Mumbai Terrorist Attacks

Brave sons of India lay down their lives. Mindless shooting spree of terrorists have taken innocent lives of Mumbai. The whole day has been so depressing, numbers are rattled out as if a mere numbering exercise. When will the political parties stop fighting among themselves and take things seriously?

Nobody has claimed the responsibility yet. Unknown organizations are surfacing. People are suffering and sacrificing themselves to keep the minority afloat.The Morale is still high and we shall overcome.

I salute

Hemant Karkare ATS Chief


Ashok Kamte ACP

Vijay Salaskar Police Inspector

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan

Inspector Shashank Shinde

Gajender Singh NSG Commando

Foreign Guests who lost their lives at the attack.

Ms Lo Hwei Yen

(info shared by Dora.)

Elizabeth Russell and Dr. Michael Moss

(info shared by Hilary.)

The World Heritage Hotel, the Taj Hotel of Mumbai is on fire. It may be rebuilt and repaired, but the lives lost, the bread winners lost, will they come back? The foreign hostages held inside... I hope and pray the nightmare ends soon, without any further loss of life.


Google News

(Images from net.)

Sam Sand Dunes at Jaisalmer

Trip to the Sam sand dunes was the most fascinating part of our 15 days long Rajasthan trip, sort of 'a dream come true'. Thar Desert of Rajasthan is the seventh largest desert in the world, covering Jodhpur, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Barmer. And to get a feel of the desert sand in my hands and run my fingers over the sand had been a long cherished desire of mine. When we got there, it was miles of sand and sand dunes all around.




I had always wondered: how can the desert sand look golden. And I saw there, I couldn’t believe it, the sand did look golden, reflecting the rays of the setting sun. The patterns on the sand, the undulating sand mounds, and the glittering fine grains of sand all looked magical yet real. The sand dunes, their formation are one of nature’s most interesting and beautiful phenomena.




Beautiful yes, it can be dangerous too if you are caught in the fast blowing winds which cause the shifting sand dunes. There is every possibility of getting lost and disoriented. In such situations only your guide can help you out. Our ears were drilled with plenty of such cautions, yet I wished there would be at least slow winds to witness the gentle flow of sand grains.

A typical hut of the Thar Desert.

The evening winds were still that day. And we saw a beautiful sunset over the sand dunes. As all good things come to an end, that day too ended and I had to bid goodbye to the romantic sand dunes of Jaisalmer.

To see the World visit other participants at: That's My World Tuesday.

Gadsisar Lake, Jaisalmer

Gadsisar lake of Jaisalmer is an artificial water tank, built by Maharawal Garsi Singh in 1367 A.D. It was the sole source of drinking water till as recently as 1965. Today water is supplied to the city sourced from Dabla village, 15 km outskirts of Jaisalmer.

The lake is now a picnic spot and attracts lot of birds, bees and butterflies along with human traffic.

(Do click on the picture to enlarge and view.)

It was a luxury for tourists like us from the cornered existence in the over crowded cities, to see the birds flock there in huge numbers. And this was just early October, in the coming winter months more rare species were expected to flock around in the lake.

(Do click on the picture to enlarge and view.)

The three elements that attract the winged creatures are food, shelter and water. May be if we make an effort to provide these things to our winged friends, they will not be lost in the concrete jungle we live. Birdbaths are always a welcome gesture. Do you have one?

There were plenty of fish too, which were fed with bread pieces by the tourists.


If this is not stampede what is this?

Patwon ki Haveli, Jaisalmer

Patwon ki haveli, the private residence of Patwonji is located in the narrow lanes of Jaisalmer. It is a huge mansion suddenly emerging out of nowhere dwarfing all other houses around it. The sight of its breathtaking architecture and impressive carvings on the outer walls will leave you gasping with appreciation. Huge corridors, lined with beautifully designed pillars all along will slow your pace as you tour the haveli.


This haveli was the private residence of Guman Chand Patwa and his five sons. It took 60 years to complete the construction from 1800 to 1860. Though famed for trading in gold, silver and brocade, it is rumored that money for such elaborate construction by thousands of artisans came from opium trade.

The fourth apartment is still a private residence, the third apartment is converted in to antique shop and the remaining part of the apartment are government run, displays old furnishings and household items.



