220 - 23rd - The Red Fort

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

The Red Fort and the city of Shahjahanabad was constructed by the Emperor Shah Jahan in 1639 A.D. The layout of the Red Fort was organised to retain and integrate this site with the Salimgarh Fort. The fortress palace is an important focal point of the medieval city of Shahjahanabad. The planning and aesthetics of the Red Fort represent the zenith of Mughal creativity which prevailed during the reign of Emperor Shahjahan. This Fort has had many developments added on after its construction by Emperor Shahjahan. (Courtesy Wikipedia)

Talking about contemporary importance, the Red fort in Delhi is a major political landmark because this is the place from where the prime minister of the country delivers his speech on the Independence Day. This was the place where the tricolor was first officially unfurled in independent India by Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru

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213 - 16th - Intricate patterns

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

All the Mughal architecture work consists of series of intricate patterns inscribed all over the buildings. You go to any place, be it the Taj Mahal in Agra, Red Fort & Jama Masjid in Delhi or Kutub Minar on the outskirts of Delhi, you can see the same art form prominently present all the places. It can be in the form of horizontal stripes or concentric circles or just scattered in different patterns on the floor and on the walls.

This pattern was one such example inscribed on the walls of a tomb in Red fort in Delhi.

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212 - 15th - The three minarets

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

Islamic architecture is famous for its minarets and spherical arches. In almost all the famous Islamic architectural works you can see a main building with a circular dome at the middle & a number of minarets erected on the periphery of the compound.

I clicked this triplet of marble made minarets at a mosque in Delhi.

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211 - 14th - The door to nowhere

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

Many times we are faced with unknown possibilities. Where we don't have a choice but to open the door standing in front of you and walk through the uncertainty, hoping for the best to happen.

These "doors to nowhere" are actually the real excitement of life. When you have to walk the unknown path, only to discover later that how perfect a choice it was.

As for the image, it comes again from the Lal Quila, Delhi.

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210 - 13th - The archway

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

Though i have been living in Delhi for almost 10 years now, I never took the pain to go and explore the plethora of historical places it owns. So this time when I went to my home-town, I decided to explore the famous Lal Quila. I spent around an hour inside and it was then when I clicked this archway.

The whole premises is full of beautiful architectural work like tombs, archways and other royal residences. It was built by Shahjahan and is indeed a treat to "history-savvy" minds.

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209 - 12th - Foamy the squirrel

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

I was having a walk in the garden at the front of my house when I saw this squirrel staring at something which I couldn't exactly figure out. Fortunately I had my camera with me & thanks to the photo-fancy animal who didnt shy away from the camera I got this cute shot.

Standing on its rear limbs, it was really a nice way to pose in front of the camera.

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208 - 11th - India Gate

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

India gate or the "All India war memorial" as it was originally called by its designer Edwin Lutyens, was built as a monument to commemorate the Indian soldiers who died in world war 1 & the Afghan wars. The names of the soldiers who died in these wars are inscribed on the walls.

At the center of the monument stands the "Amar jawaan jyoti" (the flame of immortal warrior). It consists of a rifle placed on its barrel with a soldier's helmet placed in its crest. The flame keeps on burning 24x7 and is gaurded by soldiers of Indian army 365 days of an year.

The monument looks spectacular in the darkness of the night, when it glows against the black open space.

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207 - 10th - Clouds again

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

I don't know if actually a term called "cloud observer" exists, but I now realize that it really holds true for me. I really get amazed by the different colors, shapes & patterns the clouds exhibit high up in the sky.

In this particular shot, you can see different shades - black, white, brown, blue - as well as many different shapes - small round patches, big wavy lines & dark patches of typical "cloud shapes". It was like a big platter with different variety of clouds arranged on it :)

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206 - 9th - Akshardham

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

I have posted the image of this temple before too, when I took it from a bridge far far away. Today as I was passing by this temple, I decided to go inside and take some nice shots. I walked around a mile to reach the entrance of the temple only to find out that no photography or videography is allowed inside.

