Contributions of the group India भारत

Huge silk-cotton tree

nobody@ipernity.com (m̌ ḫ) — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 20:29:49 +0000

m̌ ḫ has posted:

Lalbagh Botanical Garden is a 240‑acre horticultural marvel housing India’s largest collection of tropical and sub‑tropical plants, with 1,854 species from places like Persia, Afghanistan, and France. Its most dramatic natural treasure is the centuries-old Kapok, White Silk-Cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra), a 200‑ to 300‑year‑old giant with a buttressed trunk reaching 25–30 meters tall. In spring, the Kapok blooms with huge orange‑scarlet flowers, and by mid‑June its dark‑green pods burst to spill fluffy white silk‑cotton that looks like cotton and feels like silk. The garden also features about 14 other giant silk‑cotton trees with massive girth and roots that form hollow spaces large enough for an adult to hide, alongside the Crystal Palace‑inspired Glass House, a 3‑billion‑year‑old rock, manicured flowerbeds, and a floral clock that changes design with each season.

A Scene on Brahmaputra

nobody@ipernity.com (m̌ ḫ) — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 13:47:07 +0000

m̌ ḫ has posted:

This photograph was taken in Guwahati, the capital of Assam, India, on an older iPhone. We were staying with our friends Manna and Yuveka. It had been raining all day, and when the rain eased a little we went out to see the town. Down by the banks of the Brahmaputra – a huge, majestic and muddy river – I took a few shots of the boatmen. I don’t know their stories, unfortunately; I can only guess that these are small transport or fishing canoes. If anyone knows more about life on the river here, I would be very glad to hear their experiences.

Fancy sleeping in an Indian fort?

nobody@ipernity.com (m̌ ḫ) — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 19:07:22 +0000

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Hill Fort-Kesroli is a 14th‑century fort in Village Kesroli, Alwar district, Rajasthan. Built about 700 years ago by the Yaduvanshi Rajputs—who traced their lineage to Lord Krishna—the seven‑turreted fortress served as a defensive stronghold and marked the emergence of the Mewat region.

In the mid‑14th century the Khanzadas, descendants of the Yadavas whose ancestor Sambharpal Yadav converted to Islam during Firuz Shah Tughlaq’s reign (1351–1388), controlled the fort and governed the area for roughly two centuries. The fort returned to Rajput control in 1775 with the founding of the princely state of Alwar and later flourished under Ranawat Thakur Bhawani Singh (1882–1934).

Restoration work began in the 1990s and the site was adapted for visitor accommodation by the late 1990s. In 2004 the property was leased to a hotel group and restored with an emphasis on retaining original architectural features. The fort stands atop dark Hornstone Breccia in the Aravalli Hills, offering panoramic views of the surrounding landscape.

Evening Tennis with the India Habitat Centre architecture

nobody@ipernity.com (m̌ ḫ) — Mon, 18 May 2026 17:59:54 +0000

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Air Force Bal Bharati School is in a small institutional pocket of central Delhi where embassies, colleges and cultural centres sit close together. In the evenings its courts often fill with the sound of tennis balls from outside coaching groups, especially Team Tennis India on Lodhi Road, which runs organised sessions here for different ages and levels.

Right next door is the India Habitat Centre, the main cultural hub of the area, easy to spot with its red‑brick buildings. It was planned in the late 1980s and finished in the early 1990s as a modern complex designed to stay cooler, with shaded walkways, courtyards and terraces that still offer some relief in Delhi’s heat. Some parts now look a bit shabby and worn, but that also shows how much people actually use the place: posters on the boards, busy cafés, and regulars who seem to treat it almost like a second home.

Indisch - HWW

nobody@ipernity.com (Jo WaLo) — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 07:30:24 +0000

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Ein indisches Restaurant in Lingen. HWW und noch eine gute Restwoche! Sony RX100III, Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T 8,8-25,7mm f1.8-2.8, Juni 2023

Cricket Street Championship

nobody@ipernity.com (m̌ ḫ) — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 12:52:12 +0000

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Boys in India claim whatever space they can find as a cricket ground, just as boys in Europe turn any patch of concrete or grass into a football pitch. A narrow lane between houses, a side street with parked scooters, or a dusty open corner near apartments becomes enough as long as there is room to bowl and swing a bat. The pitch is simply the flattest strip of ground available, and the boundaries are imaginary lines drawn between a doorway, a tree, and a parked car.

Everything is improvised and slightly bent to fit the surroundings. The ball is usually a tennis or rubber ball so that windows and passing people are a little safer, and stumps are whatever stands upright: a backpack, a crate, or three chalk lines on a wall. Rules shift from place to place: one particular balcony might be “out,” a six hit onto a neighbour’s roof might end the innings, and a one‑bounce catch might still count, because nobody wants to lose the ball or break anything. The tight space forces the boys to keep their shots low, find gaps between obstacles, and react quickly when the ball kicks off a stone or edge in the road.

