Delhi Zoo ....

Last Month I went to Delhi Zoo with my family..... 

Like with my earlier recent visit to various places , this too was primarily to fulfill my desire to click some photographs but apart from that I am also an ardent animal lover and with my increased interest in photography that love too has increased manifolds..

Although I clicked scores of pictures but overall I was not satisfied with the final output. And together with the Qutub Minar photos (which I am yet to share), that too were clicked in similar evening , low light condition (evening and early morning are considered ideal for photography),  makes me ponder that I have a lot to learn as far as dusk light photography is concerned.

Although Humayun's tomb too were clicked in similar cloudy condition but luckily they have come out well, may be because I had more liberty of space while clicking them.

Nevertheless sharing some animals and birds that I was able to click... I have done some post processing and cropping in order for the subject to be highlighted properly.

Duck

ANTELOPES

BABOON

BaraSinghaS...

Posing for the Camera... BarahSinghaS...

CROCODILE...

ELEPHANT

Indian Ghariyal

GORILLA..

Don't know what it is ... but was quite cute

King Of The Jungle ... LION

One Horned Rhinos....

These two Rhinos were the star of the Zoo... they were so playful ..were all the time busy chasing each other... I even have a Video of these two running around but have to find ways to compress them so that I can post them on blogger....

Finally these two settled down and decided to  cool off in the pond ....

Then came these colorful Parrots...

Haven't seen a Parrot before ????

There were many animals who were at their playful fighting best.... Apart from the rhinos there were some Antelopes who too were busy fighting but I only shoot a videos of those as I find their fighting and sudden attack strategy quite amusing....

Below are two Sambars (Huge species of Deer) who were busy demonstrating their strengths to the onlookers...

Sambars...

Siberian Cranes ....

Above is a shot from the pond that was there in the center of the Zoo, in which herds of Siberian Cranes and many more big birds were seen perching .... They were quite large in numbers and worth watching...

As the wait for a DSLR is intching closer to an end.... I am looking forward to clicking many more animals and birds in flight :)

Humayun's tomb

Humayun's tomb

Continuing on my lucky trend of visiting historical monuments , this weekend I went to Humayun's tomb with my folks.

As I mentioned earlier that nowadays I am reading "The City of Djinns" by William Darymple, which is the travelogue about his stay in Delhi for a year. So anyways I was fascinated to visit what all historical places he was mentioning in his travelogue. Although he din't mention Humayun's tomb yet but still it was one place which was on my list as as far as I remember I never been to that place (My dad doesn't agree with that and strongly stats that we have been there when we came to delhi around 15 yrs back).

Interestingly I was not planning to visit Humayun's tomb at the first place and instead last weekend itself I told my folks that we will go to India gate. But in the morning my colleague called me up enquiring about that place and on finding that it was on the way to India Gate , I made up a plan to visit it too. (Its another story that we couldn't see India Gate because of the huge crowd that descended there due to the lovely weather)

So coming to Humayun's tomb. Humayun was Babar's son and Akbar's father. He was the second of the Great Mughal rulers to have ruled India. He ruled India in 1532-40 and then from 1555-1560. While coming down from stairs, on hearing the Azan (Muslim call of prayer) as it was his habit that wherever he is ,on hearing the Azan he will kneel down in reverence ,is robe got stuck in his feet and fell down from stairs. He was succeeded by his 13 year old son Akbar, who later on became the greatest Mughal emperor to have ruled India.

View from center- Humayun's tomb

Hamida Banu Begum(Akbar's mother), his grieving widow, built his Mausoleum after his death. This building is touted as precursor to Taj Mahal. It stands on a platform of 12000 sq m and reaches a height of 47m.   

Peeking at the Emperor....

The earliest example of Persian influence in Indian architecture, the tomb has within it over 100 graves, earning it the name of "Dormitory of the Mughals".

First monument built with red sandstone and white marble.

Built of rubble masonry, the structure is the first to use red sandstone and white marble in such great quantities.

Lawn in front- built in Persian style

Like all Persian buildings , this one too had the 4 block garden structure with water channels separating each block from other.

Entrance to Humayun's tomb

Quite symmetrical

One striking thing about this monument is the symmetry. No matter from where you look at the main building, the lawn, the path to the monument etc everything has a symmetry and each half is a mirror image of the other.

Humayun's tomb - The Red Taj

I was glad that unlike last time when I clicked Taj Mahal, I learned to keep the base line horizontal to the ground and also clicked most of the pics keeping in mind the proportions.




Nevertheless a lovely and serene place to visit with your family and loved ones. :)

:(

Its been so long since I wrote anything. And I have so many things to write about starting from the Hockey World Cup match I twice went to see, then there is the IPL match I saw at Ferozshah Kotla, New Delhi, where I watched God play cricket from so close. Then there is the trip to Orchcha, Khajaraho and Bandhavgarh. Then the regular updates on the book I am reading. Also my observation on certain incidents that happened around me. Many naughty and serious things. Etc etc ... 

Although more than lack of motivation it was due to lack of interest and at times means because of which I have not written anything. Although I was busy with office work but I believe you are never busy for the things you want to do ...

Anyways in mood today to write about certain things .... :) 

Some updates and weekend ...

In Friday's Garfield strip Jon says "There are things I never realized about being a Boyfriend. I have awesome responsibilities now. I Have to shave on weekends"

Thank God I don't have such responsibilities and don't have to shave except on Mondays or special occasions.

So I shared the same strip with Ram Prasad who is very irregular with shaving. He told me, no problem, anyways I only shave on weekends.

There is a positive development in that love story. It seems Soni is also a Brahmin, a Punjabi Brahmin. So that means my title for that series of post is not exactly applicable as its now just a inter cultural relation not an inter caste one. Feel that's better. And anyways the title need not be taken literally. Anyways will update on that topic if something substantial happens.

As it was Sunday so we decided to do some shopping for Sankranti and also mom had to buy few things for winter. But as someone has very rightly said that "Chances of going to a shop to buy a loaf of bread, and coming out with only the loaf of bread is one in a million." So we ended purchasing a hell lot of things including a jacket, a pair of shoes and two trousers for myself. And as we went to C R Park (Mini Kolkatta in New Delhi) I purchased misthi doi and some sweets and dairy milk too. I am having too much sweets nowadays. First Bengal, then Gajar ka halwa yesterday and now these sweets but still when I was having dosa at one of the food joint I couldn't resist the temptation to have some hot jalebis which was being sold nearby and bought some.

All in all a lovely weekend. More so because after a long time god gave me a chance to be good to someone and prove that I too am a nice guy and I hope in the coming times I won't disappoint him.