Pic of the Day – The Monster

Somewhere out there in the forests of spider valley is the monster that left this stool behind. And they say that the tiger is the king of the Indian jungle. Not even kitty messes with these things.

Pic of the Day – Oh the Irony

This sign is across the street from the ITPL, here in Whitefield. I’ve always loved the irony of it…

Pic of the Day – Raptor Row

This is another Jaipur photo. I saw a group of black kites lines up on a rooftop in the early morning light and just had to take a shot. One thing that India has is an amazing number of birds of prey. In America, eagles are associated with wilderness. Here, I’ve seen at least two different breeds (booted eagle and short toed snake eagle) in Bangalore. And then there are the kites. They are everywhere. I think that they fill the same niche as seagulls do in other places as they are mostly scavengers and are more common in cities than the countryside. One thing that defines cities in India is the swarms of big raptors turning, twisting and soaring overhead.

Raptor Row

Pic of the Day – The Pee Man and the Monkey

I took this shot in the old city of Jaipur. Yes, they have public urinals up there that are open for the world to see. No, they do not lead to the sewer system. (they just seem to be aimed that proventing men from peeing just anywhere) No, they don’t seem to actually prevent men from peeing just anywhere. I saw a man urinating ten meters from one of these rows of public urinals.

And yes, it appears that monkeys are more common on the streets of Jaipur than Bangalore

Monkey

Pic of the Day – The Porter

When we were at the Amber fort in Jaipur, I went off wandering through the maze of rooms in the palace. As I rounded a bend, I ran into one of the female construction porters that seem to be at the Amber fort doing renovation work. She whispered to me in a hushed tone:

Photo? Photo?

She was interested in having her picture taken (for a tip of course) and also seemed to want not to be too loud about it. She was very photogenic. Interestingly, there were a couple of things that we did not notice until afterwards. Firstly, her top shirt button is unbuttoned. Secondly, she has relatively good teeth. Thirdly, she looked straight into the camera and struck a pose.

Either I found a model working undercover, or a most unusual porter.

Porter?

Pic of the Day – Backwater Sunset

I’m getting caught up on stories and photos that I’ve just not had the time to post. This is one of my favorite shots from India, taken at sunset one evening last month in the backwaters of Kerala.

Backwater Sunset

Pic of the Day – The Scorpion

A scorpion that we ran into while hiking at Skandagiri two weekends ago. The little bugger was about 6″ (15cm) long. I have no idea what species it was or just how poisonous it was (or was not). The shot was taken by Siva’s husband, Horst.

Scorpion

Pic of the Day – Diwalli Best

We took this shot last weekend when hiking at Hogenakal Falls. These two rural village women may live in a hut with a thatched roof, but in their Diwalli best (Indians always dress up for Diwalli), they were much better dressed than we sloppy trekkers were.

Tamil Vilagers

Pic of the Day – The Vodaphant

While in Kerala, I actually saw an elephant that was working for a living. Up until now, I have seen wild elephants, temple elephants and elephants that you can ride, but never an actual working elephant. Naturally I had to take a photo. I like the composition with the elephant being used as an old fashioned heavy hauler, combined with the endless Vodaphone ads.

The Vodaphant

Pics of the Day – Dussera

Some pics of Dussera related scenes from around here.

Happy Pooja'fied Truck

Happy Poojafied Bus

Get your auspicious petrol here!

So will this make the power more reliable in the next year?

To fulfill everyone’s needs for attaching banana leaves to vehicles, buildings, etc. during Dussera, banana leaf vendors sprung up like Christmas tree vendors do in western countries during December.

Banana Leaf Vendors on Hosour Road