RGB Monday

A colorful shot from the streets of Mamallapuram 

Mamallapuram is a sculptural town as well a coastal town and popular tourist place near Chennai and its sculptures and monuments are dated back to 7th century, where the rocks carved by the Pallava dynasty. I find this snap I took from the slow moving car looking like two different shots weld together– where on the right-side of the image is seen a bakery, hang out with colourful junk food packets (resembling RGB colors) and the left side is a shop sells seashell ornaments. And this girl came into the scene, adds a sweet gesture with an amusing expression going with a wind wheel in hand. 

Skywatch Friday

Sky keeps changing its pattern, texture and colors from time to time and esp. during the sunrise and sunset it displays incredible changes from the often blue or grey sky. I sky-watch these days more than before and I was never a morning person to wake up to dazzling shower of rising sun so I only end up more with sun setting scenario where the actual settings happen behind the buildings. For a complete sunset I need to move out of the city but it wasn’t a feel bad to catch up with a part of the sky. The sky captured here was from two evenings back; though it wasn’t awesome I liked the pieces of clouds (looking like the handpicked cotton candies before it put into the mouth) scattered on the fore screen of the sky.

RGB Monday

Colorful Kotagiri market street! 

Kotagiri is a beautiful hill station in the Nilgiris surrounded by tea, coffee and vegetable farming and this is a market place in core  area of the town. The market looks like an important place for the farmers and traders to sell their goods and people surrounding in/out the hill town is rely on the market.

BJP Won But Not In Tamil Nadu!

Congrats Mr. Modi and BJP! BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) has swept larger seats in the parliament election and Mr. Narendra Modi as Prime Minister is continuing his office for 2^nd time. Though Modi have won and we had to accept the fact and while appreciate the efforts he put for the success, we can’t see it as the decision of entire nation. South Indian states almost swept against Modi and BJP which seems only a section of people want Modi or BJP and not the widespread nation.  A success is a success, whether we accept or not. North and Central Indian states had red carpeted for Modi and their reasons could be anything but certainly couldn’t sense a significant development was the reason for the successive of BJP or Modi. I haven’t great knowledge about the development of other states than Tamil Nadu, but I have ideas about the neighbouring states of Kerala, Andhra and Karnataka    where the influence of governing BJP is different.

Everyone knows that BJP is a religious party based on Hindutva concept but I believe the previous regimes under Vajpayee   weren’t serious taking forward the religion but had been reliable for people.  I think I don’t have the right to comment on states I wasn’t fully aware but coming to Tamil Nadu we have reasons to deny Modi and BJP. In last five years at office, I couldn’t see the Modi govt. promoting any significant projects or development on almost anything. I believe development is a progress happens any government comes to power, but the Modi’s govt. has any reason to continue in office, at least in the state of Tamil Nadu the things they are intend to implement where obviously against people welfare and wealth of state. Though different religious people live in Tamil Nadu, but nothing forces us from being united through the shade of one – Dravidian – and think on rationalism, couldn’t appreciate or invite a principle that impose anything against democracy. India is the largest democratic country and bringing all into a compression of saffron or hindutva is unwelcomed at any cost.

Coming to the state of Tamil Nadu, actor Kamal Hassan’s Makkal Neethi Maiyam (People Justice Centre) party has earned considerable votes to secure 3^rd place in the row of vote bank, even though they couldn’t win a seat in both parliament and by-election, sweeping an amount in short span of exists (14 months) is an unexpected twist that reveal people’s tendency for an alternate to the big leads – DMK and ADMK. My candidate or the person I voted R. Rangarajan IAS has led 2^nd with the number of votes the party’s candidates secured in the Parliament election and the 3 constitutions in Chennai witnessed considerable vote to the party. In Tamil Nadu, the opposition party alliance has swept all the seats from the state, except the 1 win by the ruling party which alliance with BJP, and it was an expected win even by common men as the almost state is against BJP or Modi and the ruling party doesn’t have an option rather going with BJP to continue their regime in Tamil Nadu. In worst case BJP govt. has failed in looking into the farmers issues and was accused to hold back the Tamil Nadu government in its control and make plans against the people to face this sweep out in TN.

Mangoes and Parakeets Peck

Summer is a season of mangoes! At the end of winter the mango trees in India starts to bloom following new shoot of leaves and in less than a month the mango trees turns fruit-bearing. Mangoes are considered delicious and prime among the sweetest fruits and there’s a word in Tamil called Mukkani (three fruits) where Maa (Mango) is first and Palaa (Jackfruit) and Vaazhai (Banana) make successive landing. In Tamil Nadu, Salem is very popular for tasty mangoes and this district and its surroundings produce tons of tasty mangoes yearly and Periyakulam in Theni district is also called Mango City due to its fair amount of mangoes produced.

Here's someone trying to nip from above

Mangoes do great business in this season of summer, but these days artificially ripen of mangoes are into sale and people has to be cautious while purchasing fruits. In cities it’s becoming rare to see mango trees and no one seems interested to stone out mangoes from the trees like what we used to do in childhood and everyone knows in Tamil Nadu that a stolen mango has high deliciousness than what bought for money. Nature is so gifted with mango trees with ever delicious pulp within a soft skin. A fruit-bearing tree is always an attraction for birds and squirrels, the very first species to taste the essence of the season and I’m glad to live opposite a mango tree, grown within the compound of a neighbour to get me chance to see and hear birds feast on hanging mangoes. 

I see/hear Mynas, Green Parakeets and Asian Koels screeching in the mornings and evenings hiding from the thick foliage of mango tree and sometime I see green parakeet acrobat in peck eating the fresh pulp. Parakeet is a regular sighting in the neighbourhood but mostly they quick screech across the sky and only in summer they stay sometime hunting on the hanging mangoes. Glad I moved to our house to see it happening closer, after moving out of our apartment house where I would see many birds forage on open vegetation. Last week I decided to capture the show that I missed to capture sometime due to laziness or unreachable with camera to focus on the Parakeet. Being a green parakeet it often hid in the greenery of the tree makes it difficult to focus or finding its presence.

Parakeet neatly bit off the pulp, leaving away the seed.