Saturday, May 23, 2009

Agra fort

dscn1859 by you.

dscn1854 by you.

Agra Fort is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Agra, India. The fort is also known as Lal Qila, Fort Rouge and Red Fort of Agra. It is about 2.5 km northwest of its much more famous sister monument, the Taj Mahal. The fort can be more accurately described as a walled palatial city.

It is the most important fort in India. The great Mughals Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb lived here, and the country was governed from here. It contained the largest state treasury and mint. It was visited by foreign ambassadors, travellers and the highest dignitaries who participated in the making of history in India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agra_Fort



Agra fort

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Panch Mahal

dscn1835 by fredericknoronha.

Panch Mahal: A five-storied palatial structure. The bottom floor has 176 intricately carved columns.

Panch Mahal is a five-storey palace in Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Also known as "Badgir", which means windcatcher/tower. Panch Mahal stands close to the Zeenana quarters or Harem and that supports the fact that it acted as a pleasure palace. This is an extraordinary structure, entirely columnar, consisting of four storeys of decreasing size disposed asymmetrically upon a ground floor, which contains 84 columns. The pillars that originally had Jaalis between them support the whole structure.Once these screens provided purdah (cover) to queens and princess on the top terraces enjoying the cool breezes and watching splendid views of Sikri fortifications and the town nestling at the foot of the ridge.

The pavilion gives a majestic view of the fort that lays on its left. It is built by Akbar and only took 10 years to build the whole city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panch_Mahal_Fatehpur_Sikri

Fatehpur Sikri...

dscn1745 by fredericknoronha.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatehpur_Sikri
Fatehpur Sikri (Hindi: फतेहपूर सिकरी, Urdu: فتحپور سیکری) is a city and a municipal board in Agra district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. The historical city was constructed by Mughal emperor Akbar beginning in 1570 and served as the empire's capital from 1571 until 1585, when it was abandoned for reasons that remain unclear. The surviving palace and mosque are a tourist attraction and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ghaznin gate...

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Agra fort... for sure!

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The magnificient Taj Mahal

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Agra fort...

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Buland Darwaza at Fatehpur Sikri

dscn1769 by fredericknoronha.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buland_Darwaza
Buland Darwaza (Hindi: बुलंद दरवाज़ा) meaning 'high' or 'great' gate in Persian, is the largest of gateways in the world. It is located in Fatehpur Sikri which is located 43 km away from Agra, India. It is also known as the "Gate of Magnificence".


A visit to the Taj

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a7/Taj_08.jpg

Everybody knows that the Taj Mahal is in Agra, and the Taj Mahal is very beautiful. The carvings in the Taj Mahal look so beautiful -- they are shaped into beautiful flowers.

During my summer vacations, we went to Delhi, Uttaranchal and Agra.

Outside the Taj Mahal, there were many shops. Selling different items like the Taj Mahal (minature) made out of marble, small boxes to keep ear-rings and stuff with semi-precious stones in them.

My brother brought a magnet of the Taj Mahal for the fridge, and I bought a small marble box with semi-precious stones in, and it looks very pretty.

When we went to the Taj Mahal, we were shocked to see it. It looks very pretty, and we were very happy to see it. Our hotel was not very far from the Taj. It was just a five minute's walk.

From our hotel, we could see the tip of the Taj Mahal.

People there were very nice. They were kind and they talked very politely. After seeing the Taj Mahal, we left our hotels and went to see Agra Fort. Agra Fort was amazingly huge and very pretty.

We did not finish the full fort, because on that same day we had to leave back for Delhi by car.

[PHOTO: Wikipedia http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a7/Taj_08.jpg]

My best friend comes to Goa

My best friend's name is Isabel and she stays in Bangalore. For her summer vacations, she comes to Goa. She arrived on April 4, one day before I was supposed to leave for Delhi.

Isabel by fredericknoronha.


I told her I would come back soon to play with her, and that we could all meet up.

When I came back from Delhi, we met up together quite often and had a lot of fun. We got to the pool together, and she comes over and I also go there (to her house at Porvorim). She's a very nice girl, and never is bad to me.

