Midnight Beauty

The magnificence and the exquisite manner in which this Plumeria flower stood starkly different from its background attracted me to click the snap. I always wanted to click something like this, a bright flower against a dull background. Amongst darkness around, this flower seems to be the only attraction… A true midnight beauty…!!!

Strike

Female Rock Pythons lay up to 100 eggs between March and June and stay with them for the 80 days till they hatch. I guess this kid freshly out of his shell came to my house. He was only approximately 9 inches long and looked so damn cute. I tried to hold his tail with my bare hand, but I guess that scared him enough to get back to my hand only to bite. Luckily, apprehensive enough to be alert with him, I removed my hand in time. Otherwise, though not venomous, the bite of a python is painful because of the many sharp teeth it has in its mouth. Then with the help of a stick it was caught and put in a bucket.

This snap of him is while he is inside the bucket aiming for a strike at anything that comes nearby. Although I did leave a live earthworm for him to feast over, he did not even care to kill that one. He too must be a 'Jain' I guess.

Beauty and the Beast

Hmmm... I know Maneka Gandhi and PETA would not like my calling this honey bee a beast, but this is only a symbolic description of this beautiful (and dangerous) insect. I've been bitten by eight of them once, so I know how dangerous they are!!!

I was planning to take a snap of this beautiful flower belonging to the Touch-Me-Not plant [Mimosa Pudica] when this hungry beast came flying by. It was hard capturing her primarily because my D60 was on a tripod and the settings were made for capturing a still flower. Without wasting time I changed the settings to capture this moving bee, but still, I guess the speed at which she was flying was more than what I assumed- that's why her wings couldn't come well into the snap, but only a glimpse of them. Anyways, something's better than nothing; would try clicking a better snap next time!

Oh! If you think the way I do, let me tell you... No! The flowers of Touch-Me-Not plant are not like its leaves which fold inward and droop when touched or shaken. I'd seen the flowers for the first time in such plant. So, my first instinct was to go touch the flower to see if it also droops. It didn't..!

Ogling

Before my Mom showed me this Cactus, I thought only guys ogled their eyes at 'beauties'. But well, this Cactus would beat any guy around in ogling its eyes. Of all the snaps that I've clicked this would be the funniest one I think. It amazes me how nature has all colours, all feelings absorbed in its various creations. When everyone looks at a Cactus as one very tough and lifeless plant, this one just fights away all such thoughts. These actually are two buds of this plant which give way for some small flowers. I don't know what exact specie is this Cactus belonging to. Please let me know if you do.

As per a general Indian superstition, it is considered bad to keep cactus in home since they lead to untoward happenings. How funny? Look at this cute plant, anyone who says that it can affect a home adversely should first go consult a Psychologist.

The Eye

The unemotional eye of an Indian Rock Python. I love the way he stared at me while I clicked him. Well, Snakes appear to stare at their prey because they have no eyelids. The eyes of snakes are lidless, but are protected by a tough, transparent covering, or scale, that is shed with the skin. Within the animal world, they tend to have one of the most beautiful eyes.

Chit Chat

An evening on a rainy day. I was, again, in Pushkar... the best place to be at, near Ajmer, if its raining. I noticed these pigeons sitting on the overhead transmission lines, as if they were cursing the rains and chit chatting amongst themselves about when would it stop.

When I thought initially to take the snap, I was apprehensive about really getting one, because it was dark and I prefer not using the flash (just kills the natural beauty!!). So, I just set the ISO settings to get something meaningful outta that click... and here it is. See if you can notice, many pigeons are sitting in exactly the same position, as if its a customary way of their sitting.

Crossing the Line

Squirrels are one of the cutest animals that you can find in your home garden; obviously if you have a puppy, there's no match for him. Its hard to click squirrels because they are too apprehensive of humans, so going near them is impossible. I was following this young one for quite sometime when I got this shot. She was small and very very cute. It was the first time I'd seen a squirrel baby, and take my word for it, they are absolutely adorable..!!

The tag has been given simply because this one looked as if she was waiting to cross the road. Traffic Sense, hunh?

Fear

Only four snake species across the whole of India are venomous enough to kill us. They are- Cobras, Kraits, Russell's Vipers and Pit Vipers. But the fear of these four make us kill the rest of them all too. Poor them, for no fault of theirs what they are awarded by us is nothing but a cruel death.

