Spring is Here

 

Are you able to hear the sweet and melodious songs of cuckoos, twittering over the green twigs...

Are you able to see the swarm of bees humming around the blooming flowers......the freshly hatched butterflies flying towards sunshine...the green meadows everywhere with budding, beautiful, colorful and fresh flowers?

Are you able to feel the soft touch of fresh cool breeze with the music of soils?

Then you know, the enchanting, lovely and hopeful Spring is here......

 

As Robin Williams says, "Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!"
Spring is the season of new beginnings. Buds of flow­ers peep to see the beautiful sight of nature. Flowers spread their sweet smell in all directions. Earth seems to come to life again wearing a green dress. The trees bring new leaves on their delicate branches. The fields grow new grass and the entire Nature becomes green and fresh-looking. Farmers and gardeners plant their seeds, and temperatures slowly rise.

It is full of transformations. The temperature rises to a more bearable degree, opposing Mother Nature's last few months of freezing surroundings. The leaves we saw fall and flowers we saw wilt are now budding into lush, green, picture-perfect plants.

 

It is a grand feast for our nature loving hungry eyes to capture the blithe and happy nature in it's full bloom....Here I represent Spring in my way....

 



 

 

To view the individual pictures please click on them below:
(And don't forget to share your feedback here)

EXIF Details: NIKON D7K, 18-105mm Lens at 105mm
f/5.6, 1/500sec., ISO-200, No flash, Edited in CS5







EXIF Details: NIKON D7K, 18-105mm Lens at 105mm
f/5.6, 1/500sec., ISO-200, No flash, Edited in CS5








EXIF Details: NIKON D7K, 18-105mm Lens at 105mm
f/5.6, 1/250sec., ISO-200, No flash, Edited in CS5

EXIF Details: NIKON D7K, 18-105mm Lens at 105mm
f/5.6, 1/1000sec., ISO-200, No flash, Edited in CS5

EXIF Details: NIKON D7K, 18-105mm Lens at 105mm
f/5.6, 1/125sec., ISO-200, No flash, Edited in CS5







EXIF Details: NIKON D7K, 18-105mm Lens at 98mm
f/5.6, 1/250sec., ISO-200, No flash, Edited in CS5








EXIF Details: NIKON D7K, 18-105mm Lens at 105mm
f/5.6, 1/400sec., ISO-200, No flash, Edited in CS5






EXIF Details: NIKON D7K, 18-105mm Lens at 105mm
f/5.6, 1/500sec., ISO-250, No flash, Edited in CS5






EXIF Details: NIKON D7K, 18-105mm Lens at 18mm
f/7.1, 1/200sec., ISO-200, No flash, Edited in CS5

 

Festival of Colors - Part 3

Holi celebration takes place with lot of joy and verve throughout the country. The enthusiasm of the people reaches its peak and matches with the nature which is in full bounty at the time of Holi.
It gives much liberty to the people to let their hair loose and enjoy their hidden crazy self.

Differences of any sort are drowned in the coloured waters of Holi and people just enjoy being a play animal. To further enhance the festive spirit of Holi celebrations we have a social sanction to get a kick with the tradition of bhang. Then there is total wildness as people dance to the rhythm of dholak and sing traditional folk songs in loudest possible pitch.

Children particularly enjoy the festival as they throw water filled balloons at passersby...and if anybody stares..they have ready answer, 'Bura na mano Holi hai..' and evoke a smile on the irritated face. Besides, they have their water missiles, called pichkaris to drench the person from far and escape further drenching. People also play with gulal or 'Abeer' which is available in various bright colors like - pink, magenta, red, yellow and green etc...

In the midst of these colouring games are savoured the mouth watering holi specialties like gujiya, malpuas, mathri, puran poli, dahi badas etc and downed with glasses full of thandai.

In some states there is also a tradition of breaking the pot full of buttermilk which is hung high on the streets. A group of boys form a human pyramid and one of them break the pot. All this while womenfolk throw buckets of colour water on them and sing folk songs.

