sHIFT Focus

an early morning Fun Run , a late afternoon CauseWalk and some EntertainmentConference...overall a busy Sunday in Calcutta

2007-03-03T11:06:00.000+05:30

Pussy Gato on garbage

2007-02-09T23:06:00.000+05:30

Mumbai mere jan...

2007-02-09T22:54:00.000+05:30

A chick in hand is worth all the rest in the cage!!!!

2007-02-09T22:46:00.000+05:30

the few doctors Dharavi claims to have!!!!

2007-02-09T22:43:00.000+05:30

Next time when your " dil mange more"?????

2007-02-09T22:40:00.000+05:30

Dharavai returns

2007-02-09T22:34:00.000+05:30

CoffeeHouse, Civil Lines ,Allahabad

2007-01-29T16:11:00.000+05:30

Republic Day2007

2007-01-26T22:39:00.000+05:30

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

and to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.

Swami and the cats

2007-01-25T11:05:00.000+05:30

Sunset over the Sangam

2007-01-20T22:49:00.000+05:30

the Sangam

2007-01-20T11:57:00.000+05:30

2007-01-19T22:54:00.000+05:30

KumbhNagari(city)

2007-01-19T22:48:00.000+05:30

Boats

2007-01-19T22:37:00.000+05:30

Is he lost??? or is he scared of the water?

2007-01-19T13:24:00.000+05:30

is it usual for the children to get lost at one KumbhMela and get united with their family at another Kumbh, 12 years later....!( ..at least that is what Bollywood says)

The Holy Dip

2007-01-19T13:15:00.000+05:30

This and that..@the Kumbh

2007-01-19T12:34:00.000+05:30

A polluted river!

2007-01-19T11:34:00.000+05:30

The Sangam is one of the most polluted spots of the Ganga...we worship the Ganga but at the same time...leather factories upstream (near Kanpur) have been pumping all their industrial waste into the river.......
.....together with that the human waste of
millions of pilgrims add to the misery of this river.
The Uttar Pradesh government was quick to react to the upsetting reports of a stinking river. .
They released water from the dam to flush out the garbage.
But this is not the long term solution!.....

Kallu Dom was summoned over the public address system in the peak hour of the festival to hide a floating corpse. The corpse had floated down to the Sangam and was sighted by some pilgrms, who carried on with their religious fervour after reporting it to the authorities.
Kallu promptly floated the corpse further downstream!

Women@SahiSnan @ArdhKumbhmela2007

2007-01-19T10:41:00.000+05:30

Travelling to the ArdhKumbh2007

2007-01-19T10:10:00.000+05:30

Sahi Snan,ArdhKumbh2007

2007-01-19T09:47:00.000+05:30

Sahi Snan,ArdhKumbh2007

2007-01-19T00:28:00.000+05:30

ArdhKumbh Allahabad 2007

2007-01-18T23:11:00.000+05:30

Smoking

2007-01-12T15:47:00.000+05:30

They sat and smoked...., and they stood and watched....

..... and inside the house she kept on washing dishes!!

the potato pickers of Basla

2007-01-12T15:26:00.000+05:30

just in case you wondered........they are all Yadavs! this is a Yadav field!.....but isnt the entire UP a Yadav field!

Bhajan on the highway to Moradabad

2007-01-12T14:44:00.000+05:30

on the way to Moradabad...this Bhajan is a welcome stop on a cold winter morning for travellers like me........the parathas are really worth the stop! for the celebrity watchers this stop might get you occasional glimpse of Mumbai filmstars.

a school in Basla ki Maraiya

2007-01-12T13:49:00.000+05:30

Children in the local school, but one should'nt get fooled by the large attendance , there was no teacher around, just these circle of children chanting a lesson like some religious mantra.
But, a saving grace.....there were many girls attending this school!

Uttar Pradesh elections are coming up!

2007-01-12T10:55:00.000+05:30

Kesar, was humiliated, beaten up and paraded around the village by a group of 5 men( all from a a higher caste) ...her fault was she voted for someone they did not approve off.
Kesar lives in "Basla ki Maraiya" a tiny "lower caste"predominant village, an hours drive from Moradabad.

in case anyone wants to mail me....

2007-01-09T18:41:00.000+05:30

mail me:

some parents are still waiting...

2007-01-09T16:10:00.000+05:30

another bone recovered today,from NOIDA

Christmas2006 in NY

2006-12-28T11:36:00.000+05:30

Delhi Airport Fogged out

2006-12-27T12:46:00.000+05:30

Christmas in Delhi 2006

2006-12-25T13:04:00.000+05:30

Merry Christamas to our Rajus, Salims and Naseems who live under the Nizamuddin railway bridge and pick rag for a living....

