Ghumakkar's Diary

I had a few pics for the subject, I tried to write down a few lines that could rhyme ( or at least be read like rhyming ), then honoring my limits I took recess to Google search and could find what I had in my mind at BrainyQuotes .  The truth is I love being alive. And I love feeling free. So if I can't have those things then I feel like a caged animal and I'd rather not be in a cage. I'd rather be dead. And it's real simple. And I think it's not that uncommon   ~ Angelina Jolie  Let me be free... This is how I ended up saying I'd rather be dead  impromptu when asked what I want to do in my life. :)  Well, this pic was shot at ghats of Ganga (Ganges) in Varanasi with a telescopic lens and is my current Whatsapp DP. Not just the kid's mood, I love the mood of complete picture which has absolutely no relation with what the kid is up to. Also, I am in deep love with Angelina's lips , but that's another story. This picture post is an ...

Varanasi is world famous for annual celebration of Ram Leela and Krishna Leela. Leela or Lila means an act or dance. Particular chapters of the Leela have got associated with particular places in the city. Like, Bharat-Milap ( when Ram returns to Ayodhya and meets his younger brother Bharat ) of Naati Imli, Ravana-dahan ( burning the effigy of Ravana on the tenth day of Dussehra ) of RamNagar and Nag Nathaiya of Tulsi Ghat. Krishna and Balram at the Leela It’s said that the Leela of Nag-Nathaiya was started way back in 16 th century by Tulsidas. The tradition is still being followed at the Tulsi Ghat and is being organised by Tulsi Das Akhada. Tulsi ghat is almost adjacent to famous Assi Ghat. Nag Nathaiya is celebration of young Krishna’s victory over a gruesome serpent Kaaliya. It is organised on the Chaturthi tithi of Karthik month of Hindu calendar. This is the fourth day from Diwali and falls in the month of November-December. Nag Nathaiya basically means 'controlli...

This Diwali, I was lucky enough to witness the famous Nag Nathaiya festival of Varanasi . Thanks to my best friend’s father, we got VIP passes of the fest and with the help of DSLR and its long zoom lens, could get VIP-Media treatment too. I took a lot of pictures of the festival, and to not to miss a single Best shot – I was on Burst mode. Back home, doing basic processing I got what I love to discover – a pristine Smile ! This smile developed on an old lady’s face, when she was able to reach the feet of Krishna and accomplish a feat! Religiously pure bliss, Blessed!  Look at the anxiety on the Old Lady's face (Behind the marigold flower, left corner) And now the Smile of Being Blessed :) Shot these pictures using Nikon D5000 using 55-300 lens at f/4.8 Exposure 1/100 ISO700 and edited on Picasa for dramatic enhancement of the subject. Keep smiling, Keep posing :)

(This post was written a year back and forgotten. Before I leave for Banaras this Diwali, I thought to share the pictures) For us festivals, especially Holi and Diwali, are occasions to celebrate our friendship and the bond with the eternal city of Banaras. Sometimes I think I should write on Banaras every now and then. Then, there comes another nonsense (!) thought that is it because it would be easier for me to do so? Well, a plain answer to the question is, be it a small or large city - its hell difficult to write regularly on it even if you are a native or in love/hate relationship with it. And, if it’s the case of the one of the oldest living city on the planet, the situation becomes rather difficult. So, not pondering about the above thoughts (which I would like to discuss some other time under Random Thoughts), it would be easier to write the best part of my recent  last year's short visit to Varanasi or Banaras. Banaras Ghats बनारस के घाट  Visit...

Mystic, yoga, ghats – is it only what you saw when visited Varanasi? One certainly plans a lot, both spiritually and economically before visiting the one of World’s Oldest living city, but what if one has just a few hours in hands and one wants to visit just a few places that most have missed? Graffiti at Rajendra Prasad Ghat Just a few hours and three places in Banaras aka Benaras. First, being a long-forgotten architectural marvel built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, in the series of Astronomical Observatories or Jantar Mantar across the country. Taken care by Archaeological Survey of India, Jantar Mantar of Banaras is situated at Rajendra Prasad Ghat , just adjacent to famous Dashaswamedh Ghat . This monument not only provides an opportunity to observe the old instruments ( yantras ) but also give a splendid look of the Ghats. This monument can be easily reached by Varanasi Railway station by auto-rickshaw that would put you on grounded roller coaster ride for abou...

