Quack.Quack..Quack...Paddling in a Row

I am trying to remember my first encounter with ducks. Hmmm....was it at my village in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu or at Indira Park, Hyderabad? Hard to recollect, but I guess for many of us either it was at a Zoo or a recreational park. Talking of ducks its hard to ignore the talking ducks......I mean the famous fictional characters of Walt Disney, Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge quacking and speaking in regional languages on television.

Recently when I visited Hyderabad, I happened to click these white Pekin Ducks paddling in a row.

History hints that we have domesticated ducks as pets and farm animals for more than 500 years. The ability to duck (dive) into the water to catch their food differentiates these aquatic species from Swans and Geese.

Among the 40+ breeds of ducks existing in the world (except Antarctica), the white Pekin duck, in the above photograph, is the most common variety raised for eggs and meat. Quack...Quack :-)


Date - June 14, 2014 
Place - Chowmahalla Palace, Hyderabad, India

Flowers make us think little and feel more

Religion opens all its doors for you to decorate the almighty,

Love, tender or mature, seeks your presence for its proposal,

Art learnt its first colour lessons from your vibrant petals,
You the flowers make us think little and feel more.

Nature, always chooses you as its ambassador to show us its divine charm.
Its our ignorance to adore you in a vase or grow you in a mud pot.
But still you bloom blissfully as though deeply rooted in earth's beautiful garden.
You the flowers make us think little and feel more.

You may giggle at our selfishness for preserving -
your gracious posture in portraits and in artificial flowers,
your mesmerizing fragrance in perfumes and medicines.

But we always invite you,
to grace all our occasions,
from celebrating the union of hearts,
to mourning the departure of soul from its physical form.

You the flowers make us think little and feel more.

(Photography: Manikanda Prabhu)

My Story of Still - Flight - Click

Place: Khammam, Andhra Pradesh
Date: May 10, 2014

Bird watching requires a lot of patience but when it comes to photography, we'd require more of it to click the right moment. In addition to hard work, luck may also play an important role. For this particular 'bird-photography' I was standing still (actually a balancing act) on a stool for 15 minutes with the camera's viewfinder glued to my eyes in the early hours, around 6 am. My 'standing-still- posture' holding the camera close to my face; focusing in upward direction, that too on a stool close to the tree on the backyard of the house, probably would have scared my friend Ravindhar's family members. But I am sure, the initial stance of shock would have later transformed into a giggle, or even they would have waved it off as a comic-joke.

All of this happened when we friends Ravindhar, Ramesh and myself were put-up for the night at the former's beautiful home at Khammam. The plan for the next day was to start early (intended to escape the scorching heat) and reach Sankar Nayak Thanda, Mahabubabad district. We guys were to attend our best buddy Praveen's sister marriage.

On the day of this yet-to-begin journey, after a good night's sleep I woke up at 5:30 am, slowly opened the door and walked up to the backyard to enjoy the fresh air. All of a sudden I caught a glimpse of this bird flying to-and-fro busily building its nest on the branches of the tree in the back yard. Whenever the bird flew to get some nesting materials, I instantly acted and used these time-gaps effectively to: get my camera-freeze- find a stool-freeze-stand on it-freeze-adjust the lenses-freeze-trial few shots-freeze-experiment aperture and zoom settings-freeze. FREEZE means - in the presence of the bird, I was absolutely still. The bird would have overlooked me as a stupid-statue erected close to the tree and its nest. Thank God, the bird did not think of landing on my head to pluck couple of hair for its nest (the statue would have yelled-out with pain) and while leaving as an adieu hit my scalp hard with its beak.

Without disturbing the bird, I clicked few snaps. I am providing here the best two Clicks for your viewing pleasure.

One when the bird was STILL and the other when the bird winged for a FLIGHT. That's my story of Still-Flight-Click. :-)

Delightfully Charming Flowers

"Do not linger to gather flowers to keep them, but walk on, flowers will keep themselves blooming all your way"
- Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds (1916)

Alstroemeria - 1	Alstroemeria - 2 (Closeup)	Aster Amalus
Calendula (Closeup)	Calendula	Cupia
Dianthus-1	Dianthus-2	Gazania
Ornamental Cabbage	Ornithogalum	Pansy (Lion Face Flower)
Phlox	Pink Aster	Sweet Willium
Verbina	Zinnia	Bird of Paradise
Dahlia-1	Dahlia-2	Delphinium

Place: Bryant Park, Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu
Date: April 20, 2014

How Birds Cope with Cold?

Chimney to the Rescue :-)

Place:Kodaikanal, Tamilnadu
Date: April 19, 2014

It was around 5:45am in Kodaikanal (hill station) and it was super cold. I came to the terrace of the lodge I was staying in, and happened to see this scene. These small birds were keeping themselves warm with the help of hot smoke ventilating from the Chimney.