Vibrant: Delhi has some really interesting places and things to explore. one of them is the bangles shop particularly at night. The glitters, colours and glasses of the assortment of bangles lined up for display makes it so attractive – even for someone who never buys them. The photographs here were taken during the Diwali craft bazaar at the Dilli Haat grounds.
©ingallei
The Daily Post prompts us on ‘Optimistic‘ while Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge for this week is ‘Pink-Magenta Flowers‘: for me the two prompts seem to converge on an afternoon of Pink Ice flowers.
Flowers never fail to lift my spirits. Sometimes I just like to sit in gardens or lawns among the plants and flowers. These pictures were taken on one such occasion when I spent a lazy post-lunch winter afternoon on a break from a long spell of what seemed to be highly unproductive effort to finish something I was working on. For the short time I spent there, it made me feel good to reconnect with nature and remain positive.
Cee’s challenge invites for flowers in the colour range of pink to magenta. I am sticking to the colour pink and to one flower, the Pink Ice flower. I got distracted with the bees hovering around these flowers. It was such fun to watch the buds unfurling right before your eyes in moments. In the next few moments, the first bee sat on it and in a short while there was a party of bees! I did have fun taking these pictures. It was much later that I realised I had not taken any photograph to capture the flower itself as the main focus!!
©ingallei
p.s. trying out the slideshow in this post, not quite able to make up my mind if i like it or not. would really like to hear your thoughts
Scene depicting the turbulence at the Loktak Lake: Choreographed by CYCA Khurai
A moment from the play ‘Poubilai’ depicting the turbulence at the lake caused due to overt human activity that wreaks havoc to aquatic life leading finally to the emergence of the monstrous Poubilai sleeping in the belly of the lake from its deep slumber. He, in turn, turns his ferocity towards human kind as vengeance.
A production of the CYCA Khurai, the play was staged at the National Museum, Delhi at the inauguration of the exhibition on ‘One Object Exhibition: Poubilai‘ organised by the Bhopal based institute of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangralay (IGRMS).
©Ingallei
Portulaca Grandiflora
Another one from my Mashoodpur visit. I found this hardy little plant nonchalantly flowering among the stones and bricks of the wall between two houses in this little urban village of Delhi.
I am not able to recall its name in my native language but i used to have this in my flower-pot sometime back. It is quite a perfect kind of plant to be suspended in those hanging pots. It has bigger flower – bigger than the one in this picture which is in fact smaller than that of an oxalis bloom. The ones in my flower spot had similarly given miniature versions of the bloom just like this one but its parent plant had bigger blooms. I wonder if it has to do with soil.
According to the flowers of India, this is the portulaca grandiflora also called the moss rose. I always thought portulaca was another plant (apparently i had mistaken it for purslane). the interesting thing is how this flower is quite the time-keeper: in Bangladesh it is known as time-phool (time flower), in Hindi it is called nau-baje or 9 o’clock as it flowers around this time of the day and in Vietnam it is called 10 O’clock.
It must be quite a punctual flower to be given such a time-specific name! I wonder what it would have been called before the clock was invented!
©Ingallei
My second post from my Mashoodpur visit. As I mentioned in my first post, I had accompanied a friend to this rather large urban village of Delhi. As part of her own research, Supriya Singh is studying the available water resources and access to water in the village. As we walked down in the interiors of the village, we were welcomed by two ladies to drop by. Their house was a one-storeyed structure surrounded by three-or-so storeyed buildings from three sides with the one remaining side opening out to a small path that serves as an artery between the congested houses. On the roof of the house, I came across several items that were of little or no use value. In this corner is a pile of earthen pots which, I presume can still be used but is not of much use. Perhaps, a similar fate is that of the spindle on the side. The water cooler stand has perhaps been not of use this summer as it stands in the sunny roof.
©Ingallei
In the village of Mashoodpur, Delhi
Some days back, I accompanied a friend on a visit to Mashoodpur, an urban village in Delhi. I happened upon this big babool (sc. vachellia nilotica) tree with lovely yellow flowers. I caught sight of many children playing around in the ground partially shaded by the tree. A barber had also opened shop in the open area – his shop consisted of a chair, a mirror and his tools. He was busy with his customer. The scene reminded me of a lifestyle that I no longer associate with Delhi.
I took a couple of pictures of the tree and wondered if I should take a picture of the scene in front of me or if people would mind me doing so. That was when a couple of children intervened to take the decision for me. They happily asked me to take their picture.
Visual 