Bihar - Madhubani Arts

Traditionally this art was practiced by women only to decorate their huts during religious and important occasions. Nowadays men have also taken up this art form and paintings are done on paper, cloth, canvas etc. But even though women in the villages around Madhubani have been practicing their folk art for centuries, the world at large has come to know about these women and to consider them to be "artists" only in the last thirty years. Even now, most of their work remains anonymous. The women, some of them illiterate, are in any case reluctant to consider themselves individual producers of "works of art" and only a few of them mark the paintings with their own name.


The colors used were traditionally derived from natural sources like plants, charcoal soot, ochre etc. Black color is obtained by mixing soot with cow dung.Yellow color is obtained from turmeric or pollen or lime and the milk of banyan leaves. Blue from Indigo. Red from Kusum flower juice, red sandalwood or rose. Green from the leaves of apple trees, White from rice powder, Orange from palasha flowers.


Madhubani paintings mostly depict nature and Hindu religious motifs, and the themes generally revolve around Hindu deities like Krishna, Rama, Shiva, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati. Natural objects like the sun, the moon and religious plants like Tulsi are also widely painted, along with scenes from the royal court and social events like weddings. Generally no space is left empty ; the gaps are filled by paintings of flowers, animals, birds and even geometric designs. Objects depicted in the walls of kohabar ghar (where newly wed couple see each other in the first night) are symbols of sexual pleasure and procreation.Legend says that this artform originated during the time of Ramayana when King Janak commissioned artists to paint pictures of his daughter Sita getting married to Rama.



A Madhubani painting in the Godana style by Chano Devi, depicting a scene from the myth of God Salhesa. (right) A painting of Goddess Kali in the Bharni style by Krishnakant Jha.

MITHILA, the birthplace of Sita of the Ramayana, lies in the state of Bihar, bounded by the Himalayas in the north and the rivers Kosi, Ganga and Gandak in the east, south and west respectively. Over centuries, the people of Mithila have developed their own tradition of art, popularly known as Madhubani painting, named after a district and a town in the region. What is unique about this tradition - which dates back to the 7th century A.D., and is prevalent even today - is that it is the women who mastered and practiced it.

In their earliest form, Madhubani paintings appear as aripana (floor paintings) and kohabar (wall paintings), done by the women of the Brahmin and the Kayastha castes. Painters today do it on paper. An exhibition of such paintings, titled "Mithila Paintings", was held in Kolkata from January 3 to January 12. It was curated by Neel Rekha, an art historian, whose dissertation on the women painters of Mithila titled "Art and Assertion of Identity: Women and Madhubani Paintings" is to be published shortly.

Traditionally, Madhubani paintings were made on the eve of certain rituals and ceremonies, such as pujas, vratas, or weddings. According to Neel Rekha, who has stayed with the painters and traced the roots of the folk art tradition, these paintings may have had their origins in tantric rituals. Mithila has from time immemorial been a seat of the tantric tradition, with strong leanings towards the Saiva and Sakti cults. The tradition found expression in domestic rituals, and that is perhaps why the art form was once restricted to women. But that did not stop the artists from transcending the domain of practical utility in order to create something exquisite from an aesthetic point of view.

I have created a Blog to depict the entire Work and art of Madhubani.
http://madhubanii.blogspot.com/

Rajasthan Trip - Jaislmer

Once a sleepy desert city, Jaisalmer has transformed itself into a major tourist destination of India. Situated amid picturesque Thar Desert, the Jaisalmer city commands premiere position among the tourist attractions scattered all over the desert land of Rajasthan. The Jaisalmer city is revered both by Indians as well as foreign tourists.

Let the picture talk and describe the journey.



Like various other cities of Rajasthan, you will discover different facets of Jaisalmer as you explore this wonderful city with us. Tough there are historical monuments scattered all over the city but the Jaisalmer Fort will immediately command your attention. Made of sand stones and locally known as Sonar Quila, the Jaisalmer Fort is a dominating structure amidst sands. The Jaisalmer city is also known for its old mansions, better known as Havelis. Among many of them you will find Salim ji ki haveli and Nathmal ji ki haveli as the most striking. There are other monuments too, which are equally important because of their distinct and individual architecture. The amalgamation of ancient and the medieval era architecture will catch your fancy.

The Jaisalmer city is a prominent educational as well as cultural hub in the region and regularly showcases the vivid cultural aspects of Rajasthan. Among others, it includes folk dances as well as semi classical and folk music.

The city is easily accessible and people are warm and welcoming. In spite of harsh living conditions, Rajasthani people are known for their warm hospitality all over. So come to Jaisalmer and enjoy the traditional rhetoric of 'padharo mahare desh' (welcome to our lands).

Kerala

Kerala - The God's own Country

Kerala is probably one of the greenest places you will ever see. Kerala has got a lot of unique reasons to be called a paradise. A pleasant climate, sun kissed beaches, backwaters, hill stations, exotic wildlife, breathtaking waterfalls, Ayurvedic health holidays, enchanting art forms, magical festivals lot more.Traveler's come to see Kerala's wildlife sanctuaries, historic cities and temples. Stressed out urban dwellers rejuvenate themselves at the ayurveda spas and resorts in Kerala.

I was fortunate enough to be apart of documentary where I encounter many species, flaura, fauna and Traveling expeditions.

