View allAll Photos Tagged mallu
Neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis)
El lobito de río, también conocido como nutria del noroeste, nutria neotropical, perro de agua, pisua o mallu-puma, es un mustélido de la subfamilia Lutrinae, que se encuentra en Centro y Sudamérica, desde el sur de México hasta Uruguay y el centro de Argentina.
Ahoy there! Let's set sail on a journey to the Pristine Islands of Kerala, where boating takes on a whole new level of creativity. Forget about those fancy motorboats and high-tech gadgets, because we're going old-school with the classic pole push method.
Pristine Island is about 20 kms by road from Cochin, the capital of Kerala. From the road head you need to engage a boatman to take you across the limpid blue backwaters, a little flustered with water hyacinth.
Picture this: you're gliding through crystal-clear waters, surrounded by a breathtaking skyline and huts perched on stilts. And who's powering your boat? None other than a skilled rower, flexing their muscles as they push the boat forward with nothing but a sturdy pole.
It's like stepping into a time machine and experiencing boating the way our ancestors did. No noisy engines or complicated controls - just you, nature, and the rhythmic sound of water splashing against your boat.
And let's not forget the view! From your unique vantage point in that humble little boat, you'll have an uninterrupted panorama of Kerala's stunning landscapes. It's like having front-row seats to nature's greatest show.
So next time you find yourself yearning for an adventure that combines simplicity and beauty, hop aboard one of these pole-pushed boats in Kerala. It's an experience that will leave you feeling connected to both tradition and nature - all while giving your rower some well-deserved props for their impressive strength!
Now, who needs fancy yachts when you can have an unforgettable boating experience with just a humble pole push?
DSC_3637 jpeg 2023
Thattekad is a hotspot in the Western Ghats for birding. It is one of those places where fortunately the tourists do not throng in large numbers.
I made a quick visit to Thattekad one day. Not for birds, but to meet a gentleman, a famous Bird Guide, who thought I had come for a birding tour and we happily started a tour. In Kerala, sometimes communication can be a problem if you do not know the local language.
After trying out various other forms of communication we manged to reach a level of understanding. I was there to pick up a Nikon camera and some lenses from him.
Having collected the equipment, on my way back to Cochin, I stopped at a lovely flowing stream where a Mahout clad in earthy Geru colors was busy bathing his tall black elephant. Keeping a safe distance from the elephant busy in squirting water from his trunk, I took some photos.
Shooting elephant photos is always a tough task, and specially a black one, as the metering goes haywire with the camera trying to overcompensate for the black surface. This is a 1/60 at f/4 on a Nikon D 70 with some of the sky still carrying a patch of dark being the fungus on the sensor.
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My cultural knowledge fails me with this particular photograph. Are the dancers depicting a part of the traditional Kerala dance form or is it something else. The Mallus brethren or sistern ;-) please come to the rescue and tell us what is it that is going on here.
The deep thoughtful visage is something that totally defines the Malayalee. Serious, poignant and always thinking of something heavy is what is my 3 years of experience with the Malayalee people.
Onam in Kerala is the most important festival. This a season of happiness. It would me much like what Diwali is like for the people of North India.
People buy their new clothes, new gadgets, new everything around Onam time.
In short, it is celebration time like no other. There are celebratory feasts called Onam Sadya which are served everywhere. House courtyards are decorated with traditional flower arrangements of geometric symbolism called 'Pookalam' is laid in front of every house to welcome the arrival of the beloved king.
There is a surfeit of agrarian festivities comprising of boat races and bull races and carnivals that are held all over Kerala.
The origins of this great festival of Kerala are steeped in history and centres around a powerful king who became too powerful and loved by his subjects. The jealous Gods of the Hindu pantheon saw to an end to this popularity by a cunning design and confined the king into the bowels of the earth. After some relenting, the Gods allowed the King to visit his subjects once a year and it is that which is celebrated in Onam.
Athachamayam is a carnival of sorts that is held in Thripunithra a small town about 10-12 kms away from Cochin.
Camera: Nikon D70
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
DSC_0804 via ACR from jpeg 2 exp sel cu gr br le TFM VER 2
The Living God of Kerala does many avatars as it may seem. Being transported here into the role of the powerful monkey god fable of Bali and Sugreeva. Two brothers who become sworn enemies and fight with eachother much to the peril of mankind and heavens above.
