Ugrasen ki Baoli

Hola Chicos! 

More than a month later I picked up the camera again, today. This hiatus was partly because I was busy learning Spanish and partly because I was feeling lazy to do just a little more to go shutter-crazy. Thankfully, that period is behind me and I am ready again to make most of day. 

I tempted my friends (and colleagues) Sudeshna and Kanupriya to accompany me to the Ugrasen ki Baoli in Connaught Place during our lunch break. If I say so myself, we had a great time!

Golden walls

Light and shade

Ruins

Grafitti, motorcycle, and water bottles make for a modern art installation. 

Installation art!

 More graffiti!

Lady in red!

 Rules are important. Some, should not be broken EVER!

Rules

 Best study hall. EVER!

Lone reader

Four friends discussing history

The Blue stars continue to study hard, the White one looks at me. Suspiciously? Maybe!

I have never been able to resist (clicking) a man in white and blue ;-)

And then we turned the cameras to ourselves.

Kanupriya and Sudeshna all smiles

Kanupriya insists that she wants her chance behind the camera.

Sudeshna and I pose while people around us laugh their hearts out.

It was only polite that Sudeshna got a chance to hit the camera button. She clicked the best photograph of the day (in my opinion).

Kanupriya and I, colour coordinated

 We had a few more antics up our sleeves before we left.

Kanupriya trying (laughing) hard to pull the tiger's tongue out

On the way back to our office.

Gods keeping an eye on a bus stop

 We decided that we deserved burgers for lunch after so much hard work that we had put in. The bright walls of McDonald's welcomed us.

Which is the narrowest of them all?

A little play with the camera settings and I managed to experience (or at least my camera did) night while the sun shone brightly outside.

Modern art?

You can see my earlier posts on Ugrasen ki Baoli (also called Agrasen ki Baoli) here.

Hope I did good in my comeback post. Let's hope the good weather in Delhi continues, the festive spirit keeps me happy, and good friends accompany me to other nooks and crannies of the city so that I bring you more posts.




Till the next time,
Adiós!

Dastangoi

The regular visitors to the blog would have noticed that my outings have become few in number. I could make excuses like work keeps me busy, nothing interesting is happening anywhere in Delhi etc. But the truth is, I'd be lying. The fact is at 30, age seems to be catching up with me. I only attend events that excite me enough to push myself to leave the comfort of my home. 

Fortunately for me, Team Dastangoi and India Habitat Centre (IHC) announced a show titled New Tales from the Tilism-e Hoshurba sometime in July. I stalked Facebook pages, Twitter handles and the IHC programme desk. I mailed friends, blabbered about the previous shows I had seen and almost feared that I had oversold the experience of dastangoi to friends who had never watched it before. 

After having very expensive and really awful tasting milk shakes, the six of us headed to our seats--first row, almost centre. I was very pleased. And then the magic began, Poonam Girdhani & Namita Singhai took the stage first. They looked beautiful in their silver and white attires. They sounded even better. 

 

 

Then came the masters themselves, Danish Husain and Mahmood Farooqui,  and they transported the audience to a world of magic. Their words, expressions and actions ensured that every one in the hall sat mesmerised. I could not resist providing just a clip so that you could experience a little bit of magic. 


 

 

 

At the end of the evening, I was glad that I had not oversold the show to my friends. The six of us were smiling for a long, long time, happy that we had been under the spell of the dastangos for over two hours.

To know more about their performances: click here Dastangoi

AIIMS Flyover

The clouds and peeping blue skies make the AIIMS flyover look even more beautiful. The silver things are an installation commissioned by the Government of Delhi. Every time I cross the flyover, I get this weird sensation that someone is whispering in my ears, "You are not alone." As far as I'm concerned, these are connectors that have been planted by aliens. Thinking that makes the long periods of traffic jams on this route interesting :)

Of Anil Kapoor's hair, blogs and money

With the prices of petrol increasing as fast as hair on Anil Kapoor’s body, all bloggers, including yours truly, are finding new ways to increase their income. I searched far and wide and decided anything that pops in your face and keeps my readers away from photographs and posts was not going to be a part of either of my blogs. Thankfully, two of my favourite websites—Flipkart and Amazon—came to rescue. Half an hour of clicking, filing forms and selecting widgets, and I have found a perfect solution. Every perfect solution like the perfect murder needs an accomplice. So please agree to be an accomplice and every time you plan to buy anything from Flipkart or Amazon, log on to my blogs:

Delhi Photo Diary

Priyanka’s Point

1. Flipkart

I have signed up for Flipkart’s affiliate program, and every time you buy something after clicking from the link given on the right side bar on Delhi Photo Diary (within the same session), I get a small percentage of your purchase. 

