As I was clicking the watch towers at the zenana, a lonely puff of cloud drifted across the sky and into my frame on an otherwise spotless sky. I sensed an uneasy tension between the two subjects of my picture. The tower which till now had stood meekly, telling its tale of woe to me, suddenly assumed an aggressive stance:.

Altercation
(I am a humble watch tower.
With no hands and no arms,
I never had much power)
For all your supernal charms
You would bring us no shower
I’ll let you pass with no harm
If you supplicate and cower
(With no hands and no arms,
I am a humble watch tower)



(The cloud cackled and continued its journey)

Mischievous cloud. It could have settled right above the tower.

And Deepak, welcome to LJ. I noticed :)

By  sajith, at 6.4.05  

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:-)

Thanks Sajith, I follow several blogs at LJ and though I might not blog there myself, I signed up so that I could leave comments more civilly :-)

By  Deepak, at 6.4.05  

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Tower, you’re incorrigible!
However, I will not deign
to dampen your colossal ego
with the tiny drops of my rain.

By  Ink Spill, at 6.4.05  

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:-)

I suspect, if our cloud was well read, it might have also resorted to 'Nirala':

क्षमा शोभती उस भुजंग को
जिसके पास गरल हो
उसका क्या जो दंतहीन
विशरहित, विनीत, सरल हो

(my Hindi is rusty at best, I'll be happy to have my typos corrected)

For the benefit of non-Hindi speaking readers, the lines roughly mean that words of mercy and forgiveness suit you only when you are capable of causing some harm in the first place.

By  Deepak, at 6.4.05  

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Hampi has been depicted by you through words and pictures very nicely....Through your eyes the current Hampi is visible....kudos to you...you have done it superbly....

By  Anonymous, at 23.5.05  

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Thank you for a nice series!
Just concluded a 4 week india trip during which I visited Hampi as well. It was just superb. The destruction left my stomach churning. Spent three days and took about 300 pics. I will start posting on LJ soon at:
www.livejournal.com/users/arunshanbhag

Thank you again.
Arun

By  Anonymous, at 19.6.05  

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