Balloons on Sale at India Gate, New Delhi

Balloons on Sale at India Gate, New Delhi, originally uploaded by Captain Suresh.

© Capt Suresh Sharma. All Rights Reserved

India Gate is a war memorial, built in the memory of 90,00 soldiers who laid down their lives during World War-I. Located at Rajpath, India Gate is 42 m high and is popular relaxation area during the summer evenings. India Gate also a popular picnic spot. Also known as the All India War Memorial, India Gate was designed and constructed by Lutyens, who considered the chief proclaimer in designing the New Delhi plans.

Whenever I camp at 5D (Mr Koshy’s www.flickr.com/photos/kkoshy/ residence no.) at Delhi, while in transit, I visit India Gate for photography. It’s great place to watch life rolling in colours and people from all over the world, it makes it a great place for photography.

Camel Traders' Campfire at Dusk, Pushkar, India

Camel Traders' Campfire at Dusk, Pushkar, India, originally uploaded by Captain Suresh.

After trading for the whole day, camel traders settle for the night around campfire, after finishing their early dinner. Its great spending time around them and talking. Indian culture is so diverse that even those Indians who descend at Pushkar as photo-tourists, get a cultural shock.

This shot was the last shot of the day. This time, I did not do much photography at Pushkar.

Camel Owner Coaxing his Camel to Drink cold Water. Sunrise

Camel Owner Coaxing his Camel to Drink cold Water. Sunrise, originally uploaded by Captain Suresh.

One day, I decided to sip tea at the make shift tea-stall on the sand dune and stay around the water point. This camel owner came very early with his camel to the water point, but camel was quite reluctant to drink at this time, may be it was cold water. It was so much fun watching the duo talk, camel owner was trying to talk to his camel to convince him water for drinking water. But camel replied `fffffuuuuurrr' ........ And camel did not drink. But I thanked to both for giving me an opportunity to shoot, I invited him for tea. It was nice chatting with the owner, over a cup of tea.

Watermarking: I have started doing this recently. Theft of images is rampant and people are getting shameless and bolder for stealing images from Flickr. I am sorry for spoiling the view of my images.

NO CROPPING NOTES, PLEASE. I will be forced to delete.

Ceremonial Dress

Since Jan 2007, I have been working on a coffee table book, which was commissioned by the Indian Army Chief, Gen JJ Singh. I was delighted to accept the offer. I got to travel places and met old army colleagues and friends, who were not traceable after the passing out parade from Officers Training Academy, Chenni, Aug 1984. I enjoyed rigorous shooting sessions, it was like working on a special forces mission. I had opportunities to visit Rashtrapati Bhawan (President House) for numerous photo sessions with soldiers. One day, I selected these two soldiers, dressed in their ceremonial dress, who are stick orderlies of the Army Chief, for portrait session. In the image, left side is Johny of Maratha Light Infantry and on the right Naik Yogendra Kumar of the Guards.

The book INDIAN ARMY - An Illustrated Overview, is scheduled to be released by the Defence Minister of India on the 26th Sep 2007 at New Delhi.