The Red Vespa

This beautifully restored Vespa was spotted and shot at Palolem, Canacona, Goa. The Owner/rider of the Vespa posed for me camera for a few seconds, and off he was gone...... Thank God , I had the presence of mind to shoot this picture....

Death of a Hump-back Whale

The whale, trapped in the sand, was noticed by the fishermen on Thursday evening itself. The high tide in the sea might have masked its visibility. It was thought that the whale might swim back into the sea during night. But low tide obstructed its journey into deep waters. As a result, the aquatic mammal developed high blood pressure, which proved fatal. People thronged the shore to have a glimpse of the mammoth animal.
Prof V N Naik of Marine Biology Department, Karnatak University informed the Forest Department about the whale.
The efforts of Gopashitta Range Forest Officer K D Naik to lift the 3-tonne whale from water, using ropes went in vain. The carcass was later extricated using a JCB during low tide, and buried in a 35 feet pit, after a post-mortem.
Professor V N Naik told Deccan Herald that a skeleton of a 40-foot long whale that was washed ashore in 1973 has been preserved in the University and the authorities concerned would be requested to donate the skeleton of Humpback whale to the science centre.
Whales have been classified as endangered species and they usually come near the shore either in search of food or when chased by sharks. Generally measuring 100 feet in length, whales are found at a depth of 200 to 600 meters in the sea. Hunting whales is an offence under Wildlife Protection Act. Source - Deccan Herald

Other News sources -

Times of India, Daiji World (with Pictures), Hindu, Indian Express, Udayavani

Older Post on this - here

Responding to my fellow Blogger J.C. - Yes I was one of the fortunate few people who saw the whale and took the Pictures. The sight left me with immense Grief.

I remember a few years back, we, the members of the Karavali Youth Adventure Club (KAYAC), Karwar, had found a Nine foot long Injured and Dead Porpoise - like Fish on the Tagore Beach at Karwar, durng the Monsoons. We had informed the local Fisheries Department and had later buried the mammal. It was like burying one of our own kind....

Karwar Beach Clean Up

About 286 people, from all walks of life, got together at Tagore Beach, Karwar, on this September 19th, at 8-00 AM for Cleaning Up the Tagore Beach, and took part in the International Coastal Clean Up Day, called for by the Ocean Conservancy . Org.

The participants were from local Schools and Colleges, viz.,

• St. Joseph's High School (National Cadet Corps' Units)
• Hindu High School
• Bapuji College (National Service Scheme Units)
• Shivaji College, Baad
• Marine Biology University
• Karavali Youth Adventure Club (R)
• Sri Krishna Sports Club, Sadashivgad
• Rotary Club Seaside, Karwar
• Karwar City Municipality, etc.

B. S. Pai Co-ordinated the event, with Infra support from the Karwar City Municipal President Ganapati Ulvekar and his Councillors/Staff.

Dr. V. N Nayak of the Marine Biology University gave instructions and sensitized the participants on Ocean Pollution.

The Clean Up event went on up-to noon, and the Sun God favored the participants by taking cover under the Clouds.

My Earlier post on International Coastal Clean Up here...

P.S. - Suffered a nasty Crash, and formatting the pc wiped off many of my pictures... :-( sic..... so couldnt use the pc for 3 days.....

Stranded Whale dies at Devbagh Beach....

This whale got stranded last night, and got stuck at the Kali River estuary near Devbagh beach. Late night it was found dead by the local fishermen. This morning, the mammal was pulled to the shore, for examining the cause of its death, and for burying it....

More news on this Tomorrow...

Leaves of Grass - A Paddy Field

This picture of a Rice Field, with the crop standing, constantly reminds me of the "Leaves of Grass" of Walt Whitman.....

Lines from "Song of Myself"

"A child said What is grass? fetching it to one with full hands

How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.

I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of the hopeful green stuff woven.

of I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,

A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropt,

Bearing the owner's name someway in the corners,

that we may see and remark, and say Whose?...

And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves."

A Poem by Walt Whitman (His Life excerpt here..)

Leaves of Grass (1855) is a poetry collection by the American poet Walt Whitman. Among the poems in the collection are "Song of Myself," "I Sing the Body Electric," "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," and in later editions, Whitman's elegy to the assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd." This book is notable for its delight in and praise of the senses during a time when such candid displays were considered immoral. Where much previous poetry, especially English, relied on symbolism, allegory, and meditation on the religious and spiritual, Leaves of Grass (particularly the first edition) exalted the body and the material world. Influenced by the Transcendentalist movement, itself an offshoot of Romanticism, Whitman's poetry praises nature and the individual human's role in it. However, Whitman does not diminish the role of themind or the spirit; rather, he elevates the human form and the human mind, deeming both worthy of poetic praise. (From Wikipedia)

What can be written of Walt Whitman that has not already been pondered or researched? The good, gray poet is an American literary icon. Leaves of Grass was his opus, his life's work. He originally published the collection of poems himself in 1855 and proceeded to submit anonymous reviews extolling the book's greatness to magazines and newspapers.
The ordinary becomes extraordinary in Whitman's perspective as he gladly and patiently passes that perspective on to his readers. He calls to them still :

"I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your bootsoles... " (Source Here)

The Entire Leaves of Grass can be read here.

