Ross & Simth Islands: Tale of Twins Island

In India, there are numerous unexplored places and beaches especially in Andaman Islands. Andaman & Nicobar Islands are a real treat for beach lovers. These islands provide many untouched seashores and one of them is Ross & Simth Island. I was lucky to explore this twin islands in my trip to Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Ross & Smith Island is 30 minutes away via boat journey from Aerial bay jetty or Kalipur water sports centre.
 
 

Ross Island Beach

 The greenish blue water and white sands looked amazing from ferry. The view of beach was EXTREMELY mesmerizing!!!  The beach was unexplored, exotic and serene. It was difficult to believe that India has such a beautiful white sand beach. The scenery is beautiful all along and water is crystal clear. It has all the natural ingredients of tropical paradise. There is a lagoon side and a sea side to the beach. The serene environment and the scenic beauty was spell bounding me. 

 

Ross & Simth Island veiw from boat

 
 

Simth Island Beach

 
The unique feature of this twin islands is that they are connected by a sand bridge which is visible only in the low tide. During high tide they get separated by crystal clear sea water. I reached Ross Islands during low tide and I was able to walk across this sand bridge to reach the Smith Island. Ross and Smith, the twin islands joined by a wide range of sand bar is gorgeous spot. 

 

Arial View of Ross & Simth Island

 Below snap is taken from Smith Island as the high tide was setting in. You can see in snap how the waters from both ends cut across the divide, meeting each other eagerly. It was a treat to watch this water merger and how these islands get separated from each other in high tide.
 

Sand Bar which joines Ross & Simth Island

 

Its beaches are suitable for swimming, snorkeling and it is surrounded by coral reefs. It was a life time experience to do snorkeling in this beautiful beach. While snorkeling, I could see each reef row seemed to have its own kind of fish to look at the various shapes and the incredible colorations of tropical fish.

 

Coral Reef

 After enjoying for 5 hours in this picturesque beach, it was the time for me to return but this tropical paradise has surely  stolen my heart at the very first sight. It’s a must- see place for all the beach lovers.

Chandipur Beach: Where Sea Water Disappears

Our diverse country has so many undiscovered gems in its lap that sometime its difficult to believe that such places exist in world. Among them, there is a beach called Chandipur Beach. Few years ago I visited this place by chance and must admit it was an unbelievable experience for me.  Chandipur beach has its unique behavior while comparing to other beaches in the world. This is one of the few places in this world where the differences in low and high tides are the largestThe beach is unique in that the water recedes anywhere from 1 kilometer to 4 kilometers during the ebb and returns at the time of high-tide.

Chandipur Beach

Watching the sea vanish right in front of my eyes and then observing its return is a very rare site. I walked arond 2km inside the beach in its shallow depths when water receded and it was a unique experience. And to add more to this hide and seek of water, the musical sway of the casuarinas trees and creepered white sand dunes add to its seductive beauty.  

Walk on sea bed after water receded for 5 Km

Chasing the waves in a jeep, when the sea retreats is unforgettable experience.



Sea water Retreats



Chandipur is an ideal beach resort of Orissa it is situated at a distance of 200 km from Cuttack and 230 km from Bhubaneswar.  It is a must see destinations for all beach lovers.

How to go there

Air :- Nearest Airport is Bhubaneshwar, 214 km.

Rail :- Neelanchal Express, Puri-Howrah trains stop at Balasore, from where Chandipur is 16 kms. and is approachable by road.

Road :- Balasore (16 kms). NH5 links the town with Bhubaneswar in the south and Calcutta in the north.

Farrukhabad's Hand Printing: Sleight of Hand

Hand Printing is an ancient craft in India. India enjoys an international repute for its handicrafts and hand crafted items and much of the skill in this sphere is confined to the state of Uttar Pradesh. Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh is a veritable treasure house of traditional designs ranging from the classical butis (dots) to the famous ' Tree of Life.  Farrukhabad hand printing is famous all over the world and it stands testimony to the craftsmanship of the native artisans. It would not be an exaggeration to state that Farrukhabad has become synonymous to the art of hand painting.