Rama of the Ramayana epic of Hinduism is intimately involved in the warrfare till the evil one is cleverly disposed off.
In this frame I do not know whether this God is playing at Bali or at Sugriva. I have limited knowledge about it as I am not conversant with Malayalam and never did have the time to get the details. It was a hectic shoot with no conversation in the haloed ground of the Living Gods.
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God goes through the motions of being a God.
A Theyyam performer at Kottayampovil in Kerala.
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In this photo the bulls are nearing the finishing post and they must turn left to avoid running into the embankment straight ahead with people standing on top of it. The bulls are not in gallop mode as you can see in Photo 1 of the series and I guess are slowing down.
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Adoor in Kerala holds its famous Bull Races every year around the time of Onam. It is a celebration of agrarian existence and is carried on without any grants or aid from the Government. This is a spectacular fiesta of rural Kerala. There are 2-3 other such events that are held in Kerala.
Two racing bulls are hitched together and three men come into action. Two racers with lead ropes on either side of the bulls who try to control the direction and speed if possible and one often obscured by sprays of mud and water, a jockey who rides on a small flat strip of wood.
The bulls race ahead with the men keeping desperately abreast of the thundering hooves. At the end of the racing track there is a 4-6 feet embankment of earth which acts as a protection and a marker for the bulls. The embankment gets totally crowded with onlookers. The bull racers need to turn the bull around and do a 360 degree here but most times that effort fails as the bulls in their racing frenzy would be uncontrollable.
I have no idea on the current status of the bull races. There are enough organisations howling to stop such races but the Supreme Court of India in a judgement a few months ago allowed bull/bullock cart races to go on in Punjab. So chances are that the tradition may still live on.
Dates
Taken on August 15, 2007 at 1.16pm IST (edit)
Posted to Flickr September 18, 2012 at 11.18AM IST (edit)
Exif data
Camera Nikon D70
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 70 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
DSC_0379 via ACR
A long bridge spans the backwaters from the mainland Cochin to the Willingdon Island in Ernakulam. From the bridge you can look down and shoot the various activities that take place in the backwaters,.
The sandmen with their cargo of illegal sand, the fishermen with their nets and the sparse catch, an occasional large vessel carrying raw materials to the Fertiliser factory.
Sometimes it rains, other times it is warm and sunny.
It is a great place to be.
This was shot quite some time ago while I stayed in the neighborhood and loved every day of it.
Flickr has after a long time managed to get the interactive display page that is appealing and interactive. Why did it take so long to do that, I really wonder.
DSC_8821 jpeg via ACR
A magical shape-shifter, Charlie (last name unknown), was imprisoned in the realm of Mallus for hundreds of years by fearful humans. When the Legends of Tomorrow freed Mallus, she escaped, too, joining a British punk band in the 70's. When she used her powers to steal the crown jewels, however, she attracted the attention of the Legends, who tracked her down and trapped her in the form of one of their old friends - Amaya Jiwe, Vixen. Ultimately realizing the error of their ways, the Legends asked her to join the team as their expert on magical creatures.
High above in the monsoon drenched hills of Kerala, they were breaking the rocks for what purpose, only Gods can tell.
It is a sheer drop to the valley below a good 1000 feet. Razor sharp edges of the granite were much in evidence and if one was not careful then they would do their bidding on an unsuspecting photographer.
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I checked, I was green behind my ears. I did not know whose belly button I ought to focus on. The dark red tongued beastly belly button or that of another man showcasing it with an exaggerated motion of his torso.
Perhaps the saga of Sarees is meant to cover the belly button which in India is often left uncovered and who cares anyway.
I liked the display of the girl in a black saree as she threw off her pallu to showcase her blouse and the cutest belly button of the lot in the frame.
India in its maddeningly wanton display of disparate belly buttons.
So whose belly button moves you ? :)
DSC_0001 jpeg via RAW
Kannur is a fairly large town in the northern part of Kerala. Theyyam is a profound ritual that is enacted in the northern districts of this state in the months of winter.
