Wild butterfly garden

This is a great time of year to see butterflies at Lakeside.

After a short summer shower the butterflies emerge and can be seen in their thousands – clouds of them filling the air. There may be clouds made up of just one species, or a mixture of species. Blue, yellow, red, violet, black, white, orange – the colours are as endless as the butterflies themselves.

They range in size from little lime green ones no bigger than the nail on my little finger to huge blue and black ones the size of my hand. It is breath-taking to walk into what appears to be a field of tiny violet flowers which suddenly take to wing all around you.

Nothing says ‘summer at Lakeside’ to me more clearly than the butterflies.

A CNN Hero from Madurai

I first came to India through my connection with the Joe Homan charity.  Many westerners, particularly in todays economic climate, say that we should no longer be sending money to India which is now becoming a wealthy country; it is up to the Indians themselves to care for their own poor.

Many people believe that Indians do nothing charitable.  It is true that in the past few gave to those whose ‘karma’ it was to be poor, but the younger generations of emerging India have an emerging social conscience, they are just not in a position yet to do everything for themselves.

Please take a look at this video to see what one person has done in our local city of Madurai (winner of CNN Top 10 Heroes 2010).  People like this need our continued support until India can stand on her own two feet.

Find out more about Narayanan Krishnan here

The water of life…or death?

The Kerala backwaters are a microcosm of life in India.  I have already posted about the fishing we saw on our tour so today I want to focus on the water itself.

These two young lads welcome you to the backwaters.  How many people would enjoy a swim in these warm waters?  But swimming is not the only activity which takes place.

When you have no running water you use the nearest source to wash your hair or have a bath.

You also need somewhere to wash your clothes…

…and your pots and pans.

The big problem is the quality of water, a problem throughout India.

Over 772 million people don’t have access to adequate sanitation in India, that’s two thirds of the population – so you can guarantee that the backwaters are used as a toilet by a number of local residents.

93 million people in India don’t have access to safe water – so you can also guarantee that some people will be getting their drinking water either from the backwaters itself or local wells which are not safe.

Over 186,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation in India. (Statistics from Water Aid UK  )

Even if people do not drink the water from the Backwaters the fact that they bathe in it, swim in it and eat from pots washed in it means that they are always open to infection.

The Backwaters of Kerala are a beautiful place and I recommend that if you ever get the chance you should visit and enjoy.  Hopefully the income from tourism will help such rural areas to improve the supplies of clean water for the local residents.

Fishing birds of south India

Fishing the Kerala Backwaters is not confined too humans.  These are some of the birds I photographed in just one afternoon whilst leading a tour earlier this year.

The Darter is a beautiful bird, a little like a cormorant but with a longer neck which gives it its common name of ‘snake bird’ as the darter sits very low in the water so that its long neck looks like a water snake.

There are, of course, plenty of kingfishers on the Backwaters.

Stork billed Kingfisher

Another common bird seen all over the continent is the Indian pond heron.

Egrets are also very common fishing birds in southern India.

As the Backwaters run parallel with the sea coast there also plenty of gulls fishing in the area.

Cormorants can be see throughout Kerala and Tamil Nadu as they are very partial to a nice piece of fish!

One of my favourite birds is the brahminy kite which can be seen fishing both fresh and salt waters of the Indian sub-continent.

Hopefully some of you may one day book a holiday with us and I can show you these beautiful creatures live and in their natural habitat!

Fishing the Kerala backwaters

I recently took as group of guests to the Backwaters of Kerala.  These backwaters are part of Lake Vembanand, the longest lake in India at 96.5km long and 14km wide.  It is a major tourist attraction in Kerala with people cruising in converted rice barges to get a closer look at life by the waterside.  There are many boats cruising around, but surprisingly you do not really  notice them as you train your binoculars on the wonderful bird life or watch the local people going about their everyday lives.

Fishing is a major part of life in the Backwaters and on a misty early morning you are able to see the fishermen at work.

Sometimes they take the easy route to their fishing ground with a larger boat towing a number of the small fishing boats.