I had to click three snaps before I could capture his tongue once. Its just so fast. A Snake or a Python finds its prey by using this tongue. It places its tongue on its Jacobson's organ after having its tongue in the air. It touches its tongue on the two pits by the Jacobson's organ to allow it to properly sense its prey. The reason snakes have a forked tongue is so that the tongue can touch these pits. The deeper the fork in a snake's tongue, the more the snake uses its Jacobson's organ.

Drenched

Leaves of Christmas Tree drenched in the July rains. Midnight rains always are good for photographers it seems. It had rained in the night and I came out in my garden looking for some nice things to click. Luckily got two nice shots together. Click here to see the other snap clicked with this one. Since I left the other snap coloured I thought I'll transform this one to monochrome.

Ripples

I'm always attracted to the beauty of ripples. They are a distinct type of wave. And I'm not gonna enter the world of Physics to explain why I hold such a view. It was dark, and I had to use flash to click this snap, therefore, there is a specific lighting effect in this snap.

Now since I did not know where the next rain drop would fall, so like most professional photographers, this is not that good a capture of the real beauty of a ripple. Till the time I click a better one, let this be it.

Innocence

This is my cuuuuutteee nephew Sukrit, known better as Wishie. Amazingly adorable, guess he's the only kid till date whom I love to play with. There's a story behind this click. Actually he was sitting on the bed laughing, and I wanted to capture that chuckle, but the moment he saw the camera in my hand, suddenly he got scared and stopped laughing. So, here we have, Mr. Wishie Singh (as his Dad lovingly calls him) in his most innocent look.

I rarely am able to click good snaps of people, depicting their emotional colours. So, this one especially means a lot to me.

Fragile

These are Asparagus leaves. I initially thought of naming this snap something else but while clicking, one set of leaves got moved and came shattering down all the droplets. So, while clicking this one, I knew what to name it. The beauty of this plant is encompassed in its much feathery foliage. It looks delicate, and over that, water droplets stranded over it, gave it a new dimension.

I did use a tripod to click this one, primarily because I had been inspired by a mail wherein they had some very beautiful snaps of water droplets. In every droplet stood crystallized the things behind the drop. In the bigger resolution of this snap, this thing can be clearly seen. But sorry! Can't upload the full version here (only to be copied by people!).

Collage

Nothing to say for this one- A macro close up of a python's scales. Collage is well-suited because of the way these varied scales are forming a distinct pattern giving him his identity.

Pace

This snail is very small, at max one centimetre long. I didn't know snails were found in Ajmer unless I noticed this one climbing up the side wall of the lawn, coming out of rain water stagnated there. Its a mysterious animal: Small and Slow, I donno how it even manages to have a stomach full every night before going off to sleep in its very own custom created abode, a spiral shell into which the whole body can be withdrawn. They are soft bodied invertibrates having antenna like eyes. Look into the snap above and you'll be able to locate them in the front, standing above.

After gaining some knowledge from Wikipedia, I've come to know its a pulmonate land snail. This specie which is found in gardens is anthropophilic, that is, found most often around human habitation. The easiest part of clicking him was that whatsoever may happen, it could not run away from me; and the hardest part was that it was so small that to click his features properly I had to bring my lens too close to him, and the moment I did that, it went inside the shell. Frustrated for not having been able to click a front pose, I rather got satisfied with a side pose... Yep! The snail running its pace!!!

Curvaceous

What else could have I tagged this beauty with? This is the second snap of that same python which you can find below. He is a 2 year old Indian Rock Python still growing. You may notice the recent growth towards its tail, still bright and shiny. Sitting tranquil in my house's front lawn this one just kept on curling in a splendid yet bravura display of raw power. It being a cold-blooded animal, actually feels cold to touch to. You can actually feel its constricting muscles moving inside the body which give you a good idea how would you feel if caught between them.

Although this python stayed mostly idle and motionless here, but when we went off to free him in the jungle, the speed with which he jumped out of the sack was worth admiration. I never could have attributed that agility to this bulky creature unless seen with my own eye. Once in a lifetime opportunity I must say!!

