Ganesh Immersion (Visarjan) Pics

The symbolic meaning of Ganesh Chaturthi festival is that Lord Ganesha comes and stays among us. The immersion symbolizes his return from the earth after removing the obstacles and unhappiness of his devotees.

Kondivita cha Raja (King of Kondivita)

On the Streets of Sahar Road

On the streets of J B Nagar

Kondivita residents bidding farewell to the Kondivita Shiv Sena Shaka Ganpati on the 11 day.

Moth and the Smiling Lady

I took this picture while the moth was resting on the screen door in the balcony area of my house. Although the image is a bit blurry, if you look in the middle, you'll see face of a smiling lady. At least that is what it looks like to me. :):)

Photography contest

T won second place for this picture at a photography contest sponsored by Monroe Twp Library. The theme was "Travel". She won it under the Fourth Grade category for best composed shot of the Taj Mahal.

Cake delight

Fourth graders in my daughter's class made and decorated this cake of New Jersey. Each piece represents the counties.

The kids decorated it with loads of candies and all other kinds of goodies...yummy. Of course the room parents and the teacher did help.

The final look of the New Jersey cake all finished and ready to be attacked with gusto.

Sunset near Kasara Ghat

Recently I had visited Shani Shingnapur, Maharastra and on our way back I clicked these sunset pictures. I think it was somewhere near Kasara Ghat on route to Nashik – Mumbai. We were traveling at 100 – 110 kmph in my friend's car. I am impressed at how these shots turned out.

Lillies 2011

Last year I had planted some lily bulbs during summer. Before they could bloom fall had set in. So I was impatiently waiting for them to bloom. I am happy to announce the first bloom of my lily flower is here. I shot these pictures during a period of one week; from bud to final bloom. Enjoy.

  

This picture was taken by my 9 year-old and it is from her perspective.

I planted the lilies in variety of colors. As and when they bloom I post more pictures.

St. John the Baptist Church in Seepz

Recently I went with my friend to St.John the Baptist church, nicknamed the Old church in Seepz (Mumbai). I was curious, so I searched online to find out more information about this church. This church was originally built by the Portuguese in 1579 to worship the feast of John the Baptist. The pillars and altars were transferred to the new church in Marol Village (St. John the Evangelist church ) and since then it has been in ruins. Though it is presently abandoned, Christians get together once a year during the second week of May and hold celebrations.

T & the wasp

Usually, my daughter takes all the pictures when I am working on arts & crafts projects for my other blog BabsProjects. After she was done taking pictures of my recent work, I guess she noticed a wasp on our patio door. I don't know when she took these pictures, but I found them very amusing and comical. Enjoy.

Jogeshwari Caves

The Jogeshwari Caves are some of the earliest Hindu cave temples and sculptures located in the Mumbai suburb of Jogeshwari, India; dating back to 520 to 550 BC. It has many pillars and a Lingam at the end. Idols of Dattatreya, Hanuman and Ganesh line the walls. The cave also has a murti of goddess Jogeshwari (Yogeshwari), whom the area is named after and is considered as a Kuldevi to some. Unfortunately, even though the caves have been classified as endangered, they are surrounded by encroachments like slums and all other kinds of dwellings.

Many people living in Mumbai don’t know about the Jogeshwari Caves. I came to know about these caves a couple of years ago. So I set out to take some pictures. Unfortunately, I was not able to take the pictures of the interior of the caves as people were performing puja that day.

Tulips

Spring is here and usually I whip out my camera to take pictures of the flowers blooming in my front lawn. As I was pressed for time, I handed over my Nikon D50 to my nine year old and told her to have fun with it. She came back with these amazing pictures. She told me she used the flower setting to take the pictures.Other than cropping some, these pictures have not been edited.

Supermoon

With all the hype surrounding the 'Supermoon' phenomena, I too grabbed my camera to take some shots. The last time we had a this event was in March 1993.

This picture of the moon was taken 2 days before on 17th March.

This second picture was taken on the day of the event on 19th March 2011. The moon was closest to the Earth and hence it appeared larger than life. It was absolutely breathtaking, and I was thrilled to have captured it.

Bayeke (baby shower) Snacks

All kinds of snacks & sweets made in honor of my Sister-in-law for her baby shower (Bayeke - Mangalorean style).

Green pics

Below are some of the pictures, I shot while while trekking across the Maharashtra Nature Park in Dharavi, Mumbai (Bombay). This park is spread over 37 acres of land. This parkland is still one of the unknown/not so famous places to visit in Mumbai. The reason this place is so isolated and unknown is that it used to be a dumping ground. Now after two decades of work by the MMRDA and WWF India the park with about 10,000 trees, walkaways and greenery is gradually taking shape.
















The rest of the pictures I shot are from my building compound. The following two pictures are of the Awla tree. Awla is an amazingly sour fruit. As kids we used to dip them in salt and eat it. When I think of this, it still makes my mouth water. I thought I'll put up this picture for my sister. I don't think there are any Awla trees in US. I am sure it will make her salivate and bring back our childhood memories.