Glaciers on the Swiss Alps

Here are images of the glaciers on the Swiss Alps; snow blankets draped on the mountains, adding to their beauty.

A river of snow flowing along the Swiss mountain tops.

A closer look at the snow and ice packed to the brim on the snow-capped mountains of Switzerland.

You might also like panoramic views of the Swiss Alps: Photos taken from Jungfrau, a summit in the Swiss Alps
More beautiful scenery from Switzerland: Swiss Alps from the air or Lake Lucerne Photos
Or check out all the photographs on Switzerland including that of people and places.

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Eye of the Elephant!

If you ever wondered what an eye of an elephant looked like then you have come to the right place! This is a close-up photo of the yellow/orange eye of a 22- year old gray Indian elephant called Laxmi from Thekkady, Kerala.

The folds of the skin around the eyes and the huge body of an elephant almost hide its eyes.

Who would have imagined that an elephant has long eye-lashed that touch the skin under the eyes? Well here is a picture of an elephant watching you from half closed eye lids.

Related Pictures: Elephants on the streets of India or Cattle on city streets or Stray Cattle in India or Stray Dogs Pictures or Man with camel - photograph and silhouette or Yaks in Ladakh
Or Cat Portraits

You might also like Black Hippos in the wild or Green Caterpillar images or Wild Zebras in Ruaha National Park Tanzania or more pictures of Wildlife or all filed under the label Animals.

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Inside the Ajanta Temples

The centuries old Ajanta Caves on the outskirts of Aurangabad are some of the most well maintained ancient archaeological world heritage sites in India. These 30 rock-cut caves are quite magnificent from the inside although the sculptures have chipped away and colours faded. The fact that they have been preserved since the fifth century B.C. is a miracle. One of the reasons could be that they are inside a horseshoe shaped gorge. The caves mainly represent Buddhism and are a great example of ancient Buddhist architecture. These images present a glimpse as to what the interiors are like and are just a sample. In actuality there are more than just 30 temples, because the temples often consist of several shrines and can be double storeyed.

In this picture you can see the large stone hall inside the temple. The pillars and ceiling is intricately decorated with sculptures. The Buddha can be seen inside the main shrine.

Here is another temple hall which appears plain by contrast. However most of the artwork has simply been eroded away by time. On the pillars you can see the remnants of the coloured paintings. One can only imagine how spectacular the temple must have looked when it was just made.

The inside of one of the main caves at Ajanta. The ceilings, walls and pillars are all elaborately sculptured and painted.

A look at the inner sanctum where the figure of Buddha is kept.

A passageway or corridor with Buddha sculptures at the side of the main hall.

You might also like View from Ajanta - scenery of rocks, caves and hills which is a panoramic view of the hills surrounding Ajanta caves. Or you can check out Ajanta Caves exterior images which reveal the horseshoe shaped gorge and the temples carved into it.
Or see all the carvings, sculptures and paintings at Ajanta or Ellora, where you will find photographs of both the Ajanta and Ellora caves and the art or try any of the labels below this post which will take you to art from all over the world.

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Industrialisation urbanisation and nature

Industrialisation is a necessary evil, and it has extracted a heavy price - pollution of the earth and its beauty. These images bring out the contrast between development polluting the beauty of nature.

Factories may be necessary but they leave a trail of destruction and the uglification of the earth and nature. This is a factory spewing its dirty black smoke and polluting the air not to mention ruining the scenery.

This symbolizes how a green landscape is falling prey to builder lobbies. The patch of green left inbetween buildings is now being developed to host commercial complexes and apartment buildings.

Bill boards and hoardings may be necessary, but certainly not in places where they destroy the landscape. This ugly hoarding ruins the green look of the hills. Companies should be more conscious of where they put their advertisements.

High rises are coming up everywhere, ruining the view. Soon when we talk of the "view" we will mean the view of the urban jungle.

Another ugly hoarding standing in contrast to the greenness of nature.

You might also like: Rocky Dadar Beach or Plastic Pollution or Diwali Air Pollution or
see all images under the label "Environment"

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Men with luggage or travel trolley bags

Silhouettes of men of different nationalities carrying luggage - backpacks and trolley bags.

A silhouette of an Asian man with a trolley bag. In one hand he is carrying a cell phone and with the other pulling the bag with the trolley. He is wearing loose pants and a shirt.

A silhouette of a tall man of middle eastern or East European origin dragging a trolley bag.

A silhouette of a man in a jacket pulling a trolley bag. In the background there is an outline of aircraft.

