Monochrome Monday

A bleak rainy day at the Juhu beach in Mumbai.

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Camera Critters - Moth

A beautiful specimen. Unfortunately I do not know its biological name or any other details.

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Catty conversations

Catty conversations or maybe just chatting up? A great place to do so!

Sky Watch

The Mumbai sky at dusk.
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Ganpati visarjan

A small Ganesh idol being taken for Visarjan (immersion). The idol is kept for a day, 3days, 5days, 7days or 10days depending on an individual's choice and financial background. The community (sarvajanik) idols are big and kept for a week to ten days. The bigger idols will be immersed on Sunday the 14sep08. Will endeavour to take pictures of that and post on monday. 

ABC Wednesday - H for Homa

Homa (also known as homam or havan) is a Sanskrit word which refers to any ritual in which making offerings into a consecrated fire is the primary action. The words homa/homam/havan are interchangeable with the word Yagna. Homas are an important religious practise in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
Although a consecrated fire is the central element of every homa ritual, the procedure and items offered to the fire vary by what occasions the ceremony, or by the benefit expected from the ritual. Procedures invaribly involve -

* the kindling and consecration of the sacrificial fire;
* the invocation of one or more divinities; and,
* the making of offerings (whether real or visualized) to them via the fire, amid the recitation of prescribed prayers and mantras.

The consecrated fire forms the focus of devotions and it is often maintained on specific types of wood and other combustibles.
The arrangement is centered in the middle of a space, which may be either outdoors or indoors. The principal people performing the ceremony and the priests who instruct them through the rituals seat themselves around the altar, while family, friends and other devotees form a larger ring around that center.

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Beach combing

At the end of the Ganesha festival the Ganesha idols are immersed in ponds, lakes, wells, rivers or the sea. Mumbai being a coastal area, the sea is preferred for immersion. Idols as huge as 20plus feet are brought for immersion along with thousands of tiny ones. In the picture above, the sand on the beach is flattened to enable facilitate the smooth trasnsfer of the idol from land to sea. This beach is in Dadar or closer to Shivaji Park in Mumbai.