2. Amazon

I am also an Amazon associate, so every time you click through the links given on Delhi Photo Diary and Priyanka’s Point (right side bars) and buy something on Amazon (within the same session), I get a small fee.

So please route all your shopping through my blogs and ensure that I go to more places, get more photos and pen more stories.

Thanks a lot!

Hauz Khas Village and Fort

My friends and colleagues often tease me that since my blog does not have a single post on Hauz Khas Village, I'm not a true Delhiite and definitely not a worthy Delhi photo-blogger. Finally, after 5 years I decided to make amends. I took a walk in the posh village market, which has the impressive Hauz Khas Fort as the backdrop, with my camera. Here is the loot:

Footnote: Marilyn Monroe, Jawaharlal Nehru and Krishna-Radha 

The Hauz Khas Fort overlooking the calm lake

Hauz Khas Lake

Marriage of two eras

Blue, green and the smell of history

On the watch

Let's walk, shop and eat

Who doesn't like a little bit of argument?

What a tease!

With the skies turning a threatening grey and the sun peaking from behind, showing hints of its golden light early morning last weekend, I picked my camera and decided to head to Purana Qila (Old Fort). The fort was majestic as usual. But the thing that made this trip special was me spotting a peacock ready to dance with all its feathers spread out to entice its mate. 

Grey skies, peaking gold

Dancing for its mate

Side profile

The bird was quick to spot me and decided to run in the other direction.

Escape

It stood at the top step and posed, giving me a slight hope of seeing its feathers in full bloom, hopefully from the front this time. Then like a tease decided to make me run after it.

Spotlight

 Unlike me, it was light on its steps and decided to walk on the wall of the fort. I could have continued to chase it if only the wall was not so narrow.

I knew I was beaten. I should huffing and panting. While the tease, the beautiful peacock, went as far as it could from my prying eyes.

Catch me if you can!

Rain or Happiness? You decide

Rains always bring with them a feeling of joy. The blast of colours from behind the screens laced with water droplets, caught my attention this Saturday evening as I drove around the city enjoying the rains that came early to Delhi this year.

Rain colour

A cup of coffee

This young boy and his enigmatic smile left me warm and smiling. He was selling gajras (small flower strings usually worn by women in their hair) on one of the busiest traffic signals of Delhi. With the rains bringing the temperatures down considerably, he was busy singing and splashing water in a huge pothole in the middle of the road. When he caught my eye, looking at him and smiling, he rushed to my window, smiled his big happy smile and asked me to click his photograph. After I obliged he asked me to buy some gajras as well. I, of course, could not say no to that smile. So I came home with the fragrance of rain infused with the fragrance of the white flowers.

White and the brilliant smile

Offering me beautiful flowers, with that brilliant smile

He made experiencing the rains better

Elephant spotting

An elephant is considered a good luck symbol by the Hindus. For me, it was a great way to start the day. I was on my way to Hauz Khas, when my rear view mirror became a bit more interesting as I saw the beautiful animal striding majestically.

Spotted!

Intimidating the automobile

And it gets closer

Photography - Getting Started by Ashok Kochhar

Three years after its opening, I visited the Kunzum Travel Cafe again today. I had fallen in love with the cozy little cafe in June 2010 and unfortunately did not return till today.

A friend informed me about a 4-session photography workshop titled, Photography - Getting Started, by Mr Ashok Kochhar at Kunzum. The Facebook events page showed other members of the ClickWalk group would be attending as well. I decided to brave the sun and headed to the Hauz Khas Village. The talk was interesting and catching up with fellow ClickWalkers was fun.

This new experience left me thinking a lot about what is my photography ideology. Hopefully, I'll learn new techniques of photography and also find a new facet of my personality in the course of the next three sessions of the workshop.

Here are some of the clicks from the day.

Mr Ashok Kochhar

My seat

The Kunzum Mug

The attentive class

Child's Play

Hindustan Times: Delhi Blog of the Week

I'll be turning 30, the big three O, over the weekend. I don't think the celebrations could have started in a better way. 

Delhi Photo Diary has been featured as the Hindustan Times Delhi Blog of the Week. It's a full circle moment for me since in the early days of my career I had been an intern with the organization. To be featured on its pages has brought a big smile to my face.

Thanks to all of you, who have been with me since March of 2008, exploring Delhi through my words and photographs. 

To Read, Click on the photo, and then enlarge :-)

Butterflies in Lodi Garden

An article a few days back in the national daily, The Times of India inspired to wake up early this Sunday morning and head to the Lodi Gardens. The beautiful winged insects, squirrels, red trees, people exercising and cobwebs ensured that I clicked only  a few frames of the monuments.