summer morning
driving us cuckoo
the cuckoo
In case you would like to read a couple of more Haiga, click here and here
Thanks for visiting – have a great day 🙂
Category: Photos
Harmony
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to visit the Chidambaram temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva in Tamil Nadu, India. The temple complex is spread over 40 acres (160,000 m2) in the heart of the city. There are four entries to temple complex – via 4 massive and intricately decorated gates known as gopurams. I had posted about it here.
Like all Hindu temples, footwear is not allowed inside the temple complex; we left our footwear in the car. As we strolled through the temple premises we noticed many of the locals using the temple premises as a short cut.
They carried their footwear in their hands while they cut across from one gate to another. Notice anything out of the ordinary? Burqa clad women, in deference to Hindu sentiment, also walk across the temple complex, barefoot.
What better sight than this to exemplify harmony?
Bushy Greens
“I don’t see myself as extremely handsome. I just figure I can charm you into liking me.” Wesley Snipes
For Becca’s Sunday Trees – 284
Mango Trees
There are three mango trees right outside my window.
This one is at the left corner and its branches intermingle with the middle one – almost as if they were one. If you visited my earlier post here you would remember that I commented on their apparent overnight transformation. One fine day I noticed that the leaves were no longer dark or stiff and dusty. They were lush, tender green, brown and yellow shiny leaves! No striptease, shedding old leaves, baring arms and all that – just a magical instant make over. I promised to catch them in the act the next time. But that was a whole year away. That’s when it struck me – there was no need to wait for so long.
They were both here, right under my nose. That’s the middle mango tree on the left and the third one on the right. I don’t need to ask you if you can see the difference between the two mango trees.
One is lush green and yellow, overloaded with fresh luscious leaves, heavily pregnant so to speak, just waiting to pop out mangoes. And the other, stuck in a time warp with its dark sparse leaves, stagnant and unchanging through the seasons. As if it had given up on life, barely hanging on – a gust of wind would be enough to snap it, end it all.
I looked once more at the dying tree and blinked.
What was that?
Within the dry hard winter leaves nestled tender, fresh shiny leaves, lime and brown. Can you see?
By the way, how many mangoes did you count?
It’s never over until you say it is over – and sometimes not even then.
For Becca’s Sunday Trees 283
WPC: Summer Surprises
The Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge wants us to show a few surprises that we may have captured.
Traveling through this picturesque stretch, I was surprised to see the images in the rear view mirror. And don’t miss the carpet of leaves 🙂 Apologies for the blurred image – the auto ride was terribly bumpy 😀
Don’t they look like unruly children trying to escape? And do check out the tiny top hat on the middle rod – Warden in charge perhaps 😉
Look what I found in my mum’s garden! Not at all camera shy 😀
Thanks for visiting – do surprise me with a note.
Colors of Spring
It’s official – winter is over. It came back for one last thunderstorm, a shower of hailstones, forcing us to scramble for the packed up and tucked away woollies. A bummer. But may as well make hay while the sun doesn’t shine for once it does – it’s going to be hot, hotter and hottest. Stepping out, one is likely to get broiled, roasted and grilled in no time at all. Ah well, que sera sera. In the meanwhile, I look around me and marvel at Mother Nature’s way of celebrating the departure of the winter chill and the arrival of warm brighter days. Care to have a look?
Baring heart and soul, she squeezes out red blooms – check out the tips of her outspread branches.
She colors the world green
Yellow and orange
And pink!
There’s even a dash of pink right outside my window 🙂
Peeping out from behind every building, every hoarding, every tree are these cotton tree (Bombax celba) flowers. If you are in Delhi, all you have to do is look up.
A splash of purple on the way to office.
In about a month’s time, taking cue from the summer sun she will wear the colors of the sun – watch this space for more :)
Here’s wishing you all a wonderful, colorful and joyous Holi – the Hindu festival of colors. The festival celebrates the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, departure of winter, thanksgiving for a good harvest, a time to forget and forgive, and repair broken relationships.
Linked to Becca’s Sunday Trees – 278
WPC: I Wish
This week show us a wish – this is the daily post’s weekly photo challenge. What do I wish for? I have to confess I am a bit skeptical about wishes – Be careful of what you wish for, you may receive it” ~ W.W. Jacobs.
