Sunday, May 27, 2012

Photo Hunt - Creative and Famous Places

Sandi's Saturday Photo Hunt - Creative   
Gattina's Photo Hunting - Famous Places

India - Taj Mahal painted by my daughter
New Zealand - Kiwi sketched by my son



New York - Statue of Liberty taken from the Staten Island Ferry




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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Thursday Challenge - Music

This week's  Thursday Challenge  is Music - Musical Instruments, Live Music, Sheet Music, CDs. iPods, Music Players ...

Here is a picture of a flute vendor in India - taken some years ago on a visit there.






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Focus on this - Flowers

Here are some flowers from my garden.







Linking to Blogging for Fun - Focus on this


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Sunday, May 20, 2012

Photo Hunt - Magical and City Hall

Sandi's Photo Hunt - Magical

Magic Kingdom Disney World popped into my head as soon as I saw this prompt ...

So here is Cinderella's Castle - truly magical.




Gattina's Photo Hunting - City Hall

I "hunted" through my collection for a picture of the Wellington Town Hall but no luck - will have to drop by that way one of these days and take a pic.

So instead here is a glimpse of the Auckland Town Hall taken on one of my visits there.




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Saturday, May 19, 2012

FMTSO - Gates and Fences

This week's prompt at Friday My Town Shoot Out is "Gates and Fences"

So here's mine.


A good neighbour is a fellow who smiles at you over the back fence, but doesn't climb over it. ~ Arthur Baer 



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Friday, May 18, 2012

Thursday Challenge - My Grandmother

This week's prompt for the  Thursday Challenge is Mother -  Grandmother, Mom, Animal Mother, Mother with Children ....

I thought about this a lot as I am an extremely private person and loading up the internet with pictures about my family somehow makes me uncomfortable.

But I was privileged to have the most awesome grandmother and will therefore give you a peek into my family.

My grandmother was kind and very compassionate, soft spoken, cultured, humble, gentle but very strong. She lived her life according to the precepts of the Bhagvad Gita (holy book of the Hindus). My uncle picked a very appropriate verse from the Gita that sums up her character and approach to life: "He who hates no creature, who is friendly and compassionate to all, who is free from attachment and egoism, balanced in pleasure and pain and forgiving".

She dedicated her life to humanitarian work particularly in the upliftment of underprivileged women and children. She was a founder member and Chariman of the Bhagini Samaj an organisation supporting the underprivileged particularly in Gujarat, India.

She was very active in the "Quit India" movement alongside Mahatma Gandhi. She was imprisoned by the British during this movement and eventually classified as a freedom fighter.

She was a member of parliament in the first Lok Sabha (House of Commons) after Independence. During her tenure in parliament she introduced and supported the Anti Dowri Bill, The Adoption of Children Bill, Bills for women's right to divorce and the supression of immoral traffic in women.

She was also made an honorary Magistrate and Justice of Peace and was also one of the first women in India to graduate from University.

In 1980 she was awarded the prestigious Jamnalal Bajaj Janki Devi Award for her outstanding contribution to humanitarian services by the then Prime Minister of India, the late Smt Indira Gandhi. She was the first recipient of this award. She always maintained that no award was required as this was God's work that she did with pleasure. And she promptly donated her entire award money (a very substantial amount back then) to charity.

She worked tirelessly for the upliftment of women and children right to the end of her life and shortly before her death, she started a new project of adopting villages a UNICEF approved programme.

When she passed away at the age of 90 she had less than $10 in her bank account yet she was the richest person I have ever known ... rich in culture, love, kindness and generosity of spirit. She lived a very simple but comfortable life - the Universe simply provided for her.

This definition of success sums up her life: "To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a little better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition, to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is the meaning of success".

Whenever I think of her, these lines of a devotional song come to mind for this is how she lived her life: "Let my heart reflect Thy light Lord as the moon reflects the light of the sun in love, always in love".

I am so honoured and privileged to have had her as my grandmother. She left us (her family) such a rich heritage.

And in her memory I carry on her work by sponsoring children through World Vision and UNICEF. I have 5 beautiful sponsored children - 2 from Bangladesh, 1 from Tanzania, 1 from Cambodia and 1 from the Honduras. I am also a global parent through UNICEF.

Someday I hope to actively participate in humanitarian aid work - I believe I have a lot more to learn before that happens and in the meantime the Universe leads me slowly but surely along the path that will get me there.


                 receiving her award                    my grandmother and me - circa 1962



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Sunday, May 13, 2012

Photo Hunt - Scoop and Children


Sandi's Saturday Photo Hunt - Scoop

So I thought nothing could be more difficult than Zap. How wrong was I - SCOOP? Oh Lord. I couldn't find a single picture for scoop. And then as I walked through the supermarket aisles about 2 hours ago there it was ...




Gattina's Saturday Photo Hunting - Children

My kids refuse to have their photos displayed so instead here are some children I found tucked away in other pics.

at the Te Papa, Museum of New Zealand in Wellington

playing on the beach at Oriental Bay, Wellington


playing at Frank Kitts Park, Wellington waterfront




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Saturday, May 12, 2012

FMTSO - Silhouette

The prompt this week at Friday My Town Shoot Out is Silhouette

I love the hills around my place and somedays, the sunsets are beautiful.

So here are some pics - silhouettes of the hills against a sunset sky. These are taken from my lounge.





Check out some more Silhouettes at FMTSO


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Friday, May 11, 2012

Focus on this - Door Knobs, Handles, Latches

A new meme ... Focus on this 

And the topic this week is door knobs, handles and latches.

So here's my pic. Taken in Gujarat, India some years ago.





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Thursday, May 10, 2012

Thursday Challenge - Style

Thursday Challenge - Style

Hair, Makeup, Perfume bottles, Mirrors, Formal Wear, Dresses ....

So here is a very "stylish" or ornate mirror at Hunters Winery in Blenheim, New Zealand.






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Sunday, May 6, 2012

Thursday Challenge - Tools

This week's prompt at Thursday Challenge is Tools

 So here's a picture taken at the Cadbury Factory in Dundedin, New Zealand.

"Tools" to make Chocolate





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Saturday, May 5, 2012

Sandi's Photo Hunt - Zap

Sandi's Saturday Photo Hunt - Zap

My first thoughts were Zap - oh no what kind of topic is that?  And then  Zap I found some pics from my archives.

So here is a "Churi Dharwalla" - a person who sharpens knives (Churi = knife  Dhar = kinfe edge) in Bombay (Mumbai), India.






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Gattina's Photo Hunting - Advertising

 Gattina's Photo Hunt - Advertising

Advertising in Bombay (Mumbai), India. This is a great place to capture advertising as there are billboards everywhere. Here are some pics I took on my various visits to Bombay.







And here are some pics from Wellington, New Zealand

at the Te Papa


at Oriental Bay

Frank Kitts Park


Yep, we see some fun things now and then


In case you're wondering what happened to the ABC Wednesday series, I decided to stop it through this blog. As I'm also posting through my Someday Somewhere blog, I thought I'd give some more time to other linky's. But please do check out my ABC entries at Someday Somewhere where I'm doing a music round. It's a lot of fun.

And last but not least, check out my entry for Sandi's Photo Hunt - Zap 


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