Photography

  Chhinmastika temple, Rajrappa             About 70 Kms North of Ranchi, Chhinmastika (a Hindu deity) temple is situated on the confluence of Damodar and Bhairvi River which flows through circuitry hilly terrain and turned into a waterfall at the end. The place is called Rajrappa which comes under the Chitarpur CD block. It is a Hindu pilgrimage centre which fetches many devotees regularly 24x7 from Jharkhand, Bihar,Odisha and West Bengal, due to its importance as the Goddess Chhinmastika is a headless deity, who stands on the body or Kamdev and Rati in a lotus bed.             As the folklore says that the Goddess Chhinmastika instead of drinking the bloods of her victims she cut her own head and held her in her hand and drank her own blood. So that is the importance of the temple and worth visiting. Rajrappa is one of the Aadi shaktisthals where Shiva 1 st wife Sati...

  Navratangarh - the forgotten heritage About the journey: During a photo-walk function organized and invited by the Jharkhand Photographic Association (JPA), Ranchi and being a journey enthusiast, I couldn’t hold my temptation and joined them. We started our journey early morning from Ranchi and after one and half hours of bus ride we reached Navratnagarh or Doisagarh which is about 65 Kms from Ranchi, Jharkhand. About the place: Navratnagarh or Doisagarh is situated about 5 kms from Sisai block on Ranchi-Gumla highway. It is a nondescript place hiding many treasure trove and history of Nagvanshi dynasty who ruled Chota Nagpur Plateau for close to two thousand years which put Nagvanshis among the dynasties that ruled a place longest period in the world. Most of the monuments as well as the gigantic nine floors main building (don’t know how they would have built it (during ancient times) are turned into dilapidated rulins, not in good condition. I said it nondescript place...

  Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu : The Forgotten Santhal Revolt of 1855. Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu : The Forgotten Santhal Revolt of 1855. While returning back to Dumka from Sahebganj after finishing an assignment with one of colleague, our vehicle was cruising on NH 80, the locale driver slowed down at one point and indicated that this is village Bhognadih which is about 48 Kms south of Sahibganj, where Hul (revolution) took place in 1855-56, led by two brothers Sidhu and Kanu Murmu. Being a journalist curiosity aroused and I requested him to guide us into the village. It was a simple hamlet sparsely populated. At the entrance of the village there was a banyan tree well protected by the boundary wall. The story- The Santhal rebellion of 1855 CE was called Hul, which in the local language means a movement for liberation, which started in 1855 to 1856 against the suppression of tribal’s by the Britishers, middlemen, businessmen and landlords who use to exploit them to the core and have t...

  Bicycle Coal Carriers             If anybody goes to Patratu, Khelari, Rajrappa and Hazaribagh from Ranchi, so on the way he will confront with a scene which is unusual for anyone and stirs lot of curiosities, but not for the locales. Lot of people carrying coals in rag sacks on their modified bicycles who bear the weight, towards Ranchi not less than tons through treacherous, circuitous road, crossing the hills about 50 to 60 Kms, just to eke their livelihood, which is just an arduous task for anyone. As for them they buy the scrapped coal from the mines and from the middlemen and carry them to Ranchi and sell them in the roadside Dhabas or in the market. As per talk with some of them, they are in this business since long not less than 15-20 years. Their arduous and uphill journey takes whole day as they start by 2 to 3 am early in the morning and takes whole day to reach Ranchi but still they are less paid.   ...

  Hang Gliding                         Once while sitting and aiming at surfers at Merewether beach in Newcastle, Australia near Cuckoo hill, suddenly I taken aback by hooosh like sound just passed over me, as I was also basking in the lovely and warm sun of the winter, and searching some good actions frames of the surfers, so for that purpose I was carrying two cameras one with long zoom of 400 mm lens and another short zoom 16-35 mm as per the requirement of the situation. So both surfers and Para gliders needed long zoom for composing and shoot. The next time the Para glider just encircled again and I was ready with my long zoom and put the camera on high servo and shot multiple frames in one go. And after analyzing the frames I sorted out one which I am presenting before my friends.             While sojourning ...

