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Inside artist home, originally uploaded by ramesh_lalwani.

West Bengal was theme for annual craft mela at Surajkund in Hrayana close to Delhi .A village scene of rural Bengal was created here.This is photo of interior of artist's home

tarpana III, originally uploaded by Samir D.

One important ritual of Hinduism is tarpana. Tarpana means “satisfying” or “satiating”. One acknowledges the debt one has to devas (gods), rishis (sages) and pitris
(ancestral manes) and tries to satisfy them using this ritual.Just as gods are invoked in fire in a homam, pitris are invoked in water in this ritual, then held in the palm and released in a specific way conducive to freeing them.

Tapasya (तपस्या), originally uploaded by Gulfu.

Tapasya is closely associated with meditation, fasting and the practice of yoga. Meditative tapas involves focusing entirely upon God, the Supreme Brahman and ignoring all environmental, artificial and other provocations or distractions. In the purest state of meditation, no thought save that of God must occupy the processes of the mind.

A tapasvin also practices brahmacharya, endeavoring to control all his or her biological instincts, functions and senses. Tapasvins reduce consumption of food and drink steadily, using their mental, intuitive force to reduce their biological needs. Ahimsa and vegetarianism, pure non-violence towards all living beings is practiced to eliminate anger, destructive impulses and avoid the foolishness of hurting others.

Fasting is accompanied by avoiding all cooked foods, especially spices and meats. Only fruits and roots are considered acceptable, and one may strive to reduce the quantity one has to consume.
/wiki

Muslims offering prayers, originally uploaded by anupama kinagi.

Muslims offer the early morning prayer at the Hamidiya Masjid, in Mumbai. Muslims across the nation celebrated Eid-Ul-Fitr or the 'festival of fast breaking' that marks the end of the holy month of Ramzan, after the sighting of the new crescent moon.

To the Lotus Temple, originally uploaded by Daria Wadsworth.

The Bahá'í House of Worship in Delhi, India. Built in 1986. As with all other Bahá'í Houses of Worship, the Lotus Temple is open to all regardless of religion, or any other distinction, as emphasized in Bahá'í texts.

Since its inauguration to public worship in December 1986, the Bahá'í House of Worship in New Delhi has, as of late 2002, attracted more than 50 million visitors, making it one of the most visited buildings in the world.

boarding_shatabadi, originally uploaded by ramesh_lalwani.

This is early morning scene at New Delhi Railway station.Shatabadi(Centenary)Express connects major towns like Agra ,Bhopal,Lucknow,Chandigarh Amristar etc.These are superfast trains quite popular with tourists and executives.This train goes to Chandigarh

Abhaya, originally uploaded by JP...

Gopal, Krishnakumar, Jawaharji and Naveen with Prof Sugathakumari and her children in 'Abhaya'- care home for the mentally ill and home for the girl child. Abhaya was founded by Prof.Sugathakumari, the renounned poetess and social activist in Kerala.

The photo was taken during the visit of members of Keralaclicks

Keralaclicks. We are very happy that we could support to 'Abhaya' in a small way through Drisyam@ananthapuri, thanks to the contribution from our members.
Drisyam@ananthapuri was the second photography exhibition by the members of the group.

Rameswaram - A holy dip, originally uploaded by oochappan.

Rameswaram Before going to the temple, cleaning your body, your soul, women with their sari on, a delight for young and old.

Legal Now. Deal With It., originally uploaded by Maya Mem.

Queer Azadi / Bombay's Pride March
August 16, 2009

Bimbavati Devi Manipuri Dance, originally uploaded by ramesh_lalwani.

Sangeet Natak Akademi organized annual festival of music,dance and drama from 10-16 SEPTEMBER 2009.I witnessed dance performance by Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar 2008 winners on 13th Sept.Here are photos of Bimabvati Devi Manipur,Arunima Kumar Kuchiudi and Vijay Kumar N Kathakali.

All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players -- William Shakespeare (Beach Series 3/5), originally uploaded by Fountain_Head.

It always makes me wonder on what constitutes happiness and who the happiest person on earth is. I have seen the richest of the rich with an unhappy face and the poorest of the poor having the time of their lives. It is one thing to say that ‘Happiness is a state of mind’ and all those high sounding euphemisms & an altogether different matter to follow those in real life. I would consider a person to be blessed if he can sleep peacefully at night throwing out all his problems.

I had completed my photo shoot for the day and was on my way back when I found this person sleeping in the beach. It was close to 9 AM in the morning and the sun was blazing in its full glory. Yet this guy was able to sleep in the sands unmindful of what was happening around him. God had indeed smiled on him!

Two life ….in one life time…., originally uploaded by Ragesh Vasudevan.

photo of Kalki and her friends…..(Kalki….founder and director of ..Sahodari foundation)
I really surprised to knew the struggle they had spend in this life time , …Once God gave them birth as male……with a feminine soul inside …they behave and think like girls…and every cells of their body wanted to be female ……. with an expensive surgery they all transgendered… ..and had overcame all the protest from family and society.Shot from Tamil Nadu, South India.

golden catch, originally uploaded by laijuyesh.

