Can you read expressions - What does this expression say?

One of my friend was here in Noida with his son. I also met him for very short span of time and clicked few photographs. Out of all, I really loved this expression although I don't know what it conveys. Do you have any idea?

Religare Art Gallery showcasing their artwork @ INDIA ART SUMMIT 2011

Some unique trends of Old Delhi - Kabootarbazi !!!

Last weekend I visited Jama-Masjid in Old Delhi and also interacted few folks around this place. During the visit I met a very interesting family who also offered me to come on roof-top to have a different view of Old Delhi (Dilli-6). 

On roof-top, there were approximately 60 pigeons. One of the gentleman also told be about a unique trend of Old Delhi. All these pigeons fly in a group and at times they make a huge groups of around 1000 pigeons. When any of the owner ask his/her group to come back, most of the others also prefer to check at home. During such flights, at times some pigeons plan to join other group and go to other house. In this case original owner loose the right to get that pigeon back. If s/he wants that pigeon back, appropriate money needs to be paid as per breed of that pigeon. And this payment has no guarantee that pigeon will not go to other groups. This thing is religiously followed in Old Delhi region !!!

More interesting stories will follow from Old-Delhi !!!

Sunil Upadhyay - One of the fine actors of National School of Drama, Delhi, INDIA

This photograph was clicked during one of the recent plays by Ranjit Kapoor. It was PANCHLIGHT, a story about a bihar village with no light and people want to a have a panchlight in their village. Story starts with a love story where boy meets the girl in fields and they had some signals to indicate the presence to each other.

Sunil Upadhyay dictated various scenes from this play in a very interesting way... I have been watching his plays for last three years and a huge fan of this person. Although it's really difficult to compare actors of NSD Repretory with other.

Something from another Dilli Haat at Pitampura, Delhi, INDIA

Recently I visited Pitampura Dilli Haat and it was not that exciting as we have near INA Market. During day time, it was almost empty and  a particular section of the market had most of the shops unoccupied. Dilli Haats are actually considered as good places to buy handicrafts and ethnic stuff. We also went with same expectations but didn't find it interesting, although few of the shops were offering really great stuff.

'The Gift' story of 'Chekhov ki Duniya' play by Ranjeet Kapoor

This week NSD Repertory was performing 'Chekhov ki Duniya', directed by famous Director Ranjeet Kapoor. This play is based on various stories of Chekhov. Staging of the Hindi play titled 'Chekhov Ki Duniya' directed by Ranjit Kapoor. Chekhov Ki Duniya is a collection of six short stories by Chekhov. 'Cheenk' is one of the six stories shown in this play and it's filled with irony. It includes The Sneezer, who cannot apologize enough to a blustering general for splattering a sneeze on his head during one of the play they went for. 'Dooba Hua Aadmi' is the story of a man who earns by 'drowning.' Shikari shows a man-about-town using a husband as the conduit for his attempted seduction of the man's new bride... There are few more where an assistant of a dentist want to become a doctor and trying to pull tooth of church-father... Most of the stories were presented in very interesting way and lot of stuff to laugh !!

Lakshmi Pooja on Diwali Day

Lakshmi puja is performed during Diwali which is a very popular festival of India and also known as Festival of lights. According to tradition people would put small oil lamps outside their homes on Diwali and hope Lakshmi will come to bless them.

Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped by those who wish to acquire or to preserve wealth. It is believed that Lakshmi (wealth) goes only to those houses which are clean and where the people are hardworking. She does not visit the places which are unclean/dirty or where the people are lazy.
 

 Above photograph shows one of the steps of Lakshmi Poojan, when clay lamps are ready to start pooja during Diwali evening.

Holiday Cottage at Jim Corbett National Park !!!

This photograph was clicked during one of my recent trips to Jim Corbett National Park. We stayed in Tarangi resort which is approximately 8 kilometers form Bijrani Gate of Jim Corbett National Park. It's showing one of the holiday cottage at Tarangi. Tarangi resort has lot of space around and density of cottages is very low wr.t. total area available in the resort. Very well maintained, full of flora n fauna and appropriate place to relax during holidays !!!

