259 - 31st - Lines of power

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 31st Aug'08

We were zooming past the vast stretch of green fields on our way to Cuetzalan. I was observing the surroundings and searching for a nice landscape shot. Given the busy highway and the vehicles zipping past every second minute, we didnt have the luxury to stop and take some photos. So when I saw these power cables stretching for an endless distance, I decided to try my luck from the moving car & my luck didnt abandon me as much as I expected :)

I really loved the way these power connections lay across the frame; the open colorful background gave the whole picture a more vivid look.

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258 - 30th - I'll be there for you

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

"I,
Take you,
To be my (wife/husband);
To have and to hold,
From this day forward,
For better, for worse,
For richer, for poorer,
In sickness and in health,
To love and to cherish,
'Till death do us part."

They have traveled a long way together and supposedly went through all that life had to offer. They are still hand in hand like a never ending support for each other; now that the journey is reaching its end.

It must be really amazing to grow old with someone you love and to share your entire life with him/her. Love is something which spells such a magic on you that you get bound for a lifetime.

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257 - 29th - Escudo Nacional Mexicano

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

Escudo Nacional Mexico or Coat of Arms of Mexico has been an important symbol of Mexican politics and culture for centuries. The coat of arms depicts a Mexican golden eagle perched upon a cactus devouring a snake. To the people of Tenochtitlan this would have strong religious connotations, but to the Europeans, it would come to symbolize the triumph of good over evil. The national coat of arms is also used in the Seal of the United Mexican States, a modified official version used by the federal, state and municipal government.

The dark silhouette type image which came in bright contrast with the blue sky is a completely colorless version of how it is originally depicted on the Mexican flag.

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256 - 28th - Urban Ghosts

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

You wont believe this - I clicked this photo of an empty street late midnight at 1 AM. I came back home to see how the pictures have come & when I started checking the pictures, to my horror I could see so many ghostly figures roaming around on the supposedly empty place. Just enlarge the photo by clicking on it & you would be able to see hundreds of blurry people moving around against otherwise clear and sharp background.

To be serious, I was just testing the high aperture settings of my camera. Higher the aperture more is the exposure of the scene on the camera sensor; and hence the moving objects come blurred :) Didnt expect such an effect when I clicked it. But it certainly came out to be a different type of picture altogether.

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255 - 27th - Popeye the sailor man

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

Popeye used to be my favorite cartoon till 3 years back [that was when I started working :( ]. I used to love the starting music and used to sing along whenever it was shown on Cartoon Network.

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man,
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man.
I'm strong to the finich
Cause I eat my spinach.
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man.

I was immediately reminded of Popeye when I saw this naval guard at the Naval Museum in Veracruz. After being declined to take a pic by many security guards previously, I wasn't sure whether he would would allow me to take a shot. But once asked he was in this definitive pose at immediately and I took some nice shots :)

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Click here to see one of Popeye's cartoon episodes

254 - 26th - Emotions

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

Seldom have I seen a face so distinctly etched with emotions. I was sitting in a cafe having some snacks when I saw this lady who was trying to persuade some tourists into buying the stuff she had. It was clearly visible how tired she was of doing what she had to. I could see the pain in her eyes and sadness on her face.

Not much to write about it. The picture says it all.

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253 - 25th - Jelly Fish

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

Jelly fish is probably the most interesting and amazing of all the animal species I have ever seen. Its structure, the way it swims & the body mechanism is just unbelievable. In natural conditions, they are almost invisible but you can see them here because they are swimming against a deep blue background and are lighted from the side. I loved the way they moved by contracting and expanding their belly or the "umbrella" to talk in biological terms.

As a matter of cruel fact, they are an important part of Chinese cuisine. I hate when people love to murder such beautiful creatures just to satisfy their taste buds.

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252 - 24th - Port city of Veracruz

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

I had a chance to visit the port city of Veracruz in Mexico last weekend. The first thing which crossed my mind upon reaching there was the memory of hot humid weather back home in Chennai. The place was beautiful and had a distinct look and feel of its own. People speaking in a different Spanish accent, music played all across the downtown, delicious food & beautiful girls ;) were some of the attractions of the place.

