Close Encounters

Colourful wooden toys are a speciality of the small town of Channapatana, en route from Bangalore to Mysore. The Government has established the Lacquer Ware Craft complex at Channapatana which encompasses workshops where the toys are hand crafted by highly skilled artisans. This complex also houses the Government Urdu Primary school. Oblivious to this fact, I stepped into a room, and was surprised to see several little children squatting on the floor with a writing pad and a pencil each. This school comprised of two rooms. At one corner of the larger of the two rooms was the teacher's desk and at the other was a small kitchen where the mid-day meals were being prepared for the kids most of whom were from very humble backgrounds. Students of classes one, two and three occupied different parts of the same hall with one teacher monitoring all of them. For the teacher, the daily commute is over 150km. She endures the marathon ride in a crowded city bus for this valued 'government job' is a lifeline for her. The faces of these children portrayed a multitude of emotions which were eye-catching. Here is my attempt to capture a few.

Market Place

The Russell Market was set up by the British in 1927. To this day it continues to be the hub for the purchase of vegetables,fruits,flowers,fish and meat in the Cantonment area of Bangalore. It was not a lazy,laid back Sunday morning for the folks at Russell Market which was buzzing with life and energy.Below are a few snapshots from this market.

This is Satish, a rather shy lad who obliged to strike a pose or two.



Roses are red ....



From kiwis to plums, melons to mangoes every possible fruit was avaiable at this store.



The florists were busy setting up the shop in the wee hours of the morning.



Wonder what is running through his mind....



Could not miss the stark colour contrast of the bell peppers!



Busy.Please do not disturb!