My other Picture Posts of Rice/Paddy Fields - here, here, here and here.

Butterfiles.....

Shot this picture in a Garden..... I didnt know what to caption this picture, so I Googled Poems on Mating, and this is the First Best one that I found..... A Brilliant poem !! which very well suits this picture, I believe....

Mating by David Herbert Lawrence

Round clouds roll in the arms of the wind,

The round earth rolls in a clasp of blue sky,

And see, where the budding hazels are thinned,

The wild anemones lie

In undulating shivers beneath the wind.

Over the blue of the waters ply

White ducks, a living flotilla of cloud;

And, look you, floating just thereby,

The blue-gleamed drake stems proud

Like Abraham, whose seed should multiply.

In the lustrous gleam of the water, there

Scramble seven toads across the silk, obscure leaves,

Seven toads that meet in the dusk to share

The darkness that interweaves

The sky and earth and water and live things everywhere.

Look now, through the woods where the beech-green spurts

Like a storm of emerald snow, look, see

A great bay stallion dances, skirts

The bushes sumptuously,

Going outward now in the spring to his brief deserts.

Ah love, with your rich, warm face aglow,

What sudden expectation opens you

So wide as you watch the catkins blow

Their dust from the birch on the blue

Lift of the pulsing wind—ah, tell me you know!

Ah, surely!

Ah, sure from the golden sun

A quickening, masculine gleam floats in to all

Us creatures, people and flowers undone,

Lying open under his thrall,

As he begets the year in us.

What, then, would you shun?

Why, I should think that from the earth there fly

Fine thrills to the neighbour stars, fine yellow beams

Thrown lustily off from our full-blown, high

Bursting globe of dreams,

To quicken the spheres that are virgin still in the sky.

Do you not hear each morsel thrill

With joy at travelling to plant itself within

The expectant one, therein to instil

New rapture, new shape to win,

From the thick of life wake up another will?

Surely, and if that I would spill

The vivid, ah, the fiery surplus of life,

From off my brimming measure, to fill

You, and flush you rife

With increase, do you call it evil, and always evil?

Source

Karwar Beach - International Coastal Cleanup

There is a four kms. long beach in Karwar city. It has become dirty due to throwing of waste plastic and other non organic material. So also the Sea throws up a lot of things as there is a ocean going vessel port nearby.

Whether you live near the coast or thousands of miles inland, we are all connected to the ocean. It drives and moderates our climate, it helps provide the water we drink, the air we breathe, and much of the food we eat. The ocean also absorbs much of the pollution we generate. And trash that falls from our hands is one of the most pervasive pollution problems facing our world's ocean.

But it doesn't have to be…keeping our ocean free from trash is one of the easiest things we can do to help protect it.

In partnership with organizations and individuals across the globe, Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup engages people to remove trash and debris from the world's beaches and waterways, identify the sources of debris, and change the behaviors that cause marine debris in the first place.

Join us this September 19th : Sign up for a Cleanup near you and get involved today!

Tweet me here - http://bit.ly/7wQhJ

Chariots in B&W and Color

Two Temple Chariots, big and small, Old and new, in a Temple Garage....

H is for Highway...

The National Highway no.17 connecting Mumbai and Kochi, Kerala, 1296km long, runs through Karwar, across the Kali River... More about the Highway here..

This picture is for the ABC Wednesday Round-3 theme..

Clouds on the Mountains

The Clouds have descended on Karwar, trapped by the Western Ghats, and it has been raining since 22nd August, almost non-stop...

Guess the Heat/Radiation generated by a Power Plant 40 kms East of Karwar, repels the Clouds from moving Inland towards the East....

Monsoon Landscape at Kerwadi, Karwar

A Dramatic Landscape at Kerwadi village, in Karwar clicked on a Nokia 3230 1.3 meg pix mobile camera, by Sandeep Naik.

Another Kerwadi village Landscape

This is another Kerwadi village Landscape shot on Nokia 3230 1.3 mpix mobile by Sandeep Naik...

Minor Irrigation Dam at Kerwadi village

This is a Minor Irrigation Dam at Kerwadi village, Karwar, constructed by the Government. Due to the incessant rains this month, it has been overflowing....

Picture Shot with Nokia 3230 1.3 mpix camera by Sandeep Naik.

Incessant Rains in Karwar - Skywatch Friday

The Rain bearing Clouds have halted at Karwar, since the last fortnight, pouring rains incessantly, even as I post this... And we are predicted to have much more rains ahead...

I guess this fits the Friday Skywatch Theme....

Dolls for you....

These Dolls were for sale at a Local Fair....

Murudeshwar Raja Gopura - Big - September Theme

This is my picture for the September 2009's Theme - Big on the www.citydailyphoto.com.

This was taken at Murudeshwara, 120kms from Karwar, and depicts the Huge "Raja Gopura" Tower alongside the Murudeshwara Temple, and the Murudeshwar Beach (Video of the Beach here..)

The Rajagopura at the entrance of the Temple is the world's tallest, standing at 249 feet. Inaugurated in May 2008, this mammoth structure is the latest addition to the Temple. The Gopura has 22 floors and is the only Gopura to be fitted with elevators.
Source - murudeshwar.org

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

My another Post about Murudeshwar on this Blog - here.