Kankalitala Temple, Bolpur

Kankalitala, this is one sacred destination of Hindus. It is one of the 52 Shakti Peeths, which is holy abode of Goddess Sati. It is believed that when Lord Shiva in a rage, refused to give up Sati, his consort’s dead body. He danced wildly and angrily. Lord Vishnu, in order to calm him down cut the corpse of Goddess Sati in to 52 pieces. One of the pieces, Her waist, is believed to have fallen

Faces of India - 129

The shot taken at a tea stall in Kufri. The customer waiting patiently as the snacks he ordered were being fried.


Faces
of India, a series through which I intend to portray the various
characters of my country whom I met during my travels. See more here.




as on 1st oct 2013.

Automated External Defibrillator

Sanjay, 36, was playing badminton in his office sports complex. All of a sudden he collapsed. His friends clueless of what could have happened to him, decided to take him to the hospital just 5 minutes away from there. No time was wasted, yet he was declared ‘brought dead’ in hospital! A seemingly healthy young man, having a good game; all over with a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA)!

Let us rewind

Are These Spaceships?

Another drive by shot, taken as the 11th day of April 2012 was approaching its final moments. We were on the entry road to Paris. Sky was overcast with dark clouds and from nowhere these structures appeared in my frame. So, what are these?





Yes, these are lamp posts.

SkyWatch Friday

Photo Essay on Shilpagram, Shantiniketan

Shilpagram is close to Shantiniketan. It is a beautiful little gram (village) which is designed to showcase traditional handicrafts of states of Eastern India (Bihar, Assam, Orissa, Manipur, Andaman, Jharkhand etc). Each state is represented by a traditional house which has collection of paintings, daily use materials etc. The place is maintained neatly and has good collection of cultural

Faces of India - 128

You can make out what his work is, no? He is one of the many milking men I met in Goshala of ISKON Mayapur, West Bengal. They have not mechanized milking yet. Once that is done many of them are bound to loose their jobs.

Faces
of India, a series through which I intend to portray the various
characters of my country whom I met during my travels. See more here.

 


as on 21 Sept 2013.

Olomouc to Prague

Two drive by shots; they were taken on the way to Prague from Olomouc, Czech Republic. The canon in the first picture looked strange, probably it was kept for some kind of advertisement I concluded then.

This being a drive by shot, I was not aware of its exact location. My blogger friend from Poland, Lucja Maria has written in to say this was once a battle field. The Battle of Austerlitz, also

Shantiniketan Leather Bags from Amar Kutir

Amar Kutir was once place of refuge for activists involved in independence movements. Today the scene is different; it has a big cooperative society for rural development. This place is at a distance of 15kms from Shantiniketan, but Rabindranath Tagore is no way associated with this place. Amar Kutir (my cottage) was set up by Sushen Mukherjee in 1927.

Sushen believed that one's first and

Fragrance

" The fragrance of the rose, remains on the hand that gives it." 

Unknown 

Today's Flowers








as on 18th Sept 2013.

Faces of India - 127

A young bride! She was getting married inside Bakreshwar Temple, West Bengal. As I zoomed into her I had my doubts whether she was 18 years of age. I felt she was a child. The mom was very keen that I photograph her daughter; she evaded all my questions much to my disappointment. On second thoughts I should have photographed her mother.

Faces
of India, a series through which I intend to

Souvenirs from Shantiniketan

The colorful handcarts of Shantiniketan, the little town of ‘ranga matti’ (red soil), are loaded with beautiful hand-made knick-knacks. Red soil is available in plenty in this region and locals have used it to their advantage for their livelihood. Cutesy terracotta figures are made which is a mark of their high level of creativity and imagination. There are the terracotta figurines of deities,

Doodles by Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore is recognized world wide for literature, but he had immense talent in other fields too. Art, music, dramatics… he was a genius in all of them and more. In this post I would like to highlight Rabindranath Tagore's skill in doodling. Till I saw his doodling work exhibited in Uttarayan in Shantiniketan, I never knew this could be an art too! I was completely awestruck at the

Pink Water Lily

After a long wait for one year my pink water lily decided to bloom! And I am very grateful to her! Growing water lilies in tiny terracotta pools is quite a task. Daily a few hours of sunshine is a must I noticed and positioning it correctly helped. Now both my purple water lily and the pink variety have a competition for my attention and appreciation. Here are a couple of clicks.





The

Faces of India - 126

Shot taken in Solan, Himachal Pradesh. Whenever I look at this picture I feel convinced that the people of hills are happy people. The picture was taken from a distance, they knew I was clicking them and they had this spontaneous smiles on their faces.


Faces of India, a series through which I intend to portray the various characters of my country whom I met during my travels. See more here

Taal Gachh, The Palm Tree, Tagore's Poem

Taal Gaachh, this is the first Rabindranath Tagore’s poem that I had learned by heart as a child. When I heard the poem for the first time, I was struck by the imagination that: even trees have feelings! The palm tree, which is considered as the tallest tree wants to fly higher like the clouds. The tree imagines its big round leaves to be its wings. In the end however it is content to be with

Shantiniketan, Tagore's Karmabhoomi

Shantiniketan - peace home, Tagore's Karmabhoomi - Tagore's work place

Dec 22nd, 1901, Rabindranath Tagore (first nobel laureate of India) established Shantiniketan, 212kms north of Kolkata in Bolpur. It was his dream to provide open air, gurukul like atmosphere to the students instead of class room within four walls for studies. He named the University as Vishva Bharati, a place of Universal