On Three Wheeled Mobile Temples and Colourful Feet

On a quiet side street I heard music, chanting and tinkling bells and caught the aroma of incense.  Nothing unusual in India, but this time it was coming from a mobile, motorised shrine.  I hadn't been up close and personal to one before, it was delightful.

I dropped a few rupees in by way of thanks for a cheering sight, sound and smell.

It was only after looking at the picture closely, that I fully realised how striking the sari on the woman was.  I've finally become accustomed to Indian colours as evidenced by my feet:

They've got a lot brighter since I moved to Mumbai.

Markets

I like markets, I like the busy buzz of them, the smells and sounds and of course, the sights.  I particularly like that I can usually wander around markets and be largely ignored because people are too busy going about their business to pay any attention to a strange foreigner with a camera.

Here's a recent market picture.  There's a lot I like about it.  The dark interior full of fancy dress materials, a rack of sari blouses hanging up ready for collection.  Meera's beauty salon being given a little corner of the shop sign and a nice bit of greenery being given a table all to itself.  The two tailors taking in the sights and entirely oblivious of me and the arrow and label pointing to the hub of the tailoring business just in case you couldn't work out who did the sewing.

Return to the stamping ground

I was horrified to realise it was more than a year since I updated this blog.  I've not been out and about taking pictures as often as before for a variety of reasons but this weekend I charged up the camera and headed down to Colaba.

It took a bit of time to get back into the swing of things but, I'm glad to report, Mumbai is still as photogenic as ever.

Colaba Causway, home to stalls selling all kinds of touristic and fashion items.  I seldom buy but there are very few times I wander through here without seeing something I want to photograph.  In this case; wooden fabric stamps.

Lion Gate Mumbai

I wandered up Kala Ghoda with the express intention of taking a couple of pictures of Lion Gate, the entry to the Naval Dockyard but was shooed away by guards who, quite rightly, pointed to the giant "No Photography" sign on the wall.

A bit dejected, I carried on walking and noticed for the first time a brilliant mural on the external wall of the dockyard.  I'm not sure whether the no photography rule applies to further away from the gate but who can stop themselves taking a picture when someone pushing colour co-ordinated laundry passes a painting?

Thank you Laundry Guy for making what would otherwise be a boring picture much more interesting.

Urgent Passport Photo

We would all look much more dashing in our passport or other ID photos if we could pose like this:

The "model" is Akshay Kumar, for non-Bollywood fans he's a famous actor, and probably completely unaware that he's being used to advertise passport photo services.    Image theft is terribly common and I went to the bother of getting a copy of the original from a website which offered free downloads.  I'm confused whether I stole the image or not.

I'm also not sure whether I've broken any copyright laws by taking a picture of a stolen picture but I would dearly love to pose for official identification pictures in shades, with my collar up and a fabulous fake background.

Juhu Beach

Mumbai's beaches are busy places, but there are moments of solitude to be found.

Religious observances can leave a lot of debris

but it keeps the beach cleaners busy

and the pigeons are well looked after too.

A Treat?

Currently appearing on the back of Mumbai buses.

 Hiranandani hospital has an odd idea of what a "treat" is.

Shore Leave

I like holidays and travel, I like historical sites and interesting markets, I like trying new food and finding out about different ways of life.  But I also like sitting with a book and sometimes not even reading it and for that there is not much required, just a shoreline:

Something to sit on:

And if possible an astounding sunrise or sunset, I'm not picky;

Alas this beach is a bit further flung than my old favourite beach in Goa which was voted "Best beach in India" and so got very popular and difficult to book for last minute getaways.  I had to travel all the way to Indonesia for this one so I'm still on the lookout for my own new version of my perfect Indian beach.

If you've got any suggestions, please send them my way. 

Kolkata Quickie

I'm squeezing in one last holiday before work starts again and am in Kolkata visiting friends, eating and taking pictures.

I'm working on trying to take pictures of people from the front, I am reticent doing this as I've mentioned before.

I tend to bumble around new places with the odd google search or tourist map to help me on my way but this time I signed up for a guided tour with Calcutta Photo Tours and can't recommend the experience highly enough.

I was guided around markets, places of worship and residential areas by Manjit, an exceptional story teller and gifted photographer and had an absolutely fantastic time. 

I learned so much about the city and enjoyed the experience so much that I've already decided to do another tour when I come back in December. I went on the Culture Kaleidoscope tour, next time I'll be mooching around markets

Airport survival skills

I'm pretty good at sleeping on the go but I aspire to this level of sleeping skill. 

A member of the ground staff at Surabaya International Airport catches a quick nap and still manages to look pretty professional while doing so.