Pictures Taken By you...

[Madhuri]

Some older pictures of my visit to the national park near Bangalore, in south of India.

A typical South Indian temple. If you see such a structure of any temple you can make out that its from South India.




Tea plantation view:




A villager on his way to plough fields. There are so many farmers who still use primitive means of cultivation.

[Pensive]

The last picture makes me think of the Pakistani farmers over here.

[SleepyWitch]

lovely pics, Madhy!
do the two horn-shaped structures on top of the temple signify anything?

why are the cows horns painted red and green?

[SleepyWitch]

These were taken by me





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ah, this is one of my fave flowers. are they carnations?
my mum used to grow them for me in her garden when i lived with my parents.

[SleepyWitch]

The new kitten I got yesterday (think its been decided that her name is charcoal)

ooooooh, kilted, she's so cute! i want one, too!

[Pensive]

why are the cows horns painted red and green?

I am not sure if it's the same in India but here the skin, horns, tails, etc of an animal like cow or a goat are painted to decorate it. A kind of their make-up. On special festivals like Eid days, henna (a reddish dye) is used to decorate them or even paint. Children also do this for their own fun. They think this makes their pets look pretty. During Eid-ul-Azha in Pakistani homes, you might be surprised to see the variety of designs made on different goats and cows' skin.

But if there is some other reason for this in India, I am very interested to read it!

[SleepyWitch]

I am not sure if it's the same in India but here the skin, horns, tails, etc of an animal like cow or a goat are painted to decorate it. A kind of their make-up. On special festivals like Eid days, henna (a reddish dye) is used to decorate them or even paint. Children also do this for their own fun. They think this makes their pets look pretty. During Eid-ul-Azha in Pakistani homes, you might be surprised to see the variety of designs made on different goats and cows' skin.

But if there is some other reason for this in India, I am very interested to read it!

thanks Pensy. i didn't know cows and other animals get decorated with henna
i do know henna, though. I use it to dye my hair red. it's fairly wide-spread over here.. and henna tattoos were all the craze a couple of years ago.

[Pensive]

thanks Pensy. i didn't know cows and other animals get decorated with henna
i do know henna, though. I use it to dye my hair red. it's fairly wide-spread over here.. and henna tattoos were all the craze a couple of years ago.

Here, there has always been a fashion of plastic cones containing hinna with the help of which the designs are made on hands, arms and feet. Eid Day is thought to be incomplete without it.

But I can never bring myself to like henna's smell personally... And I have never heard of henna tattoos before!

[SleepyWitch]

Here, there has always been a fashion of plastic cones containing hinna with the help of which the designs are made on hands, arms and feet. Eid Day is thought to be incomplete without it.

But I can never bring myself to like henna's smell personally... But I have never heard of henna tattoos before!

yeah.. they're not really tattoos.. they're only called that.. basically it's the same painted-on patterns as in PK... only here they are not used when someone marries or on special occassions.. they are just part of "ethno" fashion

[Madhuri]

lovely pics, Madhy!
do the two horn-shaped structures on top of the temple signify anything?

It could be, but I can't say for sure, as I didn't go inside the temple and see to which god it was dedicated. Mostly, South Indians are devotees of Lord Shiva, and a bull named Nandi is his carrier as well as the gate keeper of Lord Shiva. Also, there are temples that are dedicated solely to Nandi. In this case it could be that the horn shaped structres signify the horns of Nandi, and that this temple was for Nandi bull, but I could say for sure only if I went inside the temple.

why are the cows horns painted red and green?

Like Pensy said, it's for decorating the animals. And, these are bulls, the farmers use bulls to plough, cows are for providing milk. People in different states have their own ways of decorating the animals, some paint some put other embellishments. Sometimes painting the animals is a way to identify from the herd which one belongs to the owner. But, I haven't seen animals being decorated with henna designs.

[Virgil]

I was in southern California back at the end of March and had a couple of hours to take some pictures by the beach. A few of the pictures have this annoying shadow at the top right. I don't know if something was on the lens or the camera strap or my finger got in the way. Sorry about that. Some of them would have been quite good if it wasn't for that.

They had this long boardwalk that went into the ocean.








I really like this one I caught of a surfer coming in. I may blow this one up.

[Virgil]

Some more





And some lovely sunset shots:

[Virgil]

Some more:

[Turk]

I really like this one I caught of a surfer coming in. I may blow this one up.

That's really really good and artistic picture. It gives me peace and comfort.

[Virgil]

Yes, Turk, I agree. I like that one a lot.