Apart from being a tourist place, Veracruz is an important center of commerce too. This was the point of entrance when the Spanish first invaded Mexico. I took this image near the port where a huge ship was being unloaded of it's goods.

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251 - 23rd - Fighting for space

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

Only one log of wood in the middle of the pond & around 10 turtles to be accommodated; the result is pretty much evident in the image :) This group of reddish brown turtles was finding it difficult to fit in the small space available. Hence every second minute one of them used to fall down back in the water, which would give space to another to climb over. It was quite interesting to watch them playing the game of rise and fall.

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250 - 22nd - Drenched in rain

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

It was raining all night yesterday. I got up and opened my window to get some fresh air. The first thing I saw out of the window were these crimson colored flowers drenched by the overnight rain and the tiny droplets hanging to their edges. My eyes weren't even completely open but I knew that if I don't shoot this now the water will be gone as soon as the sun comes up. So I reached for my camera and took some shots.

My window certainly gives a nice colorful view :)

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249 - 21st - The red car

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

Sometimes beauty lies in utter simplicity. I realized the same with this photograph. The combination of bright contrasting colors and the absence of too many elements in the frame somehow make this photo attractive to the eye.

Technicalities apart, I took this photo while walking down a local street. I just walked past it and my eyes got stuck to the scene. Sometimes i feel that every single thing my eyes see is a potential photograph in its own, all I need to do is to put it into a suitable frame :)

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248 - 20th - Under the umbrella

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

I don't know for what this lady was waiting, holding the umbrella in her hand and sitting on a rock with a straight face, but I certainly knew that she was going to give me a nice portrait. Since she was sitting at a deserted place, it was tough to click her without letting her know. So, I started pointed my camera here and there & took some shots in between. Though I tired to be smart, I think she came to know what I was up to.

BTW, the dress she is wearing is the traditional dress from that part of Puebla. Almost all the ladies in the town seemed to wear the same dress; young and old alike.

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247 - 19th - Splash !!!

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

This is something I really want to do & a place where I really want to spend a whole day; being with my friends, out in the jungle, perched on high rocks and diving into a running stream of water. I always wanted to go to such a place and enjoy in the lap of mother nature.

When I saw these kids living my dream, I realized that maybe I am too old to do all this stuff now, or am I ?

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246 - 18th - The staircase

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

It was just by chance that I had a glance on this side-street while walking through the market. I saw it and the photo was already clicked inside my mind. All I had to do was take out the camera and put it in the digital memory.

What I really liked about this photo was the way it guides your eyes up the staircase. You start looking at it and automatically your eyes follow the staircase and reach the top of the photograph. Also, I loved the way different colors have given their collective effect on the texture of the picture. This one is certainly of the type I love to click.

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245 - 17th - Spotted beauty

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 17th Aug'08

I spotted this butterfly while walking out of the archeological zone in Cuetzalan. It was hopping from one flower to another and I had to follow it for around 5 minutes to get some decent shots. After a couple of shots it seemed as if she was posing for me :) She gave me some 10 different poses and all can be classified as perfect "butterfly macros"

When I finished clicking the photos and returned to my friend to show her how they came, she told me that the local people who were standing nearby and were observing me chasing the butterfly, were laughing out loud while I was busy in my photo-endeavor ;) They must be thinking that this tourist from the city has never seen a butterfly sitting on flowers :) But as I always say - "Who cares as long as you get a nice photo"

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244 - 16th - A perfect poster

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

The moment I saw this stream, I remembered a poster which used to hang in my friend's house in Delhi. I felt as if I have been to this place many times before. It had a sense of unusual familiarity. Big rocks covered with moss & a white stream of water making its way through them; a perfect setting for your drawing room's wallpaper.

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243 - 15th - Pedro

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

I met Pedro at a small restaurant in Cuetzalan, Mexico. It was morning and we got into this small restaurant to have breakfast. We were having a look at the menu when he came to our table and asked us if we are interested in visiting his town which is near to Cuetzalan and is a nice place to see. That way he would earn some money too. Since we had only a couple of hours to be at the place, we told him its not possible for us to go. Then he asked us if we can give him some money for breakfast. Instead of giving money, we invited him to have breakfast with us, for which he agreed with a sparkling smile on his face.