Handprint using Block

 
 


HandPrint in Process

  

Traditional patterns dominate Farrukhabad Hand Printing. Block makers at Farrukhabad are known for their artistry and intricate designs. The skilled workers carry on experimentations with these traditional patterns that range from the classical butis that are also called polka dots to the more popular “Tree of Life”. The butis are restful even though sparkling when tinted in solid colors. Mango, ‘paisley’ as it is known in the West, is made in a vast variety of shapes, and used in bold, medium and even fine designs . Farrukhabad Hand Printing specialty is its myriad shapes that are used in bold, medium and sometimes fine designs. Block printing is well known for using rich, vibrant colors. Traditionally, natural vegetable dyes were used in this process, but now-a-day synthetic colors are also in use.



Traditional Pattern of Farrukhabad Handprint

 


Different designs of Hand Print



The composition is first printed in harmonizing colors and later elaborated with delicate details painted in with a brush. A variety of blossoms merge in this luxuriant tree. It is primarily a decorative piece unrelated to any symbol but has a flavour of growth, prosperity and immorality. The spirited heraldic lions that guard the tree speak of a Hindu tradition.

 

 



Persian Style Block Printing

 

Farrukhabad Hand Printing still enjoys the prominence and importance even during a period when the machine based printing has captured the market. The advent of machines has no doubt made this art form stand face to face with financial loss, but those who attach a lot of importance to the manual labor can understand the value of Farrukhabad Hand Printing.

Ganjifa Cards: Ancient India's Favorite Game

ew days back, I got the chance to visit an exhibition in Pragati Maidain in Delhi. It was an all states art and craft fair where people from different states were exhibiting their art forms. While roaming, I saw some beautiful miniature paintings in the Orissa stall. When I enquired about the painting he told “Madam, these are Ganjifa playing cards”. He explained me that Ganjifa is actually a very old art form of paintings and playing cards. Further told me how some of the families in Orissa and Maharashtra are trying to revive this dying ancient Indian game.


 

Ganjifa Cards

 

Painting in Ganjifa Card

History:
Ganjifa’ is the name given to an ancient Indian card game which originated in Persia (modern Iran) and became popular in India under the Mogul emperors in the 16th century. The first known reference is in the diary of Emperor Babur in 1527. The game used to be the favorite pastimes of ancient India, it first became popular at court, in the form of lavish sets of precious stone – inlaid ivory or tortoise shell.  It later spread to the general public, whereupon cheaper sets would be made from materials such as wood, palm leaf, or pasteboard.

 

Technique to Prepare Cards:
The techniques, processing, designing of ganjifa cards varied from user to user. Artists involved in making Cards for the rich and wealthy used expensive materials. They used to craft on lac wafers, tortoise shells, ivory, engraved brass discs, mother of pearl and decorated with precious stones and metals. 

Artists Preparing Ganjifa Cards

Detailed Work on Ganjifa Cards

Common people made the cards using leather, paper, stylographed palm leaves, fish scales and paper machete. Colors were made by hand and they were rich in natural minerals and vegetable dyes. The artists grinded and mixed these natural colors by hand themselves. They used fine brushes including the squirrel hair brushes suitable to the Ganjifa painting technique to paint the cards.

Perception Behind the games:
In Maharashtra and Orissa, Ganjifa was a favorite pastime for Brahmins. Old people are still seen playing Dashavatara Ganjifa near Puri Temples, mainly with 16-suited 192 card decks. The main purpose of the game was to teach, learn and tell stories from our ancient scriptures and holy books. Style was set to stories and shlokas from the Hindu Puranas, stories from the Ramayana, the chapters from Mahabharata and many more scriptures. One of the greatest benefits was that besides a memory test, the game provided a good retention of traditional knowledge.

How to Play with Ganjifa Cards:
Ganjifa cards were circular and traditionally hand-made by local artisans. The standard playing cards of India are usually a set each of 96 cards of Mughal Ganjifa and of 120 or 144 cards of Dashavatara Ganjifa.  The structure and the rules of both the games are the same except that in Dashavatara, the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu are depicted. 


Mughal Ganjifa:. The present game of Mughal Ganjifa was introduced by Akbar. The Mughal ganjifa carried eight suited ganjifa pack and had 96 beautiful cards in eight suits of 12 cards each. The twelve cards in each suit comprised of two court or figure cards and 10 numeral or pip cards.

Mughal Ganjifa Cards

Dashavatara Ganjifa :The Hindu Dashavatara (10 incarnations) were different in their composition and construction. In the first order the number of suits and cards were more which made the game complicated . The figures and the suit signs were common to the Hindu players. Each pack of ganjifa carried 10 suits, which displayed one of the incarnations of Vishnu.