Hundreds if not thousands of such enactments are to be witnessed and they must be ongoing right now. This particular frame is from a shoot in January of 2008 and it was for the very first time that I had to shoot all night under very challenging lighting aspects. I had fortunately acquired an external flash and it was a godsend as the saying goes for I used it prodigiously to bring out what was going on in this dance cum drama that is the most ancient dance form in Kerala.
The Theyyam performer is the God himself and his Godhood is initiated in a state of trance preferably. The lay worshippers and witnesses of the dance treat the dancer as if he is God in total earnestness and this forms one of the most unique aspects of religious rituals in Hinduism as practiced on a day to day basis.
He the God is a part of a duet and the theme being played out had lots of gesticulations, gestures, jumps and twirls and facial expressions of emotions while the retinue of drum beaters maintained a heavy rhythm of obeisance and energy and a continuation of the trance like atmosphere.
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India is a land of too many contradictions. It is baffling to understand what really makes this country tick and continue to persist as a community and a nation.
While travelling one fine day in the monsoon time, just below the Idukki Dam in Kerala ( a photo of which I posted a few days ago), I chanced upon a gentleman seated on a cemented berm in a stately posture. He carried his Christian cross with the fine embellishments on his chest with great pride. The loin cloth or mundu or lungi he wore was the color of the erstwhile HIndu zealots. A strange sight indeed.
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Elephant is a gentle giant and has been to a certain extent used extensively in Kerala for ceremonial parades for Hindu temples.
The non temple elephants also work on per hour basis in timber yards moving tree trunks, stacking and unstacking.
The elephant here is tugging at a large piece of tree trunk and he seems to be really exerting as he gets the stuck tree trunk to be free for movement.
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The day the Leopards, Lions, Tigers and other ferocious feline predators are let loose on the streets of Thrissur in Kerala.
The slimmer build of the Leopard is visible in the patterns on the forelegs. Most times the Leopards have a Lion on their stomach.
This is a strange leopard though. He has a red faced panther most probably that I have never seen or heard of.
Thrissur has this great spectacle in the month of August every year and it goes by the name of Pulikali. Thousands of these gaily painted creatures take over the streets to the sound of fercocious repetitive manic drumming as the procession winds through this rich prosperous town in Central Kerala.
DSC_1791 jpeg via ACR
More from Pulikali where the feline predators rule the street.
A Lion sits on the large stomach of this gentleman as he prances down the street with a Tiger's head on his face.
The paint work is amazing specially keeping in view the fact that the painters work with industrial grade pigments and chemicals and on a tight time schedule with tens of performers at one go.
How the body is affected by the fuming corrosive paint and how they manage to move around without their noses running and eyes smarting beats me. All in the excitement of becoming a predator :)
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More from the Theyyam performance at Kannur in Kerala. The duo begin the story telling in earnest with gestures and expressions while the drum beaters keep a steady hypnotic rhythm and the viewers get focussed on the steps and the story.
I wobble around on my bare feet in the rough hewn stone and sand enclosure and wince ever so often as a sharp stone takes its toll on my urban sole.
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Two Theyyam Dancers pause in a dramatic gesture, just before the dance starts in earnest.
The full ensemble with the headgear, the skirts and the bells and whistles of the stylised dressing and accessories is all too visible in this shot.
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Sei lá porque resolvi que todos usariam meus óculos de carpinteiro quando fotografei a galere que está participando da revista, mas ficou supimpa!
Cannanore is a very ancient port of significance. Most cartographic depictions from the middle ages mention Quilon and Cannanore on the shore line of India. Mumbai and others did not exist.
The oldness of the city from Kerala is allied with the culture and not the trade alone of black pepper and other spices.
Theyyam is a dance form or should I say a form of folk religion where the dancer is the God and people pray to him.
So in essence the dance form has been in existence much before the advent of Bharatnatayam, Kathakali or any of the other dance forms from India that get bandied about in the cultural milieu of India.
It is an essence of nature and tribal worship that has been amalgamated and subsumed in story telling from heroic tales from Hindu epics and local lore. It is obvious that the Brahmanical influence was not so stringent and draconian as to remove the tribal and nature part of the earlier worship and thank God for that. The dance form is unique and it has to be seen to be believed. Some of the performances can be not only tough but can be quite primitive and raw from killing of live animals to eating it raw or to be jumping into fire over and over.
