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Showing posts from February 19, 2010


Gulal Gota for Holi Festival Celebrations – Eco-Friendly Holi

Gulal Gota, in the shape of ball, is made using lac and is filled with eco-friendly Arrorate Gulal. This is used to play with colors during Holi festival celebrations especially in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The lac art is an ancient tradition and its roots are traced to the Mahabharata – the famous lac palace created by Kauravas for Pandavas. In another instance Draupadi calls Duryodhana a blind as he could not differentiate between real fruit and lac-made resembling artifacts. The gulal gota for holi festival is made of kusum lac, a high-quality resin product obtained from a tree, which is molded in various shapes mostly small rounded bowls. These bowls are filled with the arrarote gulal, also a eco-friendly colour powder obtained from herbal product and sealed to the perfection. The lac-made gulal gota is very tender and bursts when it is thrown. Gulal Gota is exclusively made by the Maniyar artisan. They were brought to Jaipur in Rajasthan by Maharaja Jai Singh and were settled in

Haridwar Kumbha Mela 2010 Photos – Slide Show

Western media is always desperate to capture the photos of Naga Sadhus – whom they describe as naked Hindu holy man. But for Haridwar Kumbha Mela 2010 the administration had made it strict that no photographers will be allowed in the important bathing ghats in Haridwar where Naga Sadhu Babas will be performing rituals and taking the holy dip during Kumbh Mela. The San Francisco Chronicle has published a beautiful 13-photo slideshow of the Maha Kumbh Mela 2010 that is happening in Haridwar , India . The focus here too is on the Naga Sadhus but the photographs captures the mood the mela. You can view the slide show provided by San Francisco Chronicle here . You may like to read about Naga Sadhus