Reached Hatu Peak again - A wonderful place at 3400 mtrs. (11152 ft.)

Hatu Peak is near Narkanda. There is beautiful climb of 6 kilometers form main highway. Hatu peak has a temple and tourism come here for experiencing less-explored nature. It's an amazing place with wonderful weather on the top. It's situated at 3400 mtrs. Place has got one HPPWD guest house as well. Many bollywood moviews have been shot at this place.

In above photograph, Aneesh is jumping with excitement of reaching the place again. I am not sure if you noticed link on 'Place again' :)

Front view of Viceregal Lodge, Shimla (Indian Institute of Advanced Studies)

Jama Masjid - A day after Eid

This is one of the photograph taken at India's largest mosque in Old Delhi - Jama Masjid !! This place is always surrounded by pigeons flying here and there. I waited for approximately 15 minutes to take this shot as movement is random most of the times. Luckily I didn't have to wait very long to get the right composition. This is what I wanted and I was happy to see the results. Hope to visit Jama Masjid again and come up with more photographs !!!

A colorful flower from garden of Five Senses, Delhi, INDIA

This photograph was clicked in 2007 when I had just started carrying camera with me :) ... It was an office outing some of friends. Although place is mainly for couples who need privacy in crowded cities like Delhi, but we didn't disturb them. Garden of Five senses has nice collection of flowers and plants.

Best use of harsh light while Photographing small objects

I know it sounds stupid to emphasize on doing photography in harsh light but what to do when you don't have an option and time to wait for right lighting. Of course, it's extremely challenging while shooting landscapes but small objects like Flowers, Leaves, Abstracts etc can be tried in Harsh light.

THe photograph above is clicked during noon time. This flower was very well lit from back side and there was a brown wall in the background. That wall was not getting any light or negligible as compared to light on this flower. Metering was set as spot metering, by pointing on this flower. I tried few shots and realized that Nikon D200 was not cirrectly metering the light. Then I used exposure compensation of negative 1 stop to achieve this result. And this photograph has hardly any post-processing. I like this shot and now I need not to wait for early mornings or evenings to shoot such things :) ..

Aneesh with his adventurous spirit !!!

During my recent visit to Shimla, Aneesh was accompanying me and he is a marvelous biker. Although one needs to have lot of courage to ride with him, but I did it :)

Here is one of the moment when we were getting late for something and main route was jammed. He thought of taking this shortcut and we reached 2 minutes before the event started. Probably all these things were normal for Aneesh, but very scary for me. Somehow this photograph is not showing right perspective. Actually these stairs were quite steep.

Just came back from Jim Corbett !!!

Last weekend we were out for a trip to Jim Corbett, a wildlife sanctuary with maximum number of Tigers in India. Theoretically probability of  seeing a tiger at Corbett should be high but huge area and disproportional distribution make it near to impossible. It was third time when I visited Corbett, and haven't seen Tiger. 

We stayed at Tarangi Resort, which was a decent place to stay. Above photograph is clicked inside the resort.

Missed Delhi's first Kite Festival which happened last weekend at India Gate !! (12th - 13th Nov, 2011)

I was listening about this Kite Festival for last few weeks and when I planned for it, something special came on the way. Every year, our official trip if organized during this time of the year and this time our trip to Corbett conflicted with Kite Festival. After coming back from Corbett, I am seeing hundreds of photographs of wonderful festival and people had good time at India Gate. Now I am truly missing First Kite Festival of Delhi and hope I make for it next time !!!

Since I had no photograph of Kite Fest, I though of putting this night shot of India Gate Here...

If you have also missed Delhi Kite Festival by Delhi Tourism, just click on the photograph above to see more... And http://life-inspires.blogspot.com/2011/11/when-hanuman-and-taj-mahal-took-over.html

Dark Silver colored car in front of South Block of Indian President's House @ Delhi, INDIA

A little boy going inside colorful fountains inside UB-City, Banglore, Karnataka, INDIA

 

Festive season in India is still ON !!!

