I love my India

“Where the mind is without fear
and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been
broken up into fragments by
narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from
the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches
its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason
has not lost its way into the dreary
desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is lead forward by thee
into ever-widening thought and action-
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father,
let my country awake.”  – “GEETANJALI” -Rabindranath Tagore

Glorious Himalayas, Holy Rivers, Lush green fields, Gushing waterfalls, Tranquil Lakes, Roaring Oceans, divine hot water springs, Royal Deserts, Architectural  Marvels, Naturally formed unbelievable cave structures, Treasure house of Flora and Fauna,  and much more!

View of K2 from Gangtok

Gangtok Jail

Ain't they beautiful! - Gangtok

View of KRS dam, Mysore

  Crafty loves KRS na :P

On the way from Mysore to Balamuri

Shravanabelagola, Karnataka

Waterfalls on the way to Sringeri, Karnataka

City of Shimla

Fagu, HP - Movie 'Black' ws shot here!

River Beas, on the way to Manali from Shimla

Solang Valley, HP

Hot water springs, Manikaran

Srisailam dam, AP

Mahanandi, AP

Belum Caves, AP

Roaring Melody of Tadoba - the tiger in all its glory

So many animals

Many more birds

Sheep - Dalhousie, HP 😉

Chikmagalur, Karnataka

Konark beach

Sun temple, Konark

Dhaulagiri stupa, Orissa

Basara, AP

“There are some parts of the world that, once visited, get into your heart and won’t go. For me, India is such a place. When I first visited, I was stunned by the richness of the land, by its lush beauty and exotic architecture, by its ability to overload the senses with the pure, concentrated intensity of its colors, smells, tastes, and sounds… I had been seeing the world in black & white and, when brought face-to-face with India, experienced everything re-rendered in brilliant technicolor.” – Keith Bellows, VP – National Geographic Society

Places of worship – All roads lead to One

“India has two million gods, and worships them all. In religion all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire.” – Mark Twain

 

Dakshineswar, Kolkata

 

 

A beautiful church, Shimla

 

Sringeri temple, Karnataka

Goddess Kalikamba - Koppa, near Sringeri

Lord Bahubali @ Shravanabelagola

Hanuman Tok, Gangtok, Sikkim

Lord Buddha, Dharamshala, HP

Srisailam temple, AP

If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions, I should point to India. – Max Mueller

The festive spirit

Holi hai bhai!

The traditional Rangoli greeting the visitors extending a warm welcome!

He is gonna visit us soon 🙂

Ganpati Bappa Morya

Diwali Lakshmi Puja

Bathukamma Panduga – Unique festival in Telangana, A.P

The women create a form to worship using flowers and all of them assemble, arrange their creations in the centre and dance around it! Lovely to watch. This one is from the last year celebrations in the apartment where I stay!

Merry Christmas 🙂

Art n Craft – we know it all 🙂

Kullu folk dance

Shiparamam, Hyderabad

@ Shilparamam, Hyderabad

Dollu kunhitha - Popular drum dance

All set for a dance drama!

The joy of eating yummy yummy chats from the road-side wala 😉

Mouth-watering Samosa 😛

Drool-worthy Pav Bhaji

For all these n much more, I love my India 🙂

There is only one India: The land of dreams and romance … A wonderland of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendor and rags. The one sole country under the sun that is endowed with an imperishable interest for alien princess and peasants, for lettered and ignorant, wise and fool, rich and poor, bond and free, the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all rest of the globe combined …” – Mark Twain

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO ALL OF U!  [In advance]

LET’S UPHOLD THE SPIRIT OF FREEDOM IN ITS TRUE SENSE 🙂 MERA BHARAT MAHAN 🙂

Pics courtesy: My Nikon D-40,Sony DSC-H1 and Canon A-510! Thanks to the photographer Su, wherever applicable 😉 This is to say, please don’t reproduce the images without permission 🙂

ETA: Guys, tell me that I am not dreaming 😯 This week has been really lucky for me! Pixie has passed on two more wonderful awards to me. Having been threatened that she will call a strike and scared that she may not give me company for DANGANAKA dance any more, me nt gng to be late in putting them up here 🙂 Thanks so much dear; they mean a lot 🙂 I should be having a awards ceremony soon to pass on all these lovely awards 🙂

Thanks Pixie 🙂