Dashavatara Ganjifa Cards

For example in the Mughal Ganjifa set Taj, Safed, Samsher and Ghulam are strong suits while Chang, Surkh, Barat and Qimash are weak suits.  The sequence of each suit is arranged as Raja, Pradhan and serial number ace to ten for strong suits and ten to ace for weak suits.  Each time the trick is to win the round by placing the highest denomination.  Therefore it is beneficial for a player to remember all the symbols and cards played.  By the end of the game, which is played in anti-clock-wise direction, the player who amasses the maximum number of cards is the winner.  Similarly the game can be played with the Dashavatar set, Ashtadikpala, Ramayana and Navagraha.  

 

Ganjifa Cards

Unlike Chess or Parchisi (Dice), Ganjifa is now close to extinction. Few people know how to play the game and fewer are the artists who make them Orissa is one of the last remaining pockets of this diminishing community.

Lord Shiva first messenger of Islam, Muslim cleric says

A lesser known Muslim cleric and leader of Jamiat Ulema Hind, Mufti Mohammad Ilyas Qasmi, stirred up a controversy on Thursday when he referred to Lord Shiva as the first messenger of Islam.

AYODHYA: A lesser known Muslim cleric and leader of Jamiat Ulema Hind, Mufti Mohammad Ilyas Qasmi, stirred up a controversy on Thursday when he referred to Lord Shiva as the first messenger of Islam. Qasmi, a senior leader of the Jamiat who has been propagating Hindu-Muslim unity in Ayodhya, said he backed the RSS view that "every Indian is a Hindu." 

Qasmi elaborated that Muslims were also followers of Sanatan Dharma and "have no reservations in accepting that Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati were part of the series of a lakh and twenty four thousand prophets sent to Earth with a mission to establish humanity, true religion and God's rule in the world". 

He said he thought there was nothing objectionable or wrong about referring to Indian Muslims as Hindus, since Muslims from India are called 'Hindi' in Arabian countries. "We Indian Muslims are followers of Islam. We believe in 'Allah', but we are, traditionally, 'Hindus'," he said. 

Muslim leaders were quick to distance themselves from Qasmi's remarks. While Jamiat's president Maulana Arshad Madani was unavailable, its secretary, Hafiz Irfan, said: "What Qasmi has said are his personal views. There were, indeed, a series of one lakh twenty four thousand prophets sent by Allah to Earth. Lord Rama, Lord Krishna or Lord Shiva may be one of them, but none of this finds mention in the holy Quran. Only God is the creator, not his messengers." 

Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali, head cleric of the Aishbagh Eidgah in Lucknow, said Islam showed respect to all religions and religious figures. However, it did not suggest anywhere that Lord Shiva was a Prophet, he added. 

Qasmi had arrived in Ayodhya to invite the local Sadhus and Mahants to Jamiat's national seminar on Hindu-Muslim unity, which will be held in Balrampur on February 27
.

Myanmar captures 9th rare white elephant

YANGON: Myanmar's forestry department has captured a rare white elephant in the jungles of the country's western Ayeyarwaddy region, an official said on Sunday. 

The 7-year-old female was captured on Friday, six weeks after it was initially spotted in a reserve in Pathein township, forestry official Tun Tun Oo said. It's the ninth white elephant in captivity in the country. 

"We had to be careful," Tun Tun Oo said of the 1.9-meter-tall (6-foot-3) elephant. "It's wild. We didn't want the elephant or the forestry department officials to get hurt." 

In this picture taken on August 17, 2013, a caretaker feeds a white elephant at a shelter in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw. (Getty Images/AFP photo)

White elephants, which are actually albinos, have been revered for centuries in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and other Asian nations.


Workers stand near white elephants at their shelter in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw, on May 10, 2014. (Getty Images/AFP photo) 

Often pinkish in color, with fair eyelashes and toenails, the animals were normally kept and pampered by monarchs as symbols of royal power and prosperity — and many people still believe they bring good luck to the country. 

Myanmar already has eight white elephants in captivity, most from the Ayeyarwaddy region. Five are in the zoo in the capital, Naypyitaw, and three are in Yangon's zoo. 

It was not immediately clear where the recently captured elephant will be housed.