The rhythm around the game feels very similar to street football culture. As school or chores end, someone arrives with a bat, another brings a ball, and teams are picked quickly, usually with a bit of bargaining over who gets the best batter or fastest bowler. Play is filled with chatter: appeals, mock outrage, laughter, and endless arguments over close decisions that are settled by a mix of loudness and compromise. Younger kids start at the edges as fielders, gradually earn a turn to bat, and slowly become part of the core group.

For the boys, these informal matches are more than a way to pass time; they are their daily tournament, a place to copy the stars they see on TV, test themselves against friends, and carve out a little piece of the city where they feel completely at home.

Blurred camera streetphoto

nobody@ipernity.com (m̌ ḫ) — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 18:28:15 +0000

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A lively glimpse of Delhi street life, with people commuting by rickshaw and on foot in the busy city centre. Despite the limitations of a less-than-ideal camera and a few technical imperfections, the image captures the authentic atmosphere of the street and the everyday rhythm of the city.

By the Ganges

nobody@ipernity.com (Howard Somerville) — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 16:04:28 +0000

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Shimla, India

nobody@ipernity.com (Howard Somerville) — Sun, 19 Oct 2025 19:23:54 +0000

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Varanasi, India

nobody@ipernity.com (Howard Somerville) — Sat, 18 Oct 2025 22:28:31 +0000

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All India Labourer's conference

nobody@ipernity.com (Dinesh) — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 09:41:10 +0000

Dinesh has posted:

4 to 6th January 2013

HWW. Best wishes

The Taj Mahal, India

nobody@ipernity.com (Howard Somerville) — Sat, 04 Oct 2025 02:24:57 +0000

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Tomato Seller

nobody@ipernity.com (Howard Somerville) — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 21:32:00 +0000

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Sunset on the Hoogly

nobody@ipernity.com (Howard Somerville) — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 17:12:05 +0000

Howard Somerville has posted:

Shimla, India

nobody@ipernity.com (Howard Somerville) — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 09:16:35 +0000

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Ahmedabad, India

nobody@ipernity.com (Howard Somerville) — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 23:13:05 +0000

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Let's go to School

nobody@ipernity.com (m̌ ḫ) — Sun, 17 Apr 2016 11:45:05 +0000

m̌ ḫ has posted:

Hand-pulled rickshaws might soon be replaced with batter-operated modern vehicles from the streets of Kolkata as the Government of West Bengal is up with a rehabilitation plan for 6,000 rickshaw pullers, and activists as well as social critics have been calling for the ban of these rickshaws. Like tea, tram, cricket and Gothic architecture, the hand-pulled rickshaw is a British heritage in Kolkata’s colonial treasure. These light-weight, wooden rickshaws pulled by men of thin & sturdy body frame, wrapped in lungi from the waistline till knee joint, through waterlogged lanes and crowded marketplaces are unique to Kolkata’s identity in contrast to the city’s modern infrastructure with skyscrapers and flyovers. Indian Eagle reflects about the hand-pulled rickshaws which Kolkata streets are going to say goodbye to and miss in the coming days.
-- from www.indianeagle.com/travelbeats/hand-pulled-rickshaws-of-kolkata

Morning Mist

nobody@ipernity.com (Howard Somerville) — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 19:45:09 +0000

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Eastern Ghats, India

Rajasthan / Thar desert

nobody@ipernity.com (m̌ ḫ) — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 16:56:51 +0000

m̌ ḫ has posted:

Here’s what happens when your photo lab scans your negatives with all the enthusiasm of a Monday morning commuter: my Holga’s “artistic” clicks and light leaks are now immortalised with an extra layer of digital indifference. Yes, it’s a cheap Chinese toy camera, and yes, I loaded it with expired film on purpose—because I like to live dangerously, or at least unpredictably. Still, you’d expect a medium format to look less like it was developed during a sandstorm.

But the real story is the night under the stars in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. If you ever find yourself in the Thar Desert, do try sleeping outside—there’s nothing like spicy campfire curry and the company of fellow wanderers, all swapping tales of “finding themselves” and how little they’ve showered.

Best of all was our guide’s favourite legend: the Japanese tourist who, armed with a camera and boundless optimism, took a million photos of the desert, the stars, and the moon. He was so determined to capture every grain of sand that he wandered off, only to be found at dawn, blissfully asleep under a solitary tree—camera still clicking away, probably hoping for that perfect shot.

So, even if my scans look like modern art, the memories—and the stories—are worth every pixel.

Summer solstice.

nobody@ipernity.com (Annemarie) — Sat, 21 Jun 2025 06:43:01 +0000

Annemarie has posted:

Summer solstice 2025 in Northern Hemisphere
Saturday, June 21
LAST of my India series.
WISH YOU ALL the BEST.
Lets hope for PEACE.!