Tuesday, July 26, 2005

A Magical Place, A Beautiful Lake



I love myself for taking these photos!
The place: Hundreds of feet up in Chickmagalur, above the controversial Datta Peetha on Baba Budan Giri hills.
Situation: We heard of this lake from a policeman guarding the Peetha. It was a tough climb up and my parents and I were tired. But the view was so worth it! There was this crystal clear lake, the sky was the most beautiful shade of blue and not a single living soul around except us! Ok there was a cow grazing there which looked irritated at the company. It was like being up in the clouds with the hills below our feet. The lake had ruins of what looked like a fort but there was no one up there who could give us a story.
Thats my ma in the first photo.
What else shall I say, its a beautiful place and I think the photo just about says it all.
History: Centuries ago, Baba Budan came from Arabia with a few coffee beans smuggled in his belly. This brought my elixir coffee into south India. Chickmagalur is still famous for its coffee estates. Baba meditated among these hills. Over the years Hindu monks also came here. The cave temple is today divided into two parts with Hindu and Muslim priests. It was all very peaceful until "intellectuals" with vested interests gave it political overtones. Today it is a disputed area, often called 'Ayodhya of the South'. These politicians I tell you....

2 comments:

San Nakji said...

This seems to be the bain of India's existence, the whole religion thing. Your pictures are great. I have linked to you, I hope other people look at your site. Good luck with your journalism, it is a great career, just make sure you always retain your honesty...

Karthik L G said...

what a beautiful foto 'kaapi crazy' girl

superb foto and ur mom thr enhances tht pic .. u cud have avoided that land in the bottom portion of the first pic or u cud have cropped it .... wht say?