December Diaries :)

Twilight Loner

Code Red!

My entries for a Photography Competition - Theme: Red

A Bloody Eve

Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens

Red Riding Hood

Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Srinagar's Mughal Gardens - no words to describe the beauty

Shikara on Dal Lake

The beauty of Kashmir was overpowering. It's a memory I'll cherish forever. The sheer untouched beauty has proudly come out of the militancy and repression. It redefines beauty! Here is a vegetable seller on a Shikara in Dal Lake.

Life is good :)

A visit to my native village Kodimangalam was an eye opener. Life is extremely luxurious in Mumbai.

Blogging after a very long time...I'm happy to be back :)

A Cup of Coffee :)

I finally have a bit of time to peacefully sip a cup of coffee without attending to a phone call or signing a paper or proof reading content or answering queries simultaneously! 

Blogging after a very long time...I'm back :) 

Lonavla

In their haven...

Hot bhutta in the cool rain.. at Bushi Dam

Water spurting upwards. What happened to Newton's Law?

Cliffhanger!

Serenity personified.

Hinduism in Bali...

90% Balinese are Hindu! But, it's amazing how different their culture is different from ours!! They actually give cigarettes as offerings to God. The pictures are worth a thousand words!!!

An angel, a miracle...

This is one of those posts that is very close to my heart...


A week in Singapore was made so meaningful by this angel, my cousin Vaibhav. One of the most adorable kids ever, he is a bundle of affection! Always making everyone around him smile by his boundless love, he is a joy to be with! A master of mimicry, he sang out in joy and laughed like there was nothing funnier in the world! It's a miracle how that one three-year- old kept at least five adults on their feet at every point during the day! After returning, there seemed to be a void that can't be filled in by anything except Vaibhav's innocence and affection!

"The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone."
~George Elliot

Missing you.. come visit again!!!

Sunset in Bali...

The sky was a painter's paradise and the sun hiding behind the clouds shone on the water between the trees. It was a sight to be witnessed!

Golfing in Cairo...

Believe it or not, the Golf Course in Cairo shares a fence with the Pyramids of Giza!! Golfing behind one of the original Seven Wonders of the World is a unique experience!!!

Flamenco Fiesta...

Quoting from Wikipedia, about the 18th Century:
"During this period of development, the "flamenco fiesta" developed. More than just a party where flamenco is performed, the fiesta, either unpaid (reunion) or paid, sometimes lasting for days, has an internal etiquette with a complex set of musical and social rules. In fact, some might argue that the cultural phenomenon of the flamenco fiesta is the basic cultural "unit" of flamenco."


Well, I'm finally posting about Flamenco of Andalusia, Southern Spain. I witnessed it in Seville. What struck me first, was the immense stamina and skill required to perform this complex foot tapping dance. Flamenco is expressed through the toque -- the playing of the flamenco guitar, the cante (singing), and the baile (dancing). A widespread misconception about this art is that the dance the essence of Flamenco but the truth is that it is the unique music that is the heart of this art form. I felt the music had an lovely Arabic touch to it. The singer rhythmically clapped her hands giving a wholesome effect to the experience. The dance is characterised by the emotional sweeping of the arms and rhythmic stomping of the feet. While the dancers put a lot of practice into their art form, the dances are not choreographed, but are improvised along the palo or rhythm. The picture I clicked in Seville shows the two dancers appreciating the singer and the guitarist.

Egypt...

Egypt... a mystical land with a fascinating history... its not just about the Pyramids and Mummies. Its also about the ancient temples, an army of Gods and Goddesses and hieroglyphics that have not been interpreted totally till date... Above is the photo of the facade of a typical Egptian temple. (to be specific, the Karnak temple) and below is the view from our ship on the Nile... the rippling water, greenery, the desert and blue sky, all in one.

Amby Valley

Amby Valley... truly paradise in India... with a brilliant golf course and just the right weather... again a photographer's delight and a golfer's too...

Animal rights.. they say!!

Hmmm, you probably imagine a bullfight to follow the rule, "May the best man.. or beast win..." but Spanish Bullfighting is not so.. no matter how bold, powerful or furious the bull, it must die after 20 minutes of torture. Here's how the bullfight proceeds: There are 3 tercios, or parts separated by horn signals... first the bull is taunted by 6 bullfighters waving the capote... the pink and yellow cloth you see in the above picture. Now enter the two picadores on horseback(the horses are blindfolded and armoured) armed with a sort of lance. As the bull charges towards the horse, the picadore attacks and lowers its blood pressure by piercing its back with his lance. Then 3 banderilleros stab the attacking bull with a pair of banderillas each. Now that the bull is weak and bleeding, the matador with his muleta, a red cloth and his sword enters and has to artistically show a so called domination over the bull and then kill it in one stroke through its heart. If it does not die, as in many cases, out come the other bullfighters to remove the sword so the matador can try and try until he suceeds. Then, he parades round the stadium with the ears of the bull. Its outright cruelty!!

Golf in Andalucia...

A typical Andalucian golf course lined with wild flowers... a photographer's delight and a golfer's too... located in Cadiz, Spain

Going bananas...

My aunt found him when he was a few days old, hurt and abandoned by his mother, he's now 2 years old!! Its amazing how he reacts to instructions in tamil, mood swings and music!!!