Kingfisher

A small body of water and the surrounding tall grasses attract several birds, including this bright kingfisher. The region, near Delhi, India, is a protected wetland and several species of migratory birds can be found here every winter.

Lamp

A lamp illuminates an outdoor path in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India.

Beneath My Feet

The place where you walk is not given much attention. After all, why would it be? It is normally just a plain, simple, drab cemented path. It has no distinguishing features, and nothing that draws people towards it. The only purpose it serves is to support your legs as your walk or run.

Many times, however, the place where you walk can be as interesting, if not more, than the destination you are waling towards. Of course, most cities have primarily cemented and paved pathways, so naturally they are low on character. However, many times, the flooring and paving of places is given as much thought and importance as the place. Good examples of this are places of worship. If you have ever noticed, these places, irrespective of their faith, have ornate flooring, made using mosaic, carving or fine stonework. Natural areas like gardens also often house paths made with the aesthetic aspect in mind.

In this photograph, taken at Hellbrunn Palace in Salzburg, Austria, there are two distinct areas. One is the grass, and the other is the gravelled path. The path, though created artificially, is not as crude as a road. It still has some character.

(Entered in the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenges: “Opposites“, “Beneath Your Feet“)

Bamboo

The harsh cold had wiped out all the greenery in a group of  northern Chinese villages. Snow lay fallen wherever the eye looked and people could scarcely be seen leaving the comfort of their homes. But for the occasional smoke from a chimney, there were no signs of any life. As harsh as it was, that winter too eventually passed. And like every year, the winter gave way to the warmth and beauty of the spring. Life was breathed back into the region. The ground thawed, flowers blossomed, and the area started recovering its greenery. Bamboo forests that had lain dormant and freezing for months shook of their white coats and started growing again. Bamboo was a symbol of prosperity and well-being and its reemergence from the snow was taken as a sign of good fortune by the people of the area.

The central stalk of bamboo in the photograph was around 35 feet in height and 15 centimeters in diameter. That may not seem like much, but one must remember that bamboo is not a tree, it is a grass. In fact, Giant Bamboo is the tallest known grass in the world. The largest stalks, found in Asia, have been known to grow as tall as 100 feet and as wide as 30 centimeters.

(Entered in The Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenges: “Depth” and “Vivid“)

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