What to do this Holiday Season?

Its the best TIME TO RELAX..


MEETUP WITH FRIENDS...


EAT WELL and ENJOY!

Thats right, I'm not plannning any vacation this time, I just want to be lazy for once!

Happy Holidays!...

Wishing You and your Family

A Very Sparkling Holiday Season and a New Year filled with Peace and Happiness!

''Bird spit soup'' in the making?!

If you are wondering what on earth is bird's spit soup, turns out ''Bird spit soup'' is a most valued delicacy in some parts of asia where people believe it to be a very healthy meal that boosts your immune system and for beautiful skin. But thats from the bird called ''Swiftlet'' which uses purely saliva, that later solidifies, to make it's nest, also called ''Bird's nest soup''. Anyway, that soup being very expensive and not easily affordable, our female mallard here is all set to make her own ''spit'' soup! ...Good luck with that one!

Divine Sandalwood...

I love this fragrant wood called Sandalwood since my childhood and wanted to share few interesting facts about it. It is very very expensive and rare, and has a wonderful fragrance which fills up the space around it. The Krishna statue above is of Sandalwood and most of the carvings sculpted are usually a God/Goddess or anything divine. The best Sandalwood is believed to be Indian Sandalwood especially from south Indian city of Mysore, but is getting rare day by day, unfortunately also is smuggled often for huge profits by crooks. It is also used in medicines and for perfumes obviously. Talking about perfumes, recently I walked into VICTORIA SECRETS and was surprised to see Sandalwood as one of the main fragrances in its collection called Amber Romance! Well thats taking divinity to the next level!! In any case, one has to enjoy the aroma of real wood and many outsiders visitng India bring atleast one such statues from south India from Bangalore and Mysore cities where the government owned famous Cauvery emporium and a few licensed private shopkeepers sell. Some of these statues are worth thousands of dollars based on the size and amount and depth of the carvings! You should defintiely see this when you visit India and remember me!:)

Deeply involoved...

Sorry everyone for not being able to upload any pics to my blog for a while now...Was deeply involoved with certain things that had to be taken care of, I'm still busy, just had sometime so I thought I'll let my blog visitors and friends know that I may update this blog as and when I have time...and not daily like I used to earlier. Thanks for supporting me....would love to have your wishes with me...

Love to be like those rejoicing waves!

Looking at these splashing waves at Del coronado beach was inspiring! It boosted my energy from deep within! Doesn't it look as if these waves are rejoicing after overcoming the obstacle in their path...in the form of rocks...Would be nice to be like them...to try with full force and energy to overcome any obstacle in my path to reach where I want to be and at the end I will get to rejoice like these waves here, Wish you guys the same too!

Abstract art II

Sky at the time of sunset was so wonderfully painted red and gold that I ignored sun for a while and captured just the sky...forms a great background for art or a sunset abstract art, loved it! :)=

Abstract art?!...

Talking about jelly fish, the one above which has a very artistic pattern in its body with an abstract art look is a type called Sea Nettle, this one is from Long beach aquarium, California, and even though they look attractive, stay away! Turns out their sting is deadly!

Nature pattern IV.

As you already know, jelly fish is not a fish and the ones in this picture are called moon jellies and interetsingly has no brain or bone, but purely a body made up of interesting patterns!

Nature patterns III

Leaves leaves you mesmerized!

Nature patterns II

Even though its just a leaf and a tree bark, there was something about their pattern that attracted me...Sometimes simple things look comlex!

Nature Patterns I

Amazing patterns in nature is always eye catching...Wonder how it turns out to be geometrically perfect and symmetrical!

Yoga cutie Ballet?!

Looks like Yoga is not limited to celebrities anymore!....And ballet added just like my friend sandpiper(Linda) thought, it looks like this cutie here is doing ballet also...well there are many in hollywood and LA area practising Yoga and Ballet blended into their work outs...taking it to the next level!!

Reminds me of a proverb...

Its funny everytime I see this picture, it reminds me of a weird proverb which goes ''A FROG DOES NOT DRINK UP THE POND IN WHICH IT LIVES''...wonder what that means?!... anyways, some say it is native american and some say it is buddhist quote...if you guys figure it out let me know,also, not to forget that frog brings good fortune, take one home everyone!

A walk in the park...

Half an hour of morning walk in the park does the same thing to your heart and mind like what half an hour of yoga does to your body...Very refreshing!

Nature's art brushes for you!

Look at this nature's color palette! Somehow, to my eyes, the center stem looks like a bunch of tiny art brushes on a stand, with their tip already coated with wonderful colors, nature's ''ready to go'' brushes for artisits...go grab them!

Silence...

I say ''Silence is bad when you are sad,
and is good when you are mad!
I think it is better to speak out when you are in sorrow and better to not say a word when angry...Don't you agree with me?

Bye Bye Snow...

Just a week ago we had a heavy snow storm and that is expected to be the last one this year, but I couldn't capture many pictures since my camera was left in my check in baggage while travelling from los Angeles to cincinnati, and got our baggage almost 4 days later due to flight delays!...and most of the snow had melted away by then...Anyway, its fun to look through the window from our room and watch the delicate snow flakes ''landing'' on earth gently..and a cup of hot coffe will make the joy complete....Ah! You have to see it to believe it...

When snow meets spring...

....is the time when colorless meets colorful!! Interestingly snow is the time when the nature draws attention even for being totally colorless! Isn't that something?
I love snow, even though its sad that the season is almost over the spring is sure to bring back the smile on our face.

