A Summer Trip to COORG

Trip date  : 10th April to 13th April 2009 (4 days and 3 nights)

Transport: Maruti SX4 driven by myself and my wife

Who all     : Myself, my wife, 2 kids and my parents

We planned for a liesurely trip to Coorg, called as the scotland of India. Though we planned for the trip almost  a week in advance, it was tough to find accomodation in Coorg as it was a long weekend due to "Good Friday". However we managed to find a couple of homestays.

There are many websites which describe the places of visit in Coorg and their details. However am sharing my intinerary here which can help in planning better for your trips.

Our itinerary for an enjoyable Coorg trip was like this...

Day 1 - 6:45AM - Departure from Bangalore

Day 1 - 7:30AM - Breakfast at Janapada Loka (Kamat Lokruchi)

When we approached Janapada Loka we had never expected to see a huge crowd for breakfast... but yes the signs of long weekend outings / trips started showing up so soon.. We stood in the queue for breakfast buffet hoping to grab a little of everything to taste and continue our journey toward Coorg. 2 mins passed.... 4 mins passed... queue did not move an inch... 6, 9, 15 mins... and finally it started moving... paid the amount, got the plates.. but it was tough to get the idlis... they were disappearing from the bowl (people were waiting for it..) as soon as the bowl was filled.. As we had our breakfast we over heard many people discussing about their trip plans.. Ooty, Kodai, Conoor, Coorg, Mysore... etc. Later, we continued our journey

We took a right deviation after Srirangapatna (a place called Paschima Vahini). This is the same deviation which leads to the famous Ranganthittu Birds Sanctuary. This road very soon connected to the state highway SH88 and then we continued on the path to Hunsur -> Periyapatna -> Kushalnagar

Day 1 - 12:30PM - Reached Kushalnagar (Mountain Blue Homestay)

Mountain Blue homestay was located right on the state highway (SH88) before entering Kushalnagar,  so we neither had any difficulty in locating it nor we had any problem 

regarding approach. Road condition was excellent due to recent asphalting. MB homestay was a 12 acre area with plantations of coffee, chickoo (sapota), jack fruit etc... It was a decent accomodation,  reasonable pricing, free breakfast, no swimming pool, good service. Apparently the owner purchased this property recently and has plans to develop it further including a swimming pool. So due to its approachability this could be a good choice of stay in future.

We took bath and relaxed for a while and started again. The plan was to visit Nisargadhama and Golden temple (Namdroling Monastery) on the same day. We did not have our lunch at the homestay.

Day 1 - 3:00PM - Lunch at Kings Way hotel in Kushalnagar

Kings way hotel was pretty decent... good veg  food was available. By then I had got a call from my colleague Jaggu that he had reached Nisargadhama already and would wait for us. Nisargadhama is just 4 Kms from Kushalnagar.

Day 1 - 4:00PM - Nisargadhama

At Nisargadhama, we spent time watching the rabbits, deer park, monkeys and enjoying the bamboo maze around. We skipped the boat ride there thinking that we can visit Ulsoor lake or Sankey tank in Bangalore sometime (which we had a coupla times before too). Shreya enjoyed being there and with the presence of Soham

 (Jaggu's son), her fun just doubled. After that we sat at the hotel in the same campus and had some drink (maaza, coffee, tea.. etc)

Day 1 - 6:00PM - Golden temple (Namdroling Monastery)

We had a look in the monastery, spent some time on the lawn and then headed towards the shopping center. My daughter shreya got a toy (musical instrument) for herself and we enjoyed the music during later part of our journey.. We departed from there around 7:30PM, had our dinner on the way (again in Kushalnagar... at a restaurant by name Athithi.. decent enough)

Day 1 - 9:00PM - Reached back Mountain Blue homestay

We spent sometime in front of the house enjoying the moon light in between the green cover and playing with my daughters. At 10PM it was time to sleep... The next morning we woke up around 7:30 AM and it was quite a long night with almost 9 hrs of sleep... which I never had in bangalore since a long time. The breakfast at the homesay (Poori, Potato Curry and dry coconut 

Chutney) was good and we all had few extras.. Then we wrapped-up our belongings from this place as we had plans to shift to a different homestay. 