Although Diwali is over now but still November and December remain more colorful in India. Welcome of winters with lots of other small special days. And these days all US festivals/special-days are more important in India as well. Christmas is next big day in next few months...

Indian Institute of Advanced Studies : a wonderful place in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh !!!

Whenever I visit Shimla, it's hard to miss Indian Institute of Advanced Studies or Viceregal Lodge. This wonderful building is accessible through a lovely walk from Mall Road or bus can be taken to Boileuganj and then it's a small climb of 10 minutes. During British raj in India, Viceroy of India used to stay in this building during summers. There were only two residences of viceroy. One was in Delhi, which is President's house now and other is this one in Shimla. Shimla was also known as summer capital of British empire in India.

Mumbai to Dilli - A Standup Comedy at IHC, Delhi

Last Sunday a stand up comedy show happened at India Habitat Center, Delhi !!! It was adult show and performers reached the extreme. Given an option, I will prefer to attend their show again but alone or with some of my college friends only. And of course, I can't recommend to anyone. And I liked only two of these performers.

Why are you clicking my photograph? : This is what the expression says !!!

Classical Muscians @ BIG HORN FEST 2011 inside India Habitat Center, Delhi

 

A little girl playing inside water fountains in UB-City @ Banglore, Karnataka, INDIA

During my last visit to Banglore, I went to Malya's UB City and it was fabulous !!! There are some watr fountains in middle of it surrounded by various easting places and bars. Children really enjoy around these fountains and they simply love them !! I saw few kids even taking evening bath here ...

Smoking is Injurious for Health !!!

Smoking is Injurious for Health !!!

I don't know what I should write about this photograph but can share a short story behind it at least :) ... One of my friend was doing some research on German Cigars and he had a latest update about smaller version of Cigars, which are not exactly cigarettes. These kind of cigars are handy and popular in some part of Germany. So he had brought few packets to show us. Usually I don't smoke but thought of trying one. Believe me, it was most bitter form of cigarette, I ever had.

Dulha Dulhan sitting on one side of VEDI !!!

In Indian marriages, most of the ceremonies happen inside a small house shaped structure, made up of four pillars (usually bamboo sticks) and leaves of some specific trees. There is a proper method of creating this Vedi and Indians used to follow that process properly. With more involvement of  new generation, idea has changed. Now it should look better and it will work if something is missing. As per my knowledge, different names are used instead of Vedi in different parts of country. In Himachal, it's called as Vedi or Ved. And all four pillars are considered as four Vedas...

Anyway, Marriages are being converted to parties rather a traditional ceremony which used to happen initially. But still many things are followed in rural India and comparatively small towns.

Marriage band-master @ Pathiar, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh

Recently I attended my friend's marriage in Himachal. I was the first one to reach early and other friends were on the way... So had a good opportunities to see various things happening around and of course, there was hardly any other choice :) ... So I was listening to this band group. In Himachal band-group arrives one day before the barat day and they play during most of the ceremonies happen during the marriage. So every 30-45 minutes, they were playing various things like Aartis, Bollywood numbers, local folk etc. 

Usually in these band there is  leader who starts the song with a different music and other carry on further. The person in photograph is band-master who starts and guide through a song. You can notice the other person on left who is not playing anything right now. So he is just listening to the music his master is playing and then all of them will continue. While is proper mood, they do various experiments with songs we listen to. And many times these folk tunes are used by big composers in Bollywood !!!

Beautiful lady in Reshta @ Narkanda, Himachal Pradesh

During my recent trip to Himachal Pradesh, we were roaming around some villages in Narkanda region and having lunch at roadside. This lady was walking through the side-by road and I really liked her dress. I requested one of my friend to ask her in local language, that if we could click one photograph. She happily agreed and I was delighted to have a shot of this lovely dress called 'Reshta' !!!