Brahminy Starling Parents or Brahminy Myna [Binominal Nomenclature: Sturnia pagodarum (Synonyms: Sturnus pagodarum, Temenuchus pagodarum)] at Prati Pandharpur

These birds are amazing, just like any other bird! Or should I say, just like any other parent? They have mouthful of food for their babies. Enjoy the photos below. The first 2 photos are Brahminy Starling Parents up close and personal at full pixels of the third photo.

Pencil Sculptures [Pencil art, Sculptures made using color pencils]

What a pain it must be to create such fine sculptures using just color pencils. Imagine the efforts, time and money required for creating such masterpieces that are just feast for eyes! Enjoy!!

Note: I received the below photos in an email forward. These are not photographed by me. The copyright of the photos remain with the original photographers. If you are one of the original photographers, please let me know; I'll very happily link back to you.

Update 2012-09-18: As informed by Aimeé in her comment below, I hereby declare that the below work of art is creation of Jennifer Maestre. Please click on her name to see her website. Thank you so much, Aimeé, for your valuable information. And best wishes for Jennifer :)

Useful Links for Trade Show Material for a Friend

Well oh well, gathering material for anything is just so difficult, at least, when the task demands much material to manage. One of my friends may be exhibiting at a trade show coming-up recently. As he feels that I almost own the Internet to gather any information, literally any, he asked me to find the best deals for his various requirements in trade show flooring, trade show carpet, logo mats, logo canopy, etc. I made some search and found a great website where these can be easily arranged from.

As I gave the details to him, I thought why not share the information on the blog for my other friends who may have similar requirement. Do check the links friends :)

And oh yes, they have many other related products apart from those in the links above.

Morning Sky [View from my home today morning]

This was the view from my home today morning. What is yours?

Sunshine Award

I have been awarded by Cheryl. It's the Sunshine Award! Check her blog — Rice, beans & pastichio...; it's very nice, and says about her good times with family and friends! :) And oh yes, her blog has similar color combination as mine!

Here is how the award looks like…



There are some rules that have come along with the award…
• Forward it on… Nominate 12 bloggers.
• Put the award onto your sidebar or within a post.
• Link the nominees within your post.
• Let the nominees know they've received this award by commenting on their blog.
• Share the love and link the award to the person from whom you've received this award.

So the random 12 awardees are as below. It's really difficult to select just 12, so my way is to randomize :)

Blog Name	Author
- A TRAVES DE MI LENTE -	Carina Felice
Erdei Rudolf Photography	Erdei Rudolf
Babzy Photos Blog	Babzy
bAREeYEDsUN	O'Dasor De
Bonjour Luxembourg	Cezar and Léia
Brincando de Fotografar	Nice Lima
Comfort Spiral	Cloudia
DANSONS SELON MTA	MTA
Desert Colors	Diane AZ
Dream Chymecindy	Dream Chymecindy
Exposemaximum	DEEPAK ACHARYA

<a href="http://blog.chaukhat.com/2010/04/sunshine-award.html" target="_blank"> <img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN3GUw-j6y7pfZrO-CuMoIdpiwxY0mrM6mg8Fe6jYe6ITdB_M4EBsoYbI2MKIyN-BrrNHtOQ3XCR7F3zodhHc4Fvi_-U-QhbIz3R0LPviSIYVGdhfrEExpHYUCUOsfJPxOwXBHV94JcEl-/d/sunshine-award.jpg" alt="Sunshine Award" title="Sunshine Award"> </a> <br> <a href="http://blog.chaukhat.com/2010/03/bhavesh.html" target="_blank">Bhavesh</a> of <a href="http://blog.chaukhat.com/" target="_blank">Chaukhat.com BLOG</a> has given me this <a href="http://blog.chaukhat.com/2010/04/sunshine-award.html" target="_blank">Sunshine Award</a>. Thank you Bhavesh! <b:includable id="sidebar"><data:content /></b:includable> So the awardees, please to add the award to your blog's sidebar.