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girlactressespics.blogspot.in/
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This is a series of 15-16 photos all in monochrome to portray the sombre weather and the sombre lives of people in India who must carry on with fringe fishing for their daily meal/
Coracle is a small circular boat made with woven bamboo strips, tar and a plastic sheet. It is surprisingly light, tough and fleet footed and can be launched with one hand. You just need one paddle.
Here the fisherman is putting the boat to water.
_DSC9376 nef sil efx -10 13 10
Do not miss that this is a girl taking the fishing nets to the coracle.
This is a series of 15-16 photos all in monochrome to portray the sombre weather and the sombre lives of people in India who must carry on with fringe fishing for their daily meal/
Coracle is a small circular boat made with woven bamboo strips, tar and a plastic sheet. It is surprisingly light, tough and fleet footed and can be launched with one hand. You just need one paddle.
Here the fisherman is putting the boat to water.
_DSC9381 nef sil efx -10 13 10 brighter
Of Marwari horses, Rajputs and Rajasthan at Pushkar
Rajasthan of the present times is portrayed with men in gaily whiskers preening their pseudo manhood in groups gathered around in a circle of sorts.
Maybe it is a function of excessive tweaking of the theme derived from later Moghal illustrations of moustached men holding conferences.
Rajasthan is more than that. The moustaches and their gaily turbans are merely symbolic of the social hierarchy of the communities. Colors define the origin and social ascension of the wearer. There were times when only a few communities could sport hirsute grandeur but now it is all lost in the backwash of progress and the new social order. Rajasthan is one state where the people have continued to sport their traditional attire and that is what makes the state a great showcase for photography. It may not last long.
So go grab your lenses and visit this marvelous desert land of Legendary hospitality and warmth. Time is ticking....
A Note on Photography
This is a not so straight forward subject for great photography because of too many competing elements in the frame.. The dappled horse is the subject but the men and other horses compete too much. The sky is smoothed as it had a whole lot of grit, dust and stuff like that. The sensor was dirty and it had fungus streaks. Nikon D 70 never had the best of insulation and seals but the excessive moisture in Kerala goes in everywhere.
Dates
Taken on November 19, 2007 at 11.33am IST (edit)
Posted to Flickr July 9, 2012 at 8.36AM IST (edit)
Exif data
Camera Nikon D70
Exposure 0.006 sec (1/180)
Aperture f/16.0
Focal Length 18 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash No Flash
DSC_0030 nef le sky denoise gr sh
Theyyam performances do stretch well into the night. The dim lights, the gesticulating, jumping, twirling figures of the Gods dancing in the night is spectacular. The bystanders and devotees have reverence writ large on their faces. the drummers beat up a steady rhythm that is loud and all pervasive. It invades the ear drums and fries the brain into a non thinking apparatus and one has to shoot almost by instinct.
Photography becomes a difficult art form to practice under adverse light conditions for the cameras. There are perfunctory tube lights and electric lamps at the periphery which instead of helping in the photography tend to be a nuisance as they pop up in the background like sick patches of nothingness.
The God here seems to be air borne enacting something from the Hindu epics and I am afraid I do not know exactly what that is. Lucky to have him in action at 1/60 with an external flash for help.
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Continuing this series on the Elephant at Work in one of the Saw Mills in Fort Kochi.
The elepaht has managed to get the tree trunk unstuck and the effort now is not so much to move it. In the earlier frame becuase of the bunching up of the body and the muscles to gain leverage, the sight was almost toy like in its perception.
Elephant is a gentle giant and has been to a certain extent used extensively in Kerala for ceremonial parades for Hindu temples.
The non temple elephants also work on per hour basis in timber yards moving tree trunks, stacking and unstacking.
_DSC9215 nef 21
tamil-movie-actress-pics.blogspot.com/
………… /´¯/) click this link for more pics
……….,/¯../ /
………/…./ /
…./´¯/’…’/´¯¯.`•¸
/’/…/…./…..:^.¨¯\
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tamil-movie-actress-pics.blogspot.com/
………… /´¯/) click this link for more pics
……….,/¯../ /
………/…./ /
…./´¯/’…’/´¯¯.`•¸
/’/…/…./…..:^.¨¯\
(‘(…´…´…. ¯_/’…’/
\……………..’…../
..\’…\………. _.•´
…\…………..(
….\…………..\.
