Call from the misty, mystical mountain

Mainpat: a fantasy world in real

Mainpat is a group of 62 plateaus perched at 1100 m/3200 ft 
in Sarguja District of Chhattisgarh State in India. 
It is a new home of Tibetan Refugees living there 
for the last five decades, along with local inhabitants.Some pictures follows to show the typical life and climate of the place..

30 kms drive from the base of the foot hill takes us to Mainpat

Village life in the misty mountains

Village life in the misty mountains

The wind went on from West to East;

All movement in the forest ceased.

But shrill and harsh across the marsh,

Its whistling voices were released.

The grasses hissed, their tassels bent,

The reeds were rattling—on it went.

O'er shaken pool under heavens cool,

Where racing clouds were torn and rent.

Now call we over the mountains cold,

'Come back unto the caverns old!'

Here at the gates the king awaits,

His hands are rich with gems and gold.

Buddhist temples and monasteries

Buddhist temples and monasteries

Buddhist temples and monasteries

Buddhist temples and monasteries

Buddhist temples and monasteries

Buddhist temples and monasteries

lush green fluorescent forest

some tourist resort to stay therein

*poem thankfully shared from: 'over the misty mountains cold'  by R R Tolkein

Falling stars

Best Pictures of Perseids Meteor Shower 

"Falling Stars"

LOOK! right there by your feet...
A fallen star and it's all yours.
Once resting softly in it's place,
then with the blink of an eye,
it slowly began to loose it's strength....
lower, lower, and still lower it falls....
the BAMMM!!! there it is resting beside you.

 Author: Timothy Sides

view from Mojave
Photograph by Wally Pacholka, TWAN

view from Armenia

Photograph by Oshin D. Zakarian, TWAN

view from Canada
Photograph by Darryl Van Gaal

view from Japan
Photograph by Yuga Kurita,

view from Hungary
Photograph by Peter Komka, European Pressphoto Agency

view from Quebec
Photograph by Michel Tournay

view from China
Photograph by Jeff Dai

Every summer about this time of year, the Earth passes through the orbital path of the Swift-Tuttle comet. That might sound a little alarming, but don’t worry—the closest we’re likely to come to the comet itself will be 1 million miles, and astronomers calculate that won’t be until 3044. (Still, a near miss by cosmic standards.) But bits and pieces that have broken off from the tail of the comet do collide with the Earth’s atmosphere, creating one of the most reliable and spectacular star shows of the year: the Perseid meteor shower, so called because the meteors, as they streak across the sky, seem to originate from the constellation Perseus. 

This year the shower was intense, with as many as 100 separate shooting stars—cosmic matter burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere—tearing across the sky per minute. (An average meteor shower might have as few as one shooting stars per minute.) The Perseid meteor shower has been observed for some 2,000 years. Catholics used to call the shower the “tears of St. Lawrence,” since the martyred saint’s feast day of Aug. 10 often coincided with the show.

2013′s meteor shower has been particularly impressive because the lunar calendar ensured that the moon had all but disappeared from the sky during peak viewing hours. Of course, those of us who live in cities and near other sources of light pollution won’t be able to make out the full power of the Perseid shower—assuming you can stay up late enough to see it. But the images that follow give you a taste of what you might be missing.

*pictures thankfully shared from 'National Geographic'/13th July 2013
*poem 'Falling Stars' thankfully shared from 'Timothy Sides'
*text courtesy:http://science.time.com