Nature – Footloose Forever

The Daily Post Photo Challenge: Wanderlust

May 1, 2017May 2, 2017Posted in Photo challengeTagged coonoor, greenery, hill station, hills, Nature, nilgiri, ooty, photo challange, tea gardens21 Comments

A couple of weeks back, in mid of April, I was in Ooty, a hill station in the Nilgiri Mountains in southern India. On April 17, I went for a day trip to the neighboring town of Coonoor, known for its greenery and scenic beauty.

I enjoyed every bit of this road trip as we drove past beautiful bungalows, orchards, canopied roads and sprawling tea gardens along the slopes.

And it was during the Ooty trip, I realized the usefulness of smartphone cameras. They are very handy when it comes to clicking pictures from a moving bus or car. Thanks to my Lumia540. 🙂

I’ll be sharing my Ooty Diaries soon…

Published in response to The Daily Pose Photo Challenge: Wanderlust.

The Daily Post Photo Challenge: Solitude

February 4, 2017Posted in Photo challengeTagged alone, forest, Lachung, Nature, nature photography, North Sikkim, solitude, woods23 Comments

nature, solitude, alone, greenery, lachung, sikkim

“Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone.”

~ Paul Tillich

I feel lonely when I am in the crowd. I enjoy being alone amidst the nature.

We were driving to Lachung from Gangtok. On our way, I saw this woman sitting alone under the trees. It looked like she was contemplating, fully absorbed in the nature and greenery all around. And this is exactly what “solitude” means to me.

Well, I know it could have been a much better, clearer picture, but I took this shot from a running car. Hence, not a very clean shot. Hope you don’t mind that! 🙂

Published in response to The Daily Post Photo Challenge: Solitude.

The Daily Post Photo Challenge: Edge

September 10, 2016Posted in Photo challengeTagged colocasia leaf, edge, greenery, Nature, Photo challenge, rain drops, raindrops15 Comments

Have you seen raindrops on the edge of a Colocasia leaf?

It’s a pure delight to see…

Gloomy sky, incessant rains, muddy streets, and high humidity are some things very common in India during monsoons. But every season has its own beauty. Lush greenery and rain-washed branches of trees bring a freshness that makes the season special for me. 🙂

Published in response to The Daily Post Photo Challenge: Edge.

The Daily Post Photo Challenge: Rare

August 20, 2016August 20, 2016Posted in Photo challengeTagged hue, Nature, nature photography, orange, Photo challenge, purple, sky, sunset, sunset sky22 Comments

“Beauty is one of the rare things which does not lead to doubt of God.”

Jean Anouilh

A sunset is a common phenomenon we see everyday. In the rush of our busy, day-to-day activities we rarely find time to watch the sunset and enjoy its beauty. But today’s sunset was something special. From June to September it is monsoon in India, and the sky is covered with dark rain clouds most of the time. In this season, a fiery sunset sky like this is rare to see. So, I didn’t waste a moment to capture the beauty with my new Nikon D53oo. 🙂

Published in response to The Daily Post Photo Challenge: Rare.

Sikkim Diaries: Waterfall-breaks on the Way to Lachung

June 2, 2016July 4, 2016Posted in SikkimTagged Lachung, Nature, nature travel, North Sikkim, Sikkim, Sikkim tour, waterfalls35 Comments

This is the second part of my North Sikkim tour photo series. If you have missed the first part, click here to view the photo-essay on my journey to Lake Gurudongmar.

We reached Gangtok in the afternoon, on May 7, 2016, and headed for Lachung the very next morning. The shared taxis/rental cars for Lachung are available at Vajra taxi stand, just outside the city. Unfortunately, a technical fault was detected in our car right after we started from Vajra. It took some time to get it repaired. Therefore, it was a delayed start from Gangtok at around 12 pm.

The weather was fine and the views were great. The rows of white and colored prayer ‪‎flags, with the sublime mountains in the background, added a pristine charm to the ‪‎landscapes.

Unfortunately, the road condition is extremely bad in North Sikkim. It was a rough ride throughout on the broken mountain roads, but the torturous journey was compensated with breaks like these… 🙂

Our first stop was at Seven Sisters’ Waterfall.

There was a natural pool at the bottom of the falls.

And we could see big boys were having fun in the water.

This part of the Himalayas is green and verdant year-round as it receives sufficient rainfall to boost the streams and waterfalls. We stopped as many times as we could to take in the beauty of the hills and rivers on our way.

And took pleasure in small things as well…

There were quite a few waterfalls on the way up to Chungthung, a small town, after which the road bifurcates. One goes to Lachung and the other leads to Lachen, the gateway to Gurudongmar, the iconic lake in North Sikkim.

However, the last and most notable was ‘Bachchan Falls’, which is popularly called so because of its appearance, tall and lean like Big B. 😀 Well, I don’t know if this waterfall is really called so by the locals. I didn’t see any signboard there, indicating the name of this waterfall.

My Sikkim diary will continue. Please don’t forget to share your thoughts on this journey if you like it.

Before I stop for now, here are a few more beautiful moments captured on the way…

And a selfie is the way to go when there is no one to click your pics. 😉

Take care. See you soon.

Daily Post Photo Challenge: Spare

May 28, 2016May 28, 2016Posted in Photo challengeTagged environment, gurudongmar, Nature, nature photography, North Sikkim, Photo challenge, pollution, travel photography26 Comments

I am just back from a refreshing trip to the Himalayan mountains in North Sikkim. There I saw how the environment is being polluted everyday by smokey tourist vehicles. Even the landscapes at above 17,800 feet are not spared from grasp of so-called “tourism”. Tourism in hilly areas like Sikkim, is definitely a means of economic development. But I doubt if it is always good for the nature and environment around us! What do you say?