Jantar Mantar, Jaipur

The name is derived from Yantra ("instrument"), and Mantra ("formula", or in this context "calculation"). Therefore Jantar Mantar means literally 'calculation instrument'.

Fascination for the unknown elements of Universe enticed the astronomers of India since long. Aryabhata of fifth century is the first of the astronomer of the classical age of Indian mathematics. And in the list of other eminent astronomers of India is Sawai Jai Singh II of Jaipur.

Various sundials.

Jai Singh II, the illustrious ruler studied several books on astronomy with the sole intention of understanding the planetary objects and their movements. He sent scholars to several foreign countries like Greece, Britain, Arabia and Portugal to study the science of astronomy. And with the help of scholars like Pt. Jagannath Samrat and Pt. Keval Ramji, he built not just one but five observatories between 1727 and 1734.

Narivalya Dakshin Gola used to find whether heavenly bodies are in Northern or Southern hemisphere. It can be used to read time also.

The first experimental observatory was built in Delhi and then he built four more in Jaipur, Ujjain, Varanasi and Mathura. Below is 'Jai Prakash Yantra' claimed to have been invented by Sawai Jai Singh II.The hemisphere surfaces are of marble and are scribed with celestial latitude and longitude lines, the location of the shadow of the sun, and thus the celestial coordinates of the sun, can be read from the markings on the hemisphere segments.


The observatory has fourteen statistical instruments for measuring time, predicting eclipses and to ascertain other astronomical events. The Sundial there tells the time to an accuracy of about two seconds in local time of Jaipur and is a major crowd puller.

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Update: Jantar Mantar was carefully renovated in 1901 and was declared a national monument in 1948. They are all freshly painted and therefore look new. (Answer to Reader Wil's query.)

(Once you are there, you will find a maze of structures of different shapes and sizes. You will be totally at a loss to understand what each of the structure means. Guides are available, costly affair but worth it.)

Earth Hour Observed

We did it again!

For the second consecutive year, our apartment complex, Salarpuria Silverwoods, observed the Earth Hour successfully. By 8.30 the Silverwoodians switched off their electrical appliances. Children were squealing in delight at the darkness. The concept is new to them. Most of us assembled down and renewed our pledge to leave a greener Earth for our children.

There were pockets of darkness in Bangalore and though it cannot be termed as 100% success, definitely there is more awareness now. The message has been conveyed, a commitment has been made to reduce energy consumption.

Last year Google had an all black Google home page, this year however they didn’t turn their lights off the home page. Their reason: darkened screens don’t actually save energy — modern displays use the same amount of power regardless of what they display .

Google published its own contributions to power saving in its Earth Hour blog post.
...After all, Earth Hour is about more than dimming lights; it’s about making a commitment to reduce energy consumption throughout the year. At Google, we take this commitment seriously and over the past twelve months we’ve worked hard to reduce Google’s own power use and to help others reduce theirs:

* We remodeled our San Francisco office to achieve a Gold rating by the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Green Building Rating System
* Our engineers are working on a tool called Google PowerMeter that will show consumers home energy information almost in real time, right on their computer
* We’ve designed the most efficient data centers possible and are sharing some of our best practices with industry peers
* In the fall we compiled tips and tricks to help our users save energy (and money)
* Our summit on plug-in vehicles in Washington was standing room only, with policy, technology, and energy experts all discussing an electric vehicle future

Do you support Earth Hour?

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Elephants of Jaipur

We were really lucky to witness this!

At Amber Fort, Jaipur we witnessed the shooting of a Brazilian soap opera showcasing Indian culture. Caminoho das Indias meaning ‘A Passage to India’ is about a love story between a dalit boy and an upper caste girl. I am not sure whether I saw the main actors or not, there were so many of them all dressed in Indian traditional dresses. The Brazilian actors were dancing to the beats of Indian music; it looked like a ‘celebration scene’.


What fascinated me more were the 30+ elephants; all dressed and colored going round in circles and making other formations! I had never seen so many colorful elephants together before, my childlike wonder surfaced and I stood there immobile. There were absolutely no protecting barricades, what if one runs amuck?



I was clicking away ferociously, in case one decides to.



The soap opera is making headlines for different reasons though. Read about it here.

