Calendar 2012

My favourites photos in 2011 for the Calendar-2012

Buy one copy of the 2012 Calendar

Remarks

Wayanad

Wayanad is a wonderful hill station in north-east of Kerala (Munnar is another one). It shares border with Karnataka & Tamil Nadu states. The roads are very good and passes through forests, Bandipur national park, Muthanga wild life Sanctuary etc. Its about 300Kms from Bangalore via Mysoore and Gundalpet. Mysoore has many palaces, gardens etc. & in Gundalpet you can see acres of Flower on road side (depends on season). So its good weekend plan from Bangalore.

Driving through Thamarassery Churam - name is familiar to all Keralates, is the mountain road which connects Wayanad to rest of Kerala - was there in my whishlist since childhood.. It is a part of NH212 Mysore-Calicut highway and considered to be the most tedious road in kerala because of the sharp bends and hairpins.  We can see buses and trucks trying hard to negotiate the hairpins. When you enter Wayanad from Kerala you can see a big "welcome" board as soon as you reach the top of this mountain road which makes you will feel happy & proud, that finally you have made it.

There are many wonderful resorts available in Wayanad, Vythiri being the main one. Our stay was actually a company gift for serving 5 long years, but there were no rooms available in Vythiri. So we stayed in Meenmutty Heights, which was also a good one. There are many places to see in Wayanad, but we had other plans & could not visit them. Anyway here are some photos.

The great Thamarassery Churam, Wayanad 

                           Wayanad Roads                             Wayanad  Tea Plantations 

Kuruva Island, Wayanad

Meenmutty Heights Resort, Wayanad 

Meenmutty Heights Resort, Wayanad 

Nandi hills

Went for a weekend drive from the city, about 80km away. Nandi hills are about 1500meters above sea level, very near to new Bangalore International airport (BIAL), so the roads were very good. The view from the top of the hills is fantastic. Many monkeys are there fighting so don't carry any food with you otherwise they will catch it. Keep it in you car & locked. About 15 hairpins are to be negotiated to reach the top of the hill. There are some old temples and architectures. Below the hills you can farmers and their kids selling fresh gapes, we bought some to make some wine.

Top of Nandi hills

           

                    View from Nandi hills                  Neat railway lines on the way to Nandi hills

Mumbai

Visited the big city, the most populous city in India and 4th in the world. So you can see crowd and crowd all over the city, around 60lacs of people travel in local trains everyday. Mumbai is on the west coast side, It is the business capital of India and is also the capital of Indian Film industry -Bollywood .

                          Taj Hotel, Mumbai                             Marine Drive, Mumbai

                                      Bandstand, Mumbai         Haji Ali, Mumbai

                                Mumbai City                                    Haji Ali, Mumbai

                            Sea view, Mumbai                              Pagoda, Mumbai

Pagoda, Mumbai

EC, Bangalore

The sky looked very beautiful after the rain in Electronic City - Bangalore. This over bridge is about 9km long and connects EC to Silk Board. The travel time for this 9km was between 30 to 45min before and reduced to 5 to 10mins now with this bridge.

This photo is taken using my mobile phone.

Pondichery

Pondichery is a Union Territory in Tamil Nadu district & an eastern coastal area. It was the French Capital in India till independence, so the roads and buildings in the main town still gives you the feel of a french colony. The place is very hot & sunny. Food is the best thing in Pndichery, you get a variety of good european dishes. There are beaches, good hotels & guest houses nearby to stay.

We went via Vellore taking NH46 which is about 350km and returned via NH66 which was 298km. But the NH66 was in very bad condition so recommending the first route. It took about 6Hrs each way. Here are some photos.

Idamalayar Dam

Water Dams are always my favourite places. In Kerala we have many hydro electrical power project and so there are many water Dams too. The Idukki Arch Dam is the biggest one, I have been there but photography is not at all allowed there. The dam is opened for visitors only for few days in a year.

This time I went with my cousin brothers, we all were meeting after a long time and wanted to go a relative's house. From there we went to see Idamalayar Dam. This dam was constructed in the 1980s. Its in a forest are near Bhoothathankettu. The dam is famous for the corruption case during its construction and many including a minister was jailed for it.

It was rainy day but we went on to see the dam, the complete trip was unplanned and that was the fun. Here are some photos.