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2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with

Colours Of My Travels

Typing with one finger bandaged is not easy. I feel like I am going back to those days when I had to type with one hand, searching for the letters! Which is why I havent been able to post often.... and posting only photos gets boring after a while... So, when I saw that Deepak had tagged me on his post, I was actually happy to pick up the tag and do a post...  I am one of those who never knows what to write or post when tagged... and usually end up forgetting about it, but this one was about photography, and I have so many on my comp that it was actually a great chance to use some of them! 

So, getting to the post, this is my entry for the Capture the colour contest held by TravelSupermarket.com.. The challenge is post photos that capture the 5 colours - Yellow, Red, Blue, Green and White. I have chosen to post photos of places I havnet yet written about on the blog.....

Yellow -
Yellow reminded me of the sun... and I had many photos of the sun clicked at various times and places... But when I saw this photo, it erased all other thoughts.....





This was at Madurai - at the Meenakshi Temple of course. This is a temple I have visited a number of times, and yet feel like I have barely scratched the surface of the huge and beautiful structure... the architecture, the sculptures, the sheer beauty... there is so much to write about. And one of the most interesting sections of the temple is the market area at one of the entrances... The whole place was a riot of colours, but this one shop stood apart - and shone so brightly that the other shops appeared dull!! The shop sold crowns - for the goddess of course..... all coloured golden, but if you look closer, there are plenty more colours there..... all the colours in this challenge, in fact!!!!


Red -
I was stumped when it came to red. I seemed to have hardly any photos with  red colour that I liked... and then I remembered  this one....



We saw these Red Chillies on the way to the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary in a small village along the highway. The chilli season had brought the village out of its lethargy, for it was time to buy chillies for the whole year, dry it and keep it aside for use when needed. Each shop also had a machine for powdering the chillies, and each shop did a roaring business, at it turned out, for people from all the neighbouring areas arrived here to buy their stock of chillies for the entire year!! And in case you are wondering, yes, I came back with a few kilos too!!

Blue -
Blue happens to be Samhith's favourite colour, and, at times, mine too....I love the open feeling that the colour blue gives - of the wide open skies and never- ending stretches of water... The minute I thought of blue, I knew which pic I would use!!



This was at the Jungle Lodges' River Tern Lodge at Bhadra, in Karnataka, and this was the first sight I set eyes on, as soon as I entered our room!! For a minute I forgot where I was... and wondered where the sea had come from... and then remembered that this was the Bhadra Reservoir!!! I spent most of my time sitting by the balcony looking over the water, watching the water change its hues... the rest of the time I spent on the water itself, in a boat!!

Green -
Green reminded me of forests, but when I began my search for the perfect pic, it was this one that stood out....



This was clicked on my trip to Sringeri, when we passed so many lush green fields of rice, that I have no idea where exactly this one was clicked!!! You could come across such a scene almost anywhere in India... lush green fields with every shade of green possible, lined by trees which add their own hues to the scene, and also marking boundaries...

White -
White is a colour that shows up often in my albums... mostly in flowers, but after our trip to Kashmir, white could only mean one thing - Snow!!!



This photo was clicked at Gulmarg... Snow covered mountains in the middle of summer were a surprise even to me, and as to Samhith, do I need to say that he had a blast? This was, after all, his first brush with snow!!

So, those were the five colours..... and here is one more... of all the colours in one.....


That is the Amber fort in Jaipur, all lit up during the Light and Sound show... It was a wonderful experience, sitting out there near the gardens at the bottom of the hill, listening to the stories of the fort, as parts of the fort were lit up.... and it was even better to come away from the experience with these wonderful photographs to remind me of it!!!

Now, as part of the contest, I have to nominate 5 bloggers to take the contest forward.. to submit their own photos of the 5 colours for the contest.... and here are the five I nominate....



The contest is open to all bloggers, so please head over to Capture the Colour page to check out the rules and regulations and participate!

Comments

  1. And the colors are lovely indeed!

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  2. wow....I regularly read your posts.....This one I liked the most....Particularly the "Yellow".....

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    1. Thanks so much, Chetana!!! that is one of my favs too!!

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  3. Beautiful, beautiful perspectives! You have captured all the colors in their true sense, loved them! :)

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    1. Thanks so much, Arti!! I noticed that Deepak tagged you too.. waiting to see ur pics..

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  4. Beautiful post and awesome pictures Anu.. am already panicking as i dont think i have any for White... off to hunt down my HDD :D

    Thanks for tagging... and hope ur hand heals and ur back to typing with all fingers

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    1. Thanks so much, Aarti!!! looking forward to seeing your pics!

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  5. Brilliant shots Anu. All the best.
    Thanks for the nomination. Got to to run now in search of colours. :)

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    1. Thanks, Niranjan!! will look forward to seeing yours!

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  6. Replies
    1. Thanks so much Deepak!! and thanks for tagging me for this!

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  7. Excellent colors Anu! And thanks for tagging me, I am tagged by one more blogger so I guess I need to do it now. :)

    Hope your finger is healed & okay now.

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    1. Thanks Nisha!! looking forward to yours!! the finger is much better now...

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  8. The colors got represented excellently. I was only wondering as to how Samhit would have reacted after seeing the first snow some where in Kashmir!

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    1. Thanks so much, PNS!! Samhith was obviously thrilled but you have to wait to read all about it.. have loads of posts to write!

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  9. Yellow is my favourite colour and your yellow picture is my favourite — it's gorgeous.
    Thanks for tagging me, Anu. I posted mine a couple of days back.

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    1. Thanks so much, Sudha!!! just saw your post and commented too!

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  10. Great entries for the contest. I am tempted to join.

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    1. Thanks so much, Indrani!!! We would be so thrilled to have you join too!!! wondering what pics u would choose!! please please do join.. and soon!

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  11. Anu..what happened to ur hand? Was extremely busy with my work.So i m totally disconnected with blogging world. Shifting is on the card too so more work ..Shall be active only in September.
    take care

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    Replies
    1. nothing serious, chitra.. just that a finger got infected and filled with pus... so not able to do much typing or anything else for more than a week... i was wondering where you were... all the best. shifting is hard work!! looking forward to having you back!

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  12. Hi Anu!
    I have done the tag. :) http://www.lemonicks.com/Travel/2012/08/12/colors-of-my-travel/

    Tell me which you liked most. I enjoyed doing it. :)

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  13. The first one, yellow, is striking.

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  14. Wonderful, the pictures are perfectly in sync with the theme...

    Just saw Arti's post too on the same and now yours, both unique in their own ways :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Santosh!!! havent seen arti's post yet.. missed out a lot of blogs in the last week... now thanks to you, heading straight over!

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