Sale Season in India

These last couple of years sales are a regular feature at the malls and in fact all shops. Prices on left over apparel for example are slashed to 50% or less. A few years ago in India one was suspicious of these sales, convinced that the shop keepers hiked the prices and then then cut prices in a fake sale. Today, most of the sales are genuine. The reasons are that the marketers make their money on the high priced items they sell during the non-sale season, and then want to simply get rid of the rest of the stock as fashions change. Consumers are no longer content with last season's clothes.

Sales of popular brands create a huge rush as is seen below.

When sales are in season, there are sales in almost all shops in a mall. Can get confusing for consumers.

Related Images: Inexpensive shopping in Bangkok or Dubai Mall Photos
Or for images of shopping complexes in India: Mumbai Malls in the Suburbs of Mulund and Malad or Mumbai Malls Exteriors or Interiors of Vashi Malls or Pune Malls - Photos

Art Studio and an artist's tools

An artist's studio is a sanctuary! Somewhere where there is peace and quiet, and away from the hustle and bustle. A place to sit down and work with your easel and paints. A painter needs this as must as he/she needs fresh air.

Tools of an artist. Paints, paint brushes of all hues and sizes, bottoles of colour.

An artist's work table stained with paint.

Check out all images filed under the label Art

Spitting in public places

Spitting is very common in India and is mainly due to people chewing tobacco. Mostly people spit on roads, in lifts, in ditches and in any place they find as long as it is not in their own home.

Spitting out of train and bus windows is very common. But here is a cab driver risking dirtying his own cab by spitting out of the window.

Here is an example of how public places are dirtied by spit.

Related Reading: Garbage on the roads in India  or People peeing and shitting on the streets in India or KFC Garbage or Garbage trucks or dumpers in India or see other posts on Sanitation

Should you take Multi Vitamins and Mineral tablets?

There has been a lot of discussion as to whether multi vitamins and multi minerals should be taken regularly. Latest research seems to suggest that they are not necessary, and even harmful for healthy people. This is misleading. What is required is an intelligent approach. Taking them blindly can indeed be harmful.

Why they should be taken:

1) Everyone does not have a good diet.
2) Some high stressed and active individuals may need the supplements. Also the elderly and those who smoke, drink alcohol etc.

These multi vitamin supplements should be taken with the following precautions:

1) Read labels so that you do not over dose. For example the human body cannot ingest more than 600 mg of calcium at a time so what is the point of over loading the body with a 1000 mg tablet at one go? And if you have some natural calcium in your diet why do you need to take the amount you are taking?

2) The vitamin and mineral dosages do not take into consideration that you may be getting some of the stuff from natural sources. So taking half the tablet at a time makes sense. Or perhaps twice week. Supradyn for example has far too much of certain vitamins and that is why you will be over dosing if you take it everyday. Also, formulations are wrong and skewed in many cases. So read the labels and find out what your body needs according to your age and lifestyle and what your diet is all about.
Yes, a doctor should tell you this but they vulnerable to marketing by pharma companies. Don't trust your doctor to give you the right brand name. Asking him for advise in this matter is also fruitless as they will spout out some known brands. Do the research yourself.

These are imported health supplements in bottles. The tablets at the bottom is not a supplement but a medicine.

You might also like images of Muesli Nutrition Comparison and misleading labelling or Processed foods in India or How to recognize a fake Tata Tetley tea bag

Sari drying on a village wall in India

Images of a saree being hung out to dry. Most Indians, even if they use washing machines, do not use dryers. And their clothes are not small and thus drying them around small houses can become a problem. Saris are simply hung out to dry anywhere, at times even on the grass.

You might also like Clothes Lines or Dhobi Ghat in Pune or Istriwala or Istrivala or try other photographs of different aspects of life in Rural India.
Images of women manually washing clothes: Women filling water from village well in India

Police checks on vehicles for unaccounted for cash

It's something new: vehicle checks by the city police and the Election Commission's flying squad to search for unaccounted or benami cash being transported to voters for the 2014 General Elections in India. Apparently these drives have been successful. Interestingly a videographer accompanies the police! Usually stacks of cash is distributed in the slums before the elections and it's very good that the police are doing something about it. Last election it was five hundred rupee notes which were distributed and this election I have heard that it is one thousand rupee notes. Shame on our politicians.