It is such a shame that a spectacular work of art like this is kept away from a photographer's lens. I managed to get this one from outside the front boundary.

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205 - 8th - The "inside" view

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

For those of you who don't know what is an "Autorikshaw" please click here. For those who do, the above picture will be a familiar view. Autorikshaw or just an "Auto" is a very common means of transport throughout India. It may seem a bit unsafe to people who haven't used it, but believe me, after public buses, its the most widely used transport medium.

I clicked this one on my way to a friend's house. The "Auto" guy was zipping his way through the traffic while I was busy searching for a decent shot.

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87 - 12th - SALE

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

Its the season of "SALE" in Indian markets. Wherever you go, be it big shopping malls or your next door garment showrooms, you will find the big red sign of "SALE" hanging outside. Putting up a sale is really an innovative idea to fool the consumers and to sell things which, in the normal run, people won't even notice. The concept is simple, overprice a $10 commodity to $30 and then give 50% "SALE".

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47 - 1st - The street side exhibition

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

Connaught Palace in Delhi is a place full of big brand showrooms as well as small road-side shops. Both these variants provide an interesting mix of shopping options to the visitors. The road-side temporary installments serve some very colorful and eye-catching products like bags, dresses, mattresses etc. This man was the owner of one such small shop. Though I wasn't able to cover his whole spread of road-side extravaganza, i succeeded in capturing the essence of the concept.

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46 - 31st - Pigeons

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

"Pigeon" is the most common variety of "road-side" birds in India. I went to a nearby temple when I saw this group of pigeons feeding on the grains sprinkled by some devotees. Such flocks of birds feeding on the offerings given by people can be seen at many places throughout the city of Delhi and for that matter, all over India.

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45 - 30th - Giant symbol of faith

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

Akshardham temple in New Delhi has recently earned the distinction of being the world's largest "Hindu" temple. Situated on the banks of river Yamuna in east Delhi, this temple provides a magnificent view to the people touching the adjacent highways and connecting roads. A huge lush green premises and a monstrous concrete structure, the whole view is hard to be contained in a one complete eye-span.

I was passing through the area when I stopped on an adjacent flyover and took some photographs. Though I couldn't capture the temple right from the front due to angle restrictions, the side-shots didn't come as bad as expected :)

Click here to see one more shot of the temple.

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44 - 29th - The "Blue" God

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

City of Delhi, as almost all other cities in India, is full of big and small temples. At every second corner and on every third street you can find some fourth god glorifying the place. The idols vary in shapes and sizes and so do the temple premises. Given the variety in the forms Hindus have given to their faith, you can find a potpourri of different divine residences.

I found one such temple on one of the back-streets of east Delhi. Instead of sitting "inside" the temple, I found this magnificent figure of Lord Siva blessing the mere mortals in and around the place.

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43 - 28th - Delhi chill

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

January has almost ended but there are no signs of retreat of the cold wave in New Delhi. Temperatures in the evening frequently touch a low of 2-3 degrees and steaming tea with hot omelets is still a favorite road-side snack. Some people can be seen enjoying the chill while some others who cant afford the enjoyment are seen struggling with the limited resources they have to fight the cold.

I saw a group of some children surviving the extreme cold and chilly wind by standing besides the burning fire. While I was cosily comfortable in my warm clothes, this bunch of some not-so-fortunate children was keeping itself warm by burning whatever it found "combustible"

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42 - 27th - The bridegroom

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

After a long long time I attended a wedding yesterday. Weddings are essentially occasions for celebrations, feasting, family reunions and all sort of festivities. North Indian wedding are particularly famous for their wild celebrations and a week full of hundreds of different associated rituals.

I took this photo just before my friend was going to get over that ill fated mare :) (For those who don't know, the groom is supposed to reach the bride's place riding a horse)

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38 - 23rd - The feather

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

The close-up of this peacock feather highlighted the hidden color pattern, though the picture wasnt uniformly lightened from all sides. :) Of all the macros I have shot, this one was the toughest one to shoot & the results also weren't that satisfactory, but it was good enough to be here as the post of the day.

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