Published by Vinayak Hegde on 2nd March 2010
During the last week of 2009, I, Swaroop, Varun and Ashwin travelled from Kaniyakumari (the southernmost point of peninsular India) to the sunny state of Goa. I did not do much photography on the trip. The exceptions being Bekal fort and the the backwaters of Kerala.
Bekal Fort is the largest and most well preserved of all the forts in Kerala. Bekal fort is more than 300 years old and was occupied by Hyder Ali and his more illustrious son Tipu Sultan. The fort occupies an area of about 40 odd acres and is beautifully preserved by the Archaeological Survey of India. One of the watchtowers of the fort stretches into the Arabian sea and looks like a giant keyhole while the other one in the center of the fort has a steep ramp to climb to the top. Both of these provide beautiful vistas of the Arabian Sea and the beautiful coastline.
It is a easy bus ride to Bekal fort (about 16 kms and ~40 minutes). Bekal also has a railway station and you can see the railway line skirting the open sea from one of the fort watchtowers. The song “Tu Hi Re” from the Mani Ratnam movie “Bombay” was shot here. While I was there, I saw several post-marriage videos being shot there (looks like they had been inspired by the movie).
Published by Vinayak Hegde on 1st March 2010
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We recently visited a couchsurfer’s coffee estate near Sakleshpur. Travelling overnight with a bunch of couchsurfers, we took a break before dawn on NH48 just ahead of Sakleshpur. We climbed our way in the darkness to the Manjarabad fort. Tipu Sultan is said to have built this fort as it is in a strategic location close to the Arabian Sea coast through the Sakleshpur Ghat. The Manjarabad fort (pictured in the map above) is constructed out of stones and mud in the form of a 8-pointed star with large moat around it. While inspecting the construction of the fort, Tipu Sultan is said to have observed fog (known in Kannada as “Manju”) around this place and decided to name this fort Manjarabad. True to it’s name, there was heavy fog around the foothills before sunrise. The local taluka headquarters is still known by this name despite the town being renamed Sakleshpur.
Published by Vinayak Hegde on 17th October 2008
Nahargarh is one of the lesser known forts in Jaipur, Rajasthan as compared to the more well known Amber Fort and the Jaigarh fort. The Palace inside Nahargarh fort has nine chambers for the nine queens around a central courtyard. The rooms are decorated with beautiful frescos. (See in Wikimapia). The spires which adorn each of the rooms are seen through one of the several windows and doors that open into the courtyard.
More technical details about the photo at my photoblog (click on Image Info).