You might also like Security for politicians in India or Happy Birthday Political Posters or Mumbai Police vehicles or Mumbai Police at work or Traffic violations in Mumbai and Pune and Thane

Construction site silhouettes

These are silhouettes of buildings under construction. Men with helmets and jackets and iron rods sticking out of half made buildings.

A silhouette of a man talking on a cell phone on an under construction building. Simple lines on a white background.

A construction site silhouette against a coloured sky. An orange red glow in the background.

A large construction site in China - a silhouette. Scores of cranes atop several buildings. China construction.

Simple black and white silhouette of a crane doing work at a construction site.

Related Pics: Road Construction in India (concrete roads) or Buildings under construction or Road being surfaced with tar or Earth Movers or Flyover construction
Images of workers at construction sites: Working without protective gear or  Workers taking a break or
Women construction workers in India or Stock images of empty or unused pipes
Or Cranes Silhouettes or all Silhouettes on this website of people and places.

Hoardings encouraging speed

India has the dubious distinction of the maximum road accidents or traffic collisions in the world. A National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report statistics revealed that annually more than 140,000 deaths from road accidents occur in India - these are 2012 figures.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that the major cause of traffic collisions is speeding. However, there is no ban on irresponsible advertising encouraging recklessness.

At least the Tatas are responsible. I had complained about this hoarding to Ratan Tata and the hoarding was immediately removed. Usually the advertising agencies alongwith ignorant advertising managers in companies create such advertisements.

Related Images:  Accidents scenes - overturned and smashed vehicles photos
More: Taxis and auto rickshaws crammed with people or Crowded and overflowing public transport or check out all images under the labels of Traffic or Transport

Art Galleries

Photographs of art galleries in Mumbai. The first two photos are of the well known Tao Art Gallery at Worli

A smaller art gallery at Tardeo.

Bee Hives

This golden tube is probably the entrance to a larger bee hive. Like a small passage into the tree. Saw this hive in the jungles of Malaysia, in Tamen Nagera forest.

A close look at the mouth of the bee hive. Bees crawling inside and out. Some bees resting on the bark to the right of the image.

A swarm of bees buzzing around a bee hive, enough to make the hair on the back of your neck prickle! This hive was made on sheer rock showing that bees are very versatile. This picture was taken in Aurangabad.

Related Images: Photographs of brown and black bees or  Big black fly with red eyes - Photos and Sketches or Cobwebs or Spiderwebs or Bee Silhouettes and Sketch

Sayings from the Buddha Pagoda

These are quotes and spiritual sayings of Dhamma, which have been put up on the Buddha Pagoda at Manori, near Mumbai. A pity that the English translation is poor.
There are least a hundred such sayings put up all around the Pagoda. Framed in large gold decorated frames, these sayings are in three languages - in Marathi, the regional language of Maharashtra, Hindi, the regional language of a few states in North India, and English, the working language of India. They have apparently been translated into English by someone poor in English because the translations are not proper.

This board says "Deeper the craving, deeper the aversion, deeper the aversion, deeper the affliction".
The Marathi/ Hindi ones make more sense. The Hindi one means "Deeper the anger, deeper the hate, deeper the hate, greater the misery"
Either the words have been lost in translation from Hindi to English, or the translation is very wrong and cannot be understood unless you know Marathi or Hindi.

This one says in English: Good to have mastery over speech, good to have physical mastery, but one who is the master of his mind is the warrior of courage.
The last bit which says "warrior of courage" makes no sense. A person who does not understand Hindi or Marathi will not understand the English words.
The Hindi and Marathi words actually mean that the person who is the master of his mind is a true warrior.

For our own actions, we ourselves are the authors. For our happiness or suffering, we alone are responsible. These words are a better translation because they make sense, but the translation is a poor one. In the first sentence the word "actions" does not match with "authors.' However we do get the meaning.

Transform your deeds of body, transform your deeds of speech, transform your mental deeds, this is the essence of Dhamma. Here the word "transform" is an incorrect translation of "Sudhar" which means improvement. Change is a better word than transform, but even the word change is not the correct one. Improve is the correct translation.

Gandhian principles explained by the Wheel of Life or read Mahatma Gandhi's famous sayings which have been framed and put up at Gandhidham: Mahatma Gandhi quotes

Surveillance Cameras on the streets

Surveillance Cameras are a feature of modern life. Needed for security of the public from evil people like terrorists.

This photograph was taken in London, UK.Cannot escape the ubiquitous street camera in modern cities nowadays.

