“monsoon”

Madhya Pradesh·forest · river

What a lovely play of clouds in motion, as we fly over the Ken River in central India. The brown muddy swollen monsoon waters give way to lush green tiger forests on both sides, even as one can look for magar crocs and gharials in the water…

highway · politics

The Government provides water tankers refilled from ground water, to fulfill the basic needs to road-side dwellers who work the streets, as vendors.

Kerala·boats · aerial

Alappuzha, Punnamada Lake Nehru boat race aerial view of stunning green vistas in bright monsoon light: Kerala network of waterways, estuaries, backwaters A modest boat jetty along Kerala's waterways, with houses and farmlands attached and…

Uttarakhand·monsoon

Dark grey Bush Chat chicks hatch in a nest made on the ground itself, at the foot of a clump of flowering lilies, against all safety conventions and concerns about ground predators and monsoon rain water flow.

farmland

Nashpati, naak or Pear fruit ripens on the tree in Delhi's Wilderness Orchard, in the summer heat and monsoon humidity! Yes, fruit orchards exist in Delhi!

In the sweltering hat of the Indian summer-monsoon, Indian Army officers and jawans stand at the Palam air base in Delhi, in order to honour the lives lost in the Kargil war with Pakistan.

Big bad Ravana effigies get created, painted and sold on the roadside in West Delhi, to be carted home and burned up with fire crackers, to show the literal destruction of evil! Ravan represents the baddie party, essentially.

flowers · industry

This Yucca aloifolia or Yucca flower stands almost 6ft high, full of whitish colored flower. The stem covered with buds of flowers weighs almost around 4kgs.

highway · monsoon

One needs a tough SUV to battle Delhi's monsoon drenched roads! Cars passing a flooded part on the AIIMS Road highway. Water splashing on both sides of the vehicles as the vehicles speed past the waterlogged stretch.

hills · livestock

Cattle herders from Sukhi Village, Uttarakhand graze their cattle in the Upper Son Gad Valley during the autumn season. This will be the last graze for these cattle up in the cold valley near the Garhwal Himalaya.

fort

A virtual glimpse of the red sandstone Zafar Mahal inside the Red Fort in New Delhi. A panning view of the surrounding lawns and the marble pavilions of Sawan and Bhadon.

desert

Free-wheeling Pariah Kites - raptors in their own right - but otherwise also the most urban and scavenging ones in India, are seen here in the Rajasthan desert sky.

highway

A couple of Yellow-footed Green Pigeon sits on a Banyan tree branch outside our office complex. The rush of fruits on the Banyan Tree after the monsoon rains must have attracted these green pigeons.

birds · wildlife

A pair of Pied Myna or Asian Pied Starling (Gracupica contra or Sturnus contra contra) is seen sitting on top of a mango tree in Delhi during the monsoon. Pied Mynas are one of the common birds in urban areas.

wildlife · birds

The Sarus crane is the tallest flying bird in the world standing 152-156 cm tall with a wingspan of 240cm. It has a predominantly grey plumage with a naked red head and upper neck and pale red legs.

Uttarakhand·birds · wildlife

You will have doubtless heard the Kulchure or Himalayan Whistling Thrush even if you have not seen it, on a visit to the mountains up north! The trilling loud whistle of the Whistling Thrush, most often heard in the monsoons, is a familiar…

hills · snow

The monsoon system retreats from the Himalaya, dumping down one last time in the form of the season's first heavy snowfall at high altitudes.

village

What an idyllic rural existence in India! Clean air, fresh monsoon water, cultivation of organic crops, and a house with garden plot right next to the most heavenly waterfalls in central India.

Madhya Pradesh·river

A calm bird sits calmly before a frothing roaring Ken river in its full monsoon glory! A Laughing dove or Little Brown Dove (Spilopelia senegalensis) sits on a rock next to a roaring water body in Panna.

Maharashtra

Soha Ali Khan: "What I like about Bombay is that it is the only safe secure place for a working woman to live in India today. I feel completely safe in Mumbai. There's always people at night.

river · ceremony

In the sweltering post monsoon season in north India, Purvanchali Hindu women devotees - aomost decked up in bridal finery - perform Chhath Puja on banks of polluted Yamuna river in New Delhi, worshipping the sun god.

farmland

Even deadly killers such as these mongoose (surely not mongeese as plural!?)have ecto-parasites and need to scratch the botheration, they get disturbed by mosquitoes and their pups play-fight together under the jasmine bush which hides thei…

Cleaning Delhi roads sludge and water logging using bulldozers, air moistening pollution machines cast aside in the heavy monsoon humidity.

A crow caws away as a monsoon storm sways trees around a street lamp in Delhi. Street light in Sarojini Nagar, Delhi - incandescent or LED bulb almost drops out - accident in waiting?