You might also like Silhouettes of Travelers or men with bags or Young Women Walking Silhouettes  or Travelers or Women with bags Silhouettes or Silhouettes of Women in Uniform or try the label "Silhouettes" for all the silhouette images which include that of places, important world monuments and also more silhouettes of people.

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Close up shots from a cotton mill

These are close-ups of yarns and threads from a cotton mill. High resolution pictures are available!

It is amazing how simple white threads can create dramatic patterns.

A shot taken to glimpse an area inbetween the large white spools of cotton thread in a cotton mill.

An angled shot of the large spools of thread in a cotton mill.

The whirling threads create interesting circular patterns.

A peep inside the large stored spool of white thread.

A close-up shot of the yarn.

Related Images: Indian Weavers or Textile graphics or textile art or Tailors in shops and stalls or Cloth and Textile Market in Ahmedabad old city or Bedcovers, cloth bags and jackets - Patterns and Designs

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Ajanta Caves exterior images

This is what the Ajanta Caves look like from the outside. These 30 rock-cut caves are buried deep inside a horseshoe shaped gorge of the Waghora river. They represent the two distinct phases of Buddhism - the Hinayana phase from the second century BC to the first century AD and the second Mahayana phase from the fifth century AD to 6th century AD. They are a prime example of early Buddhist architecture and art. These caves remained safe from Mughal invaders as the caves were hidden deep in the rocks inside the jungles outside Aurangabad.

The caves stretch out into a long distance and Aurangabad is hot, so it is a long hot walk on concrete and stone. The caves are often double storeyed, if not higher, and that means climbing up and down for hours. Plus, the caves are huge inside with various halls and rooms and thus exploring some of the big caves can take over an hour. Chalk out a whole day for this adventure if you are serious about seeing this ancient art!

A closer view of the rock caves at Ajanta, on the outskirts of Aurangabad.

This is the view when the camera was turned in the opposite direction.

Another view of the Ajanta caves. The road to walk on is hard concrete and heats up. Decent and accessible toilet facilities were not available, at least not when we went. The toilet was locked!

You might also like View from Ajanta - scenery of rocks, caves and hills which is a panoramic view of the hills surrounding Ajanta caves, through the mouth of the horseshoe.
Or check out all the carvings, sculptures and paintings at Ajanta or Ellora, where you will find photographs of both the Ajanta and Ellora caves and the art.


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The Image of different Religions

Various surveys measure the image of different religions, and I did an image search on Google on different religions to see what would come up! These images are screenshots from the 11th December 2012, and might have already changed - keeping with the thought that images of religions is a fluid thing.

The followers of religions such as words like "Christians" or "Jews" were googled.  The first dozen or so images which appear in response to the search query captures the "image" of the religious followers in people's minds currently.

It's hardly two days old, but the google search results for "Christians" has changed dramatically! A lot of news regarding Christians in the world! The first is an image of the Lord Jesus, something about powerful Christians in Hollywoood, worshippers, the cover of a religious book, Christians in Syria, Egyptian Christians protesting,  Christians in Palestine, some anti-Christian views of Jews, an image of Jesus Christ, Muslims and Christians together protesting attack on church in Egypt, more protesters. There are pictures of the Jesus, but mostly the search results are about protests.

Here is what searching for "Hindus" on Google Search gets you:

Swastika, an ancient symbol representing Hindusim, women praying probably near the holy river Ganga, the religious dancers, another sacred ancient Hindu symbol, the Om, dancers, Pakistani Hindus not wanting to return to Pakistan, the Lord Shiva, worshippers, and again a picture of Pakistani Hindus not wanting to return to Pakistan and more worshippers. The search results are mostly about worshippers and symbols of Hinduism and about Pakistani Hindus not wanting to go back to Pakistan.

Googling "Jains" brought forth pictures of worshippers, maps and religious symbols.

Googling "Jews" brought forth a wiki page, images of worshippers, pretty girls, Israel history, early American Jews, protest regarding attitude of liberal American Jews. Interestingly no photographs of violence, not on this day.

When it comes to the word "Muslims", the photos that came up were of women in Burkhas, children praying, women praying, men praying, protesters, a mosque, more protesters, about attitudes to terrorism, about the hatred of Americans towards Muslims, statistics, protest in Britain by Muslims, worshippers, about the negative image of Muslims and more worshippers. If I were a Muslim I would be worried because the way the women dress has become symbolic of the negativity surrounding Muslims. Not to mention the hatred of violence in the name of religion.

