Notice anything odd? Just in case you didn’t – here’s a close up 😀
“Someday this upside-down world will be turned right side up. Nothing in all eternity will turn it back again. If we are wise, we will use our brief lives on earth positioning ourselves for the turn.” Randy Alcorn
Thanks for visiting. Drop in at Cee’s for more Odd ball photos
Transmogrify is the theme for the Daily Posts Weekly Photo Challenge. As a fan of Calvin, I am familiar with the term, although I must confess I didn’t know the exact meaning. Do you? Transmogrify means “to change in appearance or form, especially strangely or grotesquely; transform.”
Interestingly, have just the right bunch of pictures for this challenge! In fact you could almost say the challenge was transmogrified to suit my priceless collection 😀
The entire credit for this unique garden goes to Nek Chand an ordinary transport official in Chandigarh, India, who saw beauty in junk.
In the early 1960’s, Nek Chand cleared a patch of jungle and began sculpting figures discarded material he found at hand. Nek Chand built up the mass with a cement and sand mix before adding a final coating of smoothly burnished pure cement combined with waste materials such as broken glass, bangles, crockery, mosaic and iron-foundry slag.
Nek Chand’s creativity blossomed and he went on to make hundreds of sculptures set in a series of interlinking courtyards, working secretly at night for fear of being discovered by the authorities. He succeeded in hiding his art for 18 years. And this is the bit that fascinates me the most – he worked alone at night after a hard day’s work just to satisfy his own passion for creativity. That for me at least is the highest and purest form of art there could be.
When his work was discovered, the authorities were in a quandary. But though it was illegal, even the red-tape and rule bound bureaucracy couldn’t deny the unique creative talent of Nek Chand. He was given a salary, more space and workforce to assist him in expanding his vision, which now spreads over 25 acres. Today, there are several thousand sculptures set in large mosaic courtyards linked by walled paths and deep gorges. Nek Chand’s creation also combines huge buildings with a series of interlinking waterfalls. The Rock Garden is now acknowledged as one of the modern wonders of the world.
I bring you a few pictures from this one of a kind Rock Garden.
Married Indian women, especially in North India are expected to wear colored glass bangles and the more the merrier. And of course they break. Nek Chand collected these and recycled them in his own way. Have a look.
For your sake, I hope you liked these transmogrifications for I have lots more and will be sure to display them at the earliest opportunity 😉 😀
Thanks for dropping by – please don’t hesitate to leave a note 🙂
Wishing you all a very Happy Diwali once again 🙂
Finally I had the opportunity to visit the Sri Harmindar Sahib more popularly known as the Golden Temple at Amritsar, Punjab, India. This temple is the holiest Gurdwaras (door to the Guru) of Sikhism. The temple houses the Adi Granth the holy scripture of the Sikhs. Sikhs believe in the concept of Ek Onkar or One God and the doors of their temples are open to men and women of all religions. In fact, the Muslim Sufi saint, Hazrat Mian Mir, laid the foundation stone of the temple.
The Golden Temple runs the world’s largest soup kitchen (langar) and reportedly feeds anywhere from 1,00,000 to 3,00,000 people for free each day, regardless of caste, creed, gender or background. Importantly, volunteers from the community (kar sevaks) run the langar (and build Gurdwaras). The langar serves to uphold the principle of equality between all people regardless of religion, caste, color, creed, age, gender, or social status. In addition to the ideals of equality, the tradition of langar expresses the ethics of sharing, community, inclusiveness, and oneness of all humankind.
A visit to the Golden Temple is a must for all Sikhs in their lifetime. I would go so far as to say it is a must for everyone.
This a view of the Golden Temple at night
And during the day.
I cannot quite decide which view I like better. Can you?
Posted for Nancy’s theme of One for her A Photo A Week Challenge
Thank you for visiting – have a great weekend.
I would also like to wish everyone a very happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous Diwali. 
Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge this week is All About Nature. Of course my all time favorites – trees – will feature in this post but I do hope I can surprise (if not impress) you with my other clicks 😉 😀
Thanks for visiting. Do let me know what you thought of the pics 🙂
For readers of Moonshine, here's Chapter 94 and Calvin and Hobbes having a deep philosophical discussion :D
The Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge theme is Shine. Here’s my collection of light shining on water, mostly sunsets around the country 🙂
While it readies for a new beginning elsewhere
A very good morning to all of you 🙂
A/N Moonshine will be up a little later in the day.
Cee’s fun foto challenge this week is Vibrant Colors. For some reason, I seem to have only reds! I hope you like 🙂
“Stop waiting for Prince Charming. Get up and find him. The poor idiot may be stuck in a tree or something.” Author unknown
“Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” Mark Twain
“I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien
“When traveling with someone, take large doses of patience and tolerance with your morning coffee” – Helen Hayes
“Adults are just outdated children.” Dr Seuss
“A party without cake is just a meeting.” Julia Child
“It is such a happiness when good people get together — and they always do.”
― Jane Austen
The last one is of course my favorite – which one is yours?
“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” ― Nelson Mandela
“Solitude is the path to visit yourself, it is the path to yourself!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan
“You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?” Rumi
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.” Robert Frost
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.” Albert Einstein
I know I am very late this week but I hope you enjoyed the paths -visit Cee’s page for awesome pics.
For readers of Moonshine, here's Chapter 93 and Calvin :D
Y at Priorhouse has started a new challenge (thankfully a monthly challenge!) – Food. And this month the topic is veggies.
For this challenge, I chose something that doubles as a fruit and a vegetable. Technically it is a fruit but most people in India cook and eat it as a vegetable. Handling, cutting and dicing the raw fruit is a sticky, messy, dicey business and one must remember to lather the hands (and knife) with oil otherwise you are likely to be stuck forever and ever 😀
Okay, any idea what I am talking about? Difficult if you are not from this part of the world. This fruit is native to South and Southeast Asia and is believed to have originated in the Western Ghats of India.
Okay without any further ado – have a look:
Can you make out anything? Okay another closer shot for you.
Yep that’s the jack fruit
See the white gooey stuff near the neck? That is the stuff to watch out for, when handling the raw fruit.
When ripe, it is extremely sweet and fleshy. It has a distinct all pervading odor which can be rather overpowering. Keeping the ripe fruit in the refrigerator can be risky as everything is likely to reek of jack fruit. The inside of the jack fruit is composes of pods or bulbs each of which holds a seed. The seeds are cooked and eaten as well, though they are covered with a thick inedible cover which has to be removed.
While the vegetable avatar is quite popular all over the country and is available as chips, the fruit version (at least as far as I know) is consumed only by the Bengali community in India – anyone care to correct me? There are two varieties of the fruit pods. One is small, fibrous, soft, mushy and terribly sweet. If one is not careful while eating this, it can slip down the throat and cause choking – been there done that! I prefer the other variety which is crisp and chewy and is also less sweet.
By the way, the jack fruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh.
Hope you liked my offering for this month’s food – happy eating 🙂
Cee’s fun foto challenge for this week is Dark Red. Here is my eclectic collection of reds.
On the sea:
and on air
On the ground
and another aiming for the sky
And of course, flowers
But my favorite red these days is undoubtedly this one 😉 😀
I take your leave until Wednesday. Mother Goddess is dropping in for a brief visit, bringing with her much joy, cheer, festivities, and feasting 🙂
Wishing you all a very happy and auspicious Durga Puja.
If you miss me (well I can hope!) you can explore my blog. Click here for more info About this Blog or simply browse the photos indexed in the Clicks and Pics page or read the short stories listed in Bunch of Short Stories.
Do let me know you were here 🙂
Ready to walk the ramp and show off her fall colors 😀
Premature greying or did she snitch a jar of Fair and Lovely 😉
Visit Cee’s page for more odd ball photos.
Stories and more 