Child Shiva

#kumbhmela #kumbhmela2013 #india #culture #_soi #indiaclicks #photooftheday #allahabad #traditional #child #children #lord #shiva #travel #lonelyplanetindia #lonelyplanet #worthsaving#incredibleindia

A photo posted by Nipun Bajaj (@bajajnipun) on Apr 28, 2015 at 4:45am PDT

Do it like krishna

#kumbhmela2013 #lonelyplanetindia #lonelyplanet #travel #allahabad #india #culture #worthsaving #streetsofindia#lord #krishna #walking #jewellery #shop #traditional I got a chance to see this interesting fellow at kumbh 2013. Dressed as #lordkrishna, greeting everybody and anybody on the way. His face painted in white and wore innumerous #neclace . Wont be an exaggeration to call him as chalti firti (walking) jewellery shop. I liked this guy for two reasons. Firstly, he was not disturbing any one or interfering with any of the #visitors or #devotees as is usually by #sadhus or #pundits at such places. Secondly, he was not forcing any one for any kind of #dakshina or #donation or #charity. The guy was standing in the corner and #greeting everyone with #namaskar. If someone offered him anything he accepted that with pleasure. I also liked him for his personal taste, even while enacting as someone. Lord krishna is beleived to have dark complexion, but irony is that he painted the face white which also signifies the indian obsession with fairness. It is fun as well informative to have such people at cultural traditional events. Their gestures and acts bring smile on each face. They also display the certain aspects of our culture. Krishna was beleived to be solah #kala #sampoorn, atleast two kalas namely #lila and #kantih are being displayed by this individual.

Prohibited

#kashmir#travel #lonelyplanetindia #lonelyplanet #worthsaving #prohibited #prohibitedarea #chashmeshahi This photo was clicked at chashmeshahi in kashmir, the garden though displayed the board of prohibited area but was well acquired by the visitors. No #authority was present to check. The #similar #careless

A photo posted by Nipun Bajaj (@bajajnipun) on Apr 24, 2015 at 3:33am PDT

Our Sadhus - Real or Reel?

#kumbhmela #kumbhmela2013 #travel #lonelyplanetindia #lonelyplanet #worthsaving #mypassport #naga #nagas #sadhu #sadhus #techsavvy #glares #juna #akhara#mobile#indianpenalcode I liked the style statement of this naga. The glares on, but clothes off. He was busy with some important call, might be closing some important business deals. Who knows?They don't wear clothes as it is beleived that they have denounced everything and accept the mother nature as it is. They rub ash all over their body, considering it as their only outfit, exact reasons I am not sure of. The white face beacuse of rubbed ash and the sunglasses, made me say "wow!" and brought hindi film number to my lips "gore gore mukhrey per kala kala chashma". I sometimes wonder are they actually the sadhus? Are they jogis or are they bhogis? They charge in USD to foreigners and in INR to indians for the getting the photograph clicked. True professional one must say. I don't know whether they are the true representation of the cult? Amounts are spent in organising such events and is it for this representation of the culture? Looking at it seems like that becoming a sadhu is an easy way of making money and get such benefits from the government and loot people. One of the very few and rare professions that do not require any formal education. Because, dharm yaan culture k naam per kuch bhi chalta hai. Raising such questions may even attract violation of section 153A, 295, 295A under Indian Penal Code. But these question boggle my mind when I come across them and heart shouts "kya hai yeh?" Or rather "kyu hai yeh?"

A photo posted by Nipun Bajaj (@bajajnipun) on Apr 9, 2015 at 5:46am PDT