I googled the word "pagans" as well because there are some major religions of the world which think that worshippers of all other religions are "pagans" and the word has a negative connotation. Even though the meaning of pagan means someone who has a mythology associated with their religion, the word has been associated with non-believer by arrogant religions. And what I got when I googled the word "pagans" was pictures of weird symbols, strange ancient rituals, pagan communities, and ineffectual definitions of paganism.

A pity that Scientology is associated with the famous people who are scientologists. That's what the image is!

Shintos are Japanese and here I got peaceful images of Shinto shrines, worshippers, and Shinto symbols.

By googling the word Sikhs one saw images of pain and suffering, and also of worshippers and religious symbols.

Buddhists praying, a photo of the Pope and Buddhists about religious dialogue, images of Buddhist worshippers and of Buddha, the Dharma wheel, more worshippers, and a meeting to discuss attacks on Buddhist places of worship. The search results are mostly about the Buddhist worshippers, and symbols of Buddhist. Also one picture of inter-religious dialogue and another discussing attacks on Buddhist shrines. Interesting that there are no photos of violent protests, just peaceful meetings.

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Ancient Kerala Church called Cheriya Pally

Cheriya Pally, an old Syrian Christian church in Kottyama in Kerala, one of the few old churches which are well maintained. Cheriya Pally is a church that has been influenced by the local culture and architecture of Hindu temples, and more important the Kerala style of architecture. This is evident in architectural influences as well as the typical niches for the oil lamps which is common in Hindu temples. The fascinating part of this Church is to see the amalgamation of Christian and the Hindu styles. The Orthodox Christians have built most of their churches in this unique traditional Kerala style, which is similar to Kerala temples.

The Church was built in 1579 and most of the facade is in the European/Portuguese style of  architecture. There are galleries, pillars and cornices. There are striking religious murals on the walls, and these paintings have been influence by both Indian and Western styles of art. It was built the local king for the Christians in his kingdom.

This is a panoramic view of the ancient Kerala church called Cheriya Pally.

Overall Kerala's style of architecture is unique in India, in its striking contrast to Dravidian architecture which is normally practiced in other parts of South India. This picture shows the entrance to the church and again a tall gold or brass tower, perhaps a lamp tower, which is commonly seen in Kerala temples. Lamps are lit here. The cross at the top distinguishes it from a temple!

Here are brass lamps which are typically found in Indian temples. This is the inside of a church, in front of the main alter. These lamps go all the way down the long corridor which can be seen in the first image.

A closer look at the various murals and designs above the altar of the church.

A church and a mosque in one place - Turkey! Check out the Hagia Sophia Pictures which goes one step further. This is not just a place influenced by architectural styles but a place of worship for both religions - a churchmosque which is most of the time a museum.
There are also a lot of pictures of the Sistine Chapel  in Vatican City in Rome on this website.
More related images: Church Silhouettes or Christmas Tree Silhouette

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Cochin Airport Pictures

Cochin (in Kerala, India) airport has a unique stamp of its own. Sprawling buildings which look more like a club if it wasn't for the jet bridges (also called aerobridge, air bridge or passenger boarding bridge) sticking out of the main building.

This image is taken from a window of an aircraft and the wing of the plane is in the foreground. The buildings of Cochin airport are in the background against a deep blue clear sky.

A picture of Cochin airport from the outside. Red cobbled roofs and pink facade. A row of cars crawl towards the main entrance of the airport.

A closer look at the airport building and arriving passengers.

A man rolling a trolley towards the main entrance of Cochin airport.

Related Images: Photos of Chennai Airport or Bangalore Airport Pictures or Goa airport pictures or Mumbai Airport
Or Airport Lounge with people waiting or Airport Baggage carousel or Airport Security Checks
Closeups of airplanes or Aircraft boarding staircase or Airstair with people boarding
Or for all the photographs of airports on this blog (including international airports) try the label "Airport"

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Travelers or Women with bags Silhouettes

A black and white silhouette of a tall, slim young girl with long hair carrying a shoulder bag. She is wearing tight jeans and boots.

Silhouette of a Caucasian woman with a haversack who is walking fast. She is in a hurry!

A silhouette of an Asian woman with her tied up and wearing a suit and high heels. She is carrying a briefcase.

A silhouette of a woman carrying an over night bag and a purse. She has long hair left loose and is wearing a sweat shirt and a pair of jeans.

More: Silhouettes of Women in Uniform or Young Women Walking Silhouettes or you might also like silhouettes of men with bags: Men with luggage or travel trolley bags or try silhouettes of Travelers or men with bags like backpacks.
Or Indian Old Women Silhouettes  or Women in Burkhas - Silhouettes or Wedding couple silhouette
Or try the label "Silhouettes" for silhouettes of more people, places and also of monuments of the world.

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