Navratri Bull.

As usual my blog is back to front. See below for the explanation of this delightful festival.




Today we left copies of these photo's for the owner (holding the bull) at the famous railway crossing which is about 500m further along the road.

A distinguished profile.

I just love the combination of the yellow and the red.

Now the monsoon IS over the first harvest is being gathered - which is marked by the festival of Navratri. It's not just paint your wagon but the cow too. Here is a lovely mustard yellow one that I saw on the way to work.

Monsoon watch
Today you can see that it's quite a bit sunnier here (that's about one third of the way down the west coast and in a little bit) but that there is a nasty little cyclonic system forming out in the Gulf of Kutch to our north west.

You can watch this develop and probably water my garden a bit over the next few days by following the 'Monsoon and sunny weather watch' link. That's in the links section. Obviously.

Return of the Monsoon


Not only has the monsoon tried to make return - it has pretty much succeeded. The last week has seen overcast days, scattered showers - some pretty heavy - and quite a bit of thunder which is unusual. Out in the Ghats life goes on and the marigolds, planted a few weeks back, have begun to flower. I snapped this one on a very humid Thursday. These will be picked, which is going on at the moment, and sold in the local towns for garlands.

Monsoon finale.

The monsoon has been trying to have the last word over the past few days. Here is an electric storm that I photographed from my roof terrace last night.

Ganapathi Immersion.
The five pictures below show the last day of our Ganesh festival. Look at them from the first slide at the bottom and then upwards.



And then, gone.

Then swum out into a fast moving stream - swollen by the recent monsoon and very, very tempting on a hot day.

(You wouldn't begin to believe how seriously tempting this was after trudging about in the hills all morning.)

Carefully carried down the slippery bank, he is dunked a few times before the final act.

He is brought to the river accompanied by much fanfare and throwing of red powder. Final offerings are made.

Ganesh, a much loved deity, has his own ten day festival in September. Everybody buys an idol for their house. At the end of the festival comes the immersion - a bittersweet day as they say goodbye for the year and one for all the family.

The chap on the right with the pink sandals and headband is a swimmer. For a small fee he'll 'do the needful' and save you the swim.

Dawn chorus in the Western Ghats.


We recently made a short video of the dawn chorus in the Western Ghats - as my friend John would point out, it's about the only time in Pune that most people cannot hear a reciprocating engine. It is beautiful, if it does require an early start - however, other early risers include the odd fly with impeccable timing.

Follow the link to see the video.

Jooce, thanks for hosting this.


http://www.jooce.org.uk/Videos/TheSlap.wmv

Sigisoara.



Patrick,

As I was navigating my way back to India in July I realised that I could not be that far from Sigisoara. I took a look at the Skymap and it appeared then and there on the close up frame a short distance to the south of our flight path. I dashed over to the starboard side (there's always plenty of room on business class) and took this snap. Sigi is somewhere under these clouds. The other jet just happened to be there. Funnily enough, the Skymap only showed Sigisoara that one time - so it could have been my imagination or the wine.

Has anyone else experienced the white knuckle taxi ride from Bucharesti to Sigisoara and then had to spend the night at Vlad Dracule's place near the Gothic graveyard? Or even had to deal with that well known bottle maker Stimet?

More Moon




Hey Jooce, This is one I made last night from my roof terrace. Good clear skies, but this is India so it's all a bit relative. I used a tripod, telephoto and stopped the exposure down a lot. I used the black point setting to remove noise to get a nice black sky. I also did some cropping using GenuineFractals to resize the image. What do you think?

Bye bye monsoon. Hard luck, Ladahk!

House plants.




Damp can be a bit of a problem in the monsoon.

Graham's new teeth.





Graham was very proud of the new teeth that he had bought on the MG (Mahatma Gandhi) Road. (It's true!)

Maharashtran rural bus stop.




The bus stop has a small shrine where offerings are left to ensure a safe journey. A Very Good Idea.


Just take a look at those trousers!!

Falling off the Western Ghats.




And this is what it looks like when you fall off!!

Western Ghats.




Green snow in the Ghats. Best looked at on a decent monitor to really take the colour in.

Nest envy.



Fred knew location was most important but still could not help feeling a little envious of some of his neighbours.