The Shutterbug.

Saturday, 7 July 2012

Kang (Rath Yatra) : A Festival of Manipuri.

Manipur is a land of festival and there is no end to the festive seasons in Manipur. Then and there, with a lot of merriment and rejoicing is a part and parcel of the life of every one living in and traveling to Manipur. From all the festivals in Manipur, the Kang Festival in Manipur deserves a special place as it is one of the most important festivals of the people living in Manipur.

It can be rightly called as the "Rathayatra" of Manipur which mainly takes place in the Shree Shree Govindaji Temple. The Hindu Festival of Rata Jatra is celebrated in Manipur as the Kang Festival.

During the Kang festival, Lord Jagannath leaves his abode at the temple and travels in a chariot which is pulled by the devotees and the pilgrims. This chariot in which the Lord travels is called ‘Kang’ in Manipur. Pulling the ‘Kang’ of the Lord is considered to be of great honor and respect and thus the devotees and pilgrims compete with each other for the opportunity.

The procession is accompanied with music of bells, gongs, drums,nahal and conch. There are offerings of barti,(which are short cotton wrapped cotton balls soaked in ghee), flowers and fruits which are arranged at the different localities. The devotees perform Kirtan ‘Khubakisei’ and there are community feasts arranged in the evenings. The celebrations for the Kang festival continue for 10 days with a lot of enthusiasm and fervor.

This hugely popular festival is celebrated by the people of Manipur for a span of ten days on the month of Ingen or in the months of June/July. It is believed by the locals that Lord Jagannath leaves his temple in a `rath` known as `kang` locally, which is pulled by pilgrims who view with another for this honor.

Thursday, 10 May 2012

A date with the Flowers of Indra Vihar (North Delhi) :)

Experience of changing RAW file into Jpeg

Once I was alone , nothing to do,got bored so explored my new house where i recently shifted (Delhi). Came across this light so thought it would be great if I take it. So while setting my camera I set it into RAW file and forgot to change it, took this picture in RAW file and later when I connect it with my lappy, I found out that I could not open Raw files in my lappy. I was full of anger, tried to open through Photoshop but it didn't happen, I was very disappointed with myself.

I even asked some of my friends for help they tried their best but It was of no use. So later something struck on my mind saying why not post it in "Photography Naga" a page about photography in Facebook. I posted : "Please help .....How do i change RAW files into Jpeg ?". Then, Alo Lohrii commented he told to download some software, sadly my net connection is too slow that I didn't try that. Then , the next day I found 2 person commenting on my post : "The easiest method...import your photos to Picasa..do the edits..select the photos you want to export and press Shift+Ctrl+S"-Menoulhoulie kire . RAW images are not univesal like those JPEG formats, so we need different updates or software for differents cameras, Try Adobe camera RAW converter(its an update for photoshop)..or lightroom....- Siile Ngade.

I always take the easier path than the harder one so took the Opinion of Menoulhoulie Kire of changing it from Picasa cause it sounds easier then the other two suggestions :). But any ways I would like to thank them for their Help and Special thanks to the group of "Photography Naga". So here the above picture is the result after its changed into Jpeg format.

I would also like to request people who are interested in Photography to join the group "Photography Naga" , It gives so much knowledge about Photography and also get to see many talented people's work. Here is the link where you can join the group https://www.facebook.com/groups/140205416080394/ .