Monday, October 30, 2006

Jewish synangogue in India

This photograpgh is from a trip to Cochin. Cochin has a Jewish synagogue that is more than 500 years old. It is a very beautiful place, and pretty well maintained. It is in the old quarter of Cochin and typically can be reached after walking for a short distance. More details about the synagogue at Wikipedia.
India has a proud history of never being anti-semitic. The jewish community in India has a proud distinction of public life. This is something that India can be proud of, what with the history of the world full of anti-semitic experiences.
Unfortunately, the Jewish community in India is now declining, with a lot of emigration happening to Israel. This is a phenomenon that is distressing for the cultural diversity of India.

Want to improve your photos? Buy Photoshop and see how your images come to life. Click to buy.

Want to get tips for improving your photography ? Get Photo Tips from this blog.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Another view of Kempty falls


This photograph emphasizes the beauty of Kempty falls in Mussoorie as well as the crowds you will have to deal with at that place. The water is good, but you do need to be prepared for the crowds everywhere. There is actually a ropeway with a cable car that takes you down to the actual bathing site, and if there are kids, the cable car is actually a good attraction for them.

Want to improve your photos? Buy Photoshop and see how your images come to life. Click to buy.

Want to get tips for improving your photography ? Get Photo Tips from this blog.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Mussoorie - Kempty Falls


Mussoorie is a beautiful hill station nestled in the Himalayas within motorable distance from Delhi. It provides a great respite from the Delhi heat. Read more about it over here. Of course, having all these advantages means that it is also very popular and there are a large number of people who head there. It can get fairly crowded in summer, but there are plenty of hotels and Mussoorie does depend to a large extent on the tourist trade, so space should be found with some advance booking. And unless you are totally averse to crowds, you can still enjoy the nice weather. After all, if a place is good, it is bound to be found and become popular.
Some more snaps can be found at this link (this is an external link not under my control).
The photograph at the top of this post is of a place called Kempty falls. This is a water fall with different sections, but the most popular one has become extremely tourist stricken, and is fairly crowded during the season. I had heard a lot about these falls, so had to make the trip, but there is a fair amount of crowd in this place. It is located around 1-2 hours drive from Mussoorie. The drive is fairly nice, but those who have a problem with heights might find this route interesting, and might want to busy themselves with either a book or some other distraction during the trip.

Want to improve your photos? Buy Photoshop and see how your images come to life. Click to buy.

Want to get tips for improving your photography ? Get Photo Tips from this blog.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Heritage Village - Manesar


This is a view of the heritage village Manesar (Haryana, India). Now, I would normally not go out and advertise any place, but I really like this photo that I took over there. This is taken with my regular camera, an Olympus UZ 750 at around 11 AM in the morning.
Even with the shrub in the front of the photos, the photo appears to me to be both symmetric and colourful (told you I was an amateur, so you are free to disagree). I particulary like the fact that the heritage building has come out real clear and sharp, and the grass has come out so green, that it sets the tone for the whole photo. The whole photo - from the grass, the building rising majestically out of the green base and jutting into the light blue sky not yet turned into the blue of the sun's fury (this is after all August, which can be pretty pretty hot).
This is a true resort, you go there to chill out, maybe play a bit, go to the pool to wallow in some water, enjoy the bar and drinks, and so on.

Want to improve your photos? Buy Photoshop and see how your images come to life. Click to buy.

Want to get tips for improving your photography ? Get Photo Tips from this blog.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Haridwar - Lots of lights


A view of the holiest spot in Haridwar fully lighted up. This is a very beautiful sight, it has to be seen to fully appreciate how lovely it looks.

Want to improve your photos? Buy Photoshop and see how your images come to life. Click to buy.

Want to get tips for improving your photography ? Get Photo Tips from this blog.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Haridwar - Pilgrims congregating


There are some major religious festivals held in Haridwar. The Kumbh mela is held over here once every 12 years and is known as the largest religious based gathering of people in the world. Upwards of 10 million people congregate here for a ritual bath in the river that is supposed to wash away sins. Just making sure that the festival is held without chaos takes a massive amount of organization and the state can be justly proud that these festivals are organized without any major incident happening.
The gathering above was for a much smaller festival, but even for this much smaller event, there were a large number of devotees who had gathered. The river at this time of the month is starting to get fresh supply of water from its mountain origins and the flow is much faster, but this does not prevent the devotees from aiming to get their ritual dip. As can be seen, devotees are patiently waiting, and for many of them, just spending time in this place is a major event.

