# 4 Butterflies in Bharatpur

I had a blast in Bharatpur clicking photographs of these beautiful butterflies. In a world full of birds these insects were beautifully busy in their own world skipping from one flower to the other. After going shutter crazy for nearly 15 minutes I took a deep breath and just soaked it in the moment and a tear escaped my eyelid.

# 3 Bharatpur: Not Birds

Birds were not the only living beings I captured in Bharatpur. Here are some other living beings that appealed to my lens.

Cycling couple on the foggy morning

Tortoise

Shutter crazy

Nilgai

Meditating

# 2 Birding at Bharatpur

Presenting the second lot of my pictures of birds of Bharatpur.

Female magpie robin

Ghost tree, the nesting place of painted storks

Little owlet

Spotted owlet

Parakeet

Juvenile painted stork making a landing

Flying geese

Little egret (reflection)

Shikra

Cormorant

Will post pictures of some other creatures I saw at Bharatpur in the next post.

# 1 Birding at Bharatpur

I went to Bharatpur in Rajasthan to visit the Keoladeo National Park over the last weekend. It was a fantastic trip and I highly recommend the weekend getaway. Here are some of my captures. I have a lot of photographs from the trip and will be uploading some more in the days to come.

White-cheeked bulbul

White-cheeked bulbul taking off

Peacock

Yellow-footed green pigeon

Scarlet minivet

Jungle babbler

Woodpecker

Drongo

Laughing dove

Hoopoe

Black shouldered kite

Indian tree pie

Family of painted storks

Grey heron (front) and painted stork (back) doing a tango!

Brahminy starling

Brahmini ducks (also called surkhab in Hindi)

Shrike (possibly long-tailed shrike)

P.S: Thanks Jaideep for helping me give captions to the photographs.

Happy 100th Birthday, Delhi!

Dear, Delhi,

You have essayed a lot of roles in my life.

You have been:

A parent—looking out for me when I was all alone

A dear friend—giving me company when everyone else was busy

An important teacher—providing lessons of history with your array of monuments

A companion—protecting me along your beautiful gray roads lined with lush trees

A sister—sharing your secrets with me and keeping my secrets safe

A brother—teasing me with your unpredictability and at the same time warding off dangers

My love for you transcends words. I hope you know that.

You are the sexiest 100 year old I know. May your beauty grow with each passing year and may you continue to welcome people from across the country and the world with open arms.

With loads of love,
A true Dilliwali :)

Government needs to Reflect

The government needs to reflect. The handling of the corruption in the country needs to be done in a better manner. Hopefully, this phase of the campaign initiated by India Against Corruption will yield results and the ministers sitting in the North Block will be able to take sensible decisions.


Here is the Parliament of India, where our ministers sit. These days they function only to pass bills which increase their salaries. make it compulsory for government officials to greet the MPs and MLAs with certain courtesies and ensure that the taxpayers money is used in the worst possible manner.

Fountain at Raisina Hill

I was again at the Raisina Hill taking pictures. Fortunately, there weren't many people there and the police were also not in a mood to exhibit their authority and stop photographers from clicking to their heart's content. The fountain was working and the pigeons were having a gala time.

December Theme Day: Action Shot: Photo Drive

This is me in action, shooting while driving!

December theme day is here again reminding us that the year is about to end. Generally, I spend the last month of the year looking back at what happened in my life, good as well as bad. The main aim of the exercise is to ensure I do not skip a lesson that life wanted to teach me. The year, tough as it was, taught me to keep going and look forward come what may. This year will be improtant for me for a lot of reasons two of them:

1. I bought my first DSLR camera.
2. I fell in love with the roads of Delhi once again.

How was your year?

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Waiting

Ross was waiting Akshat (my younger brother) to come back from college. I love this expression of his :-)

इश्क-ए-दिल्ली Loving Delhi

Earlier this year, the Delhi Government held many events celebrating 100 years of Delhi being named the capital city of India. Unfortunately, I was not in the city or in the mood for celebration then. But I think it is never too late to join the party so I decided to explore some treasures of the city I had heard a lot about but never explored myself. First on my list was the Light and Sound Show called, Ishq-e-Dilli (Love for Delhi) at Purana Qila or Old Fort.

The show beautifully captures the history of Delhi, how the city passed on from the hands of one ruler to the other and how several men and women have expressed their love for the city from time to time. I would recommend everyone living in Delhi or visiting it to see the show at least once.

The dimly lit Old Fort and the nip in the air created the perfect ambiance for a magical evening of history, sound, light and love for Delhi.

The number 4 instruction left me a little disappointed but with a huge smile the staff there told me that only commercial photography was not allowed. I could take my camera.

We were greeted with these curtains on the wall that was to function as our stage.

The curtains were raised and history unfolded.

A scene from the Mahabharata.

The Kohinoor Diamond

A Kathak dancer dancing to the song written by Khusro

India Gate

Jama Masjid

Purana Qila

Destruction of the city

Everything turning into ash

Wars with the British led to a lot of bloodshed.

British General

Mahatma Gandhi

The Indian Tri-Colour; The National Flag of India

Tryst with Destiny

Kite flying on Independence Day

Symbolic image of Hindu-Muslim Unity

Celebrations

Fireworks