At a recent visit to Udaipur we spent time at Fatehsagar lake boating in its placid waters. The lake shimmered in beautiful blues…reflecting the skies and enveloping the distant Aravalli range in its bluish hues..
Fatehsagar Lake at Udaipur
As the evening advanced to surround everything in its darkness, the view transformed completely to the shades of grey….
Fatehsagar Lake at Udaipur
Outer wall of Amer Fort with an early full moon
Amer Fort at night illuminated for light and sound display
A stroll on beach at nighttime
Candle light Dinner at Havelock Island, Andamans
Also at:
A section of a stone wall at Gwalior fort (Madhya Pradesh, India) has a rough texture along with the imprint of fossilized plant.
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/texture/
My daughter happily soaring in between the blue sky and grass-covered hills of Dalhousie (Himachal Pradesh).
Dalhousie a small town, named after the British Governor General in India Lord Dalhousie, was developed as summer retreat by the Britishers around five hills of state of Himachal Pradesh(India). With around 600 hotel which include private villas and bungalows, this is a favorite tourism destination. Dalhousie is between 6000 and 9000 ft above mean sea level.
Though it has many tourist attractions but we were there for only few hours and all we could manage was horse ride and para-sailing.
I spent the entire week for some “Brainy” inspiration for this theme but the time ran out and nothing really crossed my mind. I do not want to be left out for this challenge and simplest thing I could do was to upload the picture of our living room/hall.
My husband being in defense services, we get posted to different places across the country and every time I have to pack up my things and redecorate the new house at new place. The government houses that we get are always of a different layouts and sizes and it becomes a challenge to fit in things which we have collected over the years in every new house. I decorated this house with a lot of love and I know that another few months and we will wrap up here too not knowing where we will be next posted to or the house that we will get.
But, that is okay as long as we are together as family.
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THE MINIATURE ART:
The state of Rajasthan, India, besides being known for its rich royal history, havelis, forts and palaces is also the home of miniature art. Mostly the miniature art depicts the royal processions, besotted royal couples, hunting expeditions, Lord Krishna’s mythological stories. Very few artists dare to create erotic art and those who do, do so in explicit details. I happened to see those paintings but since I can not upload any content which is ‘adult only’ hence I chose these miniature paintings for this photo challenge.
THE ARTIST: Mr. Kanu Swami
Mr. Kanu Swami has known fame well now. Besides creating the miniature art of animals, trees, royal processions etc. he is well-known for the erotic miniature art which he keeps under wraps and shows it off or sells only to the genuinely interested people. He says, “People don’t understand the beauty and do not let me paint in peace”. He has sold a complete set of twelve paintings titled ” Kamasutra” for INR 15000 each to an European gentleman who visited his shop within the premises of Jaisalmer Fort. Despite fame and fortune he is quite a humble artist. He though able to afford a better bigger studio/ gallery for his work, is quite happy with his small shop cum work desk.
A little of my art too:
My vanity got the better of me and I am tempted to show off a few of my art work too. 🙂 So here I am with three of my drawings too. The prompt says “Art is not just paintings or sculpture….” but I couldn’t let this opportunity go without flaunting my handiwork.
Art in the nature: The nature is full of beautiful shapes, colors, sizes of flora and fauna. If we really take out time to sit back and appreciate what the nature has to offer, we are dumbstruck by the sheer variety. I got a few leaves, flowers, grass etc framed to capture the beauty and nature’s ‘work of art‘ .
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These are the pictures of “KULDHARA” , Rajasthan (India). The entire town was abandoned by the residents and they vanished overnight from the town in mysterious circumstances around 18th century.
The local folk-lore is that the village occupied by the Paliwal Brahmins was being harassed by king or the regional chieftain for excess taxes. The king also set his eyes on the village chief’s daughter. However the king’s reputation of being a womanizer did not make him an ideal candidate for the lovely damsel. The villagers abandoned the village in the darkest hour of the night and cursed the king. The king sent his men to find them but to no avail….they had vanished into thin air leaving all their belongings, cattle, utensils etc.
The ruins of Kuldhara suggest that it was a well planned prosperous village with wide roads running in cardinal directions and dividing the town into domestic and commercial sections with a temple(which also has been renovated to give a glimpse of the villagers’ lifestyle) in the center of town. There were step-wells and separate parking spaces for the carts. Kuldhara consisted of 84 villages and all of them just disappeared one night. The stories of the ruins being haunted also prevail. The site now under Architectural Survey of India is being developed as tourist attraction.
Kuldhara lies some 15km west of Jaisalmer, another fort city of Rajasthan. Jaisalmer is well-connected by road and rail to bigger towns like Jodhpur and Jaipur.
Also read:
http://undiscoveredindiantreasures.blogspot.in/2012/04/kuldhara-story-is-one-of-weirdest-and.html
http://www.lakshmisharath.com/2013/10/31/halloween-special-kuldhara-haunted-village-near-jaisalmer/
All things yellow….the bright, shining, gleaming, golden, sprightly, joyous, spirited color!!
