Abandoned ship in Goa

This is an abandoned ship in Goa. The view is from the lane which enters into the beach. 

This is a view of the abandoned ship from the sea and the beach.

Bangor in Wales

Bangor is small city in Wales, Great Britain. It is one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is basically a university city and almost fifty percent of the population speak Welsh. The place is small and quite beautiful and quiet, as these photographs show. A quaint little town with one high street and lots of pubs. There is a relaxed atmosphere in the town, and the place is thronging with students.

This photograph is the main square of the city. It's got a clock tower and the shopping malls are concentrated around this area.

This photograph is of the main high street in Bangor, Wales. There are no cars here, mostly walkers. In any case one can easily walk from one end of the city to another!

An old castle at the end of one of the streets.

Bangor is a hilly place and it can get pretty tiring to walk if one does decide to! Lots of steep slopes!

There is little traffic and the traffic that is there is very organised. Before crossing you have to press a button and then the cars stop for you. The writing on the signal is in Welsh. In fact you cannot understand the language at all. There is no resemblance to English. The accent of the local Welsh people is also very different.  They consider English a foreign language and the English people as foreigners, not locals.

Some students waiting at a bus-stop.

A small roadside cafe.

Images of London Monuments: Westminster Palace and Big Ben or London Eye

Other Related Images: Manchester aerial view or Free iconic scenes from London or the city of Bangor in Wales

Public Toilets in Urban India

India is woefully short of public toilets and these are pictures of the few that are there. Usually prominent places in towns and cities have these public loos. The first two photographs of of public toilets in Mumbai. This one is right next to a garbage dump. Or rather the public has made it a garbage dump.

This one has been beautified a little with plants on the outside. Inside it will probably be stinking.

This toilet on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway near the toll booth is built and run by the private contracter who runs the highway.

Another toilet on the Mumbai Pune Expressway at a food mall  has been dubbed a "washroom," American style. Of late India has a fascination for all things American, and the ubiquitous European nomenclature "toilet" is considered infradig and well, too common to use!

Related Images: Garbage on the roads in India or Litter and garbage on the rail tracks or  People peeing and shitting on the streets in India

Sketches of balcony railing designs

Here are pencil drawings or sketches of the railings of balconies. The sketches are based on photographs of the balconies in old houses in Pune, Maharashtra.

This criss-cross design is a fairly simple one. The original balcony railing is in wood.

A more intricate floral railing design sketch.

These curves are lined by two floral strips at each end.

An elaborate balcony railing.

A common style of the olden days.

This is a sketch of a beautifully preserved old type of house with different railing designs on different floors.

A pretty small squarish balcony with an intricate design on the metal railing. The terraces has a different type of railing, seeming made of mud or brick.

A sketch of a relatively modern balcony railing.

A floral motif sketch of a balcony railing.

Related Images: Photos on which these sketches are based, Balcony and railing designs of old Pune houses or wadas or Chinese Architecture Sketches   which show some typical carved Chinese balconies of different kinds.

Water Tankers

Water tankers are big business in India today. They carry water to areas/colonies which do not get adequate water. It is believed that a water mafia is in operation (in cahoots with the municipality) which perenially keeps areas short of water so that these tankers can sell water to the water shortage areas. It is ironic that water tankers deliver municipal water which the municipality sells to them! Many of the owners of companies which ferry tanker water are the politicians themselves!

These water tankers sell water to building and societies at a high price. The municipality water is sold as "drinking water" while other types of water is usually well water used for other purposes.

Related Images: Water Pipeline in India or Water Pump for irrigation in India or Syntex Water Tanks

Wall Painters in India

Here are photographs of a man painting a wall on the streets of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. I am not sure whether he is painting some slogan on the wall or whether he painted the wall as well. The writing is in Tamil. There are some scribbled ads on the unpainted wall in the foreground of the image, and it looks to be an ad for a magic show. A lot of small time businesses in India scribble their contact numbers in unauthorised places.

Unusual street sights from Paris

Here are some unique sights I saw in Paris. They were very unusual to my tourist's eyes. This first photograph has a heap or mountain of shoes and the sign says "Handicap International." People were throwing their old shoes into the pile and it was the weirdest sight I have ever seen. Couldn't quite get the significance of it.

This scene was of a various placards for human rights and world peace being shown on the streets of Paris. What was interesting is that the demonstrators were protesting about almost everything, different kind of injustices from around the world, from concentration camps, to human rights abuses in Sri Lanka, to the war in Iraq.

This is just a street scene from Paris, but the pink limousine caught my eye. It may be very common in Paris, but it seemed quite unusual to me, a pink limo!