The idea here was that Kushalnagar is close to Nisargadhama, Golden Temple and Dubare elephant camp. So cover them all and then go towards  madikeri and stay somewhere there as rest of the places to visit would be easily accessible there.

Day 2 - 7:00AM - A morning walk in the plantations

Day 2 - 9:30AM - Departure to Dubare Elephant Camp

At Dubare, we first went for river rafting which was about 1.5 Kms distance. All of us including the kids were on board and thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. On the way we had a few tree branches coming across the water (just 2 ft above water) and our boat had to pass below them... that was fun.

After that we were dropped on the other side of the river bank towards the elephant camp. We could see some elephants and Shreya enjoyed the sight of them, but was scared... Later shreya wanted to play in the river water... we went for it while my parents and my younger daughter sat under the tree shade.

Day 2 - 1:30PM - Lunch at Dubare Inn

Day 2 - 2:30PM - Departure from Dubare

Day 2 - 4:00PM - Reached RiverTern Homestay

RiverTern homestay at Sunticoppa is right in the middle of the coffee plantations and the speciality there is that the cottage is located adjacent to lake formed by the Harangi dam back-waters. However during this part of the year there was no water but a nice grass cover all across. The scenic beauty was enjoyable and we decided to enjoy this rather than visiting some other place.

We had some coffee and relaxed there for sometime. The lake area was grass covered and was hard enough for vehicles to pass over. So we took our car, got down the lake and drove a few KMs.. where we found a stream which continued to flow though rest of the lake was dry. Enjoyed the sunset, cool breeze and the scenic beauty there. Then we headed back to our cottage.

Day 2 - 8:30PM - Dinner (Kodava Cuisine)

Dinner was excellent.. chapati, rice balls, veg curry, rasam, curds... hmm delicious. Rice balls.. we tasted for the first time and that it was really delicious..

After that we had bonfire in front of our cottage and then we all played there for sometime... shreya enjoyed her first bonfire..

Day 3 - 7:00AM - A walk in the coffee estate

Listening to the chirping birds, taking a few snaps.. spent sometime there. By then we got some delicious coffee.. Then we started to get ready for visiting places on the other side of Madikeri.

Day 3 - 8:30AM - Breakfast (Kodava Cuisine)

Akki rotti, potato curry and coconut chutney.... it was a nice breakfast.. followed by another round of coffee.

Day 3 - 9:30AM  - Departure 

Day 3 - 11:30AM - Bhagamandala (Temple & Triveni Sangama)

Madikeri is about 11KMs from Sunticoppa and Bhagamandala is about 39 KMs from Madikeri. We went to the Triveni sangama where Kaveri meets other two tributeries.. myself and shreya stood on the steps in the water. Shreya was playing by picking the leaves and making them float in water.

Then we visited the Bhangandeshwara temple where couple of days before they had punar-prathishtapana pooja. Our trip unknowingly didnt coincide with the busy Bhagamandala and heavy traffic due to dignitary (Mr.Veerendra Hegde and others) visits

Day 3 - 1:00PM - Talakaveri (Origin of River Kaveri)

Talakaveri is about 8 KMs from Bhagamandala. Due to the huge rush near Talakaveri, we decided to park the car about 200 mts aways from the temple and walk down. We walked the distance and visited the temple. There was a nice view point at the peak of the mountain there, which could be reached taking the stairs with about 300 steps. However since we had our kids and also parents, we skipped this part.

Day 3 - 2:00PM - Lunch at Bhagamandala 

After having the sumptuous lunch offered by the Bhagandeshwara temple, we started back towards madikeri. 

Day 3 - 4:00PM - Reached Coorg Fort, Madikeri

We roamed around for a while there... Infact there is nothing much to see here.. On top of the fort wall, there are a couple of spots where a few photos can be taken. standing on the fort wall, we also get a glimpse of the adjoining Madikeri sub-jail... I wondered looking at the inmates 

there... it appeared as though they were rather enjoying their time there than repenting for what they have gone through..

