Just About Everything

A Baul song in progress at the Baul Fakir Utsav 2018, Jadavpur In continuation with my earlier post on Baul Music Festival 2018 ,  here is another powerful and spiritual video from the Baul music festival held in Shaktigarh, Jadavpur, Kolkata in January 2018. The Baul are a group of mystic minstrels from Bengal which includes Indian State of West Bengal and the country of Bangladesh. Bauls constitute both a syncretic religious sect and a musical tradition. Bauls are a very heterogeneous group, with many sects, but their membership mainly consists of Vaishnava Hindus and Sufi Muslims. (From Wikipedia )

Baul perfomance at Jadavpur baul fakir utsav January is a month that I keenly wait for, not just because it is new year, but because of my favourite music festival, Baul fakir Utsav (baul mela) which happens every year mostly in the 1st or 2nd weekend of January in the Shaktigarh area of Jadvapur, Kolkata. This year was as amazing as every year. Heard some amazing baul performers, each one bringing amazingly beautiful and soulful songs. I am sharing a couple of Baul music videos in this post and in my next post. Like this? You may want to check out the  Baul music festival 2017  as well.

White-bellied blue flycatcher A very happy new year 2018! May this new year bring you love, joy, good health,  more wisdom, peace, magic, the courage to speak your truth, to hold your head high, and see your dreams fulfilled. Just like our feathered friends, wouldn't it be nice to free ourselves of worry and fear and soar higher and higher.... I am sharing pictures of these beautiful birds that are endemic to India. Out of 1266 species of birds in India, 61 are endemic to India (from wikipedia).These pictures are courtesy Soma Jha. Grey Junglefowl-female Grey Junglefowl-male Kerala Laughing Thrush Malabar Whistling Thrush Malabar Grey Hornbill Malabar Parakeet Nilgiri Flycatcher Nilgiri Wood Pigeon

Merry Christmas!  Wish you a very-very happy Christmas, and a wonderful  year ahead; a year filled with love and joy. On the occasion of Christmas, I thought of sharing some pictures that are very relevant for this day. These pictures are courtesy Soma Jha. The Church of Annunciation in the city of Nazareth (in northern Israel) is where Mother Mary lived. This is where the angel Gabriel appeared before Mother Mary to give her the message that she would conceive a child who would grow up to change the world. This church is built over a house from before Jesus was born. It is believed that this is the house where Gabriel appeared before Mother Mary. The Church of Annunciation in the city of Nazareth Mother Mary's house Church of Nativity , Bethlehem (Palestine) is where Jesus was born.Mother Mary(who had already conceived Jesus) and Joseph travelled from Nazareth to Jerusalem (a census had been declared and Joseph had to register his name at Jeru...

When I picked up today’s newspaper, it did not say anything unusual, it was pretty much in line with what I read almost every day…killings, rapes, starvation, poverty, global warming,…. From TOI Kolkata, Dec 10, 2017 Some of the news that we come across may cause us a momentary disturbance, unhappiness, and may even cause some of us to squirm… but we forget about the news as soon as put down the paper, and move on with our lives... By now we seem to have grown a thick skin, and nothing seems to matter as long as we think it does not impact us. Does it truly not impact us? Can we progress without considering the needs of everyone around us? And where are we moving? Are we moving forward, or backward? Should we call ourselves a civilised society or a primitive one? Should we call ourselves advanced just because we have made some technological advancements? What about advancement of humanity?

Tufted Gray Langurs Sri Lanka In continuation to my earlier post on the Birds of Sri Lanka , this post has pictures of Monkeys of Sri Lanka. There are some species of monkeys that are endemic to Sri Lanka. The Purple-faced Langur (also known as the purple-faced leaf monkey), and the Toque Macaque  are endemic to Sri Lanka, and was spotted by Soma. She also spotted the Tufted Gray Langur, also known as Madras Gray Langur. They are not endemic to Sri Lanka, and are found in South-East India and Sri Lanka. Purple-faced leaf monkey Sri Lanka Purple-faced leaf monkey Toque Macaque Sri Lanka Toque Macaques Tufted Gray Langur

Sri Lanka Junglefowl-National Bird of Sri Lanka I am going to take a break between posting popular durga puja pandals...and share  birds of Sri Lanka in this post. These are beautiful birds and even more exciting because many of the birds found in Sri Lanka are endemic, and not found anywhere else. Out of a total of 482 birds in Sri Lanka, 34 are endemic species and are typically found in forest reserves such as Sinharaja NP, Kitulgala rain forest, etc. For bird watchers Sri Lanka is an exciting destination because of the possibility of sighting endemic birds. During her recent trip Soma Jha sighted a number of birds, out of which a few are endemic to Sri Lanka. These pictures have been taken by her. Brown-capped babbler Chestnut-backed owlet Layard's parakeet Orange-billed babbler Red-backed flameback Red-faced Malkoha Sri Lanka  Scimitar babbler Sri Lanka blue Magpie Sri Lanka white-eye ...