My first painting with Wacom pen tablet....

I just loved those orange flowers in my previos post photo, and I wanted to try it using wacom pen tablet, but since i'm using apple I had to use ''paintbrush''(like MS paint) which has very limited brushes and tools, and I dont have any other paint software, would be nice if someone can suggest some better software for wacom tablet, since this is my first painting using it. Please do not compare it with the real photo where nature is at its best...Have mercy!

Spring is here....

Spring is my favorite season...I think without spring, Nature is just like a black and white Photo....
Bye-Bye winter, stay away summer,
Spring is here, a reason to cheer!
-psshakkottai.

Macaw...The true love birds!

Did you know Macaw mates for life, sticks to one partner and remain together forever?! Well, here's the macaw message for all of us-''Loyalty rules!'' Also, if you click on this picture and see the original size, observe closely, you will notice the thick tongue, and no its not the lower beak...look again! Macaws use their strong beaks and tongue to crush the hardest of nuts....and as you can see in the picture below it looked as if this macaw was trying to show off his powerful beak! The ones you see here is blue and gold Macaw, which unfortunately is now endangered. I was lucky to get to see them before it becomes extinct.


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The natures way to express love...

If Rose is the flower that carries the message of love then I guess each and every petal is nothing but a love letter....

It's lonely at the top...

On top of the world yes, but all alone....

Hidden Beauty...

Hidden behind the fence or wherever it be,
Beauty never fails to attract me and this bee...

Male becomes a pregnant!....

Yes, talking about Sea Horse where luckily for females, they are spared from pregnancy....and this is also seen in Sea Dragon which is slightly different, having leafy structures on its body unlike Sea Horse, and interestingly sea horse swims in upright position with fin on its back.

Water under bridge and bridge under water!

Which bridge do you want to cross?I think the achiever takes the one above and daydreamer takes the one below...

Mother of 7...

I captured this one in one of the ponds in our apartment neighborhood, She was an awesome mother who was seen caring for her baby throughout. I have one 2 year old son and thought I was very busy, but this one here is 7 times busier than me!

My Art for your Heart!

Painting is one of my favorite hobbiies which keeps me busy when I'm free! I'm still learning it, and trying out canvas painting like the one above...Here's what my love for painting says...
''Looking at any art with just your eyes simply makes you a viewer, Analysing it from deep within your heart makes you a connoisseur! ''
Because... ''The beauty of art is rated by the heart not by your Eyes!'' and interestingly,
''An artist can make a stranger connect with him in no time''- Kudos to all those wonderful artists out there, in whom I will always find a ''guru'' and learn something wonderful!

Let's Spread Love...

As You can see...Love comes naturally... to everyone, no matter how mighty you are. Lets spread it, Its the need of the Hour! This Valentine's season, Lets keep this in mind...
Don't let violence, hate
Color and race
Ruin the Smile
On Your Face!
-Psshakkottai.

It just felt peaceful for a moment while I was clicking this one.
Vote for love everyone!

Tongue Tricks...

Giraffe tongue! I thought it was making faces at me, but interestingly it was reaching out for those leaves, and turns out they can grow their tongue almost 18 inches long!

Dazzling Dandelion!

Its funny that it is just a weed, but no photographer would want to miss a shot of a good one standing out there spreading its ''hood''! Also, it is hard to get a good shot of it, even though it is the easiest among all subjec ts to find one. Also, most of my pics were taken with my Canon rebel XTi which I guess is just a perfect camera for beginners and amateur photographers new to SLR, and if you start experimenting with the wide variety of lenses, You will love it!

Wooden bird...

If you look at this photo carefully, it looks as if this bird was sculpted out of that broken bark......Don't you think so?

Flying colors!

Simple yet colorful and attractive! Captured this in one of the butterfly gardens. Butterfly is a favorite subject for photographers, and just a glimpse is not enough to appreciate the beauty, you have to capture and preserve them forever.

Bird watch!

Can You see me?  Hidden behind the leaves? I just visited this tree 2 days ago and have laid 4 eggs, and this photographer showed up to capture my pics, I'm sticking my head out just enough for her to click, but I wont let her come near my eggs...no way!...

That's right! I had a tough time trying to capture the pics of those eggs, I did not want to disturb the mother, so I had to wait for 2 days, until she flew somewhere for few hours and I captured them later, they were blue-green color almost, and if I remember were less than 4. Sorry, don't have the picture right now, will have to look for it in my flash drive somewhere....will try. 

Rich sunset...

Sunset pictures always look beautiful... Isn't that something? I always had an impression that one must be a great photographer to capture good sunset...but untrue! The setting sun is so beautiful that no camera can fail to capture it, irrespective of the type of camera or the skill  of the photographer! I took this right next to my apartment! Actually you will see that the red and orange colors look vibrant with lots of gold here, but when I was capturing the picture, the view I was looking at was lot lighter than this, I meant it did not look this great just by looking at it through eyes, but I noticed every time I clicked, the photograph looked great, as if its only the camera who knows to see the hidden hues in the sky. Try it, and you will see what I'm saying.

Day and Night....

Cincinnati at night, with ohio river view. This is the view from one of the embassy suites room where we stayed.  The rooms are expensive just because of the location of the hotel. I think this view at night was worth it! Also, this river is historically famous for riverboats (Below photo). Cincinnati celebrates the rich heritage once every 3 years as Tall Stacks festival during which they exhibit vintage steamboats.