This picture was clicked at a Orchid exhibition, Gangtok, Sikkim, India. But this isnt an orchid --- any idea what plant/flower this is? My new camera is really making me learn some more about the flora around me ...

Daffodils

The Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

---------William Wordsworth

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
lass: Liliopsida
Order: Liliales
Family: Liliaceae
Genus: Lilium

The Star and the Wheel...

Two sides of a barbed wire......................

DIY Chinese

Some quick chinese tips on the way to nathu-la. In case you want to hop over the border or in case they decide to do so ... I wonder if any one ever used the tips on the board. And, is there a corresponding board across the border? What do they teach ? Hindi? Nepali? Tibetan? Bhutia? Lepcha? If you know, do let me know...

wheat fields forever

Ready for harvest ... pic from the fields near Ramnagar, Uttranchal, India.

Datura

In most parts of India, Datura grows as a wasteland weed though it is also cultivated in some parts. This picture was taken in the buffer zone of the Jim Cobett National Park. The word Datura probably comes from Hindi dhatūrā (thorn apple). The highest species diversity of the plant occurs in Mexico. Datura contains the alkaloids scopolamine and atropine and has long been used as a poison and hallucinogen. The seed is also considered to have a strong aphrodisiac effects.

A really lazy desi is back ...

One year and one new camera later ...

I dont believe it!!!! It has been one year since my last post --- am getting even lazier than i thought i was!!!! Achievement indeed!!! The past year hasnt been particularly taxing, tiring or stressing. Its included an average number of holidays, a unusually low number of photos, and extremely long hours spent in trains!!! I guess not much incentive for taking snaps ... The last month in contrast was spent fully holidaying in the incredible land ... here are some of my latest pictures on a FX07....
In between Changu lake and Nathu-la ... It was a misty and cold day with showers later in the day. But the view was breathtaking and breathing not so easy... The picture is of the Twin lakes - one is completely frozen and the other completely melted! Since the two lakes dont appear to be connected, the systems are independent and therefore the existance of the two phases fully possible, but still a wonder by itself!