Wayfarer's window!

a long day of travel, caught in another road in another state; amidst the clearing of the monsoon clouds, amidst a day of chaos with power failures across the land. yet, with a moment's beauty revealed at dusk; the rain filled rice fields reflecting the glorious sky, and pictures taken from a moving car; a bit tired...every bit spellbound!!!

The mood: dampened like the monsoon clouds.  The view: ripples on a majestic lake. The thoughts: uneasy calm. The place: lake side view Bhopal. The hope: Noah's ark stuck on a tree...perhaps there is a place to land and rest after 40 days of rain and storm!

More pictures from the lakes and their surroundings!

A retreat to a secluded ashram. A hill with forests and seven lakes. A few pictures....

A road trip at night on the National Highway...somewhere in the vast plains of Northern India. A stopover...the quintessential dhaba....reminds me.... ...of the late nights during college life...when the dhaba was the only place where we could find food.....after turning the final pages of Robbinson, Harrison or Davidson (the sons of Medicine as my room-mate would say) for the day...... ...of the road trip as a child...where I tasted my first dal-tarka and aloo-paratha...hot and tasty right out of the frying pan and the tandoor (clay oven)... ....of the long distances during work related travel...where a cup of tea and hot dinner..would refresh us enough to carry on through the night... ...of the night of the fog...where the fog grew so dense..that the only option for the night was a khatiya (cot) in the way side dhaba.... a stop over at the way-side dhaba and the long road ahead

A river ghat in India is a special place. A place of gathering, festivities, worship and much more. Celebrations of all life's vital events are associated with sacred rivers and the ghats are the best places to perform rituals related to birth, wedding and death. While the river Ganges is the holiest river of North India, the river Narmada has its own place and importance in Central India. Here I was, following another busy day, for an evening in the ghats of Narmada; and thankfully not during a festive day. Here then are some of the pictures I captured in one of many Narmada's ghats! the river ghat  temple by the river  dusk at the ghat  the last steps in the ghat  the gods must be cozy stairway to the river some for worship , some for business  vermillion splendour   wooden toys and articles bizzare!  

Kanpur, spelled Cawnpore by erstwhile British rulers of India, has a silent memorial to India's first war of Independance in 1857. The event was given a less assuming historical name of "sepoy mutiny" by the rulers. Kanpur suffered one of the most horrifying activities of the rebellion where almost all British subjects (women and children included) and some loyal natives were massacared during a three week seige by the rebels.A memorial called the "All Souls Church" was built to remember the dead following the seige. During my recent visit to the city for a wedding, I was put up in a  guest house in the cantonement area, which happened to be place adjacent to this memorial church. I managed to capture a few photographs of this church along with a few memorial plaques that were placed on its walls.

A walk, early in the morning , and some photographs to share. I wish I had a better camera; some of these photos were taken by placing the camera behind the binocular lens! The forest walk A tree in bloom A tranquil scene Huddled bee-eaters in the morning cold All in a row the first rays of sunshine on its breast warming up too Family and the neighbourhood Through the binocular lens

A new city to visit , with its own attractions: a palace of the Scindia kings. Jai vilas palace inner courtyard panorama the palace courtyard  the palace front  the parlour the bedroom the twin bed room the maharaja's desk (with his picture) the music room the prince's nursery the glass fountain diwan the ornate piano the shoe tree the red chandeliar the 17 tonne white chandeliars the table with the train track the table train with each coach carrying a different delicacy!