And after a wild and eventful day, evenings are celebrated in a dignified manner by visiting friends and relatives. People exchange sweets and hug each other conveying the warm wishes for Holi. These days there people also participate and organise Holi Meets and enjoy the festival till late in the night.

Holi celebrations that starts with the burning of Holika on the eve of Holi thus culminates with the lot of fun-filled activity and bonhomie. However, at some places specially Mathura and Barsana Holi celebrations continue for a week as each major temple organise a Holi bash on different day. Lovers of the festival enjoy every moment to the fullest.

 

Festival of Colors - Part 2

It is said that Holi existed several centuries before Christ. However, the meaning of the festival is believed to have changed over the years. Earlier it was a special rite performed by married women for the happiness and well-being of their families and the full moon (Raka) was worshiped.
Today, this festival of Holi is regarded as a celebration of the Colors of Unity & Brotherhood - an opportunity to forget all differences and indulge in unadulterated fun. It has traditionally been celebrated in high spirit without any distinction of cast, creed, color, race, status or sex. It is one occasion when sprinkling colored powder ('gulal') or colored water on each other breaks all barriers of discrimination so that everyone looks the same and universal brotherhood is reaffirmed. This is one simple reason to participate in this colorful festival.

The festival starts with Holika Dahan(Bonfire) on the night before Holi where people gather, sing and dance. The next morning is free for all carnival of colors, where everyone plays, chases and colors each other with dry powder and colored water, with some carrying water guns and colored water-filled balloons for their water fight. Anyone and everyone is fair game, friend or stranger, rich or poor, man or woman, children and elders.

The frolic and fight with colors occurs in the open streets, open parks, outside temples and buildings. Groups carry drums and musical instruments, go from place to place, sing and dance. People move and visit family, friends and foes, first play with colors on each other, laugh and chit-chat, then share Holi delicacies, food and drinks. In the evening, after sobering up, people dress up, visit friends and family.



Next: Festival of Colors-Part 3

Festival of Colors - Part 1

Holi or Holika or Phagwah or Basant Utsav or Dol Jatra or Festival of Colors or Festival of Love 

- There are so many names for just one festival that is celebrated widely all over India, different regions have different name.Yes today, on the auspicious occasion of Phalgun Purnima(full moon day in the month of Phalugn), we all Indians are celebrating Holi, which signifies the beginning of the season Spring, which is the most colorful festival mainly celebrated by the followers of Vedic Religion or Hindus. Historians also believe that Holi was celebrated by all Aryans but more so in the Eastern part of India.

But in recent times, it has also become popular among non-Hindus in many parts of South Asia, in some parts of Europe, North America as a spring celebration of love, frolic and colors.

The festival has many mythological interesting stories behind it. Let me tell you 3 of them:

1) Some people says it is highly associated with Hindu Gods Krishna and Radha. Hindus think of them as the God of Love, so the festival is also called as Festival of Love.

According to the legend, Krishna was jealous of Radha’s fair complexion. He told about this to his mother Yashoda, she teasingly asked him to color Radha’s face. So that's how it started.

2) Another legend says, it is associated with demon king Hiranyakashyap. Hiranyakashyap wanted everybody in his kingdom to worship only him, but to his great disappointment, his son, Prahlad became an ardent devotee of Lord Naarayana. Hiaranyakashyap commanded his sister, Holika to enter a blazing fire with Prahlad in her lap. Holika had a boon whereby she could enter fire without any damage on herself. However, she was not aware that the boon worked only when she enters the fire alone. As a result she paid a price for her sinister desires, while Prahlad was saved by the grace of the god for his extreme devotion. The festival, therefore, celebrates the victory of good over evil and also the triumph of devotion.

3) According to another legend, Lord Krishna killed the demonic ‘Putna’ on this day. And gowalas and gopiyas played Rasleela to celebrate it. Krishna played with colors to celebrate the victory of good over evil on this day.

The below picture gives you just a glance of how Holi is celebrated....

Taken at Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India, on the occasion of Basanta Utsav

Next: Festival of Colors-Part 2