Chitradurga ~ Part -2 : The Essence

In my previous post I had mentioned about some experiments I did on my visit to Chitradurga fort. The first experiment was explained in that post. Second one is here.

While the first experiment was about feeling and making images of the moments that are frozen in time and space, the second one was about trying to capture the essence of the place through a finite set of images. When I say 'essence' that means the definitive quality that defines the place / structure.

Chitradurga fort is popularly known as "Elu Suttina Kote" in Kannada. This means a fort with seven circular walls. This fort is built in such a way that to completely enter inside one has to come through these massive circular (well, not exactly circular but a kind of maze shaped) entrances. The aim was to hold the enemy in this area as much as possible and prevent them entering inside the fort.

So when you are walking inside you constantly come across these huge walls all along. Once you cross the seventh entrance and walk few steps then the whole area opens up like a huge stadium. You will find tons of photographs on internet about how the whole area looks. I dont have any intentions to share the 'me too' kind of images here.

What I was trying to create was a set of images that could explain or make the viewer feel why the fort was called so.

Since the subject and the focus was minimal (just walls, entrances and nothing else), I tried to portray them in the minimal way wherever possible and some may be little complex. Nothing much to be said. Have a look.

Do you feel the same way I felt?
Or
Why do you really need to?

Do I care about it?
Or
Why do I care about it?


Cheers,
Ash

~ M A H A B A L I P U R A M ~ Under the silent storm!

Tamil Nadu is getting completely soaked by the recent series of deep depressions in the Bay of Bengal. The satellite images showing the swirl of cloud are painting a really horrifying picture of very heavy rains in the east coast of India. As I am writing this blog there is another warning standing in the parts of southern coast of Tamil Nadu for tomorrow and day after!

Me and my family has seen the beginning of these pouring times in Chennai and we missed the fury of the cyclone by a whisker! All hell started to break loose the day after we left Chennai. On the last day of our stay (Nov 8th, 2015) it had given us a hint about the days to come! Oct - Nov being a regular rainy season in Tamil Nadu (due to reverse monsoon) we thought that it would be a regular rain with a bit more duration and slightly heavy clouds! But the story was different! A dangerous storm was silently brewing in the sky above us and we were happily enjoying our city sight-seeing and visits to popular tourist destinations thinking that they are regular cloud movements!

Mahabalipuram was one of the places where we spent our Saturday (Nov 7th, 2015) morning. The sky was cloudy and it was drizzling intermittently at times. The low moving, rain bearing clouds are always a treat for the photographer, which fills the sky nicely with shades while shooting the temple architecture! I was happy because the clouds were hiding the harsh sun behind them and the light was pretty even. It drizzled a bit while we were watching the main shore temple complex and then again a bit of drizzle while we were at the place of "Pancha Ratha" (complex of five chariots). Though the intensity was a bit high we thought that it is just a momentarily shower and did not take it seriously. But when we head back to the car to proceed to Arjuna's Penance then the fury started! It went on to about 20 odd minutes and at the end we had to abandon the idea of going inside the complex of Arjuna's Penance and started to head back to Chennai. What we saw there was a pre-cursor for the days to come!

Here are some of the images which I made that morning at Mahabalipuram.
(Click on the images to see them bigger - recommended!)

While I pray for the safety of all in Tamil Nadu during these tough times you enjoy these images.

Cheers,

Ash

Timeless 'Kanooru Kote'

Couple of weekends back I along with my friend Nagabhushana visited a desolated remnant of the fort of Kanooru (Kanooru Kote in Kannada) in the heart of the Western Ghats.

 

 
It is situated at around 70KM from Sagar in the thickest of the forest where you feel it as a remote corner of the world. Its truly very very desolate.

  The feel of the place is very mystic. There is a deafening silence in the place and you could almost feel it. The whole place once used to be the place of some dynasty is now shattered on ground and scattered apart on the forest floor.

Some remnants are still there to tell the story of the past glory. The whole place is now engulfed by the forest and you will find many of the remnants also look like part of the forest itself!

There are couple of temples which are robbed ruthlessly to find the buried wealth beneath the statue in the Sanctum sanctorum. The scene there is horrible and heart wrenching.

Reaching this place was no easy task. The route is awful and very steep at places. It took us quite a lot of time to find out that we are on right track and by the time we reached the place it was 4:00PM! I had about an hour to document the place and that short time is not enough for this mysterious and beautiful place to give justice through the images.

It's in my list to visit again.


I know nothing about its history and Googling also didn't help in getting anything more than the fact that it is a nice trekking spot for the trekking enthusiasts which is perfectly true. So if any of you know about its history or any useful information around this place please feel free to share it as  your comment so that it becomes a good documentation on this place on web which is lacking at this point of time.

Cheers,
Ash

Some more abstracts!