Lets do it....For the Children..

Children are the real faces of our society....

some are priveleged, some are not...

Some are pampered, some are not...

Some wishes are fulfilled, some are not..

Some are happy, some are not...

Some dance in joy, some dance in pain..

Some study to hold the empire, some to have mid day meal

Some are closed to the God, but some are not...

Some are safe, some are not..

Some do believe in God, Some do not...

But all are innocent...

Every child has a big heart in tiny body....

Every child wait for the happiness to sprinkle....

Every child wait for the food to sizzle...

Lets do something every day to bring some smile on some faces...

Smile is most relished and cherished gift....

Lets do it..

Geet Gaya Pattharon Ne...Angkor Wat

In this picture there is face of Apsara appearing from a hole of a jungle tree.. This is from the Temple Ta Prom...the temple of Brahma. This site is being restored by Government of India.. Actually this is the fate of Angkor Wat group of temples in Cambodia. Due to neglect..the mighty temples of Angkor were overpowered by giant trees of the region....

This picture is a perfect symbol of getting back to the dominance... Nature takes it turn to grab its teritories...This is also from the site Ta Prom...The temple of Brahma...

The temples of Angkor region are full of these Apsaras....their hair style are very unique..I think due to this very reason Conservation Authority in Angkor is named Apsara authority...

This is the bold and mighty stroke of the great painter nature....This is also from ta Prom..It is in the fourth enclosure....Ta Prom temple has maximum number of enclosures in Angkor group of temples....Main Angkor Wat temple has also only four...

This wall carving is from main Angkor Wat temple...On the Mahabharta panel one can see the SharShaiyya of Bhishma....

Great Engineers of ASI...they are leading the team from India which is doing restoration work at Ta Prom

This is the west entrance gate of Ta Prom temple....Bacuase of this face perhaps people started calling this site Ta Prom....

Here the jungle has regained its area.... Ta Prom Site

We thought it was the idea of Ramanand Sagar..but you can see here ....in the Angkorwat panel this man is having many Shar at one go...may be Ramanand Sagar visited this site for research

This is the conversion of Buddhsit image inti Hindu image..communalism prevailed even 1000 years back and in its cruel form....

The Apsaras are telling me to write much more about this site....so please wait for some more posts here....

A small relic at Angkor Wat temple....

A view of main Angkor Wat temple from the entance.....

And here I come..to keep you posted on Angkor Wat group of temples.....

Mahishasurmardini in the British Museum

The collection of Indian antiquities in British Museum has been a main attraction of visitors from all over the world. Now Indian collection of this museum is the part of the Joseph E. Hotung Gallery of Oriental Antiquities which was opened to public in 1992.

Apart from rich Buddhist collection in this section of the museum, there is also a very good collection 'Hindu' images from all regions of India and countries of Indian sub-continent and countries from South East Asian countries with the past of Indian influence.

On the eve of Saptami of Shardiya Navratra, it was nice to explore images of Devi in many forms in the British Museum- Chamunda, Mahishasurmardini, Vaishnavi, Manasa etc. In all form of Devi, the form of Mahishasurmardini has been more attractive to all the artists all through the ages and British Museum posseses many such statues of Mahishasurmardini. An attempt to create a catalogue of statues of Devi Durga in various museums in the world should be attempted, as it has religiously been done for of Buddhist images all over the world.

Apart from variousstatues of Devi, one small statue of Ravana is also of major attraction in the Indian collection...in very graceful form...for a change...

The Game Drive of Mobula

After having worked for a week... day and night in Joburg, it was more than required to have a break in real African wildlife.

I also wanted my new Nikon D80 to start its score from wild environment and compare my earlier Canon stuff with Nikon. So, we decided to go to Mobula for Game Drive... a must try in South Africa.

In South Africa a Safari is known as Game Drive...a trip into the wild to see animals in their own habitat.

We chose to go to Mobula..almost 200 KMs from Johannesburg, owned by UB group. Mobula Game Drives are spread in about 1200 Hectares. They have got all Big 5 there- the lion, the African elephant, the Cape Buffalo, the leopard and the rhinoceros. They are called big 5 not because of their size, but because it is difficult to tame or hunt them.

Mobula had almost freezing temperature in Game drive...when we were returning from the drive in the evening, our friends had real tough time in resisting to the cold winds. In the morning drive, we could see a white layer on the grass all over the Game Drive. But we braved the cold waves and apart from enjoying wild life, we also witnessed lovely sunset and sunrise in that wild Mobula Game Drive.

We got to see four out of Big 5 in our two game drives..the leopard could not be traced, because they move very fast and their whereabouts cannot be traced by footmarks, as in the case of lions and elephants.

Apart from these big 5, we got to see the herds of zebras, hippopotamus, giraffes, antelopes and many more wild species.

I also got to capture some of the lovely birds chirping all through the Game Drive.
Our Game Lodge was also typical African experience of living...this experience got enriched with typical powerhouse dance performance by young South African Bafnas (boys...for this very reason South African Male football team is called Bafna Bafna) and Banyas (girls).

It was no doubt a wonderful experience, but I wonder why could not we develop such infrastructure in our country, where we have better habitats of wild animals and have better climate and unique palate of culture too...