This is a nearby park … where my parents goes for their normal walk. i gues when they feel lazy or the weather is not so fine or they have little time -they come to this park. There is a big pond – there they fed the ducks n swans. My mom wanted me to see the fountain (which is in the middle of the pond) as in winter the huge pond freeze and so the fountain doesn’t work. Mostly people come to this park for walking – jogging or to feed the ducks … and off course some are like me – who goes there to enjoy the nature ! There is a stadium next to the park … n when there is any game at the stadium – more people can be seen in the park.

i liked the texture created by the fallen yellow n brown leaves on the green grass.

The structure n architacture of the building is different and unique in Denmark. i have been to Rome – Norway – Switzerland – France … but haven’t seen this sort of architecture – in France i had seen something similar. i will try to explain the design in words : a block of buildings (mostly 3/4 storey buildings) will be arranged or joint together to form a cubical complex – there would be one or two passage to enter the cubical – which is suppose to be the entrance gate for the building complex. As you enters the cubical – you will find a huge open area with bicycle  parking and a park like area where children can play and the adults can have their little outing or get together or little bar-be-que !! And car parking would be benath this area. My  parents stays  in Osterbro and most of the building are of this fashion. There’re normal buildings but very few … and you can recognise it as they will be 8/10 storey high buildings. The benefit of the cubical building complex : good ventilation and each room gets good sun light … even at night these rooms get enough light (from the street lamp) that one can comfortablely sit and chat or do few kitchen stuff. Their street light are different too … can be seen in the photo below – they seem to be hanging in the air – off course with the help of wire.

This is the entrance to the cubical complex. There were two similar entrance at the complex where my parents stay.

This is the open area where children n adults can have fun. There’re swings for the children n behind the fence there is place for bar-be-que n benches … where you can have your get together.

This is the entrance for the building in which my parents apartment is.

These were few buildings … that i captured while going to the semi- lake.

The design n architecture of the buildings are  so different yet has a european feeling.

The pic below is the semi-lake ( semi-lake because i guess it’s man-made).  It was getting dark by the time we reached there. It quite far from my parents house. It took us atleast 40 mins.  by foot and my mom walks very fast  …. and i mean very fast. It would have been a huge lake if it had not been divided in to 3 parts. They are divided by the roads. In winter the lakes  freeze … my mom was saying that they walk on that frozen lake and the locals  ice skate on it.

my mom

Not only their building but their choice of transportation is unique too. People of Denmark use bicycle to go from one place to another … if they’re going to office – to school – for shopping  or going to another state or neighbouring country. Their bus – metro – train or ship (ferry) have the facility to take bicycle on  board  …. so it’s easy for the people to carry it with them to any other place – suppose they want to go to Sweden – they’ll ride their bicycle to the ship port … carry it in the ferry – then get down at Sweden with their bicycle – roam around – park it at the hotel (there’re cycle parking normally everwhere) and then roam around the next day and get back when they finish their tour. Almost 90% of the Denmark people use bicycle as transportation. They have special lanes only for bicycles along the car lanes – in winter they’ll remove ice from bicycle lane first and then clear the car lane – their priotrity are the bicycle users.

They’ve every facilities that are necessary for the bicycle users – even at the lake they have slides for the cycles and steps for the normal people to climb.

Another thing that was surprising was … that if you cross a road from zebra-crossing – you do not have to see your left and right for cars.  Off course you have to watch out for the cycle riders – they’re on the first lane from the footpath …  otherwise you can cross the street without thinking twice – even it the car is coming at 90 km/hr … the car will stop for you. Yes, the people of Denmark are sensible too, they don’t cross road just to have fun !! But be careful – this doesn’t happen where there are street light.

Another thing that was more sad than surprising  was that most of the people have apple trees or pear trees or chreey trees or blueberry bushes at their garden. This is not the sad part – off course … the sad part is that they don’t eat the fruits … they fall on the ground and rot !  They won’t sell neither they’ll eat. i have seen this in Rome too – our landlady had a orange tree …  she didn’t  pluck the orange neither any one else did. So it’s just wasted. In Denmark too it is wasted … no body pluck or eat them – not even those that are fallen on the ground. The above pic. is from the garden at my father’s office !

