Sanjay at a picnic…caught with a piece of watermelon in his mouth….hiding a smile :)

Here are four images of what I call Gypsies from India. Not really sure if that is the right term…but they are wandering folks, and kind of dress up brightly and sing and dance on the streets. Hope you like them. They are not works of art, but presented here to show a documentary style display of such folk.  I was attracted to their smiles and their spirit.

I feel that this lady had such an open presence to her. She was bright and cheerful without it being in your face or made up. There is something about her quiet smile that I really enjoy.

I was wondering if we would run into snake charmers during our visit.  I had heard that these folks and people with performance monkeys were either banned or discouraged now-a-days in India.  However, as we were leaving the Mehrangarh Fort, we ran into this group of individuals and their snake.  Keith and I were so happy and spontaneously started shooting with glee.

As we were doing this, the guys behind us, who were selling trinkets and paintings and postcards, came up to us and started watching us.  A couple of them asked me how much my camera costs…I was a tiny bit uncomfortable….why? Because I thought of two things: 1) it is so expensive, and they have so little…I was embarassed. and 2) I had a thought that knowing how expensive it was would make us prime targets for pick-pocketing and theft.

By the way, not once did we lose anything throughout the trip or did we feel unsafe. Anyway, we took our shots, paid them their “fees” and left very happy!

Taj is perhaps the most photographed icon of all times.  I had never been to see the Taj Mahal before. I was curious to know if I would see it and say to myself…”Yup…it looks like the pictures I have seen a million times”.  I was afraid of that.  However, when I went to see it….from the very first time I laid eyes on it, it was overwhelmingly beautiful.  It is glowing, ethereal looking, massive, spectacular, milky, and a silent beauty that looks back at you. You almost want to use hushed tones when you are in its presence.  It brought tears to my eyes.  I am not sure I can describe the feeling you get when you see it. Made me intensely desire to be a poet.

Anyway, as far as photography is concerned, it was one difficult icon to shoot.  It has been shot and shot and shot.  I too took a million images of it.  However, as I was walking towards the Taj, the immaculate lawns were being watered…and for some reason, there was a puddle in the lawn that I saw.  In it was a silent reflection of the awesome monument.  The puddle was not very big, but the image it held was huge.  Here is a rendition of what I saw in the puddle.  When I show this image to people, they either love it or hate it (processing, colors, crunchiness, etc).  See what you think.

Anyway….it truly was a site to behold!!

Rajasthan is so very colorful. There are women and girls in the most colorful of clothing. The markets and bazaars are a visual cornucopia of colors.  The streets are full of people and their wares – bangles, food, saris, spices, and much more.  Life happens in a 1000 dimensional way in Rajasthan.  One of the fun things to note is the number of colorful turbans men wear.  Here are some examples of such Turban-Wallahs.