RangofRaag's PhotoBlog

Ganges Prayers

2009-05-24T14:27:32Z

The Ghats There are around 100 ghats in Varanasi. These ghats start bustling with activity from dawn and the noisy activities continue till the end of the evening prayers. A visit to the ghats in the early morning is a wonderful experience. The sadhus and locals taking a dip in the holy Ganges and the collective chanting of ancient vedic mantras give a spiritual feel to the entire atmosphere. As the day progresses, more and more people come to the ghats to bathe or to pray. The Chatris, or sunshades are a characteristic feature of the ghats, and little scenes involving priest offering prayers on behalf of their clients, or little kids playing, or young men cracking jokes happen beneath these Chatris. Dasashwamedh Ghat – This is the main ghat of Varanasi. it is the scene of constant human activity all through the day. The most beautiful moment in this ghat can be seen during the evening prayers. The priests stand with ornate lamps and move in synchronized patterns to the constant chanting of mantras. A large number of people attend the evening prayers everyday. This scene hasn’t changed much over a period of thousands of years. Only, now the loudspeakers spread the chants to a larger area.

Harmony

2009-04-09T17:40:06Z

I saw this bull sitting at a garment store in Varanasi. He seemed harmless & the costumers were unperturbed by the animal's presence. Ladies happily shopped while the animal watched & Lord's idol almost smiling at this amazing scene.

Benarsi Paan (Beetle leaf)

2009-03-30T20:12:12Z

Paan was invented by Scholars of Aruvedas with the help of Dhanvantari thousands of years ago after taking experiment on rats. Paan was found out good for digestion Even reference of Paan is found in Shrimad Bhagavatam as Lord Krishna used to chew. This evidence is of 5000 years ago. The tradition of eating Paan was popularised by Queen Noorjehan, the mother of King Shahjehan who built the world famous Taj Mahal for his Queen. In olden days women used natural elements for makeup and cosmetics. Queen Noorjehan discovered that by adding some particular ingredients to the Paan and eating it gives a beautiful natural red colour to the lips. So along with it's taste the Paan was eaten by women for reddening the lips. What is a paan? A Paan is a leaf from a creeper called the Paan creepers. There are different types of Paan creepers. These different types of Paan leaves are made into many different varieties of Paan by adding various different ingredients and then folding into triangular shaped Bidas.

Ostrich

2009-02-21T16:22:48Z

The ostrich Struthio camelus is a large flightless bird native to Africa (and formerly the Middle East). It is the only living species of its family, Struthionidae, and its genus, Struthio. Ostriches share the order Struthioniformes with the Emu, kiwis, and other ratites. It is distinctive in its appearance, with a long neck and legs and the ability to run at speeds of about 74 km/h (46 mph), the top land speed of any bird. The ostrich is the largest living species of bird and lays the largest egg of any bird species.

Til taught by pain, men really know not what good water is worth.

2009-01-22T15:15:45Z

"Water is King, and he is Knight who uses it successfully to make two blades grow where nature produced" - J. S. Sherman, 1894. Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Convention of the Kansas Irrigation Association -

Recycle

2008-10-21T13:17:23Z

“Technical skill is mastery of complexity, while creativity is mastery of simplicity”

Wharfed

2008-10-16T17:15:45Z

Cape of Good Hope

2008-10-08T18:26:43Z

As one of the great capes of the South Atlantic Ocean, the Cape of Good Hope has been of special significance to sailors for many years and is widely referred to by them simply as The Cape. It is a major milestone on the clipper route followed by clipper ships to the Far East and Australia, and still followed by several offshore yacht races. The term "Cape of Good Hope" was also used to indicate the early Cape Colony established in 1652, in the vicinity of the Cape Peninsula. Just prior to the formation of the Union of South Africa, the term referred to the entire region that was to become the Cape Province in 1910.

Wildlife

2008-10-02T15:44:30Z

The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love color the most.

2008-07-31T13:10:50Z

Sum houses are colored in Cape Town.