Nithin Kamath’s Weblog

Photos….Photos…and more Photos…..ever since I bought the digital camera I have been clicking photos of anything imaginable. I have been on a few trips as well, hence I thought of putting some of the good ones on the web and share it with a few friends, and the best solution for these for me turned out to be Picasa.

So off I went about putting together the photos I wanted to upload to Picasa Web, that is when I realised that I am in a bit of trouble. With each photo being 1.8MB, it was very obvious that I needed to resize the photo’s to a more web appropriate resolution of 1024×768 and at a lower image quality.

I did not directly recollect any software available in Linux which has batch resize options, hence I quickly did a google search and the results surprised me. The solution was a really simple one, that of making use of the package which is by default available in most Linux distro’s - “ImageMagick”, which provides the ‘convert’ command.

Here’s the simple script:
for k in $(ls *.JPG); do convert $k -resize 1024×768 -quality 100 re_$k; done

The working of the above script is simple, here is what it does:
1. Loops through all the JPG files in the current directory.
2. Then for each JPG file in the directory it calls the ‘convert’ command telling it to resize the images to the size 1024×768 and without an quality loss (i.e. 100, means no compression) and saves the resultant file with the prefix ‘re_’.
3. The done statement tells the script to end once all the JPG files are processed.

How is that for a simple and effective solution. Three cheers for command line….who needs bulky and resource hungry GUI programs…? And if you are waiting for the photos…sorry…that is available only to a few select friends and relatives…..but I have posted some of them at the following link http://flickr.com/photos/knithink.

Antarganga also known as Dakshin Kashi (or Kashi of the South) is a popular pilgrimage place close to the city of Kolar. Kashi Vishweshwara Temple is also one of the main attractions of Antarganga. One more attraction is the Bull (Basava) carved out of stone which has water flowing out of its mouth, the water is considered to be from the Ganges, and no one knows the source or origin of this water source.

Since my friend has already posted the details of the trip in his blog with all the details I would not want to rewrite it.

Below is his writeup….copied from top to bottom from his blog:

Last weekend I visited a place called Antaragange, popularly known as Kashi of South India. This post gives a briefing of the wonderful and adventurous trip. Antergange is situated in Kolar district of Karnataka state. It is just about 4 Kilometer from Kolar Bus Stand, and 70 Kilometers from Bengaluru.

How to Reach

There are plenty of Buses which connect Kolara, district headquarter with Bengaluru. Both KSRTC and private buses will go to Kolara. Private buses, will depart from Majestic as well as from KR Market. It will take one and half or maximum of two hours to reach Kolar depending on the bus. From Kolara, the destination is near. It is approximately 4 kilometers. You can go by walking by enjoying the side scenes and nice environment (just like me) or you also have an option to opt for a auto rickshaw. The fair is Rs.30/-. But before getting into the rickshaw, please clarify about the fair with the driver. This route won’t go to the top of the hill. From the enter ace you have to climb approximately 350-500 steps. There is another way which is constructed recently, which will take you to the top of the hill.

Its Rocky

The hills of Antergange provide an ideal location for Outbound Training and Excursions. Scattered thorn scrub forests amidst volcanic rocks and boulders present an irresistible landscape, where different adventure activities can be undertaken. Activities include · Nature study, · Trekking & rock climbing, Over night camping, Night navigation, Cave exploration.

Main Attractions

Kashi Vishweshwara Temple is also one of the main attractions of Antargange. The name ‘Antaragange’ means “Ganges from deep” in Kannada language. There is Basava (bull) made out of stone, water streaming out from the mouth of a stone bull Nobody knows the source of water or the place from where it originates. Water is seen streaming out throughout the year. It is been said that the source of this stream is from the holy river Gangaa. There is small Kalyani (pond) near the temple. The main deity of the temple is Kashi Vishveshawra(Lord Shiva). The temple is made out of rock. There main Shiva Lingam in the temple. Along with the Main Lingam, there are around 4 to 5 Lingam in the side of the main mantapa.

