Ruia Naka

Abhijit Rao, 19th February 2005.

Naka. A place where humanity congregates. The faithfuls, the religious, the regulars, the observers, the avid arguers, the occasional sight seers ... all.
This is the place where you meet unexpected people.
And expected ones.
Like a fly to honey we are drawn to it. Here, in the indistinct murmour of voices one finds a unique peace.



Vishnu, of the Chai


Vishnu's Kettle



'Triangle', Ruia Naka



DP's of the Naka



friends



Sujay



Harshu, with his WWII style bike helmet.



Bhelwalla (now gone, but used to be there under the tree opp. Shery's)



Nityanand



Amey



Sai Juice



Om Sai Sandwich (now moved to opp. Matunga stn.)



Mani's


Note: This used to be on my 'homepage' which went down when tripod shut it down for some reason I dont know. It was up from 1998 to 2006 at least.

Beautiful Dreamer

Early monsoon clouds, on the Murbad - Shahad strech

Beautiful Dreamer

Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me,
Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee;
Sounds of the rude world heard in the day,
Lull'd by the moonlight have all pass'd away!

Beautiful dreamer, queen of my song,
List while I woo thee with soft melody;
Gone are the cares of life's busy throng.

Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!

Beautiful dreamer, out on the sea,
Mermaids are chaunting the wild lorelie;
Over the streamlet vapors are borne,
Waiting to fade at the bright coming morn.

Beautiful dreamer, beam on my heart,
E'en as the morn on the streamlet and sea;
Then will all clouds of sorrow depart,

Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!

~Stephen Foster

Shelter

Bus Stop

The late monsoon had raised havoc in the farmlands of northern Karnataka. As we traveled towards Gokak the rains fell continuous on the plains. The rivers were kissing the bridge bottoms. The crops lay rotting. Here we see a sundry group, men and animals, sheltering in the "Bus Stop".

Panchaganga

This is the Panchaganga of Kolhapur and the bridge on the Kolhapur-Ratnagiri road. If you want to go to Panhala, you cross this bridge.

offerings for Jotiba (on sale)

At the Jotiba devasthan near Kolhapur.

The Solitary Reaper

Purple Flowers, Khandala


THE SOLITARY REAPER

Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.

No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so shrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.

Will no one tell me what she sings?--
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?

Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending;--
I listen'd, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.

~ William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

My Brother

The Poet: Vivek Rao aka khekdu.

My brother's name is Abhijit
he studies in standard tenth
he has got a nice friendly look
and is broad in width and tall in length.

he wants to be a scientist
scientific is he
and I know when he grows up
a scientist he will be.

he is in his teens now
his age is fifteen
he is also quite brainy and kind
but sometimes a little mean

he also wants to travel
in the world so big
but one must be healthy for that
and he is as thin as a twig.

but he is aware of that now
and knows its' not enough to be long
and is exercising hard everyday
and is growing more and more strong.

he dreams of his own castle
which secret passageways
and his own robot servants
to do what he says

but for all this he has to grow up
and for that there are a few years
and as we cant tell time to hurry
it's no use shedding tears.

but now the SSC board exam
is very soon due
He is busy studying hard now
I wish him best of luck - wont you ?

-Vivek Rao in Feb 1992 (he was 12)

of Deepawali Lights and Fireworks

Yesterday night (17th) the city of Mumbai was bursting all over with the sound of a thousand crackers and the sparkle of a million lamps. More and more people have been asking for a less polluted and noisy festival with emphasis on lights not crackers. And slowly but surely it seems to be working.

I have been cooped up for a week trying to solve some problems. Suddenly I took the camera, tripod and rushed out to the terrace to click a few. I have always wanted to do so. I got a couple of burning embers on me too.

The pollution and smoke is visible. So are the lights and lanterns and firework displays. All in all it is a happy time. The beauty of the lit city shadowed the negatives. It was asking to be positive.



View Large On Black








View On Black

Rajendra Vallury aka Chota Father

Rajendra Vallury aka Chota Father, originally uploaded by _quasi.

Music is your only friend ... until the end.

Love is never lost. It is eternal. It is the bond that binds people. We can cut loose from our end, but it still lives on, in the infinite universe. It gives company to those who keep it company.


Was that inspirational or was it the severe lack of alcohol in the past few weeks?

Photo taken at Mahabaleshwar where he threw both his phones to the other end of the room to show that nothing happens to them.

Gokak Falls

Gokak Falls

The waterfall at Gokak. From the mill side.

Hrushikesh Chavan (पिट्ट्या)

Hrushikesh Chavan (पिट्ट्या), originally uploaded by _quasi.

Experimental faces. Expressions. Kolhapur

Aditi (चिऊ)

Aditi (चिऊ), originally uploaded by _quasi.

My brother's daughter. The apple of all our eyes. My most favourite person. :)

दगडू
चीउली
माऊ

Ganesh Karazgar (गणू)

Ganesh Karazgar (गणू), originally uploaded by _quasi.

Experimental Faces. Sangli.

Chaitralee and Aditi

My Cousin's wife and daughter. Kolhapur. Faces. Expressions.

Anna (आण्णा)

My atya's father-in-law. He is a life long varkari. Now he is 94. Highly respected. Sangli. Experimental Faces

Pradeep Chavan

Pradeep Chavan, originally uploaded by _quasi.

From Kolhapur. Faces. Expressions.

"worn and leathered by untold miles,
from behind the smoke he still smiles..."

At Jotiba

At Jotiba, originally uploaded by quasi's mobile.

They use a different shade of red for the gulal here .. more like pink-red with a slight blue tinge. Surprisingly photography was not looked down here, even inside the sanctum. Most large Temples I have visited are run by a the priests. I think that is the single most negative to them. We have to please the priests, who are far from 'pure', to be able to get to the Gods.

I think the most peaceful temple is where you are the priest.

Serious Observations of a Funny World.

Waterfall at Gokak

3rd October 2009

This is a magnificent waterfall at Gokak in north Karnataka. The British built a mill on the banks of this fall. There are a couple of ancient Shiv mandirs here too. This year the waterfall is fed by the late rains.

this is another video from someone else on youtube which shows the falls in full glory.

Hariharan, In Concert.

the stage


At the Bandra Fest last week. I loved the performance. He is amazing. Chota (Raju) was on stage, with the guitar. Me, Percy, Nipra, Shot, Tyo and Trupti went over to watch. It was good fun.



Hariji on the large screen

Storm System over Satara

Storm System over Satara, originally uploaded by _quasi.

This year (2009) we are experiencing a very late monsoon system which has put large parts of central India into a flood situation. This is over Satara clicked on the 29th September. We were on the way from Pune to Kolhapur. We encountered very heavy rain, thunder and lightening for more than a 100km from Satara till Kolhapur.