But a challenge is a challenge so as the sun rises on a new day, I will settle for a prayer:
May I be so blessed that there is no need for me to wish for anything at all ~ D
If you had a wish, what would you wish for?
Celebrating Woman Power
I have traveled a lot in North India and the one thing that strikes me while passing through small towns and villages is the absence of women on the streets. A few girls maybe seen here and there in groups either on the way or back from school. But mostly it is as if they don’t exist. In bigger cities, they are visible on the streets they are largely absent as a community working class.
On my recent visit to the South I was exhilarated to see women everywhere. At the hotel reception, as waitresses, guards, vendors etc. This particular stall caught my eye:
A mound of delicious tender coconuts for the thirsty walker. A common sight now in the North as well. But what I hadn’t seen was a woman wielding the scythe and that too with such ease and expertise.
I finally managed to get her to look up, if not at the camera
The little boy on his own trip is just an added bonus 😀
A bunch of flowers for all you wonderful people out there. No, not in celebration of Women’s Day for I plan to celebrate when there is no need for a Women’s Day.
Have a great day and make my day – leave me a note, a hello, a smiley 🙂
Yoohoo readers Moonshine!  I am back with Chapter 120
WPC: A Sound Idea
That’s a long shot of Golconda Fort, near Hyderabad, India.
I took the long shot from here. What’s the big deal you ask? Fair enough. But clearly something is afoot as you can make out from the bunch of visitors gathered under the portico. The blue shirted guy in the middle was animatedly translating for his non-English speaking companions the magic of the ordinary looking portico.
If you stand at the center of the portico and clap, you can hear a resonance. And this resonance can be heard at the palace built on the hillock about a kilometer away (the first picture).
Strangely, if you move away from the center of the portico (about seven feet) you cannot hear the resonance. Quite quite magical. And wait there’s more!
This hall was once the Royal durbar where visitors were brought to meet the royalty – if you look up you can see part of a balcony. That’s where the King sat. A bit too far away for conversation right? Well, the Royalty couldn’t risk mingling with the common crowd so they devised an ingenious method of communication. Clapping? No that was too common and loud.
Standing at the center of the hall, tapping a taut piece of fabric is enough to cause a distinct vibration, a resonance similar to that we noted at the clapping portico.
Another royal hall fallen upon bad times. But what is intact is the magic. Guards standing at the corners could talk to each other by whispering into the walls. Unlike the other two places, this whisper is not audible at the center. It’s true – we tried it out. No need for telephones, wires or internet 😀
A closer look at the palace – actually the closest I got to it (I wasnt going to climb 360 steps!). Apparently from the palace, experienced clappers communicated orders to soldiers stationed at the perimeter of the fort.
I don’t exactly know how the mechanism works – something to do with a series of arches, each smaller than the preceding one on one side of the portico. Apparently this helps a sound wave generated under the dome of the portico to get compressed and then bounce back amplified enough to reach a distance of more than a kilometer away. Whatever – but it was amazing, scintillating, magical and unmatched.
Game, set and match to the architects don’t you think?
Thanks for visiting do share your thoughts and have a good day.
WPC: Out of the World
The Veiled Rebecca depicts the veiled bride of Isaac. Created by the Italian artist Giovanni Benzoni, it stands at a height of 167.0Â cm with the statue and its round pedestal carved from a single block of marble without any joints.
Another closer view of the stunning work of art. How he managed to create the appearance of a transparent veil from marble is beyond my comprehension. I cannot even remove the reflection of the light 😦
Benzoni is believed to have made four copies of this sculpture, one of which is kept at the Salar Jung Museum Hyderabad. I am sure he was so stunned by his own creation that he wanted to make sure it was no fluke or magic! Apparently, the only difference between this and the other three is that in this one the right hand is lifting the veil while in the other it is the left hand.
Did you notice the fingers in this picture and the one above? In one it seems as it the fist is sort of clenched but in the other, the fingers seem to be unfurled. Quite magical don’t you think?
I could stare at it whole day long – the flowing robes, the posture, the poise, the grace, the fluidity of stone, the….
Linked to Daily Post’s Weekly – against the odds
The Story Club for this month is overdue. If anyone is interested, please suggest a story, otherwise I would like to propose ‘The Kabuliwala‘ by Rabindranath Tagore. I hope to post my review over the weekend. I would be happy if you join the discussion.
Have a good day and thanks for visiting.
Stories and more 