We were told that this haveli had seven stories at one point of time and it was taller than the palace of Jaisalmer. The Maharaja of Jaisalmer then got the top two floors demolished, ever since the haveli had only five floors. The shot below is the view of the Jaisalmer fort from the fifth floor of Patwon ki haveli.


The interiors are equally mesmerizing.The strikingly beautiful murals, paintings, dazzling mirror work are stunning.



Visit Patwon ki haveli for sure, if you are traveling to Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India.

To see the World visit other participants at: That's my World.

Camel's Eyes

At Sam sand dunes of Jaisalmer, we got our long cherished camel ride. It was a bumpy ride, amazed at how high we were on top of a camel.

With so many camels around, how could I miss the opportunity of taking a few close shots of the camel! Camels are good tempered, patient and intelligent, at least that is what I thought of them. So I approached the camel of a young boy and with his permission started taking some shots of the camel's face, then its eyes. It looked so docile, large eyes with a doe-like expression.



The camels’ eyes are protected by a double row of long curly eyelashes to keep out the sand and dust. Its thick bushy eyebrows shield the eyes from fierce hot sun. Now I wanted to take a good macro shot of the double row of eyelashes, but the camel won’t be still. The boy kept encouraging me, “It will not harm you, Madam.” The boy even tried to hold its face still, but the camel decided it was not going to cooperate anymore and brought out its folded fore legs to get in to standing mode. I fled, my camera was more precious.

(Do click on the pictures to enlarge and view.)

That is me on a memorable camel ride.

We witnessed a camel race too.

Khejarli Village of Bishnois, Jodhpur

From Jodhpur we took a tour to Khejarli village 26 km south-east to the city. This village is a mute witness to the first documented and one of the greatest green movement in India.

The story is like this: In the year 1730, King Abhay Singh of Jodhpur was expanding and renovating his fort. He instructed his minister, Giridhar Bhandari to collect the Khejri wood required for the construction. The wood had to be collected from Khejarli village where the trees grew in plenty. What the minister didn’t foresee was there would be stiff opposition from the villagers belonging to the Bishnoi community, to the felling of the trees.


Amrita Devi and her daughters were the first to oppose. They hugged the trees and chanted, “seir, santhe runkh raheb, to bhee sasto jaan.” (it is still a small price to pay if at cost of my head the tree is saved). A King’s order is an order and their heads rolled down. But the villagers were not scared, their place was taken by other villagers, then others and so it went on… The news spread, when King heard the news he came rushing to the village to stop the merciless slaying of the villagers. By then 363 villagers had sacrificed themselves.

I stood in a trance listening to the story from the guide, a lump in my throat…



The King immediately declared that no trees would be cut, he personally apologized to the villagers; the place was renamed Sahid nagar (Martyr’s town).

The Khejri trees, Prosopis Cineraria (Mimosaceae), are remarkably well adapted to the desert, the roots grow a hundred feet down into the earth to reach water. They have edible pods and leaves that are used for fodder; even the bark can be eaten in times of famine. A board stands there today; to remind the present and the future of this gruesome incident and to inspire to fight to protect trees.


So this was the first Chipko movement (hug the tree to oppose cutting down), though the second similar incident in 1973 in a remote village of Himalaya attracted more global attention and support. Every year in September prayers are offered to the martyrs and villagers from other villages too pour in to offer their respects.


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

The Demoiselle Cranes of Khichan

The route from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur is dotted with several surprise spots to stop and admire. A tiny village Khichan in Phalodi, 150 kilometers from Jodhpur is one such place. We were awe struck to see a small water body emerging out of no where in the desert and thousands of Demoiselle Cranes flocking all around it. A rare spectacle!

(Do click to enlarge.)

Migratory birds can be seen at many places, but what is special about this village Khichan is that the locals of the village offer quintals of grains to the birds early morning in a rectangular enclosure every day. The villagers enjoy a special relationship with the birds. These Eurasian cranes fly out of the breeding grounds of steppes and start flocking in and around the various water bodies of Khichan. They fly in from August and spend the winter months here.

(Do click to enlarge.)

The birds taking a short drink, some of them taking a bath, some acrobatically displaying the affection to their mate, the krok-krok calls all were an audio-visual treat in the scorching heat of the desert. The villagers in the Thar venerate them for the norm of keeping a single life partner all through their lifetime. The Atithi Devo Bhava (Guest is God) spirit of the Rajasthanis holds good not just for the tourists but also for the migratory birds, The Demoiselle Cranes.