Shirdi, Ahmednagar Dist.

"Let's go to see Shirdi Sai in his court/assembly"



The queue to see Shirdi Sai's idol




The faithful can wait for hours in the dust and heat.



Lining up for the generous devotees.



Footwear.


Mobile phone chargers have now become an essential service like drinking water taps or clean toilets.







And finally an advertisement on a bus that uses the drawing on Chetan Bhagat's latest best seller - Two States. Promoting interstate marriages on an inter-state MSRTC Bus.

NH3, Nashik

NH3, Mumbai - Agra Road, Dhule (Dhulia)

CD Motor Powered Chai Making Stove.

Meet Sri Bapuji (whom I met on Gandhi Jayanti) who runs a chai tapri next to the toll gate at Dhule (locals call it Dhulia) on the Bombay-Agra highway (NH3). His home-made charcoal stove, fanned by a tiny blacksmith's blower, is powered by a PC CD Drive motor and powered by a Rs.10 battery that lasts a whole day. Bapuji constructed this stove himself.

Earlier, people used the tape recorder/player motors. But the CD Drive motor is more energy efficient.

Sarangkheda, Nandurbar Dist. (MH)

Coal/Charcoal powered stove. With a blacksmith-style blower.

About 40% of India's energy needs are met by coal. Even the sticky, sweet chai made in tapris in North Western Maharashtra on the banks of River Tapti/Tapi is made using these coal (or charcoal). A friend who is originally from Amethi, UP, was telling me that these blower stoves are common across the central belt of India, along rural crossroads that do not have too many customers. Coal and charcoal is way cheaper than Kerosene or LPG, the popular fuel in urban India.

Manoj Kumar Goswami Road, Shirdi

Some of the deeply religious think that there is no law beyond their belief. Like this devotee of Sai Baba who prefers this number plate that says, Sai Malhar to the law of the land.

Sinnar, Nashik Dist.

Style Bhau

NH3, Mumbai - Agra Road

Thycaud, Trivandrum

Steel bucket.
Bathing area, Thycaud Electric Crematorium.

Arattupuzha, Alapuzha Dist., Kerala

 

Daily Commute.

Kanakakunnu, Muthukulam South, Alapuzha Dist

A fisherman washes the Mussels he's just plucked from the lake bed.

Mussels or Kalumakai as it's known in Kerala is a local favourite and this man picks it up just outside his doorstep. He sells most of his catch but these are going straight home to be served for dinner.

Though this picture was shot in Central Travancore, here's an interesting mussel recipe from North Malabar: Arikaduka

This the Kayankulam lake. The less explored part of the famous Kerala backwater houseboat tourism circuit centred around Aleppey. It's to the south of Aleppey, half way to Quilon. This narrow sliver of a lake running along the coast is brackish. The backwaters are Estaurial and is fed by many little rivers flowing in from the hills to the East.

Thankfully, this part of the lake is pretty clean even though a coal fired Thermal Plant can be seen a few miles to the North.




Pack up and heading home with what he plucked in less than an hour.

Trivandrum

Kerala's favourite pastime: Mosquito killing.

If human's are fast, Mosquitoes are faster. Adapting, migrating, colonising and creating nuisance to everyone around. And Mosquito Central is the state of Kerala. Mosquitoes here are way ahead of their species anywhere in the world, be it in size or the disease they spread.