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

Toota toota ek parinda

Common scenario in office, you fly in your thoughts and pulled back by subordinate or senior or most of the time your boss. This devil(though may be your best friend, but at that moment appears like devil only) shouts very loud and clear and you are pulled back to dharatal (ground), "environment will be down after 30 mins, pehley yeh kaam khatam karlo fir baat kartey hai". 

Yes, you are thinking very right; these people are the killers of creativity. Might be something like this has just crossed your mind "Khud toh kuch hat ke soch nahi saktey, wahi kitar pitar client ki haan mein haan milatey rahengey and expects the same from us". Give me a hi-5, if I was able to guess your mind. These monsters are present everywhere, you just need to be wary of them. 

Creativity is fluency of ideas, flexibility of ideas. Most of them even won’t understand what you tell them and may offend you on the face stating, "yeh kuch bhi bolta hai, pagla" mind you take it as a compliment. Inability of someone to understand you can never be considered as your inability to perform. 

Sometimes, I am very convinced by the thought that the laziness and creativity are inversely proportional. I think the lazy person in his hatred for doing work, tries to find out the quickest way to accomplish the task in a perfect way and come out with what is known as exceptional. 

So friends, take off and fly!!!

Versatile Ganpati

Ganpati or Ganesha, is the most versatile god of the modern times. Ganpati is present in so many styles, such diverse presentation that it appears that as if we have fonts for writing we have shapes for ‘gannu’. I am referring to ganpati as ‘gannu’ here, my personal customization for this versatile god after looking through so many forms. We rarely get to see the same sketch of ‘gannu’. Try observing through the wedding cards, mementos, small sculptures on desks or car dashboards you will never find the same one, but yes you will find the similar ones. Until date, I have not seen such diverse sketches for any deity and I will not be wrong in saying for any entity that exists. ‘Gannu’ gives artists the freedom to design new forms, apply ample of customization.

I have never seen anything more than ganpati on any desk. Every second desk that sports some showpiece is must to have a ‘gannu’. Does that mean ganpati is the most worshipped God? However, no extremist group supporting ganpati, though you get to hear lot of ‘Ram’ and ‘Rahim’, but the ‘gannu’ steals the show.

Might be such diverse forms helps each individual to relate, and can be one of the reasons of popularity of this celebrity. Round is such a beautiful shape with no corners. Corners usually hurt and this no corner or round deity never places anyone at corner and manages to be at the center. It is a belief that ganesha loves food. Food is an integral part of any celebration, and who would mind inviting someone who loves food at the event. This happy go lucky person leads a life, which a lot of us aspire to. A fat guy offended by the name of elephant, often considers a compliment when referred by the elephant head deity. The round belly with the elephant head is artist’s paradise to tweak and invent new forms and still present the original. This god is unique and beyond comparison, might be this is one of the reasons behind the custom of worshipping ganesh on the first place.

A basic research on internet reveals there are 108 names of ganesha. No surprise if the number is even thousand times attributed to the fact how each individual uniquely connects to ‘gannu’.

Gannu you are rock star!

#keyChains#mycollection

Ganpatis of my office

#ganpatis#of#my#office

A photo posted by Nipun Bajaj (@bajajnipun) on Mar 2, 2015 at 7:50pm PST

Iron Lady

Here comes the #ironlady of my office

A photo posted by Nipun Bajaj (@bajajnipun) on Mar 2, 2015 at 8:33am PST

Kabutar | Sleeping Beauty

#pigeon#sleeping#beauty

A photo posted by Nipun Bajaj (@bajajnipun) on Mar 1, 2015 at 1:44am PST

Sir par baitho | sit on the head

#surajkundmela#sittingstool#countryman#countrywoman#traditional#handicraft

A photo posted by Nipun Bajaj (@bajajnipun) on Feb 12, 2015 at 10:11pm PST

Undefined

Description or definition binds you, undefined is the limit

Yoda

Yoda is a fictional character in the Star Wars space opera franchise created by George Lucas, first appearing in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back. For more details google it out.. :)

#yoda

A photo posted by Nipun Bajaj (@bajajnipun) on Feb 10, 2015 at 9:21pm PST

Jaleba

#surajkundmela#food#jaleba#maturam#gohana#this is actually a kind of big boy jalebi...each jalebi or rather jaleba weighs around 1/2 kg. This is USP of this halwai based out of gohana.

A photo posted by Nipun Bajaj (@bajajnipun) on Feb 9, 2015 at 8:23pm PST

Iron man of my office

#ironman of our office

A photo posted by Nipun Bajaj (@bajajnipun) on Feb 4, 2015 at 8:24pm PST

Bridges

Banks of river never meet, but then there are the bridges to make it possible...

Angry Bird - Reading Lamp

#angrybird #readinglamp#mycollection

A photo posted by Nipun Bajaj (@bajajnipun) on Jan 22, 2015 at 2:11am PST

ThumsUp

#thumsup#miniature#rarecollection#mycollection# these are more than 50 years old. I got them from my mother. She collected them in her school days, were then distributed by cola company as a part of some promotional event.

A photo posted by Nipun Bajaj (@bajajnipun) on Jan 20, 2015 at 8:03am PST

Angry Bird - Money Bank

#angrybird#moneybank#mycollection

A photo posted by Nipun Bajaj (@bajajnipun) on Jan 19, 2015 at 8:40am PST

Love

One can never fall in love, because the only option is to rise. Even if you look the inverse it looks like “EVOL”ve