Day 3 - 5:00PM - Reached Raja Seat, Madikeri

Raja Seat is just 10 mins from Coorg Fort. They have a toy train for kids... but it is enjoyed by everyone. We all sat in the toy train, Shreya enjoyed the most of it. Raja Seat is one of the scenic sunset spots. It is very beautiful over there... Unfortunately on this day the cloudy weather prevented us from getting a view of the sunset, and to add to the woes the light drizzle  prevented me from taking out my camera. However I decided to visit there again sometime in future

Day 3 - 6:15PM - Started towards our cottage, RiverTern

Day 3 - 7:00PM - Reached our cottage

After reaching there, we had some coffee and relaxed for sometime. Later Shreya wanted to play something and deepa taught us some new games which we all enjoyed. It was years since I played and enjoyed something like this.

Day 3 - 8:30PM - Dinner (Kodava Cuisine)

Dinner was again special. We had shavige (noodles made of rice) and Kayi haalu (sweet liquid made of coconut and jaggery/sugar). We prepare the same at home as well... but yes this was good as it was long time since we prepared this at home. Along with that we had some chapati, rice, rasam and curds too..

Day 3 - 10:00PM - Sleep time....  and we had to head back the next morning

Day 4 - 7:00AM  - A walk in the estate

I was hearing a lot of chirping sounds of the birds around. So thought of trying my luck and took my camera. The trees around were all very tall and I noticed most of the birds sitting on the higher branches. Hmm.. even my 75-300mm lens didnt help much. Then I was sure that for bird photography my accessories were not quite sufficient.

Day 4 - 8:30AM  - Breakfast (Kodava Cuisine)

Day 4 - 11:00AM - Departure back towards Bangalore

When starting from Bangalore, we were thinking of visiting Nagarhole on the last day. But by now we canceled that and thought of visiting Ranganthittu Birds Sanctuary on the way. We had our lunch on the way near Mysore and then reached Ranganthittu.

Day 4 - 4:00PM - Reached Ranganthittu Birds Sanctuary

Day 4 - 8:30PM - Reached our home @ RajaRajeshwari Nagar, Bangalore.

In all 2 things really helped our trip...

(1) Location of my home... Since my home is located on Mysore Road, I didnt have to pass through Bangalore traffic while leaving Bangalore or while returning. For others I would suggest to leave early and reach early.

(2) Stay at 2 locations in coorg, helped us plan better for our trips. Staying near Kushalnagar we visited Nisargadhama, Golden temple and Dubare. Then staying in Sunticoppa we visited places near Madikeri. Rivertern was excellent.

CMOS Sensor & the MegaPixel Race.......

Yes... u r right... am referring to the Digital Still Cameras (DSC) here... So does the title make u think what the relation is between CMOS sensor and the MegaPixels ?? Well..... there is a very strong relation between the two... Megapixels is to DSC as CPU Speed is to Computers. Both of these are a measure of quality & expected throughput of the system.

Now coming to the topic of MegaPixels.... suppose you see two cameras from two vendors with same MegaPixels, how do u compare them ? are they both same in terms of quality of picture they can produce ? They may or may not be same..... other features of the DSC can help us determine which is the best. CMOS Sensor used in the camera is as vital as the MegaPixels itself in defining the quality of image, the gradations, resolution, dynamic range etc. Lets see how...

CMOS Sensor is that part of the camera which captures the light and converts it in the form of digital image. So naturally more the amount of light is captured, better the quality of image it produces. CMOS Sensor is made of silicon, hence it is called as "silicon eye" also. On the top layer we can find the micro-lenses and below it the pixels. Each pixel is made of light capturing element or bucket, a photo diode and some circuitry.

If you see the below arrangement, C stands for circuitry, P stands for microlens and photodiode. This is how the CMOS sensor will appear. Every C, P pair corresponds to 1 pixel.

CMOS Sensor => |CP|CP|CP|CP|CP|CP|CP|CP|CP|CP|

As we started with the example of 2 cameras with same MegaPixel ratings, lets how they can be different. In the below representation, in camera 1, the CMOS sensor has a larger circuitry size than compared to the micro-lense & photodiode size. So the amount of light it can capture is less, which means signal to noise ratio is small. However in case of camera 2, micro-lense size is larger, and the circuitry size is squeezed..... though there are same number of pixels as in case of camera 1. This will enable higher light capturing efficiency, and hence better signal to noise ratio.

