Sunlight in the woods

This photo does look a bit dark, but as you can see, the sun was starting its downward journey when I took the photo. In addition, the trees give a substantial amount of shade; but what I like about this photo is the sun shining through the top of the trees and the fact that I was able to capture some of the rays shining through. I guess that it also means that I need to clean the camera a bit since the sunrays seem to have got a bit smudged.

Another view of the resort in Alleppey

I was mentioning in my previous post about a swimming pool in the midst of the Lake View Palace resort. Take a look at the pool. Does it not look beautiful ? And it actually looks like this in the real version as well, this is not a photo trick.

Resort in Allepy

This is a view of a resort in Alleppy, Kerala, India that I had gone some time back. Was an extremely beautiful place, called Lake View Palace. It is located on the edge of a lagoon, part of the network of backwaters in this place. It has an outer ring of rooms and cottages sorrounding an inner swimming pool. Really beautiful place.

The brightness of a sunrise

While taking an early morning walk in a town in the US, I was walking around with a camera. It was bitterly cold, not below freezing, but with a slight wind which was making it difficult to walk around with the hands outside the jacket pocket, so taking a photo was a bit of a challenge.

The sun was bright, but since it was still rising, it was not so bright that one could not look at it briefly and take a snap of it. Given that I usually like to take photographs of the sun with something interesting happening through the sunrays, this photo is one that I really like.

Shining Development

I was taking a transfer train between 2 terminals of an airport, and the train gave an open view of the airport. This was morning time, and the sun was beginning to make its climb up into the sky. At this point, I saw a mighty crane (no doubt for some construction work) and given the angle of the sun against the crane, I saw a nice opportunity to get a view of the rising sun shining through the crane. The backdrop of clouds through which the sun is shining is a bonus.

Inside Outside

I don't know how clearly this image comes out, but I have always been interested in photos of this kind. What I am trying to do is to stand near a lighted window, such that I can see both the outside and a reflection of the inside. This has been difficult to capture well, since either of the 2 views can get blurred, especially if an auto-focus camera is used.
I think this one seems somewhat clear, and you can actually click on the photo to get a bigger view. I will hunt around to see whether I can get another clear image like this one.

Sun with a blue tinge

I was being driven on one of the freeways in California when there was a stretch of clear road and the sun was just on the way up. So took a chance that this might come out well, and managed to get this photo.
Of course, this photo is also raw from the camera, and no software editing has happened. And yet you see the blue tinge at the top (would be a pretty interesting natural phenomenon), well well, that is actually the small blue band at the top of the car's windshield through which the sun's rays are shining through.

Sunrise through the trees

Some time back, I was in a quaint town called Santa Rosa in California, US. This was a pretty beautiful place, and even though my trip was pretty short, I ended up liking the place. On a morning, I got up early and decided to head out for a walk (along with a camera). It was pretty cold, enough that I was slightly shivering in my jacket. I saw a the sun slowly start to rise, and managed to get a number of photo shots of the sunrise. This photo is one of them.

Sun striving to emerge

I was looking over the photos from a recent trip, and this photo struck me as a nice photo, especially because of the cloudy nature of the day and the attempt of the sun to shine through. This photo has almost come out as a black and white one, even though it was taken under normal sunlight and from a normal camera, and there was no touching up later.

Shooting in the mirror

This is another strange photo that I was just trying out. Ignore the condition of the bathroom and the sorrounding; I just wanted to see whether the flash can be captured through a photograph. So I tried numerous times, standing far away and close to a mirror, and this photo seemed to capture the flash pretty well. In case you are still wondering, the bright spot in the photo is the flash from my camera reflected in the mirror.

Light effects in the woods

I am pretty fond of capturing light effects. The impact of the rising or setting sun with its slanted light rays leads to a lot of interesting light effects. This snap is taken in a wooded area near Nainital. I liked this photograph because somehow the camera managed to capture the light rays, which for me does not however happen too often.

London by evening

This is a view of the London skyline that we get from Londoneye. It is a good view, and if you do the London trip in the evening, then you can actually start moving up to the top with a good view in the sunlight; and because of the time it takes to reach upto the top, on the way down, lights start appearing along the city and the view gets even more beautiful.

Natural History Museum London

Besides some of the normal sights, I thought it would be a good idea to look at the Natural History Museum. This is another building that looks like a historical building from the outside, and is great looking from the inside.
This museum is fairly crowded, and one could see a large number of children there, which was a good thing as a place such as this is part of giving a good education to children. As soon as you enter the museum, you can see a large open area (although pretty crowded), and this large bony dinosaur dominates the center of this open area.

Trafalgar square

A photograph of the fountain in Trafalgar square. While touristing around London, I saw this large open square sorrounded by lots of traffic and even more people all around. In the middle, there was this fountain that seemed a lot of fun. My only issue was that the month was February, and it was pretty cold.

