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Food for life, originally uploaded by sanil photography/myfocuz.com.

These are people who were working in a lake for constructing a resort. in the middle of lake. However there are no facilities of motor boat or anything to take this things there. These guys move the floating pipes slowly by pulling the wooden polls piled inside the lake, it takes an hr to reach the piling ship anchored on the lake

Homage to Gandhi, originally uploaded by pallab seth.

An old local farmer grazing his goats rekindled the memories of Gandhi's simplicity and the Sabarmati Ashram.

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

Devaliya Naka, originally uploaded by Raveesh Vyas.

There is a tent site near Devaliya Naka, Sasan Gir. I came to know about it only on my last day in Sasan Gir. Spent one night here. It is very cheap and right in the middle of the jungle. It is around Rs. 300-400/night for a couple. The food's amazing. The kitchen is shown above.

The site/kitchen is owned/run by a family of farmers to supplement their income. Support local industry when you travel. Say no to 5 stars.

Living on the edge.., originally uploaded by Dwiraj.

Varanasi is not only about prayers, saints and nice boating but there are other aspects of life as well..something, that doesn't depend on tourist season or weather..

It is not a story for only varanasi but almost all the rivers in india..no control on polluting the water..
no point in going into this debate if i don't do anything to help it but a sad overall story..
here are all poor kids but the bigger culprits are the industries.
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anyway, probably within next few years, we can find lots of video tutorials on youtube saying "how to change color of your river from black to blue" ;-)

Market Kids, originally uploaded by Dr.M@hen.

These poor kids sleep, Eat, Play (if they get time) and WORK in this market. I think any country can be called devoleped only if 100% of the kids get education, clean place, food and water to drink and Health care. Child Labour should be strictly monitored and curbed. Children should get back their precious childhood! Please say NO to child labour!

Marching Ahead : The Heart of India, originally uploaded by Kausthub.

India is marching ahead as a powerful nation towards the next century.

As it rides the waves of progress, much of agricultural land is being taken away forcibly or otherwise from farmers and converted into factories.

After I clicked a few shots of this farmer, I went over to him and asked him if he was worried about farming becoming obselete.

His pride that shows so clearly through his stance here, expressed very clearly through his answer. "No, I am not worried. After all every one needs to eat. So we will need farms."

I hope every country marching ahead will remember this, and not destroy our wonderful agricultural industry.

Photographed with Canon EOS 5D Mark II, and Canon EF 50mm F1.2 IS USM L Lens

go india, originally uploaded by ramesh_lalwani.

A common sight on busy street crossing in Delhi.

Arial view of a Mumbai slum, originally uploaded by priyam_dhar.

Arial view of a Mumbai slum. Mumbai; India’s financial capital. A big part of it’s population leaves at slums.

The art of make-up, originally uploaded by Jyothi Vaidyanathan.

Kathakali artists getting ready for their performance.

Kathakali is a highly stylised classical Indian dance-drama noted for its attractive make-up of characters, their elaborate costumes, detailed gestures and well-defined body movements presented in tune with the anchor playback music and complementary percussion. It originated in the country's southern state of Kerala during the 16th century AD, approximately between 1555 and 1605, and has been updated over the years with improved looks, refined gestures and added themes besides more ornate singing and precise drumming
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathakali

Rugmangada Charitam organized by Ernakulam Kathakali Club.
Cochin, Kerala

reflections, originally uploaded by Sayantan Bera.

Life plays on in myriad hues of work, idyll and introspection, albeit at a pace bordering on slow motion. Barber Shop, Old Delhi.

Banjaras - Nomadic beauty, originally uploaded by Feroze Babu.

The Banjaras are the largest and historic formed group in India and also known as Lambadi or Lambani. The Banjara people are a people who speak lambadi or Lambani. All gypsy languages are linked linguistically, stemming from ancient Sanskrit and belonging to the North Indo-Aryan language family. Lambadi is the heart language of the Banjara, but it has no written script. The Banjara speak a second language of the state they live in and adopt that script.

Dhoda (Toda)Dancers, originally uploaded by ramesh_lalwani.

The Toda people are a small pastoral community who live on the isolated Nilgiri plateau of Southern India. Prior to the late eighteenth century, the Toda coexisted locally with other communities, including the Badaga, Kota, and Kurumba, in a loose caste-like community organization in which the Toda were the top ranking.[1] The Toda population has hovered in the range 700 to 900 during the last century.[1] Although an insignificant fraction of the large population of India, the Toda have attracted (since the late eighteenth century), "a most disproportionate amount of attention because of their ethnological aberrancy"[1] and "their unlikeness to their neighbours in appearance, manners, and customs 9Wikipedia)

Face of God, originally uploaded by K G Balu.

Theyyam, one of the most ritual art form in North Kerala, India, . (consisting of present-day Kannur and Kasargod districts) As a living cult with several thousand-year-old traditions, rituals and customs, it embraces almost all the castes and classes of the Hindu religion in this region. The term Theyyam is a corrupt form of Daivam or God. People of these districts consider Theyyam itself as a God and they seek blessings from this Theyyam.

He is a Theyyam performer. The art on his face called Mugathezhuthu.