A morning scene from a fishing village nearby Kanyakumary, southern tip of Indian Mainland. Tamil Nadu. Rock Memorials of Swami Vivekananda and saint poet Thiruvalluvar are other major attractions in the southernmost city, which is the meeting point of the three water-bodies - Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea

holi 1, originally uploaded by ashok monaliesa.

in haryana the festiwal of Holi is being celeberated in a diffrent way. the woman beat the man with his korda and at the same time man put the water on his face in defence.

Black. Dwarka, originally uploaded by entrelec.

On the Dwarka ghats, some indian photographers make a business taking shots of the pilgrims coming for krishna.
We are not in Sicilia! The traditionnal women clothes of the area is about black and red. The women are listening the photographer , before posing, always in a very conventionnal way.
Men and women separately. Shot taken from Dwaraka, Gujrat.

Aranmula boat- Palliyodam, originally uploaded by SANAND K.

Palliyodams are Aranmula’s unique snake boats (‘’Chundan Vallam’’) which devotees hold in reverence, considering it as the divine vessel of the presiding deity in Sree Parthasarathy temple. These Palliyodams belong to different ‘’karas’’ (rustic parts) on the banks of river Pampa. Each one will usually have 4 helmsmen, rowers and singers. It is decorated with golden lace. There will be a flag and two or three ornamental umbrellas.
wki.

Tea Time in the High Himalayas At the road side Vegetable market Leh !, originally uploaded by Dreamzzzz.....

Usually Indian tea is the black tea with milk and sugar. Instead, I had the Ladakhi tea, which is green tea with butter and salt.

Ladakhis are particular about using fresh, not rancid butter for their tea. This is added with salt to a well-boiled infusion of tea to which a little bicarbonate of soda has been added. The mixture is then churned in a churn or `gur-gur` till all the ingredients are well blended. `Gur-gur` tea is made in bulk, can be kept hot, traditionally in a decorative copper pot on a charcoal brazier and more often in the prosaic thermos. This special kind of tea is drunk in enormous quantities by the Ladakhis, thirty or forty cups a day being quite a normal quota. It is both warming and nourishing, particularly when mixed with `tsampa` and is altogether a comforting drink in a cold climate.

It was evening time when I visited the market place in Leh and found these ladies having their quota of Tea/Chai :)

Munnar lady, originally uploaded by woolyboy.

Met this sweetheart of a lady high up in the tea plantations...she was intrigued by the fact I was out early in the morning with my camera. Though we did not speak each others language we did form an understanding...I asked her if there would be a view to capture from the top of the mountains. Next thing I knew she had taken my hand and led me to this location, she knew what I wanted because the views were absolutely breathtaking from this vantage point. Hope this is evident in the background.

You can see from her clothing she is ready to start picking,most of the other tea pickers were similarly attired, the bag on her side ready to be filled with the freshly picked leaves. Such a kind happy lady, I'm really pleased to have met her,we even had a few laughs along the way, a memorable morning I enjoyed so much. Hope I didn't get her into trouble with her boss......Munnar, Kerala India

IMG_1213, originally uploaded by Bindaas Madhavi.

Ploughing the fields and sowing sunflower seeds. These farmers are not the richer ones. they still reply on the oxen to do the ploughing no mechaniztion here. They probably own couple of acres at max. With rains playing traunt this season the sowing is delayed and they hope they will be able to make atleast some modest money to live this year

Flower Seller, originally uploaded by Lynn Morag.

We set off before 5am to arrive early at the flower market. Even so many people were leaving having already made their purchases. The atmosphere was wonderful with heaps of flowers everywhere. It was very dark inside - the blooms were illuminated by hanging lamps so I took almost all the shots without flash.
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Also more here, here and here

Life here often requires hard work. The heat would spoil many of these flowers later ... and people need flowers and garlands for the temples. Women wear fresh jasmine in their hair each day (no need for perfume!) So the traders buy their wares, return home and get weaving to sell their purchases and catch early morning commuters and worshippers. Creating the jasmine garlands is like weaving or knitting. Each flower bud is individually knotted into a length of cool, fragrant rope. But huge wreaths are also created for use in temples or hanging on gods or statues. They are used in pujas - a sort of blessing ceremony.

Le maître de danse, originally uploaded by >> Anne (partially submerged).

The Gu-stor festival begins with a ceremony in which liquid offering is presented to invite the gods of the four quarters to witness the sacred dances and protect all living beings from the evil spirits. The resident lamas of the Thiksay monastery, wearing masks of various divinities,which include the guardians of law or 'Dharmapalas',and patron divinities of the Geluk-pa monastic order.In closing of the 2-day festival ends with the dismemberment and dispersal of the 'Storma' (sacrificial cake molded from dough is in a ceremony called Dao-Tulva) by the leader of the Black Hat dancers in a ceremony called 'Argham' of 'Killing’ with the help of ritual weapons that symbolizes the banishment of the enemies of the religion(also re-enacts the assassination of the Tibetan apostate King Lang-dar-ma by a Buddhist monk during the mid 9th century).Its pieces are then dispersed in the 4 cardinal directions. This symbolizes the destruction of all forms of evil. In some monasteries, an effigy symbolizing the strong forces of evil is burnt at the end of the festival.

suivra un texte un peu plus documenté et plus adapté à Karsha....

Too much water hyacinth, originally uploaded by bag_lady.

Here you can see just how much of a problem it has become..... sometimes these small canoes wait for a larger boat then follow in their wake to get a clear passage through the water.