Don’t remember much about this except that it was taken in Aachen, Germany.

Evening time at the locally famous, as well as, historic Hussain Sagar (a man-made lake) in Hyderabad, India. This shot was taken from the side of the (appropriately named) Necklace Road.

Shot in Amsterdam while waiting for my Boat Ride.

A fortuitous shot taken while roaming around in Brussels, next to the Royal Museum of Arts.

Another shot where I was trying something else and got something unexpected…if I remember correctly I think I was trying to capture the chiaroscuro like effect of the light in the leaves. But once I got back the film from the lab I realized that I had got something different; the sky like a river. Here is [something](http://arthedains.com/blog/2005/06/01/sky-river/trackback/ “Sky River”)I had written to go with this pic on my blog.

An art piece in front of the new Town Hall in Mainz, Germany. Very interesting form.

A petition seeking dissolution of so-called parallel Islamic Courts has been filed in the Supreme Court of India, resulting in the apex court issuing notices to the Center, All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Islamic seminary Darul Uloom, and the High Courts of various states.

If this establishment of the parallel religious courts turns out to be true then why not throw open the gauntlet to others? Let us flush our constitution down the toilet. We can give the Sringeri Mat similar legal hold over Hindus and the Church over the Christians. Let us integrate religion into the State. What fun that will be!

Hindus will be banned from eating beef. Reservations will be abolished and the Brahmins will rule again. Abortion will be illegal for Christians. Women, in general, will become second-class citizens. Now, let us all contemplate this brave new world in quiet and peace.

From the very first roll shot on my (then new) Minolta Dynax 5. This pic will always be close to my heart! (More than the normal post-processing done on this, used a diffuse glow filter)

Siddarth Varadarajan has done a nice interview of Amartya Sen for The Hindu: Magazine about his new book, The Argumentative Indian. In the interview Prof. Sen talks about how India has had a long tradition of secularism and democracy and how “…these have tended to be blotted out, because we often trace these ideas, which are seen as Western, to the manifest presence of the British. My book, to some extent, counteracts this.” He also points out the need for greater public discussion of economic policies and how employment guarantees could be used to reduce poverty. He counters the argument that China is a threat to India and instead illustrates how engaging China is better than containing it. You can read the complete interview here.

For once here is someone who talks about the true tradition and heritage of India in an objective manner and is aiming to counter the Hindutva propaganda in the best way possible. He does not have the cynicism of a Naipaul nor does he give in to jingoistic nationalism. His arguments are level-headed, objective and logical. I, for one, am eagerly awaiting the wider release of this book.

The third and final image in the series.