More images of Paris:

Birds Eye View of Paris from the Eiffel Tower   

The Louvre Museum Paris - exterior and interior with pieces of art

Eiffel Tower - free photographs

Lido at Champs Elysees, Paris

Sketches and drawings of thatched huts

These are pencil drawings of thatched huts in India. They are based on photographs taken by me in rural Tamil Nadu, between Chennai and Puducherry.

In this you can see that dried vegetation has also been applied to the walls as well as the roof. These layers protect the harder layers inside from water and other elements of nature. The inner layers are usually made from natural material like mud and clay, although at times brick is used.

This sketch is also of a hut from the same area in Tamil Nadu. An umbrella can be seen outside the hut as well as some cycles. A thatched hut is the choice of the poor as it is a low-cost option.

This sketch is not one of a real thatched hut, but a model one in the tourist place of Dakshinachitra.

Related images: Sketches of traditional Indian houses or  Photos of thatched huts from the Chennai area (on which the sketches on this post are based) or Photographs of houses and huts from Dakshinachitra in South India (these are the old traditional houses of South India) or Huts in an Indian Village (huts with cobbled roofs)
For ancient Chinese architecture: Chinese style architecture sketches of the Forbidden City

Child Labour or Working children

Child labor is a common sight in India and it happens not in so-called sweat factories, but just about everywhere...on the roads, in families, in shops, in hotels. Often the kids work for their own parents in their shops. The poor do it to supplement their income. Girls usually do most of the housework while boys take up heavier and outdoor tasks. The problem arises when parents do not send the children to school.

This is a small boy on a street in Aurangabad, working in some sort of workshop.

This is a heartrending picture of a very sad boy selling roses on the streets of Mumbai. The sadness is visible in his eyes. His face looks slightly swollen, perhaps due to lack of sleep.

This street child is better groomed and has probably been sent to sell childrens' books on the streets by his parents.

Here is a small girl carrying ground wheat from a milling shop. Most Indian families do not use ready-made wheat flour. They buy the wheat and get it ground from small mills which can be found at almost every street corner in cities and towns.

Here is a close-up of the same girl. This girl was seen on the outskirts of Mumbai. She doesn't look more than ten years old.

This picture is taken in a small town town in Maharashtra. Here is a boy busy with some work concerning loading and unloading.

Related Images: Photographs of children studying outdoors or Children playing Holi in semi-rural India
More pictures of poor children: Child Beggars or Children playing without toys or Photographs of children studying outdoors

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School Rickshaws with small children

These are photographs of children being ferried to school in small rickshaws specially made for the purpose. These rickshaws are usually fortified with iron or steel bars to protect the children. The first photograph is taken in Kolkata, West Bengal.  The rickshaw is a cycle rickshaw turned into a school bus! A fairly economical way to travel for the toddlers.

This picture is shot in Thane, a city near Mumbai in Maharashtra. The autorickshaw has been altered to seat small children. The bars protect the children from the bumpy ride. However, most of these rickshaws are packed with children and unsafe.

This photograph of school children packed and crammed in a small rickshaw. The picture was taken in Pune. Extra seats have been made in the front of the passenger seat to accommodate more children. The children themselves are quite happy, oblivious to the fact that this is dangerous.

Related Viewing: Taxis and auto rickshaws crammed with people  or Auto Rickshaws in Pune India or  Families on two-wheelers or Pune Municipal Corporation Buses
Or check out other images filed under the label of Transport 

Help Poster for domestic violence

This poster was stuck on the inside of a subway train in Mumbai. It is to help victims of domestic violence. They have to call the telephone number on the poster - 103.
The headline on the poster has the traumatised woman asking, "Should I call 103?"

Bandra Promenade

There are not many open spaces in Mumbai and most of the open spaces are near the sea-side. This is where Mumbaikars come for a breath of fresh air. The Bandra Promenade is one of those places.

In the daytime the place is a little deserted. A couple is sitting on the bench here.

Ajanta carvings sketches

Here are a few sketches and designs of the carvings found inside the ancient Ajanta Caves. These works were made from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD. These sketches are based on the photographs of Stone carvings and frescoes from Ajanta Caves.

Many of the designs are found on ornately decorated pillars, and the face here looks part animal and part human.

Here are some pencil drawings of floral designs on Ajanta pillars.

This sketch is one of the ornate entrances to one of the temples. The intricate designs on the slab above the pillars can be seen.

This floral motif sketch depicts one of the designs from the pillars of the temples at Ajanta.

See more posts on Ajanta, including the famous Ajanta Paintings. Check out the posts on the famous temples of Ellora.