197 - 30th - Jungle Safari

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 30th June'08

This one is again from the Africam Safari in Puebla. Though you are allowed to drive in your own vehicle & even a rented taxi, there are these big jungle safari vehicles which take you on a tour of the whole place.

These vehicles are appropriately painted in "jungle" colors with all different animals appearing on different sides of them.

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196 - 29th - African shop

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 29th June'08

This dummy shop apparently run by an African, was set up in the middle of one of the sections in Africam Safari at Puebla. There were fruits, vegetables and many other things neatly arranged in various cartons.

The dark guy, most probably the shopkeeper, didn't look too much interested in the business though :)

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195 - 28th - The peacock dance

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 28th June'08

It was a cloudy day and I was walking past a sugarcane field near my home in Lucknow, when I saw a group of peacocks at a distance. As I was standing there and deciding on the appropriate angle to shoot, I saw one of them open their wings and dance. It was a really a magical sight.

As this lone peacock was dancing, the rest of them were singing in unison.

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194 - 27th - Birds of love

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 27th June'08

Love is one pure feeling in this world which binds one and all; humans and animals alike. There is no better view of nature than to see two souls entangled in the magical strings of love. Love someone & you find yourself living in a completely different world, where all it matters is how you can love more.

I captured these love birds in my camera from my apartment in Mexico City while they were busy singing the love song :)

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193 - 26th - Colorful chillies

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 26th June'08

I was walking through a local flower exhibition near Zona Rosa, Mexico City when I came across this colorful display of tiny chillies. A combination of Red, Yellow & Green spread across the floor was a fabulous scene to look at. One small pot of these colorful chillies was sold at 50 Mexican Pesos, which is around 200 Indian rupees.

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192 - 25th - Photographing the photographer

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 25th June'08

Its really amazing how a photographer looks while taking a picture. He becomes completely oblivious of his surroundings and all he has in his mind is the scene he is concentrating on. We usually find them in awkward positions; sometimes half bent, sometimes leaning backwards, sometimes almost lying flat on the ground :) Thats the magic photography does on serious pursuers.

I knew what the lady is aiming at, but I am still not sure what the guy sitting below is up to :P

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191 - 24th - Sun dried

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 24th June'08

This flower resembled a "multi-shoot" gun barrel of a military warship when I first saw it. Numerous empty barrels in concentric circles, ready to spit fire. Actually it is an empty dried shell of a flower which was baked by the heat of the sun. But it certainly doesn't look any less attractive after its death too. Beauty they say, is in the eyes of the beholder & certainly in the lens of my camera :)

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190 - 23rd - The drowning olive

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 23rd June'08

Though the image is not clear in full size & contains a lot of noise, but I really wanted to post this one due the sheer interest I had in the way it actually looked. A green juicy olive dipped in a chilled glass of bubbling sprite. Though the olive doesn't really go with sprite, but on my case it had to, cauz I am not into hard drinks :)

The bubbles rising out of it were the one which caught my attention and made me click this one. Due to the lack of proper lighting I couldn't get a clear shot, but i was pretty much satisfied with the overall look of the image.

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189 - 22nd - Magnificently White

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 22nd June'08

White Tiger (Panthera tigris) is a tiger with a genetic condition that nearly eliminates pigment in the normally orange fur although they still have dark stripes. Compared to orange tigers without the white gene, white tigers tend to be larger both at birth and at full adult size. The unusual coloration of white tigers has made them popular in zoos and entertainment that showcases exotic animals. (Courtesy Wikipedia)

I shot this one at the Africam Safari in Puebla. It was brought from the tiger reserve in Bengal, India.

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188 - 21st - The green flower

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 21st June'08

Matching with the all the green color around it, this flower was not looking that magnificently colorful, but it had a sense of beauty and attraction of its own. Made of tiny little "flower-lets" it was giving an appearance of "scene-within-a-scene" with numerous small flowers hidden inside a bigger entity.

