The Raw Jamnagar — Camels and Flamingo!

Gujarat Trip - Part 1

I guess, I have been to Jamnagar only thrice in my life. I knew it as a regular city. I didn't know, and actually never noticed that it has a raw natural life also. I didn't expect to see free camels and flamingos out there just near the railway station.

It was early morning time, and our train was about to reach Jamnagar Railway Station. We were all enjoying and were excited to reach our first destination in our Gujarat trip. We just peeped out of the compartment window and couldn't believe ourselves that we were seeing wild camels and flamingos enjoying their natural lives unaffected by any human activity. There was an open land with some water reserves (I'm not sure whether those reserves are natural; the chances are that those are man-made). The wild camels were having their breakfast :) and the flamingos far away were busy in their nose-job :) The sight was completely a pleasure. I have posted the photograph below. Sorry friends, I don't have a zoom/telephoto lens to capture the flamingos full screen.

The Beautiful Dwarka - The Beach with A Camel and Lighthouse

I didn't post anything for a long time; the reason — I was on a trip to Gujarat. I will create posts on the different places I visited. Just to give it a start, I am posting one of the photographs I took in Dwarka. Here it is…

Bedse Caves — A 2300 Year Old Buddhist Monument Created by Samrat Ashok

This place is so untold and untouched that even many local villagers don't have information about it! This was the second time I headed for this ancient man-made cave structure, on February 08 2009. The first time I went there was on June 11 2006. The place hasn't changed a bit, just as the last 2300 years. This time I went with my wife. She's quite fascinated by the caves, and ancient times, and I decided to take her to the most peaceful ancient place around — the Bedse Caves.

Samrat Ashok the Great (also spelled Asok, Ashoka, Asoka, etc.), after the battle of Kalinga, realized how wrong he was, and what a misery his acts were till time. He left his Maurya Empire, and followed Buddhism. He created many meditation places for the Buddhist Monks, one of which is Bedse.

Here are some of the photographs that the little poor me managed to take at the Mighty place. Mighty, not just in size, but also at the feeling it can give to you once you enter there.

This is the main meditation hall (called Chaitya). You must be there to see how beautifully it has been constructed. The light (at any day time) perfectly reaches and highlights the Stup (also spelled Stupa) — the main circular, top dome-shaped structure.

I took many photographs of this wonderful place. Following are some of them…

Hilarious Tapola

Do you think you really know the meaning of the word "Hilarious"? Think again. Take your time; I'm in no hurry.

OK. Sure? Now check this out — a screenshot taken from a website that is giving information about a beautiful place called Tapola. I have hightlighted the meaning of "Hilarious" with red. You may need to scroll down to see the full screenshot.

Photograph of Burj Al Arab 100 Years Back

We all know what Burj Al Arab is, don't we? For the rare ones, click here to know what it is.

Can you imagine how this wonderful 7 star hotel used to look 100 years back? Yes, it did exist at that time also! I took below photograph when I was minus 70 years old. I had an old fashioned camera from that era. Sorry, the photograph is not as detailed as it could have been if taken using today's high end cameras. Unfortunately, when I was a minus old man, we didn't use to have such modern marvel cameras.

I still hope in my this young age that you will enjoy the photograph that I took 100 years back.



Don't worry; my words above are just a fascination. The photograph is a special effect.

Photograph taken from MEABA and then converted.

The Sixth Photo Game

I was introduced to this by Babzy. I name it "The Sixth Photo Game". You have to take the sixth photograph from your sixth folder and create a post for it. You should link back to the person who introduced this game to you. And you should invite six persons to continue the linking. I think I can invite as many :). Below are the invitation links. Please please accept my apologies if I have not put your link to the invitations; it doesn't mean that I don't want you to continue the link. All are welcome to join the game and enjoy!

The Sixth Photo from The Sixth Folder of My Photographs…

Me and my friends on a trip to Shivneri on 05-February-2006

Link Back…
file number 6

Invitations…
Around the world by Megha
Ann's Quotes and Things by Gramma Ann
travelling by JM
BIRDS, BEES, BUGS AND BLOSSOMS by Sandy
(MAD) daily photo by tr3nta
Nice Daily Photo by angela
Photings by magiceye
exposemaximum by DEEPAK ACHARYA
Abraham Lincoln's Blog by Abraham Lincoln
Arradon Daily Photo by alice

Bhimashankar

I still remember that night 3½ years back; it was raining heavily outside. In the morning I woke up at 5 and my mom said, "Don't go, it's not right to go on a 220 km motorscooter ride in such rainy time." I said, "No, I will go; I enjoy it like this." I picked-up my camera and headed for the heavenly Bhimashankar. There are no words to explain how beautiful this place is — there is no boundary between the clouds and the mountains, the land has its green blanket, the visibility is just 10 meters, the atmosphere explains "Nirvana", the water defines purity, the soil shows the magic, the cool wind blows off your tensions, the rain showers GOD's blessings, the GOD is in front of you. Believe me, this is all what happens when you visit Bhimashankar in July (please respect the nature if you do visit).


This is the forest area.


A well on the roadside. What a view it was! I still regret getting delayed by 15 seconds. By the time I stopped my motorscooter and took out my camera, the fog had lessened. If I would have succeeded in clicking this 15 seconds prior, the picture would have been more beautiful.


This is me enjoying the walk :)


Can you believe that this photograph was taken on midday? The truck's headlights were on full beam. But because of the dense fog, the headlights gave a very special effect instead of ruining the photograph.


This is my friend Pramod. He's standing on the steps down to the temple. Indians must be amazed to read "down" as most of the temples in India are built on a higher ground. You need to climb up to reach the temples, not climb down. This is a unique feature of this temple. There's so much rain out there that the steps act like small streams of water. Can you see the water flowing down on the steps?


This is the temple's photograph. Bhimashankar is one of the 12 Jyotirlings of India. All Jyotirlings are the temples of Lord Shiv.


This is called "Deepmaal", which is common in the temples of the Maharashtra State of India. Each branch of this structure is lit every night during prayers. It looks very spiritual at that time. Sorry to say that I don't have a photograph of the lit one yet :(

Bhimashankar is named by joining the words Bhima and Shankar (other names of Lord Shiv). Bhimashankar is the source of the Bhima river. It is said that on the request of the GODs, Lord Shiv took abode the Bhima form to kill a demon named Tripurasur. He slayed Tripurasur, and the sweat released from Bhima's body due to the rigorous fight, formed the Bhima river.

The place is important not just with the spiritual point of view, but many other ways also; it's the trekkers' paradise; it's a home for the unique "Shekru" — giant squirrels (probably its scientific name is "Rafuca Indica Elphinstoni"), black eagle, and many wild animals; it is important from scientific and research point of view also, due to many unique species of flora and fauna found in the reserved forest area — Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary.

A Car's Grave on Sun City Road [Anandnagar in Pune]

We all know humans have graveyards for burying the dead ones. But have you heard or seen a graveyard for cars? That too, for working ones? One more surprising thing about this graveyard is that it has been built (or excavated I should say) on a busy road! Indian fellas can easily guess what is happening looking at the below photographs. For the friends from outside India, the photograph is of a car that was parked and covered before the Pune Municipal Corporation started a pipeline work on a road. The workers simply dug the road, reached the pipe, and dumped all the excavated soil on both the sides of the dig. The final effect is "A Car's Grave" ☺ I have 2 views/perspectives of the "deadly phenomenon"…

ENJOY…