2 images of Big Ben

From my London trip, 2 views of Big Ben (daytime and nightime) (Wikipedia entry). Sometimes I have to keep on reminding myself that I will post photos to this blog that are totally unedited. For example, in these photos, the temptation to sharpen the photo and adjust the lighting is very high, given that it is not difficult using a tool such as Photoshop. But I want to post photos here that are direct from the camera, so will stick to that policy.
The image of Big Ben in the night is pretty good, with the lighting working out pretty good. Nice feel, you stand in front and view it, you really think that this is a real historical location.

Londoneye at night

On my first night in London, I was roaming around, just getting a flavour of the place. I came close to Londoneye, and then moved across the river. From there I got this view, it looked so beautiful, the shimmer of the lights on the river was the icing on the cake. This photo could have been sharper, but my camera did not behave too well at night since there was a slight drizzle as well. I can sharpen this image using Photoshop, but I only post images to this blog au natural, as they are without modifying them in any way.

London ceremonial policeman

This is a photo of a ceremonial London policeman outside one of the army regiments. I obviously do not know more than that, I initially thought that this was what they called a London 'bearskin', but a search for that term brought a different kind of uniform, and then I recalled that this photo was actually taken outside a place where the placard mentioned that this was the headquarters for one of the regiments. Of course, if someone is reading this and knows which regiment, please update via the comments so that I can put that information in.

Finally got the correction via comments: (From Martin)

This not a policeman, it is a soldier from the Household Cavalry's Life Guards regiment (Distinguishable from the Blues and Royals by the white plume). He is on duty outside Horse Guards.Horse Guards is named after the troops who have mounted the Queen's Life Guard on this spot since the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660. It remains the official entrance to St James's Palace and Buckingham Palace and this is why The Queen's Life Guard is still mounted here.Apart from members of the Royal Family or cavalrymen on duty, everyone needs the Sovereign's permission in the form of an Ivory Pass to either drive or ride through Horse Guards.

Buckingham Palace, London

As part of seeing some of the sights of London, I also went to see Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, the guards did not let me go inside. My first reaction on seeing Buckingham Palace was that the place looked a bit too small to be the center of a world that at one time covered a significant portion of the globe.

But, second reaction was that this was a big building and it must have plenty of room, and the grounds must also be pretty large. The second photo was of something quaint, a horse buggy, and all the tourists found this pretty interesting.

New city Hall London

Was roaming around London and saw this magnifient looking structure. This is the London City Hall, and somehow, any way you think about it, it does not conjure up images of government employees going about their routine business. Some more information about this building and history can be found in these 2 links.

1, 2

London Aquarium

When I was walking on the banks of the river Thames, I saw this amazing looking building. The architecture and the looks of the building impressed, and since the camera was literally almost always with me when I was in London, I took a few photos so as to get a nice representation. However, at this time I felt the need for a better lens as there was no way I was able to capture the entire building.
Still I made the best use I could of my current camera. Unfortunately, I did not have too much time and was not able to visit the Aquarium, it would have been fun though. Maybe the next time.

Road to Buckingham Palace

I had gone to London a few months back, and I am going to run a small series on the photos that I took over there. For a number of photos, I really liked the weather condition in the city, it gave the city a look of grey due to the clouds; I really liked the way some of the photographs came out. I hope that regular readers like these as well.
This is the road leading to Buckingham Palace. It's a nice open road lined with trees on both sides. We walked a long way on this road, and it was not at all tiring.

Natural not so perfect flower

In continuation of my previous photo, I consider this single flower to be very beautiful. This plant grows in my house, so that did not take too much effort to go somewhere, but it took a number of photos before I felt that I had got the photo that I wanted.
This photos shows some flies, naturally attracted to the flower, sitting in a very natural way on the flower. This is more of a pose that nature gives, with 2 different elements of nature at peace with each other.

Imperfect rose

I have seen lots of photos of perfectly formed roses, but the pleasure of seeing a flower bloom in its natural location, imperfections and all, is a different feeling together. This photograph was taken around 11 in the morning, using my trust Olympus UZ 750, and I took around 3-4 photographs at different lengths, and this photo was the ideal one.
If you look closely, you can see the insect at the center. That is more of a natural thing, rather than just a flower.

The bigger Kikar pool

This is the bigger pool in Kikar. It is a at a lower level than the other pool, and is a fairly standard pool (although it is not a standard size or shape, it is more like a standard resort pool which are never a boring rectangular in shape). The deep end is around 5 feet, with the shallower end being around 4 feet in depth.
The colour is great, and the pool was very clean. There was obviously some effort put in to keep the pool clean. In November, it was chilly, but at around 11 in the morning, one could enter the pool with a bit of will power; once in though, no reason to come out. It was very comfortable.

