Archive for the ‘india’ Category
Rajasthan Women
Rajasthani Women are possible one of the finest decorated on my travels in north India. Their women are always dressed in vivid colored ghaghra or saree made by either silk or cotton. These dresses are usually in bright colors such as blue , orange and red. A peice of cloth is often used to cover the head from desert sun heat for modesty purpose.
I love how finely jewellery decorated these woman are right from the head, neck to waist to the legs. These jewellery represent some kind of status for Rajasthan women. The one on top of her head would be called Bor. The nose chain represents her marital status
We received an invitation from this Rajasthani woman who then tried to sell us stuffs that we don’t need from her, however we gave some money to her although she’s still pissed off. Always be vary of house visitation offer when you are in India.
all photos were taken with a d90 and some sort of natural lights.
Related Posts:
My first visit to India
At the heat of India Summer
My first visit to India around 4 years back was not a sweet one, I remember taking a long bus trip from Nepal to Varanasi with a Japanese friend and being conned by thugs and con artiste along the way. My Japanese friend got manheld and nearly got beatan at the border for refusing to pay the so called extra charges that was not suppose to be.
It was a 2 nights trip on the bus I believe. We took off from Kathmandu on a crap bus blasting loud Hindi songs in the middle of the night. It wasn’t so bad, however my friend did not enjoy it very much. The border was painful , as you have to always watch out when travelling to any borders. Border is a good location for conman to prey for victims due to the confusion and rush.
It is not the best time to reach India around May. It’s one of the peak Indian summer. The travel in the old rusty non-aircondition bus was painful. At near 50 celcious ( I believe it’s much hotter in the bus) , it feels like oven. The sun burns my head when I’m outdoor. And conman rushing to to cheat your money and the smell of the poop and peep on the roads. On the 2nd night we finally reached Varanasi at around 12am or later.
It was around 2 weeks before I gave up and went back to Malaysia. Sick and horrified.
There it goes, my first impression of India
Banares, Varanasi
People hate to be photographed in India. Unless you are paying a lot of course
Related Posts:
Greater Kashmir travel pictures
I arrived at Kashmir early in the morning around 12 hours shared jeep ride from Ladakh. The journey was mostly below 0 Celsius with tremendously beautiful Himalayan stars. I did not dare to eat and drink most of the journey. I can still remember being waken up by the police somewhere middle of the night and walked through the security post to register myself. The night is awefully cold and the walk is tough as the air was thin due to the altitude. I’m glad to be able to make it alive to Kashmir from Ladakh.
If you have read my previous post, I was expecting some kind of beautiful place yet I was frustrated. Kashmir is not some kind of special place that I expected it to be from so much publicites that I have heard of. We are often greeted with hungry touts, tour guides, boatmens, ship hotel man or whatever. This place has been abandoned by foreign tourists due to security reasons. Sonoko was right, this place is not special at all.
Kashmir Dal Lake, I was expecting a paradise at this chaotic valley. However Kashmir’s lake is not as beautiful as I expected it to be. I wish I could stay longer here however there will be riots 12 hours after this photo was taken. I also wish to see the muslim quarters area that our guesthouse owner forbids us to go ( security reasons)
Kashmiri man, this guy was in total shock when i took his photo. Probably first time seeing a tourist. It’s good to be at somewhere non-touristic sometimes
Related Posts:
In: india, travels · Tagged with: kashmir, make my trip, pak occupied kashmir
Ladakh muslims , Islam among Tibetan
During the mughal period of India, There were migrations of muslims to buddhist kingdom of Ladakh as Ladakh was conquered. Most of the muslims at Leh, Ladakh comes from Kashmir. Of course sometimes situation are not so relaxed as there may be religious clashes from time to time.
I walked through cold streets of Ladakh to find people to be photographed during an evening. This man was kind enough to give me a go. This man lives behind the Masjid Jamek of Leh. I gave him a postcard from Malaysia.
Related Posts:
In: india, photography, travels · Tagged with: kashmir, ladakh islam, ladakh muslims
Calcutta, Kolkata or West Bengal
I arrived at Calcutta at around 4am in the morning. The train that I took from Varanasi was suppose to take 12 hours, however it took more 30 hours for the train to reach Calcutta. It was a total nightmare sleeping on the train stations smell of poops and eating somewhat dirty foods from street paddlers inside the train. It’s kind of hard to check whether the foods are clean or dirty as there weren’t much choices. I’m lucky that my stomach had adjusted well to Indian foods. My gf is having diarrhea once a week for 2 months. The coach are filled with mosquito in the night and we have to watch our bags from thieves which are well know on that route.
Calcutta’s people are quite mean compared to other cities in India. They will not hesitate to ask tips from you for a small favor. Not to blame them, there are a lot of hardcore poor in Calcutta and they are brought up that way. If you give 10 rupees to a beggar, he will probably give a damn stare at you and ask for more.
We took one of those famous Calcutta yellow cabs and he dropped us somewhere near our destination where we have to walk another 30 minutes to walk to Sudder Street. A long the way I can see a lot of people bathing,cleaning up,brushing teeth along drains with rushing water. And people sweeping the drain.
Its been 2 lousy months and I’m drained to do any serious photography anymore. However, Calcutta isn’t such a bad place compared to other cities in India. Along the hustle bustle people banging into each other while walking, you can still find KFC and tasty foods here. And you can actually find Meat! Quite a rare food in India. There are still some city standards in Calcutta , a bit of peace if you can afford it. A bit of organization.
I’m lucky this is one of the last city that I’ll be in India. It’s been hell of sick journey in India, I promised myself not to go back to India again. Fingers crossed.
I’m really glad to be able to say “I hate India”
Normal scene on morning
Mother Teresa
Communist at Bengal
Related Posts:
In: india, travels · Tagged with: calcutta, kolkata, west bengal
