Ordinary People, Extraordinary Art.

Like last year, I visited the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival  this year too. Here are some interesting displays I clicked.

Taken on my Canon EOS 1100D camera.

 For more pictures of the Kala Ghoda Festival please check out my FB album

A skull in wood

This was a display labelled "Shoe in a Metro", made totally out of paper.  A bit of a play on a well known shoe shop called Metro shoes.

A simulation of plastic rain . Something we are destined to suffer from, if we go on throwing these bottles everywhere after quenching our thirst.  You needed to walk through this exhibit....

A giant fish, made entirely out of waste CD's.

I bet even the Vespa scooter designers could not have dreamed this up.  Converted to a bee.....

The famous Mumbai dabbawalla. Bringing you closer to your food. Actually vice versa.  

Another frightful skull made from all kinds of e-waste, produced in Mumbai in large quantities.

A massive pair of glasses, to make you see life more clearly.  And sometimes, some other lenses block your vision.  Displaying Bollywood faces.  What Mumbai is sometimes about...

A decorated mirror with a message, on a special bicycle display....

 

Some more recycled art

Rajasthani artists singing for the puppet show  in progress

A typical dabbwalla lunchbox with handle etc, made entirely out of cans.

A tableaux depicting a burning problem in society : Female Infanticide

Food !

The many colors of Ganpati

With the prayers inscribed

Mobiles  made and marketed by NGO's

Artists doing portraits outside the Jehangir Art Gallery. Displayed  on the sidewalk fence.

Yum!

A few days before Christmas.....

A Photoshoot was announced by some interested folks at the Most Holy Trinity Church of Powai, on Saturday December 22, 2012 at 7 am.   This a a Church, that is an immediate neighbor of the campus where I live, and although I must have passed by it  year after year, , I never had an opportunity to visit. 

I actually missed the other photoshooters , as I was held up by an earlier engagement. But the watchman kindly allowed  me to explore and photograph. 

Some vignettes. 

Nestled amidst so many trees.  Some of the trees probably pre date the church.

One sees so many such Holy Crosses , frequently in the suburb of Bandra and in parts of Andheri , another suburb.

Offerings

Mother Mary and the Baby Jesus

Praise the Lord with Music and Words

Praise the Lord !

Park Adventure.

Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), previously Borivali National Park, is a large protected area in the northern part of suburban Mumbai city in Maharashtra State in India. It encompasses an area of 104 km² (40 sq mi) and is surrounded on three sides by India's most populous city. It is notable as one of the major national parks existing within a metropolis limit in Asia and is one of the most visited parks in the world^.

The park has a mini train that takes you around, and if you are lucky you see a few lions and tigers.  I did see some, but they stayed way in the distance, on spotting me.

I visited this last weekend with a friend , and a colleague's family. A few clicks.

Taken on my Canon EOS 1100D

Just a pretty flower.

   Budding Lotus  in a fishpond adjoining an old monument in the park.

    Someone is enraptured with the Pink one....

   Karambola or star fruit;  tongue tickling ribbed juicy fruit, with a natural star shaped cross section, served on a green leaf with salt and spice . Totally Yum.

   Young local girl, selling cucumbers, guavas, starfruit, and roasted groundnut pods and berries, the stuff of my childhood...

Freedoom In The Woods.

Today is Independence Day. This morning i went for a walk near the campus guest house. Looks like someone else was also out for trips amidst the trees.

I clicked some beautiful pictures of the butterflies which you can check out below...

 In this pic the butterfly was sitting still so it was easy to click it....

Aperture : 5.6
Shutter speed : 1/400
ISO : 800

 In this picture as i was going closer, it would fly off... so i decided to click at a higher shutter speed and this was the result... it was about to sit when i clicked

Aperture : 5.6
Shutter speed : 1/1600
ISO : 800

 Here it was about to take off again...

Aperture : 5.6
Shutter speed : 1/1600
ISO : 800

 Clicked on a higher shutter speed.....

Aperture : 5.6
Shutter speed : 1/40
ISO : 800

 The most beautiful one i have ever seen...

The Beginning.

Ganesh Chaturthi is a month away and the expert artisans are busy making and giving final touches to Ganesh idols, which will be worshiped in the festival. 

The suburbs of Chinchpokli, Parel and Lalbaug in central Mumbai are the headquarters of  all the workshops that work on and give finishing touches to the various idols, large, big and small.

I recently went for a photo walk in these areas with some like minded people. 

Some vignettes

Please click to see the intricate details in a larger image.

Taken on my Canon EOS 1100D camera

Idols in various levels of preparation and details. Material is normally Plaster of Paris.

Finished and adorned idols on display. The small ones are usually taken to homes and large ones are part of a group celebration.

Resplendent in traditional festival jewellery. The Lord waits for His special day..

Prayer In Stone.

Continuing from the previous post .

I was fascinated with the inscriptions/ sculptures and the old ancient history.  And that the technology and the knowledge to build this without any fancy instruments existed as far back as 2nd  century BC.

Taken on my Canon EOS 1100D camera.

Structures and carvings outside the Bhaja Caves

 Detailed carvings/ structures on the outside walls of Karla Caves.

 Inscriptions on the pillars inside Bhaja Caves.

Dark Shadows.

I recently went to a day trip to Lonavala to visit some of the ancient historical places such as the Karla & Bhaja Caves.

Karla and Bhaja Caves are located near Lonavala in Maharashtra. The Bhaja caves are regarded to be from the times of Hinayana phase of Buddhism, which is of 2nd to 1st century BC.

Karla Cave is the largest Hinayana Buddhist chaitya (temple) in India built during Satavahana's rule. Karla is the best example of rock-cut architecture, which is believed to carve out from a living rock. Some of its 2000 year-old wooden beams are still alive. It takes nearly 20 minutes to climb up the steep way of the Karla caves.

A temple has been built recently built at the entrance using pillars from the Buddhist period.

Taken on my Canon EOS 1100D camera.

                                                           Prayer room at Bhaja caves.

       Ruins of carved elephants (one in the dark) at Karla caves.

                                        Looking out from inside an enclosure at Karla Caves.

                                                           The glimmer of light.

Stay tuned for more pictures of ancient structures. Coming up shortly.....