kokkre bellur

kokkre-belluru is a small village and one of the many gems that dot the bangalore-mysore highway. after Chennapatna of the wooden-toys fame, and before Madduru of the maddur-vada fame, there is a prominent green board pointing you to this place. so instead of getting annoyed at the 13+kms of bad road, prepare yourself for a visual feast... best availed of early mornings.


the paddy fields on the right play host to hundreds of black-headed ibis and cattle-egrets. the fields are dotted with bird-folk for as far as an eye can see. and then, there are brown sparrow-like birds(wish i knew what they're called)
...and red and yellow and blue and black dragon flies... and beautiful kingfishers. and the air is filled with bird-tweet... on the left is an elevated bund(man-made lake/water reservoir) with weed and lotus and some more birds.

and onwards you go till you arrive at the village square. and don't you ask 'where are the pelicans?'... you will only get the 'look-up-you-dumbhead!' kinda ugly look from all and sundry. for on the tree-tops all around the square, and everywhere else in the village, there are huge pelicans making weird noises and flapping their endless bony wings and sitting in their huge nests. the bellur village takes its first name from these big birds - kokkere in kannada is a 'stork'. painted storks are considered a good omen here and they arrive after the pelicans. The ibis is a particularly good-looking bird, with shimmering feathers, if you manage to get a closer look.



it's worthwhile to go into the village too... for the big birds perch on rooftops and on trees all over the village... on the other end, there's a bridge over a river.. from here, you get to watch sand being mined from the bottom of the river and shipped away in trucks.