Elephanta caves - 2

Elephanta caves - 1, Mumbai-Arabian sea

In flight

Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in Pune district is the world's largest radio telescope array and an ingenious project. It consists 30 fully steerable parabolic dishes of 45 meter diameter each. GMRT's goals include studying the early phase of the universe and search for rapidly rotating pulsars in the Milky Way.

One of the largest aboriginal tribes of India, Santals made their presence known in the year 1855 when revolted against the then British govt.

150 years down the line, their villages are still to be connected with electricity and proper roads. Primary education is available but poverty leads to a high number of school dropouts. Seen here are some children in blue pants (a part of their school uniform) playing with a merry-go-round.

On the way to a santal village.

'Jaher', the worshiping place of santals. Like most of the tribes worldwide, santals too are basically nature-worshipers. Jaher is just a small place in the lap of mother nature where people offer their prayers to the spirit of mountains (Marang Buru).

The fairly new state Jharkhand is said to have gotten its name from Jaher-khand, with major population of santals and oraon tribes.

Santal girls in traditional sarees

This is my native home, a typical santal house with high verandas, roofed with straw.