This picture taken on March 26, 2012 shows a caretaker bathing a white elephant and her calf in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw. Kings and leaders in the predominantly Buddhist nation have traditionally treasured white elephants, whose rare appearances in the country are believed to herald good fortune, including power and political change. (Getty Images/AFP photo) 

Previous white elephants transported from Myanmar's jungles have been heralded in lavish ceremonies in which military leaders sprinkle them with scented water laced with gold, silver and precious gems. 

A war was fought in the 16th century between Thailand and Myanmar — then known as Siam and Burma, respectively — over disputed ownership of four white elephants.


A caretaker stands next to a white elephant at a shelter in Naypyidaw, on August 17, 2013. (Getty Images/AFP photo) 

According to the World Wildlife Fund, there are between 25,600 and 32,750 Asian elephants remaining in the wild. Only males carry tusks and are the exclusive victims of poaching for their ivory. 

The capture of wild elephants for domestic use has become a threat to wild populations. India, Vietnam and Myanmar have banned capture in order to conserve their wild herds, but in Myanmar elephants are still caught each year for the timber industry or the illegal wildlife trade, the WWF says.

Spiti Valley: Land between Tibet and India

In a country of 28 states, each with its signature culture, food, language, history & landscape, its difficult to select one  destination in India. A long weekend was coming and I was searching for an offbeat destinations and on net I found Spiti Valley in Himachal. The Spiti Valley is a desert mountain valley located high in the Himalaya mountains in the north-eastern part of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name “Spiti” means “The Middle Land”, i.e. the land between Tibet and India.

Spiti Valley

I found destination quite intersting and zeroed down my search on Spiti Valley.  Spiti, means 'the middle country', it is the land of ragged and snow-capped mountains that reach out to the clear deep blue skies. It has been a forbidden land for most part of its history. 
 

Ki monastery looks over one of the highest villages in the world

 The unique geography, climate and landscape of  Spiti, its unassuming little villages made me speechless.  The hospitality of its mountain people make it one of the most unique travel destinations in India. Spiti represent some of the remotest areas on Earth, probably the most remote region of India, and part of the Tibetan plateau. This valley is cut off from the world for over six months of the year (mid-October to July).Trekker’s paradise. Its known as “The Snow Desert”.

Though Spiti is a cold desert terrain it is home to several perennial rivers - Spiti, Pin, Chandra - whose gurgling sounds will soothe you in the night and whose ferocity will awe you. Ah, and not to mention the placid, azure blue lakes like Chandra Taal, Nako, Dhankar. I struck by some of the most beautiful canyons and the most unusual clay and rock formations along the river bed and in the mountains. The continuity of the landscape is only broken by numerous waterfalls and glaciers, including one of world's largest non-polar glaciers - Bara Shigri.

Kibber, the highest motorable village in the world! The homogeneity of the houses is charming and establishes the lack of social discretion in Spiti.

For the spiritual seeker, Spiti is home to some thousand year old Gompas (Buddhist Monasteries) and Tibetan art. There is also the mummy of a monk who meditated to death. Spiti has a very introvert type of culture  since the area has been in isolation for a long time. Dhankar Li, Tabo Mud, Gungri, Lidang, Sagnam, Mane Gogm amd Giu  are some of the monasteries which are placed in and around Spiti.

Key Gompa

A peep inside the resplendent Ki Monastery

The majority people who live here in Spiti are Buddhists who are the followers of the Geluk Pa Sect. I keep on hearing “Om mani padme hum” chant constantly and the repetition is believed to bring fortune and wash away all the sins. Spiti possesses a haunting beauty which one  cannot see elsewhere for all the bleakness seen there. 

The place also boasts of the world's highest motorable and inhabited villages. A place where lucky few can still find fossils in the valleys or manage to sight Snow Leopards, Ibex, Red Fox, etc. Spiti is also known as the Fossil park of the world  as the three villages Kibber, Kaza and Kye fall on the favourite route for fossil collections. These villages are located at an altitude between 13,500 ft. and 14,400 ft. above sea level. Langza is a place well known for maritime fossils and are found on either side of Kang-yur and Paapen-yu nullahs near the village Langza.

Dead Snow along the main highway enveloped with layers of soil

Finally, it is the beautiful people of Spiti who lend the valley its divine soul. These people, despite the harsh environment and poor living standards, are jovial and courteous. The children of Spiti will undoubtedly remind you of the innocence and unfettered freedom & joy of childhood so deeply cherished by us all. They live in match-box styled white coloured houses with lungtas fluttering from their rooftops and speak Bhoti and Hindi languages.