Pokhran Fort

Traveling around in Rajasthan, one has to be absolutely careful setting your foot lest you damage a protected monument! Almost every 50 to 100 km during our drive we found ourselves at either an ancient temple or a fort or an oasis or a palace! A state with a huge concentration of sight seeing places, it is definitely worth wandering around in a vehicle rather than hopping from city to city by air.

Pokran is one such place famous for fort and havelis. 112kms from Jaisalmer, we halted here on our way to Jodhpur.




Pokhran fort is five centuries old and was constructed by the Marwar Thakur (local chieftain) Rao Maldeo who reigned from 1532-1584. It was the capital of Marwars then. The gateway fitted with lethal iron spikes to guard against an elephant charge in case of an enemy onslaught still stood strong.




We saw the small museum showcasing the weapons, costumes of the kings, paintings and the huge courtyard inside even had a temple. We spent a good hour and a half roaming around observing the architectural splendor, a combination of Rajput and Mughal style of architecture.



Today part of it is converted to a heritage hotel and Thakur Nagendra Singh is the owner.

A fort definitely worth a visit if you are anywhere around.

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

Warli Paintings

A recent visit to the ‘Traditional Art’ exhibition here in Bangalore had me visually feasting the treasured art forms of India. Not just the art pieces, the artists were there too to exhibit their colors, brushes and strokes. 'Art' really doesn't have to be complicated to appreciate it. It is the simplest strokes that sometimes wins your heart.

I am sharing with you the Warli Art pieces with you in this post. The artists were from the Warli district, in the foothills of Western Ghats of Maharashtra, India. The tribal people of this place are in international limelight today for this art. Studies in this field indicate that this form of art started some time in 10th century AD.


The women were mostly engaged in this. They smeared the walls with wet cow dung, which was then coated with red mud. They used thin bamboo twigs dipped in rice paste to draw various motifs which depicted their daily life events. A ceremonial event, the walls were repeatedly coated and then painted, thus passing down the art through generations.


Creativity knows no boundaries and now this art comes in various color combination. It is being done on anything and everything, from cards to pots, from pencil holders to bags and even on dress materials and sarees. There are various art centers teaching this art form and it has become more of fashion statement among the youngsters today!




Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Menal Temple

While on our way to Kota from Chittorgarh, we took a small detour to Menal to see the 11th century Mahanaleshvara temple. It is popularly known as the mini-Khajuraho temple.

This temple was built by the king then, Someshvar Chhahamana and his queen Suhavadevi of the Sakhambari dynasty during the 11th century A.D. The huge Shiva temple of stone is built in the ancient Hindu style with a carved pagoda and pillars. Before the main temple of Mahanala is Nandi, the bull partially damaged.



The temples of North India are so different from the ones in South in their architectural styles. The Nagara style of North Indian temples is characterized by a beehive shaped tower called a shikhara made up of layer upon layer of architectural elements. The South Indian temples have a pyramid shaped tower, you can see one here.




The temple is preserved well, though the smaller ones around the main temple are crumbling down slowly. The carved deities on the walls, images of Shiva and Parvati and other angelic forms have been repaired and seemed like they were fighting out the wear and tear of time’s deteriorating grip.

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Chinkara, the Indian Gazelle

We traveled across the vast Desert National Park, while on our way to Jaisalmer from Mt. Abu via Barmer. This wild life sanctuary is home to Blackbucks, Chinkaras, Desert foxes, Bengal Foxes, Indian Wolves, Desert Cats, Hares, etc.

My eyes were scanning the vast desert stretches to spot at least one of the breeds. At one place I thought I saw some of them and asked the driver to halt. The driver almost instantly screeched to a halt frightening the poor animals away. And I just got this one shot.


So we learned our first lesson: halt gently. Another 50kms of drive and we spotted a group of Chinkaras. They could sense us even from that long distance and were alert. Constantly wagging their tails, the nervous Chinkaras were frequently glancing at me to assess what I was up to. I clicked and clicked till they walked out of sight.

Three handsome Chinkaras
stood gazing at me,
one got bored
and walked out of sight.

Two handsome Chinkaras
stood gazing at me,
one got scared
and walked out of sight.

One handsome Chinkara
stood gazing at me.
He said: come on shoot
I know it is just a lens!

