Nilanjan Chaudhuri

The joyous pursuit & pure experience of interestingness. Collecting stories. And the bon mot. Marketing good marketing.

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

Those blissed-out eyes
That indescribable smile
The sharp features on a lush face
Isn't he beautiful?

A #Chola classic
Poetry in granite
Anandatandava

Nataraja ~1020-30AD
Gangaikondacholeesvaram #temple, garbagrha S wall W corner
GKCpuram

#art #dance #history #jewelry #travel

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

Linnaeus named its family Papilionidae (papilio = Lat. butterfly)

Commonly swallowtails for the prong on hindwing

They’re large in size & hold the world’s largest butterflies

Tailed jay, Graphium agamemnon
Jakkur Kere
Jul'22

#throwback #lifer #butterfliesofindia #nature

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

It's common/Hindi name nilgai: neel = blue + gai = cow, but it's an antelope

As big as cattle fully grown, the largest antelopes in Asia 

Nilgai, Boselaphus tragocamelus
1. male, Gir; 2. female, Gir; 3. female, Bharatpur w/ a graylag
Jun'22, Jan'23
#animalsofindia #indiaves

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

And then there were 2

Or 1

Or less: Only part of a wing

No wonder it'd come indoors, away from the violent world

It’s a gossamer-wing Lycaenid too

Red pierrot, Talicada nyseus
Kodihalli
Sep'23

#butterfliesofindia #nature #citylife #indiaves #TitliTuesdays

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

A “brahminy” w distinct white head on reddish-brown body

Name continues w caste connotations still? Also shankha (conch shell) cheel in Bengali/Odiya. For the cheel's white head?

How we name things!

Brahminy kite, Haliastur indus
Jakkur Kere
Jul'22

#birdsofindia #indiaves

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

Fast swimmers & divers chasing fish/insects

But clumsy walkers, like penguins legs placed far back under the body 

What’s the yellow patch at base of bills? A gape!

Little grebe/dabchick, Tachybaptus ruficollis
Jakkur Kere
Jul'22

#birdsofindia #throwback #nature #indiaves

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

This Indian bird traveled far w mariners as caged pets for their song & fighting birds in markets

Now many jurisdictions exterminate it as a Most Invasive Species

Love its sharp, perky gaze

Red-vented bulbul, Pycnonotus cafer
Bharatpur
Jan'23

#birdsofindia #indiaves #nature

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

As an Indian watching #ISRO's telemetry, I imagined each of the 19 mins while #Chandrayaan3 braked @ 30 km up to touch down upright w/o damage amid rock & crater

Reminded of Apollo 11's #MoonLanding & its plaque: We came in peace for all mankind

Still feel like a kid today

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

In water, the white stripe helps to ID it fm a distance: pic 1

I’d a peek at its green sash visible when wings are open/in flight: pic 2

Can you pronounce its sp name?

Ind.spot-billed duck, Anas poecilorhyncha
Bharatpur
Jan'23

#birdsofindia #throwback #indiaves #rajasthan

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

She's 2,000 yo & timeless #art

Folds of skin, sway & tuck of dhoti. Bejeweled. Hairstyle. Full figure. Sculptor's womanly ideal or society's fertility idol?

A national treasure: Didarganj Yakshi replica
Govt Museum, Egmore
Jul'23

#artofindia #worldheritage #fashion #history

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

Gen name #Tirumala given 1880 by EIC entomologist Moore cd've found specimens at the Hills

But paid by qty (sp described) they named quite randomly!

Sp name Greek nymph Limnaee, Ganges’ daughter!

Blue tiger, Tirumala limniace
Egmore Museum
Jul'23

#butterfliesofindia #lifer

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

Our "Relationship Ragas" is a #newbook being released at the inauguration of the Mysuru Literature Festival

Rajmata Pramoda Devi Wadiyar inaugurates #MLF Sat Jul 1

Thrilled! See you there

#stories #storiesmatter #booklovers #newbookrelease #newbookalert #booksworthreading

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

Excited! My #shortstory "Bringing Up Babbi" is now published in an anthology—“Relationship Ragas”

A project of my The Writers Collective group, it's on Kindle & paperbacks on Amazon: https://t.co/ADZVOEqBEE.

Do read!

#booklovers #newbookrelease #newbookalert #booksworthreading

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

More news! Happy to be on #MysuruLiteratureFestival panel "To Cut a Long Story Short: The Making of an Anthology" on Jul 2

We discuss our #book #RelationshipRagas (https://t.co/ADZVOEr9uc)

See you in #Mysuru!

#MLF #stories #storiesmatter #booklovers #booksworthreading #authors

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

@shiv_cybersurg @mysurulitfest @kalyanaramand @Rugmanipr @ArunKrishnan_ Thanks, Doc. You too have a great panel discussion & wonderful #mysurulitfest

See you & @ArunKrishnan_ at the weekend

#RelationshipRagas at #MLF

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

Oops, missed the typo/autocorrect: not G. Eight but G. (Gustave) Eiffel

Tourist guidebooks often pitch Eiffel as the architect, but apparently not true

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

Didn’t realize I’d enjoy doing a highly touristy thing… visit “#Saigon” Central Post Office to mail a postcard home

Built late 1800s, its colonial French look was typical, but loved the wood phone booths, 2 hand-painted maps, & the beautiful floor. & it’s NOT built by G. Eight

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

A touch of #India in far #Vietnam

Living temple by Cham king Satyavarman dedicated 780AD to mother deity of the Champas, Po Nagar, imbued with attributes of Indian Bhagavati (note her Mahishasurmardini aspect on central temple’s sukhanasi (pediment)

#heritage #history #travel

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

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The caves of Halong Bay
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Dark and Bright Cave, Lan Ha/Cat Ba
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#vietnam #halongbay #hanoi #traveldiaries #geology #geologyrocks #caves

[Nilanjan Chaudhuri @nilsmind]

Milk run around Halong Bay

It took 200 M yrs about 500 M yrs ago for sediments & marine animals to be calcify into these 1,969 limestone islands with the typical shapes

…& more for water to carve caves & passages thru them

#vietnam #halongbay #hanoi #traveldiaries #geology