Kikar Pool photo

If you take the last photo I posted on the Kikar Lodge and turn around and take another photograph, this is the photograph that you will get. There are 2 pools in the resort, located at different levels, but very close to each other.
This pool is the one at the higher level, and is fairly small. But, and this is the important part, it is fitted with a floating net, so you can play pool volleyball. And this is what the whole bunch of us did, spending around 2 hours in the pool, just playing with around 12 people involved totally. Great fun.

Kikar Lodge, Chandigarh

Over the weekend, I had been to the Kikar Lodge, a resort around 90 km away from Chandigarh. This is a small resort, located off the main road. It is an exceedingly beautiful and compact place, well maintained.
There are a number of cottages and tents over to enjoy, and these are well maintained. It is ideal for a group situation, where the objective is to have a relaxing time. As a bonus, there is no TV, no newspapers, and mobile coverage is spotty. An ideal day in summer or even in autumn is to spend it in the pool, relaxing in the company of friends and drinks.

Heritage village - a view inside

This is another view of the Heritage Village from inside. This is my third post on this resort, and will be the last one. So many posts from one place, because I truly liked the photographs that I tool at this place.
If you see the above photgraph, there are many balances in this photo. The white of the building contrasts with the light brown of the path, with the absolute green of the grass and hedges giving a beautiful edge to the photo. There is no clutter to break up this balance.

Swimming pool at Heritage Village Manesar

A few posts back, I had posted a photo of the Heritage Village at Manesar, Haryana, India. This is another photo of the same location. This is a superb August morning, with the absolute certainity that the day is going to be much hotter later. But in the morning time, the pool temperature is just excellent, and the colour comes out as great.
What made the arrangement even better is that a bar had been setup at one end of the pool, so one could relax in the pool and indulge in a cocktail or some nice juice. I spent quite some time in the pool, only coming out when the sun had climbed somewhat on the sky and it started getting hot.
What made things very comfortable was that a lot of the things were taken care of, there were adequate towels and places to sit, the place was very clean (both the pool and the sorroundings) and the staff was friendly and helpful.

Diwali - Festival of lights

Diwali is a very special time to be in India. It is an occassion of great festivities. Families use this time to meet relatives and friends, and exchange gifts. Houses are decorated with lots of lights. Children and adults enjoy the celebration with a great amount of fireworks bursting.
However, the tradition of bursting fireworks is reducing gradually. There are concerted campaigns to reduce the use of firecrackers because of the smoke and sound pollution they cause. In fact, at the end of Diwali, in the next morning, a haze formed by smoke can be seen clearly over the city.
The photograph above is from a type of firecracker that is in a round shape with a rounded bottom so that it can spin easily. There is a rope of powder wound around a central point, and one end is lighted. As the rope burns with energy due to the powder, it imparts a spin to the cracker whuch starts rotating at great speeds. At night, in the darkness, the sparks it emits makes it look real beautiful.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Calcutta's Water Park

Approx an year back, I had gone to Calcutta along with my wife on a short tour. We had gone to visit some of my wife's cousins and were there for only around 3 days. It is difficult to squeeze in too many things in such a short tour. I also wanted to see what are the changes that had happened since I was last in Calcutta (in 1996 end). The road from the airport to the new township of Rajarhat. One could see building and construction everywhere, so things seemed to be looking up. There was quite a bit of emphasis on getting the sunrise sectors (IT, Media, etc) to set up establishments; these tend to have a good effect on the overall economy of the city and by extension, of West Bengal.
As part of the roaming around I did, I was taken to a place called Nicco Park located on the outskirts. There is a big lake over there on which we did boating. There was a very pleasant breeze blowing, and the time spent was very enjoyable. As can be seen from the photo, the weather was overcast at that point of time. I had lots of fun.
The building you can see at the side may look like the Eiffel Tower, although purists would beg to differ. If you do say that it looks like the Eiffel Tower, it is mission accomplished for the owners, since that is exactly what they set out to do.

Auroville - A place of quiet splendour

This is another view from the Auroville. We were leaving the Matrimandir complex when the sun was setting, and I never can resist a good view of the light show that the morning or evening time presents. The trees against which the sunset is framed sorround the central complex, and I could easily capture the setting sun. It took a few photos to get this one, but I think that this photo worked out fine. I like the way that some of the flares get captured.
When I was leaving, even though I am not one of the ardent believers in the township or the philosophy, I did feel a sense of loss. This is a very quiet and peaceful place, and it does weigh on the soul when one leaves a place like this. However, there was no option. I noted down in my cell phone the exact date on which I had come to this place (Aug 19, 2006) for future reference.

Auroville contd ...