Leh and Ladakh

I was fortunate to have a trip with Aaj take team, a very dear friend of mine Siddharth Tiwari.

 Carrying my Canon 400 D with my entire kit and sid was carrying his video cam and entire crew.

Let me just fill you with a little bit of wiki-knowledge here, for those who have basic doubts...OMGWTF Leh and Ladakh? Ladakh is a region situated in the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir, it consists two districts Kargil and Leh, the latter being bigger and touristy than the former. Ladakh region, known as Little Tibet, borders with both Pakistan and China. It's known for it's mountainous landscape and it's unique culture not to be found anywhere else in India. This discourse is a general write up about Leh city, not too much of travelogue kinds.

If I had to describe Leh in keywords, those would be - Mountains, Blue skies, Army, Stupas, Buddhism, Monasteries, Tibet, Art markets, Gompas, Indus and Capricious climate. The city of Leh has only two terrestrial approaches: Manli-Leh highway and Leh-Srinagar highway, both of which are seasonal, they're closed during winter. Leh is served by Kushok Bakula Rimpochee airport (code: IXL), located in the Spituk village on the outskirts. It's both a military as well as a commercial airport. Jet airways, Kingfisher and Indian Airlines have flights from New Delhi. Leh is literally cut off from the rest of the world, if the weather Gods decide to be violent.

The life in Leh is extremely tough, especially in winters. Water could not be supplied in pipes due to ruthless sub-zero temperatures during winter, so you happen to see people with a queue of metal cans anxiously waiting for the water supply tankers which suck up water from Indus and supply to homes. I still remember a bent and broken Buddhist lady with her cans, asking me when we stopped for photographing Thiksey Gompa, if we saw the water tanker coming. And in winter I was told that, people have to hammer-and-chisel out chunks of ice and heat it to get water. Hibernation is the only occupation of the locals during winter.

Overlooking proudly over the downtown in the Leh palace atop a mountain, a gigantic palace modelled on it's Lhasa counterpart. Shanti Stupa, is definitely the most visited landmark in Leh city. It's a gleaming white Stupa designed by a Japenese architect, standing atop a mountain from which the panorama of the Leh city is breathtaking. The ambience around the Stupa is very tranquil and placid, which was very welcoming for me. The best photograph that could be composed from Shanti Stupa is a distant monastery in the mild yellow evening light wherein the backdrop would be auriferous mountains and blue skies.

A dream come true

A boy born in India with a dream .....





1. Snow surfing in Kashmir.













2. Watch Sun Rise in Kanya kumari.
















3. Camel racing in Thar Desert.


Sunrise at Kanyakumari -The very famous sunrise at kanyakimari . It was cloudy to begin with, but we were lucky as the clouds cleared up by the time the sun god decided to come.As the sun rose from the ocean, it was view worth capturing on film.
The golden brown sun was magnificent to look at.You have to see it to enjoy it.In the background we can see the rock. The rock is the Vivekananda rock. On the rock we can see the Statue of thiruvalvar (The great Tamil poet) A ferry ride will take you to the rock.

Actually the statue and the memorial are on two different pieces of the rock. The ferry will drop the passengers first on one rock and then after some time, the ferry can be boarded again to go to the next rock.

Mysore - Karnataka

  A small city with great history, the city reminiscence the great warrior of all time "Tipu Sultan". The name Mysore is derived from the demon name Maheshasur who ruled here and was killed by Chamundi after fierce battle. Initially the city was named as "Mahisuru", then transcends to Mysooru and then finally became Mysore. Few years back the proposal was put to rename the city back to  "Mysooru" (not sure where this proposal is standing now)

It was an overnight journey from Bangalore directly to Mysore. Mysore requires at least two days. I took one day tourist bus trip ("Sri OM Shakthi"), booked the ticket from the railway station itself (they have tie up with some private bus operator) cost Rs 120 per individual (food excluded) and Rs 170 (the Guide took in advance for all entrance ticket, he provided the tickets for each place we visited, thus avoided the queue to purchase the same, a time saver). 

One prudent thing i realized after the trip is over that is "Its better to cover few important places in detail then to cover everything in rush". Its virtually not possible for any tour operator to give you ample time to look around all the places he promised for, after all it was a one day trip. They didn't cover few important places like Chamundi Temple, Big Bull, Statu of Mahishasura and few in Srirangapatna despite being listed in their one day trip pamphlet.

Nandi Hills, Bangalore, Karnataka

Nandi Hills (also called Nandi Durg or Bull Fort/Hill) is situated around 60km from Bangalore City and is well connected by broad road. Gov bus also runs up to the top from Bangalore. This lies in Chikballapur District of Karnataka and located in close proximity to Bangalore International Airport. The road is smooth and away from the Bangalore hectic traffics.

Just after around more then 20km from NH-7 (after Devanahalli Town), left diversion on this road identifies the start of the hill which is around 15km from here to to top of the hill. This hill road is wide enough for two buses to cross each other but believe me it requires great skills as visually you can't say its that wide enough. Its prudent to stop for few minutes and enjoy the hill view and have some best photo shoots.

After 2 hours of the drive from Bangalore here finally I reached the entrance gate shown above. The entrance gate is not that big and secured as other forts are used to have (i haven't seen even the doors, so curious how it was secured?).Tickets per individual is Rs 5. An interesting thing is, two wheelers are not allowed beyond this point whereas four wheelers are (except Buses).