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Kalapani, Cellular Jail are names which inspire visions  of the freedom struggle and the tortures faced by the Indian freedom fighters immortalized by the 1958 and the 1996 movies of the same name. No visit to the Islands of the Andaman and Nicobar are complete without a visit to the jail and the accompanying sound and light show. History tells us that the construction of the jail was started in 1896 and completed in 1906 with seven wings shaped like spokes of a wheel radiating from a central column. Each wing had three floors with 698 isolated cubicle like rooms which ultimately gave the jail its name. The Hindu tells us that the jail cost just Rs. 5.17 lakh to build.

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Dec 18, 2008

I arrived at Bijapur yesterday after what was an extremely slow and long bus journey from Hospet. I regretted having not started the day earlier. Although Bijapur is connected to Hospet by National Highway 13, we must remember that this is India. Bullock carts use the same highways. Villagers sometimes drive their livestock on these highways. Lorries overloaded beyond their specifications move at snail’s pace. Bus drivers take risks all the time trying to overtake.

So when I reached Bijapur, checked into the hotel and found a suitably clean place for a late lunch at 2.30 pm, I was having a bad headache. Despite this, I was sufficiently motivated to visit Gol Gumbaz. Then, I walked to the Jamia Masjid and then Mehtar Mahal.
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This has been a long pending stuff from my side. Never got around to write about it. This is about a weekend trip to India’s highest waterfalls, The Jog Falls.

Jog Falls is situated at a distance of 100 kms from the city of Shimoga. This is the place where the river Sharavati falls from a height of 292m forming a glorious waterfall.

The river forms four different tracks (as seen in the picture) which are named ‘Raja’, ‘Rani’, ‘Roarer’ and ‘Rocket’. If you are captivated by the beauty and want a closer look, you can walk down a narrow pathway to the bottom of the gorge and take a dip in a pool of water at the foot of the falls. The best time to visit this place is just after the monsoons between when the falls are at their most impressive.
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Dec 13, 2008

I will remember my short visit to the village of Gorur for a single moment. Call it inspiration, beauty, unfettered joy or simply a passing picture. As I walked through this village, passing quietly its little streets, observing quietly the repetitive chores of village folks, I came across a scene that is difficult to forget even as I write these words hours later.

To say “came across” is perhaps not the right phrase. It is to acknowledge that finite and perceptible space of time between seeing, registering the object seen and responding to it. It is to acknowledge the distinct phases of a causal response, between receiving and giving. What happened to me was quite different. Everything occurred in an instant. Joy came in an instant. There was no thought process in the chain of events. Perception was indisguishable from the response. It was as if the heart had longed for this moment and when it came, recognized it in an instant.
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