Visiting a country for few days are not enough to know it or to see it … but the things we saw and learnt was memorious – i meam memorable! We really had a good time – off course meeting our parents was the best thing

It’s been quite a long time that i have been back from Denmark … the trip was really very nice. Went to Osolo (Norway), to Bern  and the surrounding in Switzerland, then to Paris (France) from there, then back to Denmark … and that too in 15 days ! My Parents stays in Copenhagen … i will write about my trip  in detail little by little otherwise things will get little boring – off course not the photos ! i actually have taken tons of photos – n they’re all awesome … just like our stay !!

i love the blue sky through the brown n black twigs … 2nd photo in the Bizarre collection !

Going for a Holiday !

A day or two back i was talking to my friend and her mother. As my friend says “from the day i opened my eyes – i have seen n heard that she has so and so problems … one ends the other starts”. i had to laugh – had no choice as i wanted to ease the situation. They both had a fight. Anyhow – the main issue was (i have to agree too !) that she does have numerous problems. i thought about it and thought hard to find a solution. At first i thought … maybe she is a attention seeker – by always chanting about her problem she wants sympathy from others. i thought about her problems too … and some of them seem to be beyond her control and some health issue which she can solve by consulting the right doctor.

i guess … some problems are created by us and others that are beyond our control – n so in everybody’s life there are countless problems. It actually depend how one hands it. One of my customer who stitch her salwar-kamij from my shop … told me today that her 16 year old daughter had to be operated for appendix. Now she is fine but they really had to go through a rough phase … short but surely hell ! This was a problem that was really beyond her reach. She couldn’t do anything except to go through it. These sort of problems are real problems.

There is another case : where the husband and wife has differences and so rises the problem.  The wife wants to show off her husband’s money – which is not that bad if it’s to a limit. If you spend most of his salary on your relative and do not save for the rainy day then it’s wrong. When the house budget is tight and still you spend unlimitly on unnecessary luxury – it’s not right. These family problems give head and heartache. This husband and wife is on the verge of getting divorce … and it’s fine too – the husband is working with a private firm and earning huge salary – if he gets divorce and then marry someone better, it can make his life simpler. But there is a another problem … they’ve 2 daughter kids and they will be the one who will pay the penalty for their parents deed. Sad ! i kknow … but what to do – life’s full of problems.

Actually everybody’s life is full of problems  and it depends on you – how you handle the sitution. This doesn’t mean if  you’re emotional you won’t be able to solve your problem. For emotional people – they should know one thing … either listen to our heart or listen to our head – they shouldn’t fellow both. Be on one side and firmly stick to it … n believe me life will be much easier n BEAUTIFUL !!

i really do not have a solution for those who got married to the wrong person. Have heard many incident where the husband n wife do not get along even though they have huge amount of money to spend on themselves  – some say money can people happiness … so it is NOT true – money can’t buy happiness ! If i say it this way : “money can help u buy happiness “- then i gues it won’t sound every wrong. See if someone met with an accident … money can definately help them out from that bad situation n bring happiness in form of – back to normal health. But i guess i wasn’t talking about “money” … it is about problems in life n it’s a endless topic. i can write about it the whole night without getting to any conclusion – so it’s better i stop right now.

i won’t repeat what everyone says : life is short , live in today, life is beautiful be happy … and so on !!

Many pillared “Diwan-i-am” (Hall of Public Audience). It was built by Shah Jahan in 1628.

So here’s few things about Agra Fort’s history : Agra Fort also known as Red Fort of Agra. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site declared in 1983. It was origanally built with brick and was known as “Badalgarh” – it was then held by the Chauhan Rajputs. It was first mentioned when the Ghaznavide force captured it.

Sikandar Lodhi (was then the Sultan of Delhi) was the first ruler to shift to Agra from Delhi – he lived and ruled the country from here. His son Ibrahim Lodi held the fort for 9 years till he was defeated by the Mugals at the first Panipat war in 1526. The mugals (Babur – to be specific) captured the fort and its treasure including the famous “Koh-i-Noor”  diamond. Humayun (Babur’s son) was crowned here in 1530 – but was later defeated by Sher Shah. In 1556 … the 2nd Panipat war was fought and Sher Shah was defeated – the fort was again captured by the Mugals.

Akbar made it his capital and rebuilt it with red sandstone, so it was built with bricks in the inner core and with sandstone on the external surfaces. This could be best seen in the pic. below.

On ground floor behind those red sandstone arch … those rooms were built by bricks. It was the original “Badalgarh”. In Akbar’s region – he rebuilt arch and pillars with red sandstones. In Shah Jahan’s region – he built the above hall in marble. Three very different phase of changes that the Agra Fort had gone through.