Many of the fishermen use nets or lines to catch fish which taste wonderful when freshly cooked.  These men however are fishing for cockles (shell fish).

If you want somewhere to relax and enjoy nature, the Backwaters of Kerala are a great place to visit.  There will be more posts about life there in the future!

Hare today gone tomorrow?

If you sit quietly at Lakeside in the early mornings you are likely to see one of the black-naped hare which live in the area.  I took these photos this morning.

These animals prefer to live in open fields and plains where they can see predators from a great distance which makes Lakeside an ideal home (although some sub-species prefer to live in the denser forest areas where there is more cover). The hare is a nocturnal animal and spends its days lying in a scooped out hollow or ‘form’ made in a patch of grass. The hare has a pale brown coat with a black patch on the nape, and a short gray tail. The under parts are white.

Indian black-naped hare

The hares are not often seen in other parts of the valley, but they are common – and make up a good percentage of the diet of animals in the Reserve Forest which borders our land.  The local leopard, mongoose and foxes are all partial to the taste of hare!

Farmers consider the hare to be a menace because of its love for cultivated crops – especially carrot, radish, peas and cabbage.  Farmers have snared and shot these animals in the past but this made little impact on the numbers; the biggest cause for its decline in certain areas has been the destruction of areas of plant cover.  The black naped hare is not endangered, but in the last three or four years the species has become the target of poachers and some wildlife experts are becoming concerned.

In the first week of September 2011 forest officials conducted a series of raids and arrested 21 poachers from Virudhunagar district in Tamil Nadu whose target was specifically the black-naped hare.  The gang were using a specially made conical net with lights to attract and catch the nocturnal hares then sending the dead animals to different districts using public transport.

It used to be thought that the one or two reported cases of hare poaching was by local individuals hunting the animals for meat, but this does not account for the huge numbers which are now being hunted in some areas.  The main reason seems to still be for meat (the meat is considered to be very delicate) but there are now suspicions that they are also being hunted for their skins.

The Indian Hare is the prey of many small mammals in the jungles and forests of south India including the jungle cats, mongoose, jackals and foxes. If poaching drastically cuts hare numbers it will automatically affect the population of these species too

 Is it too much to hope that the only hunting of these beautiful animals will be by people like myself armed with nothing but a camera?

There’s an elephant in the High Street!

Last week I took some of the guests to visit our local town of Dindigul, a great place to see life as it is for millions of Indian people today.  Whilst there we were lucky enough to witness the Masi festival of the local Kottai Mariamman Temple.

The streets were crowded with people there for the opening ceremony of the month long festival.  First of all we came across stalls which were giving away free food – sponsored by local temples or businesses.

We then moved into the Palani road.  This is where we usually buy electronic goods, computer equipment, building supplies etc. yet on this day we found it to be a swirling riot of colours, incredible noise and subtle scents.  For me it felt very strange to see the road thronged with people carrying their temple gifts on their heads…

…or playing their drums for the deity.

 An incredible mixture of the ancient and modern.  But that was just the beginning!  To our surprise we saw a temple elephant leading the procession.

A beautiful creature decked out in its festival finery and decorative paint.

Three men accompanied the elephant – two on foot and one riding – to ensure that she remained calm and played her role to perfection.

As with all temple elephants, this one could be persuaded to pass on her blessing.  All that our guest was required to do was to place 10 rupees in her trunk (which she passed to her mahout) and then bow his head for her to place her trunk on him in blessing.

Many people handed their children up to sit on the elephant – either to take a photo or as a blessing – but many of the children were not impressed!

The amount of time that goes into preparing the elephants robes is impressive.

We thought we had seen everything and were just about to move on when the car carrying the goddess approached.

This was a huge trailer covered in flowers, the bright patters which adorned it were also flowers attached to the superstructure.  The worshippers pushed and jostled and crowded around to get as close as they could to hand over gifts of flowers either at this car or one of the ones following.

There were thousands of people, each with their small bag of flowers, and the scent was overpowering.  The flowers were to be used by the priests during the day as they offered unbroken puja (worship) to the goddess  for 24 hours, so everyone knew that their flowers would be placed on the shrine at some point during the day.