Merry Christamas at Sacred Heart Cathedral , New Delhi too

Second poster to be featured on this Blog

2006-12-22T16:41:00.000+05:30

Fight for Saddam on the streets of Calcutta

translation:
Do not Hang SaddamHussain
Hang George Bush the enemy of Humanity
Students Federation of India

The other name of terrorism and destruction is ...GeorgeBush!
Geroge Bush is the biggest obstacle for world Peace

click to see the Previous poster which was featured here

When rickshaws are banned ....they too will have no job!

2006-12-22T16:35:00.000+05:30

Much has been said about the Rickshawallahs of Calcutta

2006-12-22T16:24:00.000+05:30

Polio Returns: Kundarki, the epicentre of Polio in India

2006-12-17T00:04:00.000+05:30

Moradabad brass has a huge market worldwide

2006-12-16T23:45:00.000+05:30

small furnaces are visible in almost all the houses in the narrow lanes of this locality..small furnaces with small boys behind closed doors !

Western U.P ...the land of "Omkara"??

2006-12-16T23:09:00.000+05:30

The "Taj Mahal "of Moradabad

2006-12-16T23:04:00.000+05:30

"This too was built by the owner of the building in memory of his dear wife"

Noti Binodini

2006-11-25T23:18:00.000+05:30

Binodini's tale by Amaal Alana

2006-11-24T23:44:00.000+05:30

many faces of Binodini...
many

waiting for the last leaf to fall

2006-11-20T20:16:00.000+05:30

Mr.Hu you are a WANTED man in Dharamsala

2006-11-20T20:09:00.000+05:30

various forms of protests: Parliament inExile, streetcorner campaign and exorcism

2006-11-20T20:04:00.000+05:30

Life goes on...Momos,AIDS campaign and Prayer wheels

2006-11-20T19:46:00.000+05:30

the SeniorCitizen Home at Dharamsala, end of the dream for a generation

2006-11-20T19:41:00.000+05:30

The Transit home for newly arrived Tibetan Youth at Dharamsala

2006-11-20T19:37:00.000+05:30

Dharamsala

2006-11-20T19:31:00.000+05:30

Kabul...a city carved into the mountains

2006-10-12T22:34:00.000+05:30

Afghanistan again....Kabul city

2006-10-12T22:26:00.000+05:30

AbbeyRoad waiting for the Beatles

2006-10-12T14:25:00.000+05:30

seat of Indian democracy

2006-10-12T14:20:00.000+05:30

When shadow becomes the person

2006-10-12T14:05:00.000+05:30

Afghanistan with the Americans!

2006-10-11T23:31:00.000+05:30

but children are back to school...i am not sure however for how long!

Afghanistan after the Taliban

2006-10-11T23:25:00.000+05:30

Afghanistan after the Russians

2006-10-11T23:18:00.000+05:30

Flower Power

2006-10-04T23:26:00.000+05:30

Blasts from my past

2006-10-04T23:00:00.000+05:30

Sonal Mansingh is one of the leading exponents of Odissi, an ancient classical dance form of Orissa.
Sonal learnt Bharatanatyam from Prof. U S Krishna Rao and Chandrabhaga Devi at Bangalore besides taking lessons from other gurus and teachers belonging to the Pandanallur school. She performed her arangetram at Mumbai.
Here she is watching her students perform at a function at her Hauz Khas Institute, in Delhi.

Blasts from my past

2006-10-04T22:31:00.000+05:30

A warlord of Tajik origin, Ismail Khan is known as the "Lion of Herat". (he is th oneshaking hands with my hands.)
During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan of 1979, Khan was an officer in the Afghanistan army, reaching the rank of Mujahedin commander.

He was forced to flee after the Taliban took over authority in 1995. While organising opposition against the Taliban, he was handed over to them by his old adversary General Pahlawan after a deal in 1997. Two years later in March 2000 he escaped and worked as a low-profile member of the Northern Alliance.

Ismail Khan is known for his reluctant support for Afghanistan’s central government. In early 2002 there were media reports of a relationship in Herat between Ismail Khan and the government of Iran.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld met with Ismail Khan, in Herat, Afghanistan, on April 27, 2002. and his support was crucial to the new national government.
Ismail Khan controls the border trade with Iran. According to one estimate, this yields $1 million a day in revenue, which is not shared with the Central Afghan government. This has been a source of friction between the two.

(courtsey www.globalsecurity.org)

Some blasts from my past

2006-10-04T22:20:00.000+05:30

Ustad Professor Abdul Rabb al-Rasuul Sayyaf, also known as Abdur Rab Rasul Sayyaf sitting on the yellow chair is a factional fundamentalist leader in the Afghan northern Alliance Government that took over Afghanistan in December 2001 and a hard-line Wahhabi Islamic Fundamentalist supported closely by Saudi Arabia.
Sayyaf was the one who invited Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan and for years enjoyed his support to follow his "Jehad" in Afghanistan. He also received a large portion of the support from CIA in 1980s and is still apparently a close friend of the U.S. govt.
I interviwed Sayyaf in Sept2002.
(courtsey Wikipedia)

the Umrican world

2006-10-03T11:06:00.000+05:30

this was sent to me by someone ....i just cant remember who....credit goes to her/him!

