Aging Gracefully.

They don't go to beauty parlous, they don't use botox, they don't do facials or use Fair & Lovely. 

They enjoy their life on a tree and when its time to go, simply float down quietly drying out, showing you their inside strength

That's what aging is all about. 

Taken on my Canon EOS 1100D camera

Clicked against wooden balcony railing.

 The same leaf below clicked against the sky.

Over The Hill & Far Away......

We have a hill and a lake inside the IIT Campus. IITians and Campusite's frequently visit the hill for trekking, picnics etc. I recently climbed it one evening with my camera.

Different kind of developments have taken place on the different sides of the hill, ranging from luxury highrises to slums. Mumbai's water supply line snakes past the hill detouring around the main green area left here which is our campus.

Taken on my Canon EOS 1100D camera.

Looking southwards from the hill. Beyond the hill in the distance is the airport runway.

Powai Lake to the left, Vihar Lake to the right and Mumbai's water pipeline snaking round the base of the hill.

Our campus in the foreground and the Powai Lake with recent construction on its banks.

Chain link fences on the hill to declare ownership but you can still look and live through the gaps.

Looking north-east of the hill, random development and the Thane creek in the distance.

Is this possibly what the future is going to be?

Paradise Found!

I live on the banks of the Powai Lake. Recently visited the boathouse which was earlier in the wilderness but now has a interesting approach road studded with beauties of nature. Slowly winding down the road to watch a great sunset through the oar-rings of the boat is a great end to the walk.

All photos have been clicked on my Canon EOS 1100D camera.

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         The offshoot from the main road circling the lake. Recently constructed.

                                         Some interesting berries in the jungle.

                                                  Mushroom sculptures in paradise.

                                                     Vignettes of a grand sunset.

Beauty and the hyacinth beast clogging the Powai lake.

Dragonfly doing research.

Rusty and trusty oar handles of the anchored boat.

Coming soon The sunset i clicked later from the same spot.

Insect India Fashion Week

"The world is wrong side up. It needs to be turned upside down in order to be right side up...."

                                                                                                ----Billy Sunday

The two insects/ants  doing their stuff below do not mess with changing the world. 

They work upside down themselves  

And just looking at their style, and  attitude, on the wrong side of the leaves, makes me wonder of they are doing a leaf ramp walk , participating in the Insect India Fashion Week......:-)

Clicked on my Canon EOS 1100D.

 

Wind Travel

You learn so many new things when you do a photoblog. I found these things on the ground, on my way home and brought them home and clicked pictures.

 The next step was to find out what these things were called. Since I click a lot of insects,my mother thought these were some insects, at first. A Google image search didn't yield any useful information.

Till we posted it on Facebook, and got into an informative chat with our friend Sangeeta Khanna who is a veritable practicing plant encyclopedia herself. Turns out that this is the dispersing seed of the Calotropis plant, called Crown Flower in English, Madar in Hindi, as well as Rui, or Aak. (Another FB friend Anand Amembal also identified it for us , as the same plant ).   And the various parts of this Rui plant are of great medicinal value , in healing wounds, and migraines and many more things.

The seeds of this plant are dispersed by the wind. And basically, I interfered with the process. :-(

(Thank you Sangeeta Khanna and Anand Amembal)

 Clicked on my Canon EOS 1100D

Burning Away The Evil.

Holi, the spring harvest festival, has many origins and meanings.  It signifies, the advent of spring and the end of winter.  It welcomes the season of color. It is also associated with the burning away of evils, and has several stories associated with it, relating to the Demoness Holika, who had a boon that made her fireproof;  she grabbed her Godfearing nephew and sat with him on the pyre, only to get burned to a crisp herself, while he survived it all.   

We celebrate Holi by having a symbolic burning  in our building compound.  And we use only dried deadwood and branches already fallen to the ground. No trees are ravaged. Holi is also celebrated by playing with colors. (Rangapanchami).

 Holi is celebrated at the end of the winter season on the last full moon day of the Indian lunar month Phalguna .

Clicked on my Canon EOS 1100D

Burn !

Burn !

The full moon watches it all through the trees and flying cinders.

These are actually the emanating sparks in long exposure....

     At the end , a fire slowly dying down,  and the burnt wood in its skeletal glory .

Smooth as silk....

The trouble with buying things in supermarkets  versus  your friendly neighboring vegetable vendor, is that you end up buying all kinds of stuff packed well, but with no life, as such ... 

Saw some baby corn in the local daily market yesterday . Along with some broccoli. Bought some to do a stir fry with greens. 

When I peeled the baby corn covers, these tresses of corn silk spilled out.  Real golden silk. 

Clicked with my  Canon  EOS 1100D...