A spash of colour

We have been painting our apartment both inside and out and have bought some great new furniture for our balconies.

The living room is now green

Our bedroom is dark blue

Rachel's room is lilac

Our guest bedroom is red

Our balconies have a variety of bamboo furniture on them and one of them is painted aqua.

 And we also have a hammock.  It's lovely to swing in it and watch the sunset.

Street Art

Another couple of walks I have concentrated on taking photos of street art.  Here is the art in two different areas of Bandra.

Pali Village

Chapel Road

Walking in Bandra

On my return to school this year I was admitted to Hinduja Khar hospital for an emergency operation. Following this I was advised by my doctor to walk for 45 minutes each day and to take up yoga.  I have tried to walk a variety of different routes around my house, and to make these walks really interesting I've tried to capture the essence of these various neighbourhoods of Bandra on camera.

Carter Road at Sundown - various photos taken using my iPhone and Pro HDR

Independence Day - 15th August

Bandra from Above - walking on the skywalk near Bandra Station

A Child Gives Birth To A Mother - one of my favourite statues in Bandra

Walking the new boulevard near the Sea Link - with views across to Mahim and South Bombay

Walking north to Pali Hill

Carter Road

Chapel Road and Mount Mary

Bandra Bandstand

SMART Ecological Park

Last week we went on a visit to SMART Ecological Park.  It's about an hour and a half out of Mumbai and is the vision of a group of lawyers based on the dying wish of one of their mothers to invest in a natural place for children.  Over the past 8 years SMART has converted 20 acres of barren land into a rich biodiverse eco-park.

SMART Park provides an interactive learning environment for developing solutions to global problems like sustainability, global citizenship and coexistence. The park is designed for children from the ages of six to eighteen.

The Information Centre is made from recycled tetra-packs. I really like the Future-Nature panel which is about future technologies related to energy use and generation.  In the park are working wind and solar energy generation to demonstrate the practical application of clean energy solutions.

There are themed forests (including perfume, cosmetics, medicine and chocolate) for learning about the healing power of nature and natural remedies.  All the food served in the Eco-park is grown on site.  There is also an area called the Compassion Zone which has animals such as goats and cows.

On-site there is also a yoga ad meditation centre - we are planning on going back for a yoga and mindfulness weekend in October.

One of my favourite places was the Dream Catchers.  You can walk on raised platforms above the ground and sit in the middle of the metal sculptures and think.  Another of my favourite places was the peace gardens which had various themes such as perspective and balance.

In one of the gardens was a tree house.  You could climb up quite high and there were magnificent views from the top.