Holy City Varanasi

Varanasi The Holy City

 Varanasi is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh dating to the 11th century B.C.E. Regarded as the spiritual capital of India, the city draws pilgrims who bathe in the River Ganges’ sacred waters and perform funeral rites. Along its winding streets are some 2,000 temples, including Kashi Vishwanath, the “Golden Temple,” dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.

   People traveling across Ganga using Boat

 Rituals being performed by Pandits

Lal bahadur Shastri airport, Varanasi

Lotus

Lotus

On the day when the lotus bloomed, alas, my mind was straying,
and I knew it not. My basket was empty and the flower remained unheeded.

Only now and again a sadness fell upon me, and I started up from my
dream and felt a sweet trace of a strange fragrance in the south wind.

That vague sweetness made my heart ache with longing and it seemed to
me that is was the eager breath of the summer seeking for its completion.

I knew not then that it was so near, that it was mine, and that this
perfect sweetness had blossomed in the depth of my own heart. 
spotlight-oldpoem poems ©

By Rabindranath Tagore  

Rajesh Yadav Photography

Seaside silhouette

Seaside silhouette

The sea is never still.
It pounds on the shore
Restless as a young heart,
Hunting.

The sea speaks
And only the stormy hearts
Know what it says:
It is the face
of a rough mother speaking.

The sea is young.
One storm cleans all the hoar
And loosens the age of it.
I hear it laughing, reckless.

They love the sea,
Men who ride on it
And know they will die
Under the salt of it

Let only the young come,
Says the sea.

Let them kiss my face
And hear me.
I am the last word
And I tell
Where storms and stars come from.

Young Sea

Carl Sandburg

River Side View

Summer Night, Riverside - Poem by Sara Teasdale

In the wild soft summer darkness
How many and many a night we two together
Sat in the park and watched the Hudson
Wearing her lights like golden spangles
Glinting on black satin.
The rail along the curving pathway
Was low in a happy place to let us cross,
And down the hill a tree that dripped with bloom
Sheltered us,
While your kisses and the flowers,
Falling, falling,
Tangled in my hair. . . .

The frail white stars moved slowly over the sky.

And now, far off
In the fragrant darkness
The tree is tremulous again with bloom
For June comes back.

To-night what girl
Dreamily before her mirror shakes from her hair
This year's blossoms, clinging to its coils?

Summer Night, Riverside

Sara Teasdale

Sunset view

Bird : Kingfisher

  Bird: Kingfisher

 white-throated kingfisher

The white-throated kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) also known as the white-breasted kingfisher or Smyrna kingfisher, is a tree kingfisher, widely distributed in Asia from Turkey east through the Indian subcontinent to the Philippines.

There are roughly 90 species of kingfisher. All have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with little differences between the sexes. Most species are tropical in distribution, and a slight majority are found only in forests.

These are the one of the most beautiful bird which will surely steal your attention.Its a great feeling watching this bird ,the way it catches the fishes. I captured this picture when it was sitting on the drainage canal watching for her shot.within a flash,she jumped in lake and grabbed a fish. I was bit unlucky to capture that moment.

 Shooted by : canon 700d /18mm-135mm

 

Shoe Flower

Shoe Flower ( Hibiscus rosa-sinensis )

 The 5 petals of the Hibiscus rosa-sinensis denote the warding of negative energy and the welcome of the positive energy into the Universe from the "panchamahabhutas" or 5 basic elements (akaash, jal, vayu, agni, dharti). On a more practical level, it is the seasonal flower of the Bhadrapad month of the monsoons, hence our ancients have advocated this particular flower. Especially the color red is highly auspicious.