I know I am very late for this post….the whole week is almost over! To be honest I had lost interest in weekly photo challenges because I observed that I was not writing any thing else and whole week went off waiting for a new photo challenge and the comments from fellow bloggers. Though it was fun…in fact some good bloggers boosted my spirits by nominating many awards and that was soooooooo satisfying ! But I was not getting new visitors…..that was making me seriously doubt my writing ability. And so I stopped participating. However, a few months back a mail from eof737 asking about my well-being and the concern made me feel perked up (thank you so much “eof737”) . I realized that by not writing I was not only loosing out on some probably new visitors but also the ones who were reading my blog!! Now I am again trying to reach out to bloggers old and new with this weekly photo challenge.
Lunchtime is one such event at our home when the three of us are seldom together….my daughter does not come back from school till around 2:30 p.m, my husband has no fixed time of returning home from work. All of us eat at our own convenient times. Today was one of the rare times when all of us sat down at dining table and had lunch together. Even our dog “Buddy” stretched down near the table content that all were at home and safe!
The lunch menu was simple regular home-made food : dal (lentil gravy), paneer-simla mirch(capsicum and cottage cheese), bathua raita (plain home-made curd or yoghurt with white-goosefoot/pigweed leaves), chapati/roti (indian wheat bread) and basmati rice. Though there was nothing out of the ordinary in the menu but it became special because we all were at home!
I am fairly good cook and quite proud that I can cook not only Indian food but can manage a few of the Chinese, Italian, Mexican and Thai recipes too! I like watching all food channels ( and I am myself surprised because a decade back I loathed kitchen and all chopping and cutting and forever upset my mom!). But taking advantage of the photo challenge today I am posting not only the photos but also the recipe..
1. Capsicum and Cottage cheese:
Ingredients:
1 large onion( finely chopped)
2 large ripe tomatoes (finely chopped)
2 medium capsicum (cut into big chunks)
150 gm cottage cheese (bite sized squares)
1 tsp garam masala (1/4 tsp cloves, 1/8 tsp cardamom, 1/2 tsp black pepper ground to a powder)
Heat 2tbsp oil in a wok. Cook onion till transparent. Add tomatoes, 1/2 tsp turmeric and ground red pepper powder and one slit green chilly. When the oil starts separating add capsicum. Once the capsicum softens add cottage cheese, salt and garam masala. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve!
2. Dal :
Ingredients:
1 tbsp of each split black gram (urad chika), kidney beans (rajma), split and skinned bengal gram ( chana dal), pink lentil (masoor) soaked overnight and cooked till soft
3 tbsp paste of 2onions,2 tomatoes, 3cloves of garlic, a small piece of ginger
1tsp garam masala
Heat oil and fry the paste till oil separates. Add the cooked lentils salt, garam masala and 1 cup water( or more) Bring to boil. The dal should not be very watery nor like a paste…. more like a thick soup. Heat a little butter and add 1 tsp of cumin seeds till they splutter. Garnish with this butter and cumin and chopped fresh coriander.
3. Bathua Raita:
Ingredients:
2 cup curd/plain yoghurt
2 tbsp blanched and pureed pig weed leaves
rock-salt, powdered sugar, salt, black pepper powder roasted cumin powder (to taste)
Mix all and chill. Serve with rice or naan or any Indian bread.
4. Chapati/Roti:
Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1tsp oil
water
Knead the flour to make soft pliable dough with water and apply oil. Make small rounds and with the help of a rolling-pin make a 6 inch flat thin disc . Roast on hot plate. Serve hot with clarified butter.
Today’s lunch was quite satisfying and I look forward to more such lunches with the family…
An unusual thought came to me……. what if I stopped participating in the weekly 
photo challenges? Will the recent friends that I have made in this world of blogging still visit my blog? Will the traffic that I have enjoyed since last few months continue to grow? Will whatever I write make it eligible ever for the “freshly pressed post”? Do people really enjoy reading what I write?
This train of thought sent its feelers into my other relationships too… My relation with fellow bloggers may take a downward slide off and on, but what about the people whom I have known all this time? Will my younger sister ever again need some advice and help from me? Will my husband always stand by me? Will my parents agree with my decisions? Will my daughter understand my concerns? Will my friends forgive my occasional annoyance? WILL I EVER KNOW WHETHER THEY REALLY NEED ME? IS MY PRESENCE OF ANY VALUE? DO MY OPINIONS COUNT?
Will I be able to make a mark in my lifetime or will I be a faceless entity on mother earth like these :
It is unusual to sit like this with our eyes not knowing where the path leads and such people lose their identity…. lost on others, their absence not affecting people around them… No!! what would that life be? I do not want it like that.
Amid all this depressing state of mind, a sudden query from my daughter :
“Mamma, why does God create difficulties for us? Doesn’t HE love us?”
And my reply brought some sense back to my disturbed mind. I told her that God always loves us but just keeps testing us about how we handle ourselves in different situations, whether we are prepared for much more difficult problems. Its our responsibility to emerge successfully from trying times all the while keeping faith in HIM that he will not let us falter. HE will find some way to make our existence useful. We will flourish and enjoy attention from our dear ones just like this unusual palm tree:
Shoma Abhyankar 