Trekking

Behind the temple there is way to the forest. From this point you can start the trekking. You will find some stairs at the beginning of the trekking, but it will disappear as you go further. The path is full of stone, scattered cactus, thrones and Bushes. Ideal place for adventure. If you follow the pylons (power cables), it would be very easy to climb the hill. There are a lot of trees such as Nilagiri, Akeshiya, Amla. There are various spicies of cactus are available in this region. As you go to the top, you will find a nice view of Kolara city. There are volcanic rocks of various size. Some rocks are laid in such passion that it appear like natural caves.

Antergange is overpopulated by monkeys. They are wild monkeyss. They literally grab anything from the visitors. It is very dangerous to leave our belongings from our hand. Some monkeys are so clever that they grab the things from our hands. One should be very careful while transacting with the monkeys.

This has been the easiest post to write…..thanks to Harish…..keep up the good work…..

Located just about 30 Kms from Bangalore is a popular tourist location ‘Dodda Alada Mara’ which in English is the ‘Big Banyan Tree’ (BBT). It is spread over three acres and is over 400 years old.

This place was chosen since I was in no mood for another long travel this weekend. So since BBT is just 30 Kms away it was a short trip. Started reasonably late and reached the boarding point ‘K R Market’ bus stand (the one near the Fort). From this point there are plenty of BMTC buses on route 227 which go to BBT. The nearest village is ‘Ramohalli’ which is about 2Kms from BBT.

Reached BBT around 10AM and there was no one there. The tree is really huge and the place is being maintained quite nicely under the aegis of ‘Bank of Maharastra’. There is a small temple in the vicinity of the BBT. While we were there we were able to about 6 cute little puppies play around and have fun fighting with each other. Since there was nothing much to see here, we wanted to head towards ‘Manchanabele Dam’ which was about 8+ Kms from the BBT.

We asked the people who were in charge of the place for details like the transportation facilities available to get to the Dam. We found out that there was only a couple of KSRTC buses which while going to Magadi go via the dam. We were also told that the area is not safe when in a small group as robberies are quite common. Also it would be best to go by private vehicle like a bike rather than bus, since they are quite un-dependable. Since only two of us were there, we heeded to their advice and skipped going to the dam.

The only place nearby which we would visit was the ‘Mukti Naga Temple’ which was just 1km from ‘Ramohalli’ and about 3kms from BBT. So we took one of the 227 route buses which were heading back to Bangalore and got down at Ramohalli. From here we walked till the temple. Located in the temple is world’s largest monolithic statue of Lord Naaga, about 16 feet tall and 36 tons of weight. After offering our prayers, while coming out we could see a lake quite near by.

So off we went to it, but as we came nearer we found that there was no actual point where we would sit and enjoy, since all the properties around the lake were fenced. We were not the ones to give up so easily so we trespassed into one of the large properties and tried to get close to the lake, but alas there was no place where we could sit and take rest. After spending some time here we headed back.

When we reached back at BBT around 2:30 pm, we were quite surprised as the place that was quite in the morning was now buzzing with people. And our good old friends whom we have meet on all our trips in and around Bangalore were here too. In case you were wondering who it is……the Monkeys of course….

This time the monkeys were in some mood for adventure, they snatched a lady’s handbag and clicked up the tree. Every trip in the book like giving groundnuts, tying a plastic bag on another branch with some eatables etc by the lady and her family to convince the monkey to drop the bag failed. After much playing around, the first object to come down was a mobile phone, and much to our amazement the phone did not break and it was working…..so much for the Classic Old Nokia models. Soon the bag came down, but fully torn in all the place….the handbag was now useless, so they threw it away.

So much for the fun we had watching all this happen….but it was time to head back…..we took the BMTC bus and headed back and reached Bangalore quite soon.

Talking about the expenses….it was quite low…..a Rs30/- daily BMTC pass took me right from the nearest bus stand to my room and back.