A graphic of a poster about how cameras intrude on privacy. Lack of privacy poster. A high resolution image of his is available.

Not so noticeable but a small street camera on a lamp post in India. Useful, it street cameras in India actually work. Or if someone actually monitors them.

Strikes in Kerala

Strikes and hartals are common in states like Kerala or Bengal. These are some photos I took while we were traveling in Kerala.

A group of people sitting on chairs on the road waving red flags, holding placards and shouting slogans. A common street sight in the Indian state of Kerala which has a communist regime.

This man is stopping vehicles (rasta roko) including people in cars with families, and tourist vehicles. The main idea is to harass the ordinary citizen because of some political differences of political parties. We were tourists who had just two days in Kerala. One of these days was entirely wasted. Never again will be visit this state. Stuck without water and food. This does not speak well of communism nor of decency, tourist friendliness or good economics or in fact good sense. It does give visitors a feeling that this is a  banana state.

People are patiently waiting to be let go. Commercial vehicles appear to be resigned to their fate. Interestingly a few vehicles were allowed to go. Probably vehicles belonging to their own party. Shameful.

Check out all the photographs on this blog on Kerala which includes tourist attractions and scenery.

Cranes Silhouettes

Silhouettes of cranes used in construction. This one is a large crane silhouetted against the background of an under construction building.

A row of cranes next to another another which are being used in the construction of a bridge.

You might also like: Road Construction in India (concrete roads) or Buildings under construction or Road being surfaced with tar or Earth Movers or Flyover construction or pictures of workers at construction sites: Working without protective gear or  Workers taking a break or Women construction workers in India or Stock images of empty or unused pipes
Or all Silhouettes on this website of people and places.

Footprints in the sand

Just some footprints in the wet sand on the beach. Walking barefoot feels good in the sand. This person has well defined arches on the feet.

Footprints in the sands.

More photos: Sand backgrounds for blogs and designers or try the label beaches for all photographs of beaches.

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Logs being burnt in wood burning stove

This iron log burner was out in the open near a farm. Probably to generate energy for the farm on which this stove is kept. Logs of wood cut and stored next to a large iron or metal stove. Operates on coal.

A peek inside the iron stove. Logs are being pushed inside.

A photograph of the inside of the wood burner stove with large logs burning inside. Hot coals are creating the fire.

Some unrelated miscellaneous images: Pylon or Transmission Tower graphics or Old ledgers, files and papers or
Clothes Lines or Stock images of empty or unused pipes or or Tandoor Oven, tandoori rotis and cooks

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Camouflaged crabs and crab holes

These tiny crabs, almost button sized, can hardly been seen against the grainy gray background of the sand on the beach. The shadows created by the sand match with the shadows on their body. Could these be horned ghost crabs? These type of crabs change colour according to their environment.

Here the naked eye will not be able to distinguish the crab which appears to have changed the colour to match the dry sand. The crab is on the left side of the picture.

The crab holes and homes where these tiny crabs live. Space enough for one's pinky or little finger to go through, not bigger than that.

You might also like Green caterpillar images or  Fried and roasted insects or Big black fly with red eyes - Photos and Sketches or Bee Silhouettes and Sketch or Cobwebs or Spiderwebs or Photographs of brown and black bees

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Weighing Scales Sketches

These are sketches of weighing scales. The large one is usually found godowns and warehouses for weighing grains.

A sketch of the smaller manual weighing scale which is most used in bazaars across India, to weigh fruits and vegetables. Usually made of the durable cast iron. 

(Higher res sketches are also available)
You might also like Weighing Scales Silhouettes or actual photographs of Balance weighing scales or Manual Weighing Scales which have a short description about their use and their function.

Weighing Scales Silhouettes

A black and white silhouette of balance weighing scales. They are pretty large, and hanging from the roof and almost touching the floor. Mostly used for weighing grain in godowns.

A silhouette of small manual weighing scales mostly used in developing and poor countries. Some carrots are lying inside one of the containers to be weighed.

You might also like to see actual photographs of Balance weighing scales or Manual Weighing Scales which have a short description about their use and their function.

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Merry Go Round

Colourful pictures of a merry go round in Florence, Italy. Pretty merry go round with white painted horses and a shiny exterior.

Father and child at a merry go round at Florence in Italy.

You might also like Children's Playground with slides, jungle gym and play station
Or Children playing without toys  or City parks and gardens in India

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