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187 - 20th - Music on the streets

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 20th June'08

Talent they say can be found hidden anywhere. It doesnt need big concert halls, nor does it needs widespread appreciation. All it needs is a small world of itself where it can flourish and fly with it's wings spread wide.

This man whom I found with his guitar sitting in the mid of the road was a perfect example of lost-in-his-own-little-world syndrome. He wasn't sitting there for alms. Neither did he care if anyone was listening to him. All he cared was about him and his passion towards his music. When asked for a photo, he was all ready with a strange "pacified" look on his face.

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186 - 19th - The purple patch

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 19th June'08

We were roaming around the dry brown grounds adjacent to the pyramid of Cholula to see the different archaeological sites. The ground was parched and dry with little or no signs of greenery. But among all that "lifelessness" I saw a couple of purple patches from a distance. As I went near I could see these small purple flowers blooming in between of the gloom.

Its amazing how nature exhibits such contrasting forms of life in a single ecological subsystem.

I had to go down to the ground's level to get this shot. Click here to see me taking the photo. This was clicked by a friend.

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185 - 18th - Bursting out

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 18th June'08

I really love the patterns the orange evening sun sometimes makes with the dark clouds trying to shield it from the earth. Sometimes they depict sheer beauty and an amazig work of art by nature, while at others it seems to a big struggle between the two elements of lord Indra.

This is one such struggle I captured at dusk.

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184 - 17th - Stretched out

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 16th June'08

Though sitting besides the wings on a window seat in an airplane can be a show-spoiler for some, I really like it due to a couple of reasons. First, it makes me realize the magnanimity of the thing and really inspires me to stretch my own wings and soar high up in the sky. Secondly, being less philosophical and more childish, I really enjoy seeing the wings tilt left and right when the aircraft changes directions. You can actually see the wings changing inclinations and feel the tilt. Sometimes it is enjoyable and sometimes scary. But I really like it.

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183 - 16th - Ready to sail

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 16th May'08

The waters seem to be deep and troubled. There is a high probability that this turbulence could take its toll on me. But that won't stop me to step in and face the challenge. I need to take my chances and see if it was worth it. Because if I don't, I would never know whether the magic was for real. Whether something which looked so beautiful and amazing was really worth giving a chance.

So, I have decided to jump in and test the waters. I am ready to sail.

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182 - 15th - As if I'm dreaming

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 15th June'08

I was sitting and observing this group of children for a long time. The sheer happiness & the vivid expressions on their face made me forget everything and just stare at them. They took me into a third world, free of all worries and sadness, where I too was a kid, void of all earthly attachments.

When I clicked the photo, it was as if my thoughts had just descended into the camera.

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181 - 14th - Adiosito

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 14th June'08

I have spent around 9 months in Mexico, 3 trips, 3 months each. But this time when I headed back towards India, my heart was heavy like never before. The way I got attached to the place and the people during this trip was something very special. I felt as if I am leaving something precious behind and that I am going to miss it forever.

Sometimes you have things for ages and you feel no attachment & sometimes a mere touch makes you remember something forever. Thats the magic of life.

Though nothing special in this photo, I just wanted to post it, to mark the day.

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180 - 13th - On the rocks

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 13th June'08

The sun was just coming out of its slumbers and I could see the dark orange light scattered all over the horizon. I had painted exactly the same scene in my mind since the previous night & I knew that to get this shot, I had to be at the right place, at the right time. The ball of fire was growing big and I was still far away from the "clickable" spot. So, I put the camera around my neck and raced towards the rocks. Just to reach in time and get the picture I had thought of.

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179 - 12th - At the beach

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 12th June'08

A lazy Sunday evening, probably a holiday for these fishermen too. All the boats were anchored ashore and the fishing nets bundled, scattered everywhere. Fishermen were lazing around; some chatting in pairs, others perched on their boats, staring idly at the vast stretch of the ocean in front of them.

