Still Waters

I have been thinking...
by Kabir
I have been thinking of the difference between water 
and the waves on it. Rising, 
water's still water, falling back,
it is water, will you give me a hint 
how to tell them apart? 

Because someone has made up the word 
"wave," do I have to distinguish it from water? 

There is a Secret One inside us; 
the planets in all the galaxies 
pass through his hands like beads.

That is a string of beads one should look at with luminous eyes. 

Source

My cycling Trail

Well its not exactly "My" cycling Trail, but a trail that I had discovered a few days back, with no traffic, suitable for walkers and cyclists, starting from the Kali River bridge at Sadashivgad, and running along the Mavinaholle River/Backwater. In this picture the Kali bridge can be seen at a distance, there is also a line of Casurina trees, beyond which is the Arabian Sea (thats the place where the River and the Sea meet), and then the Mavinholle River/Backwater. Far in the picture are the Western Ghat mountain Range.. in the Left hand side of the picture are farm lands, now no longer cultivated. Coconut trees line up along the trail, at some stretches.

Kumbharwada Rice Fields

These are the Rice Fields of Kumbharwada, in the midst of the mountains forming the Western Ghats. As the land surface is slopy, the fields are cut into steppes, small soil barriers are raised at the slope of each field to stock in water, to help the Paddy grow.
The stucture in the middle of the fields serves as a watch-tower during the paddy-growing season, and also as a hay stack when the paddy is harvested.

A Siddhi Lady and her daughter in the Sunday market

Clicked this picture on the last Sunday at the Karwar vegetable market. Normally on Sundays, vegetable sellers/growers gather in Karwar, from surrounding vegetable growing towns, to sell their wares. And on that day the people of Karwar, make purchases to last them a week.

The cheerful lady in this picture was also in Karwar, in the Sunday Vegetable market to sell home-grown plaintains, from Joida/Kumbharwada, approx 65 km from Karwar. This is a unique tribe to Karwar district, and are known as Siddhis.

The Siddhis of Karnataka (Kannada: ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಸಿದ್ಧಿಗಳು) are a tribe of African descent that has made Karnataka their home for the last 400 years. There is a 50,000 strong Siddhi population across India, of which more than a third live in Karnataka. In Karnataka, they are concentrated around Yellapur, Haliyal, Ankola, Joida, Mundagod and Sirsi taluks of Uttara Kannada and in Khanapur of Belgaum and Kalagatgi of Dharwad district. Their language is a mixture of Siddi Konkani and Siddi Marathi. They also speak Kannada. Source

The origins of the Siddhis seems to be a disputed issue as per this Report

The Siddhis are the only Konkani speaking people of African origin. Stranded on the West Coast following a shipwreck some 700 years back, they were soon absorbed into the local culture. They speak a distinct dialect of Konkani and even today retain their phyiscal African features. Link