This is a series of 15-16 photos all in monochrome to portray the sombre weather and the sombre lives of people in India who must carry on with fringe fishing for their daily meal/
Coracle is a small circular boat made with woven bamboo strips, tar and a plastic sheet. It is surprisingly light, tough and fleet footed and can be launched with one hand. You just need one paddle.
Here the fisherman is putting the boat to water.
_DSC9374 nef bnw silefx -10 13 10
Continuing this series on the Elephant at Work in one of the Saw Mills in Fort Kochi.
The tiny shifts and maneuvers that the elephant makes to move such heavy loads is a case in point in this series. The deft way with which the trunk is being used to pull the tree can be seen here. Not much body effort either.
The elephant is a gentle giant and has been to a certain extent used extensively in Kerala for ceremonial parades for Hindu temples.
The non temple elephants also work on per hour basis in timber yards moving tree trunks, stacking and unstacking.
Other than that elephants used to be the bulwark of the armies of the Indian kings as they fought off the invasions coming from the Khyber Pass into the rich fertile plains of India. That worked for some time but then the horses and guns changed that.
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Religion is an opiate and we all need it. India with its vast population is an ardent believer of religious beliefs and practices. A whole lot of economy and commerce thrives on the practice of it. While temples like Tirupati, Vaishno Devi and the Padmanabha in Kerala have vast treasuries and daily funds from devotees, there are segments of society for whom religion and its practices provide a livelihood. The earnings may be small or large but the effort goes on.
A seller of shiny maces and bows and arrows ekes out a living blowing bubbles in the air to attract customers. This is close to a Hanuman temple in Pune and if someone can make some money selling replicas of the weapons that Rama and Hanuman are depicted as having in the Indian epic Ramayana, then so be it.
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Do not miss out the cigarette/biri smoking while the hands are occupied.
This is a series of 15-16 photos all in monochrome to portray the sombre weather and the sombre lives of people in India who must carry on with fringe fishing for their daily meal/
Coracle is a small circular boat made with woven bamboo strips, tar and a plastic sheet. It is surprisingly light, tough and fleet footed and can be launched with one hand. You just need one paddle.
Here the fisherman is putting the boat to water.
_DSC9378 nef sil efx -10 13 10
My cultural knowledge fails me with this. Are they dancers depicting a part of the traditional Kerala dance form or is it something else. The Mallus brethren or sistern ;-) please come to the rescue and tell us what is it that is going on here.
Onam in Kerala is the most important festival. This a season of happiness. It would me much like what Diwali is like for the people of North India.
People buy their new clothes, new gadgets, new everything around Onam time.
In short, it is celebration time like no other. There are celebratory feasts called Onam Sadya which are served everywhere. House courtyards are decorated with traditional flower arrangements of geometric symbolism called 'Pookalam' is laid in front of every house to welcome the arrival of the beloved king.
There is a surfeit of agrarian festivities comprising of boat races and bull races and carnivals that are held all over Kerala.
The origins of this great festival of Kerala are steeped in history and centres around a powerful king who became too powerful and loved by his subjects. The jealous Gods of the Hindu pantheon saw to an end to this popularity by a cunning design and confined the king into the bowels of the earth. After some relenting, the Gods allowed the King to visit his subjects once a year and it is that which is celebrated in Onam.
Athachamayam is a carnival of sorts that is held in Thripunithra a small town about 10-12 kms away from Cochin.
Camera: Nikon D70
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
DSC_0804 via ACR from jpeg 2 exp sel cu gr br le TFM VER 1
girlactressespics.blogspot.in/
………… /´¯/) click this link for more pics
……….,/¯../ /
………/…./ /
…./´¯/’…’/´¯¯.`•¸
/’/…/…./…..:^.¨¯\
(‘(…´…´…. ¯_/’…’/
\……………..’…../
..\’…\………. _.•´
…\…………..(
….\…………..\.