A Single Rose

This picture seems to be saying:


A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world.

Leo Buscaglia





Today's Flowers

Faces of India - 138

The curious, inquisitive look: Why my photo! An auto rickshaw driver in Birbhum district, West Bengal.

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.

Sriranga Vimana, Ranganathswamy Temple

While in Srirangam I lost track of the number of gopurams I crossed. Sriranganathswamy Temple is enclosed by 7 concentric walls and along the walls are gopurams, there are 21 of them. (Gopurams are towers at the entrance of the temple.) You have to take a walk of 6 miles along the walls if you wish to photograph all the gopurams. Small vehicles are allowed till the third wall and from here on

Dewanji Temple, Hetampur

The Chandranath Shiva temple was good find in our quest for the old terracotta temples. This part of Hetampur town was well known for 3 terracotta temples: one, the Chandranath Shiva Temple, two Dewanji Temple (I am posting on this here) and three, Gol Mandir, which does not exist any more. Thanks to a land shark there!

We walked up and down this lane in search of this Dewanji Temple. Each

Faces of India - 137

He looked tired to me, but he cheered up the moment I took the camera to take his picture. After he saw his pic in the camera he asked if I was going to put in newspapers. When I told him it was for computer he seemed slightly disappointed, “Oh! Then I will not be able to see.” Many times I have got this same response and I feel so helpless at that moment. Common man too want newspaper

An Immune India

A school’s attendance register is the best indication of how healthy the kids of the school are. Many such school attendance records all over the country gives a good picture of how healthy the children of our country are! Often it is observed during change of season, say summer to monsoons, the attendance in classes go down to almost 50%. Common cold spreads like wild fire, and active fun

Chandranath Shiva Temple, Hetampur, West Bengal

From Ilambazar we drove to Hetampur, a dust covered, sleepy, remote town just to see two forgotten terracotta temples. This post is on Chandranath Shiva Temple. While it features in the ASI list of protected monuments in West Bengal, I am sure not a single Indian Rupee is spent on its maintenance. Almost the whole of its surface area is covered with black dried moss, with patches of reddish

Developmental Care of Premature Babies

17th of November is World Prematurity Day. World Prematurity Day was founded in May 2010 in New York by The European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants (EFCNI), Little Big Souls International Charitable Foundation for Africa and March of Dimes, US. This post is written to generate some awareness about this topic of premature births.

The problem

Babies born before 37 weeks of gestation

Faces of India - 136

A security guard in the hotel we stayed in Chikmagalur, Karnataka. He claimed he was from north of India, staying in Karanataka for past some years. I appreciated his moustache.

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.

Rajagopuram, Srirangam, Tamil Nadu

Yet another famous Gopuram of Srirangam is the Rajagopuram (the royal temple tower). It is the latest addition to the centuries old temple. The construction commenced in May 1979 and was completed in March 1987. This Rajagopuram is famous because it holds the record of being the tallest Gopuram in the world. Wiki mentions its height at 243 meters. Rajagopuram rises from the base area of around

Get Your Own Ferrari

LEGO! How does it sound to you? Does it deliver you happiness? Does it bring back a load of childhood memories? Do you get that urge to play once more with those bricks?

I had a mix of those emotions when I read my invite for “the exclusive preview of LEGO collection of Ferrari cars”. Shell, one of world’s leading fuel, oil and lubricant company, introduced 6 exclusive Ferrari model LEGO

Alpona with Flowers

Last week’s Alpona for Diwali celebrations by me in front of my house.

Alpona is done with liquidy rice flour paste. A small piece of cloth is dipped in it and designs are drawn by gently squeezing the wet cloth with rice flour paste as you draw the design. When the water dries off the design stands out white and clear. I am not an expert at it, but some how managed to get some kind of decent

Faces of India - 135

A group of school boys on educational tour at Rock Garden of Chandigarh, eager to be photographed, eager to talk. A lively bunch! (The three boys to your left in the picture are young Sikh boys.)


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 12th Nov 2013.

Vellayi Gopuram, Srirangam, Tamil Nadu

Vellayi Gopuram or the white tower (gate) is at the eastern entrance of Srirangam Temple. This tower is very different from all other towers of the temple, as it is the only one in monochrome that too white.

The word Vellayi means white, but it also represents the name of a Devdasi who sacrificed her life to protect the idol of the temple. The story is real and interesting. In the year 1323,

Anjaneyar Temple, Namakkal, Tamil Nadu

I was blogging on my tour in West Bengal, a pause to that, this post will be on Anjaneyar Temple in Namakkal, Tamil Nadu.

 Last week enroute Srirangam, a temple town of Tiruchirapalli we halted at Namakkal. This town too has some temples more than 1000 years old with very interesting stories. Anjaneyar temple is dedicated to Lord Anjaneyar who was known as Hanuman in Ramayan. (He has different

Happy Diwali

I wish all my readers a very happy, safe and eco friendly Diwali! 

Faces of India - 134

Come rain or shine, we have to work for our daily living… they seemed to be saying through their smiles. Shot of two coffee estate workers in Chikmagalur, Karnataka. Note that while one had a proper raincoat on, the other had one made of plastic sack.

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