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The Elephanta Caves

The Elephanta Caves , located on Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri, about 11 Km off the coast of the Gateway of India, Mumbai, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A visit to these caves, excavated probably in the 6 th century CE, is awe-inspiring, and also thought-provoking. Over the years, I have visited the caves a number of times, and also attended a number of talks by experts in the fields of art, history and archaeology on the caves. Together, they help me understand these caves, their art, and the people they were created for, just a little bit better. Every new visit, every new talk, every new article I read about the caves, fleshes out the image of what the island and the caves would have been like, at their peak. I last wrote about the caves on this blog, in 2011, almost exactly 11 years ago. Since then, my understanding of the caves has, I would like to think, marginally improved. Hence this attempt to write a new and updated post, trying to bring to life, the caves of Elephan
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Birds at the Rail Museum

My cousins have never traveled much with me, and certainly never since I started writing. Though they do read my blog, they aren't really used to seeing me looking for material to write about. When I visited the Rail Museum in Delhi along with a couple of them, they were really amused to see me ignore the trains when I saw a flock of birds on the lawn.
They looked like mynas, which we see all over the place, and had a good time ribbing me about being more interested in birds than anything else. But with so many of my blog friends turning into birding enthusiasts that it was plain to even my untrained eye that these weren't the mynas I see usually. Returning home, and consulting with my bird book and with a bit of help from the net, I realized that the birds I had noticed were Rosy Starlings - the first time I had seen these birds! Here are a couple of pics....




There were, of course, many more birds there, probably because there weren't many people around! Here are a couple more pics.....

A dove wandered about happily....


and a rose ringed parakeet obliged me with a pose....


The Rail Museum used to be a favourite place to visit when I was a kid, and all I remembered from the time were the trains..... Never did I think that I would visit the Rail Museum with my son and end up photographing birds!!
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Location: National Rail Museum, Service Rd, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, Delhi, India

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