The festival will continue for the rest of this month although the remaining processions will take place at night so that more people can attend – and stop further disruption to one of the busiest streets in Dindigul.

We consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have stumbled upon such an act of worship in the middle of a bustling town, and to have been treated with such kindness and generosity by all whom we met –both man and beast!

For the local newspaper article please see The Hindu

Failed monsoon

You may have read my previous post about how pleased we were to see the monsoon rains.  Sad to say, the rains did not last and we have had very little water.  Although the lake still looks beautiful in the above picture appearances can be deceptive and it is at least 6 feet lower than it should be at this time of year.  We should only be seeing the very tips of some of the bushes ( as in my header photo), and no exposed islands or land at the lake edge at all.  We have even started watering our gardens 6 weeks earlier than usual.

It is going to be long hard summer for everyone, epecially the farmers, this year.  We are eagerly looking forward to the next hoped for rain in July or August.

First of all I must apologise for the lack of posts over the last few weeks.  Initially there was the problem with my being denied access, then came a major computer failure which has taken a couple of weeks to sort out – not ideal in the middle of high season with lots of guests and needing to access bookings and invoices!  Suffice to say though, we now seem to be back in action (I hope it lasts!) and I can again let you know a little more about life here in Tamil Nadu.

As part of their stay with us some guests like to join one of our excursions.  Recently this involved taking a guest to visit the city of Madurai where, apart from the temple, it is also possible to visit the Thirumalai Nayak Palace.

This palace was built in 1636 AD by King Thirumalai Nayak and is a mixture of classic Dravidian Indian and Islamic styles which gives it a feeling not unlike that of some of the old Islamic buildings in Moorish Spain.

 

 

At the time of Thirumalai the Nayak kingdom was often visited by traders and missionaries from Europe and it is thought that the king hired an Italian architect to help design and build his palace.

 

The palace was originally four times the size of that which remains today and was the main ‘home’ for the king and his family.  Over the 400 years of its history it has been subjected to destruction by war as well as the ravages of time; there was even a period when it was used as a garrison with granaries, storehouses and an arsenal by the East India Company.  There is sufficient of the Palace left, however, to give a feeling of what a magnificent place this would have been in its heyday.

There is now only the large enclosed courtyard (3,700 square meters) and a few surrounding buildings remaining including the Syatga Vilasam (audience chamber) which is a huge hall supported by pillars 12m high and holding a museum of local artefacts.

 

The Swarga Vilasam at the end of the courtyard was the throne- room.   It is a beautiful octagonal area surrounded by Islamic arches and capped with a dome 20 meters high supported by massive columns and arches which lead to an arcaded gallery overlooking the courtyard.

The palace was constructed   in brick and finished with a local type of stucco called chunnam which is a mixture of lime and egg white that gives a smooth, glossy texture.  The style is very photogenic, and although the paintwork is ‘tired’ in places anyone who loves photography will enjoy the opportunities presented by the columns, arches, ceilings and changing light patterns.

After Independence the Palace was declared a national monument and is cared for by the Tamil Nadu Archaeological Department who run evening light and sound shows telling the history of Madurai (one showing in Tamil and a later showing in English).

Some people say that there is little to see at the palace and spend only a short time there but for me, and my camera, it is a splendid window on the history of Madurai with its mixture of Dravidian, Muslim and European influences.

I would recommend a stop there if you are ever in the area!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3…

I’ve been trying to reply to a comment on one of my posts but it appears that I have been blocked by the Department of Telecom in Chennai (formerly Madras, capital of Tamil Nadu).

I can’t think what would be considered offensive enough to block from my blog, but of course it may be a mistake.  This post is to see if I can actually make new posts or if that is blocked too!

If you are able to read this that is great but who knows how long my ability to post might last!  Please bear with me as I try to sort out the problem – I’m afraid it could take some time as things move slowly in India!

In the meantime, Happy Christmas to all my friends in the blogging world!

Dorinda