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The festival season is officially here, and needless to say the photographers are gearing up for a busy time ahead. One of the most widely celebrated festivals, the Dussehra, is almost here and it offers endless opportunities for us. While in most of North India, the festival is celebrated over 9 days, culminating in the 10th day when the giant effigies of Raavan, Meghnaad, and Kumbhkarn are burnt, Kullu likes to do things slightly differently. Their Dussehra starts on Vijay Dashami when the other Dessehras end, and continues for 7 days. Though I have never witnessed the procession myself, I have heard it is incredible.
Dussehra is also celebrated in Central and South India. While in some parts of Andhra Pradesh, the celebrations are similar to the ones in North, most of the South India celebrates Vijay Dashami to honour Goddess Chamundeshwari, another name for Goddess Durga. East India organizes Grand Durga Pujos during this season and the pandals are not only a photographer's delight, they are also the ideal place for foodies, as some host kiosks that offer authentic Bengali cuisine.
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In fact celebrations during this time transcend the boundaries of India. Thailand celebrates a similar festival called Tesagan Gin Je, or the Vegetarian Festival, during which they abstain from eating non-vegetarian food, and take out processions. Some of them perform extreme body piercing and it is said that they don't feel any pain during the process. It is definitely something worth photographing as long as you don't have a weak heart. Some of these sights can be very upsetting.
The month offers many more photography opportunities with Diwali and festivals like Bhai Dooj. However, one of the most popular events for photographers, the Pushkar Mela starts at the end of October. We are sure most of our photographers are already geared up for the month ahead. Hope to run into some of you at these events.
Anyway, talking of the month of September, we saw some stellar guest posts as always.
This month we saw contributions from two new guest writers. Shankar's excellently written five part series about his many treks up several magnificent mountains was very well received. Even though Shankar is well into his middle age, he is as enthusiastic as a child about trekking. Photo Journey salutes his spirit. If you haven't read his series yet, we suggest you do so soon. We are sure you will be as inspired by his experiences as we were. Here is the link to the Part 1 of the post.
SEVEN BADRIS, FIVE KEDARS AND FIVE PRAYAGS - By Shankar Rajaram
Also writing for us for the first time is Ritu Bajaj, and she takes us on a visual as well as informative tour of the Craft Museum, Delhi. Her fluid prose and keen observations result in a post that is a pleasure to read and is likely to stay with us for a long time. Welcome Ritu. Hope to read more such posts from you.
A day in Milieu of Art And Culture - by Ritu Bajaj
The second series of the month came from our fellow photographer, Sumit Sond. It is a soulful narrative of a journey two brothers embarked upon crossing the challenging mountains of Kinnaur and Spiti. It was a journey that helped them push their boundaries and understand themselves better. Do give their experience a read, it will move you and inspire you. Carving the bikers' trail through Spiti and Kinnaur in Himalayas || NH-22 point to point - by Sumit Sond
Bhavna Negi is back with another beautiful post. And this post is extremely special because this experience was a part of her honeymoon. That is right, our Bhavna Negi has recently got hitched. All our blessings are with her for this new adventure in her life. Knowing her, she is going to totally own this one as well.
This month Photo Journey was invited to an event organized by Kunzum Travel Cafe to give away the photography awards from the Thailand Photo Contest. It was a pleasure to meet several photographers and fellow bloggers there. We also met officials from the Tourism Authority of Thailand at the event.
Photo Journey was privileged to cover the Flash Fiction Writing Workshop conducted by our editorial partner Literature Studio at IIT Delhi Literature Festival, Literati 2014. Not only did we cover the event, we picked up some writing tips and tricks. And we are planning to explore "Creative Writing" more in depth. Here is a link to our write-up for the event. Flash Fiction workshop by Literature Studio
This month's star was however our Maut ka Kuan post, which got a great response and was viewed by a lot of followers outside India. We hope to present more such posts to you in the coming months too.
And to conclude, here are some stats that we will aim to beat next month:
Total number of stories in July 2014: 26
Total number of page views till date: 23,40,000 +
Total number of page views in July 2014: 85,976
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