Want to improve your photos? Buy Photoshop and see how your images come to life. Click to buy.

Want to get tips for improving your photography ? Get Photo Tips from this blog.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Haridwar - Holy site for Hindus


I had gone to Haridwar in April. Now Haridwar is a very holy site for Hindus. The river Ganges, which is worshipped in Hinduism flows there, and a bath over there is supposed to be very holy. As a result, it is pretty crowded with devotees, and you can get an idea of how crowded from the photograph above.
Further, I had gone at a time which was pretty auspicious, and hence it is very very crowded. To get into Haridwar through vehicle is difficult at this point, and the controllers of the event try to offload you from your vehicles way before and use public transport to get there so that there is less congestion at the actual site.
We (I was going with some relatives) managed to get there somehow, and joined the rest of the crowd that was making its way to the actual site. This place is called 'Har Ki Pauri' and is revered to have the footprint of Lord Vishnu. Just some after this photo, the prayer ceremony took place that was very beautiful and affects the devotees profoundly.

Want to improve your photos? Buy Photoshop and see how your images come to life. Click to buy.

Want to get tips for improving your photography ? Get Photo Tips from this blog.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Roorkee canals - from the holy Ganga


The image above is from an interesting place. I had once gone to Roorkee, a small university town in the state of Uttranchal (Roorkee is famous for having an Indian Institute of Technology). Roorkee never has a shortage of water, there are 2 Ganga canals flowing through the city that go terminate much further away, but ensure enough water for Roorkee.
So here I was, visiting Roorkee along with my wife and brothers-in-law, and I had never been to see the canals as they are meant to be seen. I went close to the canal by vehicle, and then there is a short walk over a sort of bridge. From the bridge, both the canals can be seen in close up. These canals are supposed to have a very strong flow, and people have been caught unawares in the water and drowned. At the same time, I saw some very young kids peacefully swimming in the canal with not a care.
On the bridge, there is a small extension that sort of becomes the place where the 2 canals meet, and that is the place where the statue can be seen. It is a statue of the river goddess; what is special about this particular place was that there were very few people there (at the time of the photo, it was just us). It is a place where you can just hear the various sounds of water, an immensly comforting place away from the maddening crowd of daily life.

Want to improve your photos? Buy Photoshop and see how your images come to life. Click to buy.

Want to get tips for improving your photography ? Get Photo Tips from this blog.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Ceremonial elephant - Pondicherry temple


Elephants occupy a most important ceremonial position in South Indian temples. Some temples have multiple number of elephants for various duties. They are used for carrying the deity idols and much revered for their duties. To read more about the temple elephants, use the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_elephants
This is from a temple in Pondicherry. We were walking from the market to Sri Aurobindo's samadhi (http://www.pondy.com/pgallery/ashram.html), and we saw this small street that was blocked for vehicular traffic. There were a large amount of devotees around the temple and was a lot of hustle and bustle. It is part of the custom when going to temples to offer sweets and flowers to the gods, and the whole area had the fragnance of the flowers used.
When we reached the temple entrance, that was the time that the ceremonial elephant was being led out so that the devotees could have a view. It seemed a very majestic elephant, being bedecked with ceremonial markings. I quickly got the camera out and managed to get this single shot amidst the crowd of devotees.

Want to improve your photos? Buy Photoshop and see how your images come to life. Click to buy.

Want to get tips for improving your photography ? Get Photo Tips from this blog.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Para sailing - wouldn't you like to do it ?



Doesen't this look like fun ? This was something to be done when I was in the Lakshwadeep. Unfortunately, people started lining up for this as early as 6, and I got to know of this around 9 AM. As a result, by the time I signed up for para sailing (being pulled by a boat and then being let down in the water), it was getting hot and there must be atleast 10 people ahead of me. Taking around 10 minutes per person, not less than 2 hours left; so had to give up.
I did something similar a couple of years later, where I got pulled by a jeep with a parasail strapped to me. I went up in the sky for around 2 minutes, and this was the first time that I have ever done so. It was real wonderful. I will do the water thing again. If anybody reading this has done the water one before and has an experience to share, please leave a comment.

Want to improve your photos? Buy Photoshop and see how your images come to life. Click to buy.

Want to get tips for improving your photography ? Get Photo Tips from this blog.

Facebook

Subscribe to my feed

FeedRSS