This was the scene at a beach in Mahabalipuram on one fine Sunday evening.

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178 - 11th - Yellow bouquet

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 11th June'08

A bunch of yellow flowers, hanging on a thin branch & making it swing under their weight. In fact, the whole plant was laden with these small yellow bouquets. If you look from a distance, you could see a magnificent view of a yellow shrub glowing in the glory of its beautiful flowers.

I took this photo at a beach resort in Mahabalipuram, near Chennai.

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177 - 10th - Gnarled

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 10th June'08

I was sitting on a bench, waiting for the bus to come. Just near to me this fat root of a nearby tree was bulging of the ground. It was surprisingly fat and gnarled and had a wonderful wooden texture. A close up was definitely a nice one to shoot.

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176 - 9th - The road not taken

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 9th June'08

I saw this place and it immediately reminded me of the famous poem by Robert Frost - "The road not taken"

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I took this photo during my last transit break in Frankfurt, Germany. I never posted it as I always had better options. But today when I am posting it out of necessity, it isn't looking any less beautiful.

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175 - 8th - Size matters

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 8th June'08

I was walking past this flower shop which had hordes of different flowers kept in huge buckets just outside it's entrance. Though there were around 30 different types of flowers, all unique in their own way, these huge sunflowers were the ones which caught my attention at the first sight. Their bright color contrast and obviously the enormous size compared to other flowers kept around, definitely makes them stand out in the crowd.

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174 - 7th - The 9 ball game

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 7th June'08

Last time I played before before this Friday, was back in 2004, in my 3rd year of college. Also, that was the first time I touched the cue. But this weekend, I played the game for around 8 hours, Friday and Saturday combined. Suddenly, I am in love with the game and have decided to put it into my "to-do-once-in-two-weeks" list.

Clicked this one with my N95 while others were busy "holing" the balls :)

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173 - 6th - The purple bunch

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 6th Jun'08

It looks like a bouquet, small violet flowers tied together in a bunch. Just before blooming, they are green in color, before attaining this vibrant hue within a couple of weeks. The flower is odorless but that doesn't make it any less attractive.

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172 - 5th - Rock hard

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 5th June'08

He lay majestically out in the open - hard as a rock. We were moving around him for about 10 minutes and he didn't even wink his eye. He just lay down in complete oblivion with everything happening around him.

But don't mistake this animal for being lazy just because it appears that way. Rhinos are capable of running much faster than humans & in an open battle field can easily overcome any hostile enemy.

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171 - 4th - Clay pottery

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 4th June'08

I was sitting and enjoying my coffee in the apartment lobby the other day when I noticed this set of pottery kept on th table opposite to me. From a distance it was giving more of a "metallic" look due to the shiny brown polish it had. But as I went closer and touched it I realized that it actually was made up of clay. Carving such beauties of of dead mud is really a terrific form of art.

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170 - 3rd - Thirsty

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 3rd June'08

It was a humid Sunday afternoon in Mexico City & I was walking past my office building when I noticed this bird quenching it's thirst at a nearby fountain. If I hadn't actually seen it flying and then landing at the place, it would have been difficult for me to even notice it, given its color being perfectly in sync with the background.

I had to be very careful not to scare it but still get a close enough shot.

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169 - 2nd - Count the animals

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 2nd June'08

This photo is just like one of those "find the objects" puzzles. Though the elephant appears to be the only animal visible, if you see closely, there are many others. Can you find out how many are there?

I could find 5 :)

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168 - 1st - On cloud 9

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 1st June'08

My plane just took off from the Frankfurt airport towards Mexico city when I saw this spectacular view from the window. Small chunks of snow-white clouds scattered all beneath me, as far as my sight could reach. I literally felt "on top of the world". The sight was so awesome that you could just sit there and admire the magnanimity of which you are completely oblivious when on ground.

I took this photo from my N95 & given the shield of glass between the camera and the view, the clarity of the picture was considerably good.

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