Vamala Ayyappan temple, Pallassana

 My first visit to Kerala in 2020 was in December, obviously due to the pandemic situation and related quarantine requirements. Isolated myself for a week and immediately after that, my friend from college days, Dinesh took me to this wonderful place. (Dinesh, Sunil, Bhasi and Anil are few friends from college who are still in close contact).In spite of being so close to my house, I never had a chance to visit this place, a must-go to people who can trek uphill for close to 30 minutes. If you wish to go there the google coordinates are https://goo.gl/maps/sjgDZ7kyW9LAQJh59

There are few other hill-top temples nearby, some visible from top of Vamala. The view from top is breathtaking. 

Below picture is that of a temple visible from top, not sure which one.

It is a small Ayyappa temple on top of the hill, not sure if there any daily poojas happening. There are no signs of any daily activity.  

There is a small pool on the way back. We dint try to be too adventurous to get in the water and it dint look very clean. 

This precarious rock is seen on the way just before "summit". My guide Dinesh clicked some pictures climbing on top of that. 

And he is willing to strike a pose or two!!!

Way back home we stopped at one of Dinesh's friends farm.

Lockdown clicks

 Since March, nothing much has happened as far as photography is concerned. Clicked few pictures with whatever subjects available at home, most of them came out so bad that it is not worth posting here. 

Below are some pics that are a bit ok. 

A chilly pepper and chilly flakes below.

Pokkunni Siva Temple

This is an ancient temple in Vadavannur, Palakkad. Though this is hardly a kilometre from my family temple, the first time I heard of this temple was from my friend Sunil's wife. I decided to visit there ASAP. 
What makes this temple different is how it is constructed. We get a feeling that it is floating, three sides surrounded  by a pond. It was late in the evening when we reached there and I managed only few clicks before light faded.

Macro-Animals

In continuation to my macro post of flowers, these are pics of insects and a lizard, all  taken from "Karunnia" garden. 

Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple

Due to higher level of security, devotees are not allowed to take even shirts inside the temple, so we had to comeback with camera to take pictures. 

First pic is the palace "kuthiramalika" that is next to the temple. Even there, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the palace. 

Below are pictures of temple from main entrance and around the temple pond.

Macro-flowers-2019

These are some close-up pictures of flowers from Karunnia. 
This is a plant that was very common during my school days.