  Sunbird             While taking morning stroll in my colony I noticed one very tiny, shiny bright and black in color with long and curved bill, bird hopping from this tree to another quickly. His restive nature of activities was very attractive and eye catching. So I aimed on that tiny creature with my camera fitted with 400 mm lens and zoomed in on him, as the bird was very restive couldn’t staying for a while on branches for long so I kept shutter speed high of the camera with auto focus on and got few beautiful shots.             As I came to know about the Sunbird that they widely found in West Asia and Indian sub continent and mostly live in thin jungle, bushes, including large urban areas, Basically they are resident birds and don’t move large distant. The Sunbird primary threat is degradation of jungles due to deforestation, if I see then the human being are t...

  Fla mingos             Once I was in Odisha on assignment and during cover of the story moving around the deep forest of that state such as Niyamgiri mountains range, Dhingcanal, Kala Handi areas, and during that I came to know about the presence of   colorful and attractive large birds Flamingos, at Chilka Lake   which is about 60 Kms away,1 hour drive from Bhubaneswar, it is a vast brackish water lagoon   in Asia and 2 nd largest coastal lagoon in the world covering Puri, Ganjam and Khorda districts of Odisha state, on the Eastern coast of India. It is covering about 1,100 sq Kms flowing into the Bay of Bengal. This lake fetches large numbers of migratory birds during winter and it become   heaven for Flamingoes and it is also home of number endangered species of plants and animals also hotspot of biodiversity in our country. This popular lagoon is pear shaped and 64.5 Kms long with the width of 5 to ...

  Mango the King                         When I was in school during summer the class were conducted to ½ half time from 6:30 to 12 O clock and while returning home from school there were many mangoes trees full of fruits, so being a child I and my other friends couldn’t hold our temptation use to throw stones on the tree just to get the taste of luscious fruits but when someone chases we just flew away. So childhood blues are still hammering into my mind. I think most of us had faced and enjoyed that situation in our childhood especially who came from humble background. As I grew up and have family and due to some compulsion I went to live in a place near Digha, Patna, where lot of mangoes orchards were existing and I was living in between them. That area was famous for growing up (cultivation) of very luscious and delicious mangoes called Dudhiya Malda or Langra wh...

                                                                             Black Berry (Jamun)                         This Black berry fruit (Jamun) dragging me into down memories lane when I was a child or school going lad. The place where I was residing with my parents had lot of Black Berries popularly called Jamun trees and me with my siblings and friends use to pluck the fruit with the help of long bamboos and relished the sweetness and succulentness of that fruit. After having some fruits we the ch...

  Welcome Rain                         After about a month of sultry, suffocating and scorching heat above 40 D, Celsius which left people almost roasted as the heat wave stretched   about 15 more days from the normal schedule caused much inconvenience to the denizens as lakes, ponds and other water bodies dried up. People of Delhi are seen scrambling for a bucket of water and many casualties are reported due to heat stroke in Northern Indian states, people got much shy of relief by the first thunder showers like pre monsoon rain, which suddenly plummeted the temperature by 8 to 10 D, Celsius gave much respite to the denizens from the sultry heat. In the scorching heat even the cooling systems were proved inadequate and the state governments regularly issued warning of red and yellow alert in many parts of the country.       ...

                                       Childhood                 The days which will never come back in the life of any individual again is this period, full of fun and enjoying the life as one can at his/her choice. This is the first stage of life which is shaping up the future of any individual as per his/ her surroundings and environment as well as parenting. The period between birth and puberty is generally comes under childhood age between birth to 13 years of an individual or legally when a person gets maturity. Childhood is the time of joy and innocence and away from all the complexities of life.             So far as I remember that I was lucky enough when I was in ...

                                                           Open Bill Stork (Jhangil)             Once in the state capital of Bihar, Patna I was on an assignment and during that I had travelled in Mid Bihar and on the way I crossed Danapur area which is neighboring place of Patna. While crossing Danapur I saw thousands and thousands of big size bird hovering over that area, seeing them into flight was a visual treat. They stretched their beaks, necks and legs and fully opened their wings while in flight, just like smoothly sailing in placid waters, with little hissing sound. Their activities are visual delight for people. They always fly in groups and...