Some serious Fishy business

2006-10-03T10:39:00.000+05:30

The Trio gets blown up once again

2006-10-02T22:06:00.000+05:30

isnt the evil Trio ever going to triumph over the good..they usually do in real life!!( if there is a good legal team)

Forty heads of terror and a weapon of mass destruction

2006-10-01T23:51:00.000+05:30

New Delhi KaliBari felt like Pujo once again

2006-10-01T23:21:00.000+05:30

something was missing from the festival this year??

2006-09-30T22:53:00.000+05:30

or is it just me??

an ode to the Mahisasura

2006-09-29T22:18:00.000+05:30

only the hand of God can save Kolkata from the rains

2006-09-26T23:45:00.000+05:30

"For heaven sake commit no nuisance...!!"

2006-09-25T00:23:00.000+05:30

...that is what it says on the whitewashed portion of the wall

Kumartoli, Kolkata 2006

2006-09-24T23:36:00.000+05:30

Mohalaya2006, but Kolkata in trouble

2006-09-22T04:10:00.000+05:30

a glimpse of cloud 9

2006-09-20T22:29:00.000+05:30

The Other side in the land of Tigers

2006-09-19T23:06:00.000+05:30

The Special Forces a.k.a RAMBO1,2 and 3

2006-09-19T22:58:00.000+05:30

Jumbo crossing

2006-09-19T22:32:00.000+05:30

windowsXP

2006-09-19T22:24:00.000+05:30

Storm over the Bay

2006-09-19T22:17:00.000+05:30

Dancing in the dark

2006-09-19T22:08:00.000+05:30

The good doctor who has undertaken 10 such operations of reversing sterilisation

2006-09-14T23:53:00.000+05:30

our good doctor at the Galle Hospital

Reveresing Sterilisation ....hope it suceeds

2006-09-14T23:46:00.000+05:30

Shanti, is 31 years old,she lost her 3 children in the Tsunami.Now she wants to have children after reversing her sterilisation.

A day in a Geoffrey Bawa marvel

2006-09-13T00:01:00.000+05:30

Who is Geoffrey Bawa?

Kantale camp is a nightmare when it starts to rain..but now the begin to return home

2006-09-11T10:41:00.000+05:30

the road to Mahiyangana, the gateway to the Veddas

2006-09-10T19:10:00.000+05:30

Veddas

2006-09-10T19:08:00.000+05:30

click here to know about the veddas

The King of the Veddas

2006-09-10T19:06:00.000+05:30

The Future King of the Veddas

2006-09-10T19:04:00.000+05:30

The men who never will be King

2006-09-10T18:59:00.000+05:30

the Darth Vedda

2006-09-10T18:57:00.000+05:30

Dance for prosperity of the tribe

2006-09-10T18:55:00.000+05:30

the goodbye

2006-09-10T16:08:00.000+05:30

i am back once again

2006-09-10T16:05:00.000+05:30

finally i am back .....and new pictures should be up soon

the Ganesh family in Trincomalee has only tears and unanswered questions

2006-09-09T18:48:00.000+05:30

Ganesh Sellvah used to work as a driver with the ICRC in Trincomalee.Sometime last year he left the ICRC and joined Action Against Hunger in their office at Muttur.
Kavitha Ganesh , his daughter joined the same NGO as an Hygine inspector.
Both were brutally killed "execution style" along with 15 other colleagues of Action Against Hunger by unknown people on August 2006.
This became known as the Muttur massacre.

Kougula Ganesh (Gopi) a young boy, 21 year old....a black belt in Karate.... still cannot comprehend the fact that his father and sister were brutally murdered.

The scene of crime...the Muttur massacre

2006-09-08T18:41:00.000+05:30

Click here to know about the Muttur massacre

Sampoor LTTE camp overrun by Special Forces of the SriLankan army

2006-09-07T18:27:00.000+05:30

click here to read about Sampoor as seen by Sri Lanka army

click here to read about Sampoor as seen by the Tamil rebels

Muttur still deserted

2006-09-06T19:19:00.000+05:30

Muttur was a deserted town ,the day we arrived.We drove up to the Muttur jetty and the only people we encountered were the members of the Sri Lankan army.
It looked quite erie....an entire town with no people.

Muttur residents return home

2006-09-06T19:16:00.000+05:30

a final picture of the Colombo Port before I sleep

2006-09-04T23:30:00.000+05:30

Evening at the Colombo port

2006-09-04T23:21:00.000+05:30