City - Gangasagar State - WEST BENGAL Country - India
About
Gangasagar Mela is the largest fair celebrated in West Bengal, India. Makar Sankranti is celebrated in the last day of the Bengali month of Poush. In Bengal, this day is one of the most auspicious day of the year. Thousands of pilgrims from different parts of the country gather at Gangasagar, the point where the holy river Ganges meets the sea, to take a dip and wash away all the earthly sins. Makar Sankranti falls on the day of the year when the sun-considered the king of all grahas (planets)-is in the rashi (zodiac sign) known as Makar (Capricorn). This is considered the most beneficial and auspicious zodiac of the sun. The calculations for determining Makar Sankranti are done according to the solar calendar. Therefore, Makar Sankranti always falls on the 14th January according to the English calendar. It is usually the month of Magh of the Hindu calendar, the 'Tithi' or the position of the moon keeps shifting because of the difference in calculations.
KIRTAN is call-and-response chanting performed in India's devotional traditions. A person performing kirtan is known as a kirtankar. Kirtan practice involves chanting hymns or mantras to the accompaniment of instruments such as the harmonium(not in picture), the two-headed mridanga . Khol or pakawaj drum, and karatal hand cymbals. It is a major practice in Vaisnava devotionalism, In this particular photograph we can see two devotees playing kartal while a man is busy with his Khol In the middle. The beautiful expressions and gestures of the ‘kirtankars’, the sky and above all the nice reflection have added an extra dimension to this picture. Apratim, this is a very beautiful work indeed. I liked the processing also! Many many Congratulations!!
Simply fantastic shot, particularly because of the nice reflections. Congratulations on a very well done image. For the caption though, I think A Music Party or something like that would have been more appropriate. The light setting looks just right, but if you want to use a free (yet excellent) monitor calibration software, use quickgamma.com ./ suvro@suvro.com
0 
{K:22477} 3/8/2010