This is the epicenter of the central zone of auroville, the "Matrimandir". This is a zone of peace and tranquility. As can be seen, the place is still under contstruction, and has been for quite a long period of time. The Matrimandir has a central dome in which there is an inner chamber where one can do meditation. In addition, there are multiple rooms called petals (the raised parts that you see climbing a few feet sorrounding the central dome on all sides).
I went to one of the petals, and could see people in meditation over there. For me, I still am not in that mode, and hence even though I could understand the feeling that comes over people, I am not able to share in that feeling.
This is a place that I will want to come to again, taking some time out, maybe in a few years. Let us see whether the vision of the Mother comes to life and a universal township remains in its full glory. If that is that case, then it will be like an ocean of peace in this world.

Auroville - a different sort of community

I had gone last month to a place called Auroville. This is located in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It is a pretty interesting concept. Read more about it here..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auroville
http://www.auroville.org/
Auroville is declared as a universal township that is constantly being built. It has a special legal status about which you can read more in the links above. Suffice it to say, the concept has a lot of converts, people who live in this township and people who visit frequently. I am actually neither of these, but still had a good impression when I was there. I am still not a convert, but can understand the sentiments of those who are.
The photograph above is of a big tree called the banyan tree. In Indian culture, the banyan tree has great significance. Because it covers a wide area, it has provided shade to travellers against the hot Indian summers for centuries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banyan
The banyan is also the tree under which the Buddha is supposed to have gained enlightenment. In Auroville, the banyan tree represents a place to meditate and self-instrospect. It is a silent zone, and people are supposed to be silent under the tree. It forms part of the Matrimandir complex, the central zone of Auroville.

Camp in Nainital .. continued

This is probably the last post on the Nainital (Saataal trip). This is the 3rd post, and maybe one more will be 1 too many. This is the view from the camp (near the tent area). You get a view of the nearby forested hills along with a clearing. This clearing was the icing on the cake. It gives an excellent view of the sorrounding areas (primarily the green sorroundings). In addition, it gives a group the chance to walk around, play some games and generally spend some time. It is only at night that people are warned from walking to this clearing since it is claimed that wild animals come to this location. Telling such a thing to a group of young men is tantamount to issuing them an invitation to spend the night there; so the camp folk make sure that they start to push people out of the clearing at night. From this clearing itself, you can go for a few nature walks to the sorrounding hills. For people from the city, a walk in the hills can be quite an adventure, just pacing oneself and preventing the panting and wheezing within a few minutes of starting to climb uphill. Once this trek is completed, the feeling of accomplishment is great.

More about Nainital

This is another photo from the trip that I made to Saataal, near Nainital. Saataal means seven lakes. The photo is from when I was boating on the lake. The lake is not very big, it takes around 1 hour to go around the whole lake in a paddle boat. But the setting is incredibly beautiful. It is nestled in a natural valley between some relatively unspoiled mountains. Even to get to this lake is a 2 hour trip, so there is a lot of natual beauty left in this place. The other side of this story is that the lake is pretty famous as a good tourist destination, so there is a pretty decent road upto the lake, and hence the number of people reaching the lake will just keep on increasing.
The lake essentially is a 5 cornered lake, and these 5 are named separately after some mythological characters. The other 2 lakes are found elsewhere.
It is said that this lake is fairly deep, and that seems to be believable as the lake is essentially filling up the valley nestled between the mountains and the valley could be fairly deep.

This is from a forest camp located in a place called Saataal near Nainital. The camp is basic, they have some basic electricity using a generator to supply a few common areas. Other than that, for lighting at night, we used oil based lamps. However, the camp is a good compromise between having some amenities and roughing it out. You get a sleepable bed, bath and restroom facilities as well as food. There are nature trails, a lake nearby plus being able to do some amount of guided rock climbing. Not a bad place at all to relax, ideal when in a decent sized group.
We were there for around 1 day + night, and it being away from comfortable civilization was not as bad as I thought it would be. Can go there again some time later.

A lot of beautiful flowers

I don't even remember as to where I took this photo, except that it was in some relative's house. It was getting around 11 AM in summer, and the outside light was getting to be fairly strong, but not yet blinding. These are not very special flowers, but are fairly colourful and look very good in a big bunch. I took a few photos, but this was the only one that turned out to be somewhat good. These are locally called 'Gainda' in India.

Church along creek, Kerala

This is a small church located at the shore of an inland waterway. The state of Kerala in India has a large network of creeks which are used for extensive inland transportation. They also serve to service a large number of tourists who like to take boat / houseboat rides along these waterways. I was in a similar houseboat enjoying 1 day along these waterways. Many times the pleasure of spending a day [one whole day in this busy world :-) ] just having a leisurely cruise is fun. At such a time when I was watching the world slowly move along, I saw this small church. It looked like a place of solemnity without being very showy. I didn't stop, just saw it coming and then slowly receding as I moved on.