Rain Stories

~Rain stories ~

The gushes of cool winds and unpredictable 

showers since last few days have  breathed in life to 

almost everything, giving much needed respite from

 the heat and humidity the rains have awoken a 
whole new world around us !!! Hundreds of crawlies
under our feet and an equal number of them

buzzing under the clear blue skies seem to have
  transformed the mundane city lands to 

temporary green abodes !!! 

Dragonflies everywhere 

Tomatoes , cucumber , cheese , carrots 

A walk down the nearby park yesterday gave 

me immense opportunity to capture the riot of 

monsoon colours ... without disturbing the mating bugs

 or the baby dragon fly with slightly wet wings I tried

 capturing them in their best abodes. Last year the 
park had a huge variety of wild mushrooms almost 
under every  tree but looks like I need to wait a little 
more this year to capture the hoody beauties. 

The beautiful weather of August makes it one of the
 most beautiful months of the year- sudden
showers of rain every now and then, wild flowers 
in full glory and moist green grass in every 
nook and corner gives  the perfect excuse to 
click innumerable pictures. This month holds a 
special placein my heart too - it was in Aug 
2009 that I started blogging and had created
 Little Food Junction to exhibit my food arts . 
The month played a special role yet again in 
 2013 when my maiden book 'Fun food for Fussy 
Little Eaters' got  published by RPS  London. 

Fun food for fussy little eaters

 Even after doing several projects till date , 
this book is closest to my heart. I still cherish the 
 endless hours that were spent  working on the
 themes, right from scribbling the ideas to finally 
giving them the final look - each page has 
some finest memory attached to it that takes 
me down the beautiful fun food times !!
The idea of this dragonfly food art was originally 
scribbled for the book but didn't take shape then. 
Hence as an ode to all the blogging years this 
food art was much apt before bidding adieu
 to Aug '19. 

World Photography Day

~World Photography Day ~

The annual celebration of the art and science of 

photography or in simplest words World Photography

 Day is celebrated worldwide on 19th of  August with

 much zeal and excitement. Photography is much 

beyond a hobby or a passion, its nothing less than a 

magic to travel back into time , feel the same love and 

re live the moments that had slipped from life once 

again .Almost 180 years back today 'the daguerreotype'

photographic process was made free to the world by 

French Government for people to share their world 

with the world and hence the celebration for this
 day continues till today. 

Love is a Camera .... 

Crackers and bagel 

'Photography is a love affair with life' - over the years 

this love affair has drastically seasoned my observation

 skills and made me learn how to find extraordinary  
at most ordinary locations , it has taught me that the 
photographic aptitude has little to do with the things
 one sees instead it revolves around how one sees. 
From following the photography rules during  the
 early years to listening to my head , heart and eye 
in unison is surely what I have gained over the years . 

My love for photography goes back to my school 
days when I loved to spend endless hours with 
dad's camera , clicking and impatiently waiting for the 
pictures to be processed and choosing  the best 
to  display on the soft board in my study room. 
Later I joined College of Arts and my passion for 
photography  and visual arts got a new direction. 

Right from college days I had a keen interest towards 
table top photography  that later paved way for 
blogging , food art, styling and food photography. 
Over the years I got opportunity to work with 
several clients of repute and setting up my own 
well equipped work area. Besides photography , 
I'm equally passionate about creating food art 
which of course this blog is all about !!

Oh did I tell you that I absolutely love to scribble
 myfun food ideas in a big sketch pad which I fine
 tune and put to plate whenever time permits, 
but strangely this design of camera food art 
happend impromptely on the kitchen counter,
 went on plate and got shot in flat 10 mins !!

Happy World Photography day to everybody  who
loves to click and see the same world differntly !!! 

~Snake time ~

~ Snake Time !! ~ 

The Indian subcontinent is a home to several species 

of highly venomous snakes and several non -venomous 

ones too. An integral part of Indian culture , the snakes 

called  naags in local language are not only considered 

divine but are also referred to as messengers of deities. 

The Hindu belief revolves around showing compassion 

towards every living object - from trees to animals 

from mountains to rivers ,the different aspects of nature 

are worshipped from time to time to remind the mankind 

that human beings  and nature are irrevocably bound 
together for co-existence .

The snake snack time 

Cucumber , Pear , green olives, red bell pepper

In olden days when life revolved around farming and
cattle grazing, rains served nothing less than divine 
blessing and to celebrate this joy people started the 
tradition of thanking the rain God through several
 rituals and festivals. With  amalgamation of various 
cultures and advancement of technology, the 
festivities took new turns from time to time  but 
the spirit of celebration always remained intact.

  During the rainy season when  nature looks best
 in most vivid colors of green the temples too 
display the brightest paraphernalia - wild 
fruits, flowers and  colourful lotus at almost all
temple and florist shops quietly spell the divine 
connection between man and nature. 

Today while many Indian devotees worshipped and 
celebrated the festival of snakes (Naag Panchmi) , 
we decided to create a food art to spread the message -
that snakes are an important part of our ecological
 system and we must liberate ourselves from
the misconceptions that revolves around the 
slithery reptile.  

Most  snakes that pop up in parks and gardens
 during rains are not poisonous cobras but harmless
non venomous ones, as informed citizens let us offer 
our reverence by educating people not to panic,
instead call the local wildlife conservation office 
for rescue. Co existence is the key for a safer greener
 world and together we can save thousands of snakes 
that are brutally killed during every rainy season !!