Beautiful Blogger Award

I have been awarded by Anu. It's the Beautiful Blogger Award this time. Check her blog — A Wandering Mind; it's amazing :) Here is how the award looks like…



To pass the award on, I randomly pick the following 5 from the great blogs I know…
• veredit - art run by Isabella Kramer
• Live rather than exist run by Neha
• B Log run by Insignia
• Kitty Justice run by Lady Di Tn
• sarahowens run by Sarah

<a href="http://blog.chaukhat.com/2010/04/beautiful-blogger-award.html" target="_blank"> <img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGCZ4BnGKv7b6l7hY4GfXa3Aj5DR-Q1dnSKVi4lruISvOoxN4rGUlMmRP0kO4Z2WstxbwWBS_q1Gj3e0cmmW3dT0CU2wXB1K7PrzeFRp14HwETUxZVIf4dx32xDnK0u-iOZ0olvVabRQ0E/d/beautiful-blogger-award.jpg" alt="Beautiful Blogger Award" title="Beautiful Blogger Award"> </a> <br> <a href="http://blog.chaukhat.com/2010/03/bhavesh.html" target="_blank">Bhavesh</a> of <a href="http://blog.chaukhat.com/" target="_blank">Chaukhat.com BLOG</a> has given me this <a href="http://blog.chaukhat.com/2010/04/beautiful-blogger-award.html" target="_blank">Beautiful Blogger Award</a>. Thank you Bhavesh! <b:includable id="sidebar"><data:content /></b:includable> So the awardees, please to add the award to your blog's sidebar.

Ramdara Temple Near Loni

I didn't know that just 33 kilometers from my home, there's a beautiful temple of Ram, Sita and Laxman, named Ramdara! I came to know about it when Megha read it in a local newspaper. My friend Pramod also showed it in another local newspaper. We later searched for it, and went there last Sunday. "Beauty" is the word for the place. There are tall coconut trees, huge rain trees that we call "kaurav-pandav", trees with tasty jaamun, pure neem trees, etc. There's a small lake also, but it smelled bad and was green by algae. However it made the scene more serene :) See the photos as follows…







Reaching there is super-easy. Here are the driving directions for reaching Ramdara Temple…
• Reach Loni on NH9 on Pune-Solapur national highway [see the map below to know where Loni is].
• Cross the bridge after Loni.
• Take immediate right turn after the bridge.
• Take the first right on a raw road.
• Drive about 6 kilometers to reach Ramdara Temple.

Following is the map showing Loni…

View Larger Map

Sorry, I couldn't locate the temple on the map! But it's easy to reach once you reach Loni :)

Sweet Clock Vine [Thunbergia Fragrans, White Lady, Chimine, Noorvan-valli, Indrapushpam]

On way to Kas Plateau, only a few of these beautiful Sweet Clock Vine flowers were seen on the sides of the roads. I'm telling only a few because the expanse of the flowers of the Maharashtrian Valley of Flowers was so huge that the number of these White Ladies was nothing in front of those in purple, blue, and other hues. See Kas Plateau to know what I mean :)

Although the number of this species was less, it was quite as astonishing to see its beauty. Some have named it White Lady very perfectly. Its botanical name is Thunbergia Fragrans. In Hindi and Marathi languages, it's called चिमीन [Chimine]. In Malayalam language, it's named Noorvan-valli. In Tamil language, it's named இ.த்ரபுஸ்பம் [Indrapushpam]. Here is a beautiful White Lady and her close-ups in this post :)

Here she is…


This is the gynoecium of the flower…


See what superb material the petal is made of. Perhaps the ladies are already wishing that their clothes be made of this!

Photos that need no words to laugh

Note: I received the below photos in an email forward. These are not photographed by me. The copyright of the photos remain with the original photographers. If you are one of the original photographers, please let me know; I'll very happily link back to you.