Departed...

“The fear of making permanent commitments can change the mutual love of man and wife into two loves of self-two loves existing side by side, until they end in separation.”

Pope John Paul II

Those 'GOOD OLD' days...

“We plan our lives according to a dream that came to us in our childhood, and we find that life alters our plans. And yet, at the end, from a rare height, we also see that our dream was our fate. It's just that providence had other ideas as to how we would get there. Destiny plans a different route, or turns the dream around, as if it were a riddle, and fulfills the dream in ways we couldn't have expected.”

Ben Okri (1959)

Surajkund Craft Fair

An initiative in the year 1981 by Haryana Government to showcase the traditional Handicrafts of our rich and vibrant country is now internationally famous as ‘Surajkund Craft Mela’.

This fortnight long fair is being organized from 1^st to 15^th Feb every year. Skilled artistes all around the country display their art work under thatched roof platforms attracting quite a number of crowds.

This year I managed to experience this for the first time and managed to capture the colors of tradition in my frames. And my experience was up-to the level as I thought, added by the walk following the curved pathways on the hilly terrain of ‘The Aravalis’ with show cases of the most finest artworks of our country.

And I was quite happy to see so many stalls/artists from Orissa, and while interacting with them I was feeling like ‘m in my home land. And not to mention about the varieties of food stalls available there.

Location: Surajkund, Haryana

How to Reach: It is only 8 kilometers from South Delhi and is on Gurgaon-Faridabad road.

'The Weekend Crowd'

Few Artificial Flowers...

Few Artifacts...

Kites...

'Delhi' - City Scapes

I took quite a time post these photographs. I was habituated in clicking a few photographs on regular basis after I shifted to Kausambhi. But it took me around a year to make an attempt to compile all those snaps for making a series.

Recently a very good friend of mine and a brilliant photographer and an amazing biker Bobby Roy(Aryan) accompanied me for a dedicated city scape shoot out and pinched me to get all my older captures out from my hard-drive. Thanks again Aryan....


Few captures from 55 meters above ground level ;)








P.S. The older ones are to be housed in another post.

Looking At Stars

Rooted in ground,
Looking at sky,
Searching for stars...

'Neemrana' - Once Again

I was wondering how many times did I visit this place, I literally have lost my count. Before shifting to Delhi I was damn crazy for NH-8, so I hit this on the very first day of entering NCR (North Capital Region). After that numerous times I experienced it and so 'Neemrana'.

NEEMRANA:
This place is less known to people who do not carry any interest in Forts, Luxury Resorts or Industrialization.
'Neemrana' is an ancient historical town of Alwar district in Rajasthan. It lies some 120 kilometers from Delhi on Delhi-Jaipur highway (NH-8). 'Neemrana Fort Palace' and 'Industrial Zone' are two reasons for which Neemrana is known for.
'Neemrana Fort Palace', the 14th century architecture built by Chouhans now houses a 5 star resort and also in private possession.
'Industrial Zone' is known for factories like Parle, Frosters, ASI Glass, Top Reman etc to name a few.

And this time I managed to explore the surroundings of Neemrana, and not to mention that I was so blown by it that I realized it after some 12-15 kilometers as I was driving alone. The beauty of the green wheat fields and yellow mustard flowers are yet to believe and the mountains at the backdrop was just making it double. The village was 'Naghodi', and the road I was traveling connects to Haryana. The snaky road, the small villages, the lovely kids and bumpy roads..... all was just another experience.... I really love winter :)

'Baoli' at Neemrana








'The Couple'


Village 'Naghodi', some 10 kilometers from Neemrana

Nature's own Blanket

Am I talking about 'Fog'!!! Yes, most probably :?

'm missing it actually, the last encounter I remember was on my way to 'Kotdwar/Lansdowne'. The fog was kinda killing on that day with some live examples of few fresh crashes, so it was time to concentrate on road leaving the idea to frame them :P
The worst one was a very nice trail of few cars (read 5-6) with a UPSRTC (Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation) bus leading them while a poor Indigo driver was still struggling to understand if something has happened!!!
And by then the clock was showing 11.15 AM and some 45 kilometers on the trip meter. Huh... what a start of the day!

After all it was 'Fog', so please skip all the above said as if it was drunk to any level :D

So it was time to keep the eyes 'double wide open' and to 'stop severing' by holding the steering wheel tight.

Some 45 kilometers more and some 405 degree rotation of the minute-hand in the watch. And the surrounding seemed to be interesting and irresistible to search for a deeper parking bay on Nh-119.
Was I lucky enough to park myself and to cross the road for the yellow fields (read mustard fields) saving my 1000D from somebody smashing me out of the dense fog... ;)

Warning: And now the rest is for your eyes if you don't have any abhor for greenery or any kind of fascination for the concrete jungles or 'color blindness'...

Some 'shadows' always follow...

A picture tells thousand words, at least for me.....

February 2010 Calender

Download high resolution HERE.

I do not know how much this image justifies to the surreal virgin surroundings of 'Hunder'. Hunder in Nubra Valley which lies about 150 kilometers to the North of Leh is the last Indian village accessible to general tourists.

During my last year's visit to 'Ladakh' I was lucky enough to spend a night in this beautiful place. The feel that came after seeing such a beautiful valley at above more than 10,000 feet above sea after crossing Khardunga La, worlds highest motor able road can not be described in words.

Hunder houses 'Ladakh Sand Dunes' and also 'Double Humped Bactrian Camels', who are originally from Central Asia and were part of ancient 'Trade Routes'. With the end of traditional trading policies and the development of modern transport system, some of these Camels remained along with Nubra or Siachan River. These camels are capable of surviving in both sand and snow so were preferred as porters. A camel ride in the Ladakh Sand Dunes is no less fun than a Camel safari near Jaisalmer.