Herculean

The two species of Python found in India are the Indian Rock Python, which lives in both scrub forests and dense jungles throughout the country, and the Regal Python, which is found in north-east India and Nicobar islands. The one there is possibility of your seeing is the Indian Rock Python [Python Molurus] although the snakeskin industry has all but wiped it out in many areas. This is a non-venomous, python species, often been killed for its fine skin and is endangered. Lethargic and slow moving even in its native habitat, they exhibit little timidity and rarely try to escape even when attacked. After a heavy meal, they are disinclined to move. If forced to, hard parts of the meal may tear through the body. Therefore, if disturbed, some specimens will disgorge their meal in order to escape from potential predators.

Caught near my home at Ajmer, the same is what happened with this guy- He'd just had a nice breakfast out of a peacock. So, when he'd been caught, he just vomitted out the whole of peacock. So far there have been no authentic cases of a human being eaten by this species; but this one with his neat 10 feet long body and weighing approximately 10 Kgs did look overbearing. After clicking his snaps, I went along with the Forest Department to free him into the nearby forests.

Clutches

Another Big Ant snap. This one's drastically different than the other one though, bigger and scarier. I had to stand over their colony to identify a healthy tentacled guy and then follow him along to click this snap. Since they don't generally stop, its hard to focus over them in macro mode.

Peace

White and Peace... somehow synonymous. Its Bougainvillia flowers. The actual flower of the plant is small and generally white, but each cluster of three flowers is surrounded by three or six bracts with the bright colors associated with the plant, white in this case. This plant is visible everywhere in Rajasthan and I love it, especially because of its colourful ornamental appearance. It somehow resembles Rajasthan- Thorny, yet so peacefully beautiful.

Click Here to see the other Bougainvillia snap that I clicked.

Cloud Nine

A simple snap. One of the most fresh snaps I've clicked ever. It boosts me up. Cloud Nine is just an exclamation of this expression... the fresh zealous overbearing clouds floating in the azure sky. I was sitting in my garden playing with my Nikon when I looked up, liked it, and click! It is said that 9th layer of cloud is the highest layer at which a cloud can ever go. I wanna cross that Cloud Nine.

The Climb

This feather was lying in our front lawn when it caught my eye. I just picked it up to click it when I noticed this Big Ant climbing upon it. I love this snap because I like the will of this insect- Whatever may happen, it won't stop climbing.

It was hard clicking this snap because firstly I was holding this feather with one hand, and holding my Nikon with the other. And above that, this scary guy was not ready to stop climbing. Only someone who has been bitten by them can understand my fears because the other end of this feather was being held by my hand...!!

An Inch More

First of all, I must thank that (not exactly) poor shopkeeper in South Ex, New Delhi, from whose shop I took this inch tape (to measure the dimensions of my room windows for which I went to purchase curtains) only not to return later. Now explaining this tag, which is a hard task to be done in all simple terms, I would just say that an inch more makes it 36; and if you haven't yet understood what 36 would mean here, I have nothing more to add.

Forbidden

I luckily noticed this "cross" growth of Erica palm stems in the garden at my home in Ajmer. The title was already there in my mind the moment I saw this one. Forbidden: as if to stop any human intervention in its life.

It always amazes me at how everything around us contains so much to see, to notice, and to click too!!! We never pay any attention to things around us generally. And I guess that is my only effort at photography- To relate the contaminated realities of life to some set of uncontaminated values that I am trying to discover; discover and establish them through photography.

Hangers

Another pic out of Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh). What is in focus is a root hanging down a Banyan tree [Ficus benghalensis], as if inquiring when would it reach its destination.

It is only because of my love for these huge trees that made me place this snap upon the blog; donno why, but there's always something mysterious that attracts me to this giant. Its prop roots which grow downwards as slender vine reach the ground, take root and grow into woody trunks that become indistinguishable from the main trunk, as if to start a new unending journey again.

There is another such giant tree within the compound of Rajasthan High Court, at Jaipur, which I wanna click. Lets see, when I get the opportunity to go there not in my black robe, but with my black Nikon.

Elixir

Elixir originally comes from Arabic al-iksir, meaning the powder for drying wounds. In Latin, it is supposedly a mythological potion able to prolong life indefinitely. I don't intend giving it the former meaning, and the latter makes no sense either: its just a name that I had to give. I haven't seen what colour Elixir was of, but neither do you know. So, it is nothing but pure imagination. An abstract description of something that am not sure if ever existed also.

For reality, it is a glass of Rose Squash kept in my room's window at Ajmer (Rajasthan).