"तो कौन सा गाँव बताया आपने?" पूरी कोशिश करने के बाद भी जब महाशय मेरी जात का पता नहीं कर पाए, तो अंतिम प्रयासों में उन्होंने गाँव, देहात से अंदाजा लगाने चाहा. सुधाजी के रेलप्रसंग  को पढने पर मुझे ये पुरानी घटना याद आई, उनके ही सुझाव पर आलसी होने के बावजूद मैंने इसे शब्दों में गुथने की कोशिश की. वाराणसी रेलवे स्टेशन  ये बात कोई आठ-एक साल पुरानी होगी, मैं तब B.Sc. कर रहा था, और उस बनारस से पटना की रेल यात्रा पर था. बनारस से वस्तुतः कोई सीधी और अच्छे समय की ट्रेन नहीं है पटना के लिए, तो ज्यादातर जनता भारत के सबसे बड़े रेलवे जंक्सन, मुगलसराय, से ट्रेन पकड़ना पसंद करते हैं. जगह की किल्लत और संभवतः engineering की कोई महान रचना करने के लिए, कुछ भारतीय रेलवे स्टेशन अजीबोगरीब रूप में गधे हुए हैं, वास्तु भी एक कारण हो सकता है. मुगलसराय, अल्लाहाबाद और खरगपुर कुछ ऐसे ही स्टेशन हैं जहाँ अगर लोकल जनता ने मदद नही की तो आप ट्रेन पकड़ चु...

When travelling is your passion, you are bound to see a lot in your life, meet a thousand through your journey. I realised a day back only that most of us love to write what we did on our trip, what places we visited, how was the road, the hotel, the people. The People! Do we actually write about the people we met, or the men or women we spend a good time with? I did meet few people on rides, while flying or on train journey who left a deep impression on me. But, never actually took pain, if any, to jot down about them. Just them and there stories. So, in this post I will be talking about the People only, a few of the few meeting with whom I still cherish. If you RIDE a Bullet, you ought to know him There are many a people all over India and World, who love to ride. Few of them love to brag about there rides, most are just concerned about there rides. I belong to the earlier class, ride and blow your own trumpet! This person, about whom I’m writing this section, religiousl...

This year, though just for 2days, I was finally able to visit my Banaras to spend the Diwali time with my best mates. Like the Holi visit, one of the most important part of the visit was photography . So, we had a Subah-e-Banaras and caught as many as angles of the ghats and the visitors as our naive brains can allow and imagine. At one of the ghats, we found children of 10-12 years group fighting, pushing each-other and diving in the river Ganga. Though I do have a merry life, but the break-free attitude they had...made me real envy. I was living the best life, when I wasn't aware of the terms - caste, society, politics, professionalism and so on....with the waning years, my enthusiasm towards everything, including Life and Myself - the two things I love most! Anyways, I clicked this photo just a few days back at a ghat of Banaras using my old D5000 and a new 55-300 lens. Just the basic editing has been done. No cropping, as I wanted to show the ' regular ' life al...

Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II , Founder King of the Jaipur city, established five Yantra Mantra  ( the instrument and formula )  or Jantar Mantar in five cities of West Central India between 1727 and 1734 at Jaipur , Delhi, Ujjain, Mathura and Varanasi . Most famous being the ones at Jaipur and Delhi; very few people know about the other three and fewer have even visited them. Graffiti at Rajendra Prasad Ghat I came to know about Varanasi’s own Jantar Mantar few years ago, when wandering at Ghat we noticed a building near the vegetable market at Rajendra Prasad Ghat .  This Ghat is next to the famous Dashaswamedh Ghat of the city. The building is locally known as Man Mahal or Man Mandir ( 25.307699, 83.010807 ), and the adjacent ghat as man Mandir Ghat.. As per ASI, it was erected by the Maharaja Man Singh of Amber in around 1600 AD. Later Maharaja Savai Jai Sigh II (1699-1743 AD) constructed the observatory on the terrace of the palace. This observatory is ...