We sat with him for almost an hour, engaging ouraelves deep into some sweet child-talk. He asked a lot of qustions to me; about myself, about India, about my family and many other things. He was not at all uncomfortable in talking to us & had a sweet smile on his face all the time.

That was really a memorable breakfast with a sweet little soul.

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242 - 14th - The bubble man

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

I remember my time as a kid when I used to be really fascinated by these soap bubbles floating in the air. I precisely remember one instance when I had to cry for more than an hour to convince my mom for buying one for me. Later me and my friends started experimenting to make the thing at our home itself. We dissolved some soap powder in water & took the body of a sketch pen as the thing to blow in. It was such a joyous moment when we did it ourselves for the first time, because now we didnt have to run after anyone to buy the "bubble toy" for us :)

I relived those moments through a child who was running through these bubbles, trying to burst any many as she could. Now I think that a photo of her running through the bubbles would have been better than the one I am posting today ;)

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241 - 13th - The pink flower

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

I love taking closeup shots of flowers, specially the ones which do not have much complexity in their texture and design. The one you can see in the picture falls under my favorite category of "clickable" flowers. I really like going right up & close to them and shooting them in entirety, with the flower occupying the whole frame. I have posted a couple more of such shots previously on this blog. I hope the regular visitors remember that :)

If you see the full image, you can actually see the fine grains on the those black things at the center, which I suppose is the pollen of the flower. I enjoy observing such minute details in pictures.

BTW, anyone knows which flower it is? Lilly?

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240 - 12th - The tribal dance

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

Mexico has a rich ancient cultural heritage in the form of the Aztecs. Aztecs were the indigenous people & the original inhabitants of the country before it was influenced and transformed by Spanish colonization.

Almost everywhere in the country you can see this cultural heritage on display. It can be seen in the form of pyramids, gastronomy or even minute expressions like tribal dances. You go out for a trip on a weekend and you can see groups of people dressed in huge tribal attires, dancing to loud thumping music of drums. A typical dance troupe has them all; men, women and children. The atmosphere has a sort of enchanting effect and you just can't help yourself from standing there and enjoying the dance for hours.

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239 - 11th - For the sake of living

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

Everyone expects their share of a peaceful rest after a long tiring journey. But for some the struggle of the journey never ends. They have to toil hard even when the end is near. They just don't have the option to relax even when they know that this may be the last phase of their struggle with life. Because even if its some handful of moments left, they have to fight to survive through them. They cant stop, they just have to move on - for the sake of living.

I saw this old man on one of the pavements in downtown Mexico City. When I first saw him, his fingers were striking against the chords of his guitar just to make some sound. As I got nearer to him, his movements became slower. By the time I clicked the photo & went near to him to put a coin in his bowl, we was already sleeping. He looked so tired and stressed. Even the sound of the coin striking against the bowl didn't wake him.

Just observe closely the things kept around him & you will realize how hard he has to struggle just to survive yet another day. I thank him to provide such a meaningful image to my blog and to teach me a lesson or two about life.

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238 - 10th - In the name of the God

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

Have you ever realized (only the religious & faithful among you) that your head bends down by itself as soon as you come in front of God or to say literally, in front of any of his material existences like in a temple, mosque or a church ? Some may explain this as a mere habit we have developed, but I really think otherwise. For a not-such-a-firm-believer like me - who is still struggling to find out whether he really believes in God or somewhere deep inside he is an atheist - its really surprising to find myself standing "head down" in front of the almighty before I even realize that I am actually doing that.

I've been to many churches lately & observed the above mentioned phenomenon closely. Whether God exists or not, people who are really devoted to his existence surely find tremendous peace and solace in his so called abodes.

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237 - 9th - All woody

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

Ohh I really love silhouettes. I think I have posted many silhouettes on my blog in form or the other & here comes one more.

A barren, dry, dead tree, standing in the front yard of a church against the Grey evening sky. Abandoned by its greenery, its leaves and everything which was essentially a part of its existence, this dead log of wood had enough strength to stand straight and announce - its still far from over.

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236 - 8th - Balls of color

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

Imagine the world without colors. It would be like living in a black & white movie. You dont have to stand in front of the wardrobe every morning choosing which trousers will match which shirt. Which shoes will match with the dress you are wearing, what color should your bag be so that it matches with your dressing. It will remove many unnecessary inequalities in the society cauz the skin coloro would be something non-existent. At the same time it will make our lives so bland. Everything will look of the same tone and we'll loose all the diversity.