Happy Holi

Yesterday we celebrated Holi, the festival of colors in our apartment complex. We friends got together and applied colors on each other. Even today I enjoy this as much as I used to enjoy it when I was a child.

This is one Hindu festival, unique to India and Nepal, when people just let go of their inhibitions, get aggressive and enjoy their hidden crazy self. It is one of the twelve full moon festivals of the Hindus. The full moon shots of yesterday's Holi are here.


There are many legends connected with the origin of this colorful festival and one of my favorite is this:

Young Krishna who was in love with Radha always complained to his mother Yashoda that he was dark complexioned, while Radha was fair skinned. He was sore about this grave injustice of nature. Yashoda, the doting mother, to mollify Krishna asked him to apply color on Radha’s face and change her complexion to his choice. Mischievous Krishna needed no more encouragement; he and his friends smeared Radha and her friends with colors… and thus began the Festival of Colors!


It is the children in particular who enjoy the most. They arm themselves with big pichkaris (syringes) to spray colored water on each other. People dance, exchange good wishes and sweets, offer prayers for a good harvest and bountiful season. Young lovers too take this opportunity to color and get colored by their mates to express love!

You want to play too? Grab your choicest color below. HAPPY HOLI!!!

Udaipur City Palace at Night

The unfortunate part of night photography is: you take innumerable photos with minor variation in settings; at the end of it you have only a few winner shots!

Without a tripod, and slow exposure settings of camera, one has to have extremely steady hands to get some good shots or else place your camera on a firm base and click which is what I did. Frankly, I have a stack of blurred shots from that night and here I am sharing three of the night shots of the illuminated Udaipur City Palace that came out reasonably well.

(Please click and see the enlarged view.)

The Sound and Light of the Udaipur City Palace is one stupendous show one shouldn’t miss if one is sightseeing there in the city. The history of Mewars, stories of courage under duress, sacrifices and triumphs are narrated, with various sections of the palace getting lighted at different times and with dramatic sound effects, an ultimate combination of visual and audio treat. Huge amount of coordination, research and thought must have gone in to the making of the hour long show. I never found the subject ‘History’ so interesting before.

(Please click and see the enlarged view.)

Well, I have learnt a lesson: always carry your tripod along with you, even if that means less space for souvenirs on your way back. I am yet to perfect my skills in this. Do leave me some tips on night photography.

(Please click and see the enlarged view.)

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Rolls Royce

Rolls Royce, old or new, they are so hot!

It is not everyday that one gets to see a Rolls Royce! So, when I saw one at the Vintage Car collection displayed in Udaipur museum, I photographed it to my heart’s content. The Rolls Royce there was a 1930/31 model, manufactured in UK, with stunning looks. This car made a memorable appearance in the James Bond movie, Octopussy, filmed in the city Udaipur in 1983.



It was the hood ornament, the iconic mascot, ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’ that held the focus of my lens. This world famous mascot is the model of a very beautiful and intelligent lady, Eleanor Velaseko Thornton of the early part of 20th century. Interesting story, I read later, of her unsuccessful love affair with JohnWalter Edward-Scott-Montagu due to status difference between the two.


It is now more popularly known as the ‘Silver Lady’ or the ‘Flying Lady’. The 'Lady' was just around six inches tall, or may be a little bigger and had a bright silvery finish. I felt like touching it but then controlled my urge!


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Peacocks in Indian Architecture

Peacocks for its majestic and graceful looks have always been object of fancy for the artisans of various trades. The birds are beautifully portrayed in paintings, well that is common. But when I saw the beautiful motifs, murals and mosaics of peacocks on palace walls and entrances I just stood, jaw dropped, mouth opened and stared and stared. And when back to senses to take shots, I found myself requesting the other tourists who stood rooted there gazing at the peacock murals, to move from the frame of my camera!

Peacock door frame in Jaipur Palace is amazingly beautiful with striking rich colors.


At the Mor Chowk(peacock square) in City Palace of Udaipur, vivid blue mosaic of peacocks decorates its walls. We were WOW over the detailed work in the feathers – individually cut slivers of glass! A total of 5,000 pieces of mosaic of green, blue, crystal and gold, as well as concave mirrors are said to have gone into the making of these peacocks.

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