I think she's nice because she thinks wisely, is very polite, and her nature is very nice. She's also a very smart girl, and reads a lot. She loves reading; her hobbies are reading and swimming.

My whole gang -- includes Abigail, Gabbi, Heidi and me (besides Isabel) -- everybody likes Isabel because she's very polite and smart. Although she doesn't live in our village, we all meet up quite often.

We're planning to start a girl's band, but we have to think a bit more about it. Because of the meeting-up thing, we could end up with one person less.

Lassie comes home

On December 6, 2008, my school held a 100-metres run for all age groups at the Saligao Seminary (on the hill, where they have a big playground). I too went for the race. My mother took me for it.

When the race was over, I saw this lady carrying four cute little puppies in her hand, with the Seminary boys also holding the pups. I said the pups were so cute. She asked me, "Would you like one?"

I had been waiting for a pup for a long time, so I asked my mother if I could have one. My mother said I could; so I told her yes.

She asked me if I would want a girl pup or boy pup. I told her I wanted a girl, since I'm more found of girl pups. I'm a girl, so I like a girl pup and all that.

Then I brought Lassie home and gave her a nice cosy basked from London. The basket was too big, and she didn't like it. So we put her into a small shoe box where she could fit.

When she grew bigger, she used to sleep in the basket and she used to like it very much. But now she likes sleeping in her little rug.

She's a very friendly dog. She jumps on everybody and starts licking them, and she's made friends with most of the dogs in the street -- Blackie (her best friend), and Kelly, and Smokie, and Dino. But she doesn't like Digby because he bit her.

She met with two accidents so far, that's because she just runs across the road without looking. But now she's trained, and when a motorbike comes, she goes to the side of the road.

Me, with a jackfruit ("the largest tree-borne fruit in the world")

Riza... with a jackfruit by fredericknoronha.

FROM WIKIPEDIA: The jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) is a species of tree of the mulberry family (Moraceae) native to parts of South and Southeast Asia. It is well suited to tropical lowlands. Its fruit is the largest tree borne fruit in the world[1], seldom less than about 25 cm (10 in) in diameter. Even a relatively thin tree, around 10 cm (4 in) diameter, can bear large fruit. The fruits can reach 36 kg (80 lbs) in weight and up to 90 cm (36 in) long and 50 cm (20 in) in diameter. The jackfruit is something of an acquired taste, but it is very popular in many parts of the world. The sweet yellow sheaths around the seeds are about 3–5 mm thick and have a taste similar to that of pineapple, but milder and less juicy.

Friday, May 22, 2009

My trip to Delhi

In my summer vacations, I went to Delhi with my mother and my brother.

First we went to Uttaranchal, and stayed in four places, for a week. Then, after that, we came back to Delhi.

In Delhi, we saw the Red Fort, and outside Delhi we saw Fatehpur Sikri, the Taj Mahal, Agra fort ...

The weather in Delhi was 41 deg Celsius, and it was very hot there. But I was not sweating, because the heat was dry heat. Delhi is a crowded place, but we had a lot of fun there. In Uttaranchal, we went to Corbett, and saw the Jim Corbett National Park. In Corbett, the weather was very nice and cool. The second place we went to was Mukteshwar. It was 10 degrees Celsius, but later it became just 5 deg C. We were shivering. There was also a hail-storm there. A hail-storm is when it rains and ice falls from the sky.



Where we stayed, in Naukuchiatal. Photo: http://www.holidayiq.com/destinations/Naukuchiatal-Overview.html


We also went to Naukuchiatal, and the weather was a little cold but nice. We went by a shinkara boat, for a ride. We also went for horse-rides. After that, we went to Nainital, and there was this huge road called the Mall Road. It's not actually malls, but a lot of shops. There too we drove a horse. The horse's name was Gulfan. We met a dog called Lali, in Nainital. And in Naukuchiatal, we met a dog called, strangely, "Panther".

Then we came back to Delhi.