Anyways, thats all philosophical thought process. These small balls of wool reminded me of the colorful world around me. They told me that my life is beautiful not because of only a single color, but due to the beautiful combination of all differnt shades which creep into my life every now and then.

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235 - 7th - Basilica of Ocotlan

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

Ocotlán (from the Nahuatl ocotl ("pine tree"), meaning "place of pines") is a city in the Mexican state of Tlaxcala, located in the centre of that state within the conurbation of the state capital, Tlaxcala de Xicohténcatl. The Basilica of Ocotlán, dedicated to the Virgin of Ocotlán, a 1541 Marian apparition, is a renowned site of Roman Catholic pilgrimage.

I had a chance to visit this church last weekend. The place was beautiful and had a festive atmosphere on a Sunday morning. I explored the church from inside and then savored on the local delicacies which were being sold in small shops around the place.

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234 - 6th - Chiles en Nogada

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

This is the sight of the delicious lunch I had last weekend. This dish is called "Chiles en nogada". It is made up of Poblano chiles & is usually filled with a mixture of chopped meat and fruits. The white sauce covering it is made of walnut (nogal in Spanish) & cream. Finally, the red grains of pomegranate fruits sprinkled on it gives the dish the three colors of the Mexican flag - Red, White & Green.

Keeping in mind that I am a vegetarian, my friend's mother made this particular chile without any meat. It had a combination of some special Mexican apples & dry-fruits stuffed inside. It tasted fabulous & I missed the chance of having it again just by a whisker :)

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P.S. I took this picture with my N95 & it came with amazing clarity

233 - 5th - Biblical patterns

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

This is the view of the ceiling of Ocotlan church in Tlaxcala. Due to some high end contacts, we managed to enter a room where access is denied in normal course. The room was glittering with the fine golden decoration it had on all the carvings on its walls and ceiling. There was a table in the center of the room, which supposedly had traveled to many important museums around the world before landing in this church. This room was like the sanctum-sanctorum of the church. It is prinicipally used as a back-end access to the "virgin's" statue whenever it needs to be dressed and flowers need to be offerred on special occassions.

Being at the place was really an experience to cherish. Click on the image to see the fine artistry. It is really amazing.

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232 - 4th - Zucarita

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

This cute little female dog is a pet of my friend in Mexico. Her name is Zuca or "Zucarita" as my friend calls her in typical Mexican style. I only spent a couple of hours with her but that didnt stop me from falling completely in love with the cute animal. Each time she used to see me, she would come running towards me and climb on my legs. Then she would start making cute noises if I dont pay attention towards her.

Though she was looking like a big rat to some people around me, she was looking a perfect cute little doggie to my eyes.

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231 - 3rd - Quesadilla especial

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

"Quesadilla especial" is a different kind of quesadilla which is filled with a heap of vegetables and then covered with cheese. Quesadilla as you must be knowing is a famous Mexican dish made of tortillas and cheese. The most common form of this dish is a simple combination of cheese and salsa spread on a tortilla.

The one which you see in the image above is a special variety of the same and looked really tempting. Though someone cheated me and didnt allow me to eat it, I am pretty much satisfied that I got this nice shot :)

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230 - 2nd - Walnuts

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

I've been eating walnuts since I was a child. But this time when I ate them in Mexico, I never knew that they existed in such a form too. In India we have the same in terms of appearance but very different in terms of taste. The walnuts in India are a bit dry while their Mexican counterparts are much softer and juicy & white in color. In India we just break them and eat the fruit, while in Mexico they take out the tender fruit from inside, remove the thin layer from the top of it and then eat it.

I took this photo at a local market where a lady was selling them along with other sweets and candies.

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229 - 1st - From the graveyard

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

I happened to visit a graveyard last weekend. Apart from reminding you about the ultimate truth of life a graveyard gives you an insight into many other interesting things. You enter the place and suddenly you sense a feeling of unusual peace. You can see different types of graves, varying in size, shape and colors. Some will be so simple that you would hardly notice them while others will be huge decorated structures.

Even death has the honors of being an instrument for human creativity.

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