This is Musamman Burj …. Akbar’s grandson Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb in this place. From here he could see the Taj Mahal where his wife (Mumtaz mahal) was buried. Shah Jahan spent last 7 years of his life here.

Marble window … one of the finest work of Mugals time – n off course one of my favorite too.

Two different capillary like pattern on red sandstone …. these could be seen all over the fort which is built in red sandstone – i.e. at Akbar’s region.

These were the marble pillar of “Diwan-i-am” .

We were told by the tourist guide ….  that emperor Akbar used to bath in this huge cup-like bath tub.

This is one of the gate of Agra fort …. mainly after seen the whole place people come out of this gate.

Planning to a start a new theme … “Bizarre photos” on Saturdays – all those photos which doesn’t really make much sense on its first look.  Like this one – it is mango trees shadow  falling on mud ground. Place: Amulia near Berachapa – North parganas 24 – West Bengal.

It’s one of the ghat on the “holy” river Ganga … but looking at it – it doesn’t really look like holy (atleast not any more).  Just look at the colour of the water  …. it’s mud colour – n still people are bathing and washing their clothes. It seems useless to clean one self or clothes in this dirty water …. those body or clothes might be much cleaner than the river water. Actually this is not a temple ghat and people who live near these ghats bath here …. i guess mostly workers. These worker – they live in rather very poor condition … i guess for them surviving in todays circumstance is a greater challenge. But on the other hand i have seen the “well off” people take bath at a normal ghat … so is it really their emotional attachment to this holy river or they do not really care in which water they’re dipping in !! In my personal opinion i wouldn’t get in that water … if i have to feel all that holistic – i would rather go to Rishikesh or somewhere above on the same route. i was watching a program on Discovery Channel on the river Ganga … n they say the holy water starts to get polluted from Haridwar. So the “Mother Ganga” who is to clean people’s impurity is now impure itself. Off course we (spl. notherindian) are at fault including the government … they (govt.) should impose strike rules on industry and public – not to misuse it ! By the time … the polluted water reachs West Bengal … it looks like this. No wonder my mother says when she was young … the colour of this river Ganga was different – much cleaner n clear. With time things can go worse or turn towards betterment …in this “Go Green” period -  i guess the futur of this holy river doesn’t seem to get better or cleaner – sad !

or the moment when black clouds cover the sky …. through the open window cool wind whisper softly  in my hair … the first monsoon rain – children enjoying the rain shower – the rain drop dripping from the leaves – the bird ruffle its feathers to blow off the rain of her feather in a dry shade – the freshness the greenery the wetness that is left behind after the rain is gone.

or on a burning hot summer day …  i have no choice but to finish my pending work – as i struggle through my work …  get drenched in sweat – a glass of chilled “aampana” may rescue me from dehydration but certainly a big bowel of “butter scott” icecream will definately be a beautiful thing … which for me taste heaven !!

or on a full moon night … we walk beneath the trees and moonlight peeps through the branches and play hide and seek ! Even on a moonless night …. far away from the city – we lay on the rooftop – looking at coutless twinkling stars – lazy warm breeze passing over us now and then. Moon or moonless both side of the coin is beautiful.

or on an autumn day … i sit near the open window – sunrays touches you softly – in the crystal blue sky white puffy clouds floats around – they seem to change shape from an elephant to a ship to a castle. “Durga puja” is around the corner – the thought puts a  smile on my face and a beautiful feeling with in.

or sitting on the rooftop before dawn … copper-orange color brightens the eastern sky – parrots in flock flys over my head and in a minute vanishs towards the south western sky. Enjoying the sound of nature as i can hear a peacock cry out to tell that a fresh new day is ready to embrace me … i get lost in the nature and the whole atmosphere seems to be beautiful.

Laying in bed … quite late at night – listening to Gulam Ali’s gazal “Zindagi se yehi gila hai mujhe … tu bohut dar se milla hai mujhe” . Thinking what to post next in my blog – why not write somethings which cheers me the minute i think of it … Moments that make my life Beautiful !!

p.s  i haven’t changed the “facebook” link … if u click on the facebook icon … raycreationsindia facebook ac will appear – i asked my brother how to change it and link it to my fb ac but he seems to be busy all the time : not now mani – i have to send an email or i m watching this movie it very interesting or i m sleeping or i m cooking or …… and the list goes on !!  — so don’t know how long i have to wait till i can change it to my ac – till then click fb icon only if you are interested in making an web site or use interesitng and creative template ….. sounds like i m promoting my brother’s business but sorry didn’t mean that way !