Camera 1 => |CCP|CCP|CCP|CCP|CCP|CCP|CCP|CCP|CCP|CCP|

Camera 2 => |CPP|CPP|CPP|CPP|CPP|CPP|CPP|CPP|CPP|CPP|

At the same time the overall size of the CMOS sensor can also be made larger inorder to increase the pixel bucket size or the P size. This again results in better image quality. So always look for the CMOS sensor size along with the MegaPixel ratings..

My camera [Canon EOS 350D] specs are.... 8 MegaPixel and CMOS Sensor size is 22.2 x 14.8 mm

Season of Roses @ Korea

"Out goes the Winter and in comes the Season of Roses"

ROSE is often used to show

your affectionate love to someone special in your life;

(R) => Radiance of the beauty of the ROSE (R)

(O) => Outstanding colors in petals of ROSE (O)

(S) => Softness of each petal of the ROSE (S)

(E) => Everlasting beauty of the ROSE (E)

It was the time when we saw most of the street side green rose plants were all dressed in dark pink roses, buds and bloomed. It was amazing to see so many roses every plant.... elegant, exquiste.....

Have a look at some of the beautiful pictures which captures the everlasting beauty.

Canon EOS 350D... the Wonder Baby...

"There are always three things in a photograph, the photographer, the viewer and

CANON EOS 350D"

-- Harish Y S

Way back a few years ago there were no Digital SLRs and when they came they were not affordable. Like a bolt in the blue, Canon introduced its SLR camera in 2003. Then came the model EOS 300D which was the best in class then. Later came the EOS 350D, which is an improved version over EOS 300D but a totally newly developed camera. 350D has shrunk in size and appears more cuter than its predecessors.

This smallest Canon SLR has 8 megapixels to offer.... thanks to the new CMOS sensor it has got. Only olympus is the other camera that offers equal amount of pixels in this camera class. Nikon and Pentax have a Sony CMOS sensor which offer about 6 megapixels. Though this difference doesn't matter much, Canon has put a lot of effort in image rate and the processing (DIGIC II image processor) speed, which have increased tremendously. Naturally the Canon EOS 350D features the new E-TTL II flash system.

What I liked are :

• Excellent photo quality, even at high ISOs (assuming you watch the aperture on the kit lens or use another lens altogether)
• Great value for money : 8 Megapixel D-SLR
  Full manual controls, no more "feature lockdown" like old Rebel
• Robust performance and much faster
• Great low light focusing thanks to flash-based AF-assist
• Advanced white balance controls (though no ability to set WB by color temp.)
• RAW image format supported
• No redeye
• Very small and light weight for a D-SLR
• USB 2.0 High Speed interface

Overall I give Canon EOS 350D the thumbs up -- it's a great choice for those ready to move up to a digital SLR. Just be sure to buy a decent lens for it. I have a 18-55mm and 70-300mm lenses which are yet to be explored in a professional sense.

Why Digital Photography ?

Photography could be Fun, Hobby or a Profession... but it surely interests many different people across a broad range of ages. Technology also hasn't left it behind, with the advent and unbiquitous adoption of digital imaging technologies like digital cameras, scanners, photo printers and digital image editing softwares more and more enthusiasts have found a creative recreational hobby in photography.

There was a time when individuals interested in photography had to bear high investments. To get a serious start one had to purchase an SLR (Single Lens Reflection) camera, some dark room equipments and also the developing supplies.

With "Digital Photography" an individual has a much lower cost to pay to start with photography in a serious way. Compact cameras cost from US$50 and upwards, while a more creative and quality conscious "Digital SLR Cameras" are becoming more and more affordable starting anywhere from US$700 and upwards upto US$2000. A quality digital camera and an equally good image editing software is all needed to get started.

The real advantage is the "Flexibility" in digital photography. One can review, delete and print only those pictures which are needed - No more fuzzy out of focus prints.