“Roads are quite like our lives with so many types of curves. None can predict what’s on the other side. Enjoying the Blind curves of Life” I met Ranjit at Andy’s garage, on the Planning day for the RM East ride. He was the one interested in riding back to Mumbai via Varanasi -Delhi route. My wish to ride on NH2 had some selfish reasons; first, that I wanted to visit my home at Varanasi on my Bullet since the day I bought it and second, that there’s a saying in Geological world that on an expedition never take the same route while traversing back to the camp, it helps you experiencing more and more of the terrain. Until 23rd January night, I was unaware of riding plans. Guri paji asked if I am game to ride Golden Quadrilateral with him and Ranjit. I was like – hell Yeah! So, it was stamped and we geared up with GoogleMap, Ranjit’s Maps Of India book, and advices from all who have had ridden on Delhi-Kolkata highway. View Larger Map As planned we prepared to start a...

“ Abe, CAT results are out, where are you ” “ Saale, fod diya! I just saw the results, am in Cyber café, Lanka. Scored 98! What’s your? ” “ I too checked, it’s 90! Chal, meet me at Dept, ask Vivert to be there too; we’ll celebrate. ” It was our final year of Graduation course at Banaras Hindu University, and most of us have given the Common Admission Test to IIMs or CAT. Few were sincere, most, including me, were testing there caliber. Prasoon was though the only person who was determined to get in to some good MBA college, and had prepared hard for the last two years. Vivert didn’t apply and Naveen was still weighing the MBA degree against the MSc-Geology degree. I was like let’s appear and see what aptitude (!) I carry :p Whatever and howsoever we prepared for the D-day, results were more or less as expected. Prasoon scored 98, I 90 and we never came to know what other guys had. It was 6th January, 2006; just another day of winters in Banaras. As the results were ou...

In that very safe Railway’s Colony, my father had that privileged pink colored Pass.  He was someone, without whom it was almost impossible to manage the sanitary condition of that big colony of Diesel Locomotive Works at Varanasi , accommodating over 4000 employees and their families. I was about 8years old then. Curfew was lifted during 4-6 PM, that time I was assigned the task to go out and buy vegetables and milk. I don’t remember for what duration we spent our days and nights in that period, but I do know that it left deep signatures on my soul; especially, what I saw at that Nukkad , after those riots and curfew. Kalyan Singh was Chief Minister when Babri Masjid was demolished, and communal clashes resulted in loss of thousands of human life. Later, Union Government dissolved Uttar Pradesh assembly, and enacted President’s Rule. Next mid-term election was scheduled in mid 1993, and party’s started their campaign. Once I was returning from market, and I saw some ...

Last year, I could not go to my hometown, Banaras (Varanasi वाराणसी or Kashi काशी) on Diwali (Deepawali). That was one of the worst days of my life, that I realized when we had to go out for the dinner and we missed the suite of delicious home-made pakwans (food). Next day only, I booked round-trip tickets for Banaras. And, wallah , what fun I had this time on Holi....after a long gap...we played holi going topless (nicer term for tearing tees n shirts) with all sort of colors, gulaal and MUD! :)) It took me over 2hrs to be somewhat recognisable, and I still have my nails red coloured! But, what we guys, me n my ol'school friends, really treasured this Holi is the bond....nothing can ever break! Never ever! :) As promised this post is to share with you all my Holi-pictures.... The Holi Gang The Holi Gang Pose 2 Mud'incarnation Phase 1 Mud'incarnation Phase 2 Some deshi-pakwan after the tussel His Highness "Me" And finally, a video.... Ultimate Video...Not a G...