Road Trip to Mayapur

On 27th Dec, 2009 we embarked on a road trip to Mayapur. We started the journey from our residence at 6:30 AM in the morning, took VIP road to Dum Dum, then took Jessore Road to Barasat, and finally reached National Highway 34 which would take us to Mayapur. As usual, I enjoyed the ride, there was a nip in the air, and it was mist all over. My chauffer took care of the driving, while I relaxed and enjoyed the beauty of rural West Bengal. My wife and son chose to sleep.

First stop I made was after Ranaghat, to have a smoke. I took some snaps of the countryside. One of them is given below:

From mayapur

I also took a snap of busy NH34 in the morning, with my car parked in the side. You can also see my shadow, while taking the snap.

From mayapur

After a few more kilometers, after passing Krishnanagar, I stopped at the bridge over Jalangi river. The view was breathtaking, the morning mist still present and I am afraid I could not do justice to the view.

From mayapur

From mayapur

I also saw an industrial chimney polluting the serene countryside. Decided that it should be one of my subjects.

From mayapur

After a few more kilometers, we took a sharp left turn (Almost an U) towards Mayapur. Suddenly the road started to get crowded as we reached the temple village. I asked my driver to drive straight on towards the launch jetty, as I wanted to picture the point where river Jalangi meets river Ganga. The photography session was not that great though, as it was very misty and I was not getting clear views at high zoom.

From mayapur

The following picture is taken from Mayapur side of river Ganges, while women were bathing on the other side, a typical scene along the holy river in India

From mayapur

The following two pictures also show the rivers in various moods

From mayapur

From mayapur

Mayapur is a village of temples, and the following are two temple pictures I shot from a distance.

From mayapur

From mayapur

Then we went to the ISCON temple complex. Camera was not allowed in the temple and I did not want to leave my costly camera in the hands of others, so I stayed outside while my wife and son went inside and had a view of the museum. I loitered outside and took a couple of shots of the museum.
The following picture captures the whole museum (a little bit dark) as it was very sunny outside.

From mayapur

The following two pictures show statues in various poses of sankirtana.

From mayapur

From mayapur

After my wife and son came out of the museum, we spend some time basking in the afternoon sun. It was lunchtime for my kid, so we quickly bought a jar of ghee from the temple goshala (cow shed) and went back to our car which was parked almost half kilometer away. After my son's lunch was over, we went back to Krishnanagar to have our lunch at a road-side dhaba. We also bought sor-bhaja and sor-puria which are local speciality sweets. After our lunch, we took NH 34 again to come back home.

Photographing the abstract

This is the one of the most debated aspect of photography. I might photograph something abstract and it might be of great interest to me, but it may not appeal to the general viewer.
The reason for abstract photography : well in my case, living in a jungle of concrete, I don't get enough chance to shoot nature, so after a time, I get bored with shooting whatever I do, and dwell in the realm of abstract. Judge for yourself, if you can identify and enjoy some of the images posted here.

The first one I will start with is a shadow picture. I have a dancing girl statue, which was lit with bedroom lighting. The two lights cast directional shadows on the wall, and I decided to shoot the line-up. Taken with my point-and-shoot Olympus SP510UZ.


The next one is a great favorite of mine. I shot this in the corridor of our apartment complex during my short trip to USA. I like the composition because of the guiding lines, the minimalism and the tones, making it very simple. Taken with my point-and-shoot Olympus SP510UZ. (At that time I only owned one camera).


This one is first of my two shots, which made to explore. This won't be properly visible in a monitor with high contrast, so in case you don't see this properly, please pardon me. I use an IBM R series laptop and the soft variations of tone are visible in my monitor.


The fourth one (and the fifth) I am showing here are the photos of the same object. I have a CFL (Compact fluoroscent Lamp) in my bedroom, and sometimes I make it the subject of my photographs.



the same lamp, in a different orientation ... makes another interesting composition.

From Blog

The last photo in today's set is a picture of a toy plastic tumbler with LEDs fitted. The LEDs has cast a strange glow making it a strange composition.



I hope you like some of the results posted above. Let me know how you feel of these. Show me your abstract photos. I have some more which I will post in a future article.

Kolkata - Part I

Kolkata is not a very old city. It is only about 320 years old. Yet, being the capital of India during the "Indian Reneissance" , it has a long history of art and culture. (Kolkata was the capital of India during during British Indian rule till 1911) The facades of Kolkata reminds us of the days of the British Raj and tells a story of their own.
Kolkata is characterised by widely disparate income levels of its people, interest of the people in art and culture, culinery skills of the chefs of the various eating joints scattered throughout the city, a blooming film industry which has seen ups and downs but is still shining, and many more things. In fact, Kolkata carries different charms for every Kolkattan.

This post is dedicated to the older parts of Kolkata. North Kolkata, as it is known, is one of the earliest dwellings of the city. (Sutanuti village was one of the three villages that made up the city of Kolkata). The buildings are old, dillapidated yet carry a charm of their own.

The following photo was taken from my window on an autumn afternoon.


The following picture also depicts a typical North Kolkata atmosphere. Buildings standing close to each other, with a labrynth of lanes and by-lanes



The following picture shows the state of a typical building in North Kolkata



The rich reneissance history of North Kolkata is characterized by a lot of heritage buildings. Girish Ghosh, was a well known Bengali dramatist from Kolkata. The following is a picture of his house as it stands now.



Kolkata is flanked by river Ganges (Ganga) on the west. The following picture is a surreal view of the river.



People who live by the river, use it for bathing and washing, among other things. The following two pictures depict bathing and washing.

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To be continued...