine (Christmas), Connecticut (wedding on the 29th) , and then California (KM’s entire family is getting together) , early tomorrow…don’t know how my internet access will be…so here’s wishing everyone a Merry Christmas with this spray of real holly, that I photographed just outside the St Louis Cathedral…
