Take one photograph, play around with it a little, create 3 new ones, all different.
Add some autumn haiku, since it’s almost spring.
That was fun.
Yellow maple leaves
Rattling wildly in the wind –
Autumn’s prayer flags
Obsession with time
Is climbing trees in autumn
To get down the leaves.
The last yellow leaf
Hovers above the brambles
Waiting for the wind.
Yes, we’ve had some snow.
And oddly, despite this being the UK, lots of things are still working.
Although, to glance at the newspapers you could be forgiven for thinking the End Of The World was here.
But the sun was out this morning, so I wandered out for a bit of a bimble in the countryside.
Fresh snow always feels magical.
I suppose this is because it is a pure white, because it sparkles in the sun and even in the night time it appears to glow.
It covers things up, but sits lightly upon them.
There is a purity to fresh snow that causes the landscape to feel cleaner and purer, too.
While the snow is falling, sound seems to be muffled and absorbed, so that one exists in a silent wonderland.
It transforms a dull winter landscape into something bright and very special.
Some of the paths are still easy to find,
While others have become less obvious.
The animals have their own paths, that we are often unable to tread.
But there is a silence over everything, and every now and again a breath of wind sends a thousand sparkling snow diamonds drifting down through the branches of the trees.
The snow hides much…
But it reveals where we have been.
And it makes some shapes more mysterious.
Prayer flags are found wherever Tibetan Buddhism is found. As they flutter in the breeze, they use this wind to send blessings out into the world. Through many parts of the Himalaya they adorn monasteries and humble homes, chortens and bamboo flagpoles. They are tied in their hundreds and thousands to bridges, above mountain peaks, and in the courtyards of every conceivable building.
Elsewhere, they are to be found wherever exiled Tibetans live, and wherever their school of Buddhism flourishes.
The makers of the flags intend the prayers and blessings that adorn them not for their own benefit, but for the benefit of all beings.
Prayer flags in the Yumtang Valley, Sikkim, India.
Prayer flags, Observatory Hill, Darjeeling, India.
Prayer flags outside a monastery in Sikkim, India.
Prayer flags adorn a pair of chortens and walls of prayer wheels in Khumjung, Nepal.
Prayer flags at Tengboche, Nepal.
And adorning a bridge of the Dudh Khosi, again in Nepal.
Commonly, late in the afternoon mists form and the temperature plummets. But even in the enveloping grey, Tengboche is colourful and beautiful.
This view must have been photographed so many times, but how fantastic is it?
Sunset on Everest (left) and Nuptse (right), photographed from Tengboche.
Tengboche is a monastery complex and a couple of trekking lodges on the route up to Everest Base Camp from Lukla, in Nepal. It sits high above the waters of the Dudh Khosi.
Inside Tengboche monastery following a puja (ceremony).
Rightly or wrongly, I don’t like taking photographs of pujas in monasteries. It feels intrusive and bad mannered. I would feel the same in a church, mosque or temple. This has nothing to do with any beliefs of my own, but is born of simple respect.
I noted in my diary: We have just sat in on a chanting puja, but my meditation failed dismally. I was completely unable to concentrate on my breath as all that I could think of were my freezing feet!
It was blooming cold!
Kanchenjunga, the third highest peak in the Himalaya (and the world) taken from Observatory Hill, Darjeeling. It is the peak right of centre, with the spindrift blowing from the summit.
Have a great Thursday.
Ouch! Probably my worst title yet!
I can’t help it…I’ve not been well…
…well, only a cold, but you know what we men are like.
In another attempt to feel instantly better, I’ve nipped across to North India (only in my imagination, unfortunately), to picture Kedar Ghat, on the banks of the Ganges, in Varanasi.
Ghats, a Hindi word, are sets of steps leading down to a river (and also mountain ranges or passes – The eastern and Western Ghats in Central India). It has also come to mean a level place at the edge of a river where Hindus cremate their dead.
In Varanasi, there are between 84 and 87 ghats, depending upon who you get this information from,. The Manikarnika Ghat, or Ghats (possibly this is the origin of the confusion over the number) is the ‘burning ghat’, where cremations are carried out 24 hours a day, all through the year. The source fire there has supposedly been burning for thousands of years, but photography is actively discouraged, hence my only shot is one taken from a distance.
Of course, the ghats are also used for bathing. Hindus bathe en masse there, as a dip in the Ganges is meant to wash away sins. Important pujas (ceremonies) take place at sunrise and sunset. Boat trips to view the ghats are very popular, and finally much of the city’s laundry gets done at the dhobi ghats (dhobi meaning laundry).
Namaste!
It’s been a busy week again. I don’t seem to have managed to write anything, take any photographs, or even think about drawing or painting.
The news? I try to avoid it.
And to top it all, I have a cold and I feel bleurgh.
It’s at times like this I usually travel somewhere exotic in my head.
So, a few more photographs from Southern India, then.
Ganesh Temple, Kodaikanal. Ganesh, the elephant-headed god of prosperity, is one of the most popular gods in the Hindu pantheon and worshipped widely throughout India. This shrine is by the lake in Kodaikanal, a hill-station in the Palani Hills northwest of Madurai.
View of the lake at Kodaikanal. Besides the better known hill stations of Northern India, there are quite a number further south, of which Kodaikanal is just one example, although unique in having been originally started by American missionaries in the 1840’s.
Raj-era bungalows in Kodaikanal. These are on a ‘prime-site’ location overlooking the lake.
Madurai skyline. The Sri Meenakshi Temple complex, dedicated to Shiva and his wife, Sati, dominates the skyline of the old city. Often called ‘The Heart of Tamil Country’, Madurai attracts up to 10,000 pildrims and tourists on any one day. This picture was taken from the Rooftop Restaurant Terrace at the Hotel Supreme, where we sat with a beer and watched a long procession of tourists wander across the roof to take the same shot.
Entrance to the Sri Meenakshi Temple complex, Madurai. 12 huge gopuram towers, each between 45 and 50 metres in height, are carved in highly elaborate designs featuring gods, people, animals and mythical creatures which are then brightly painted. The whole effect is more like an enormous and eccentricly iced cake, or at least plaster-work. The whole of the temple seethes with pilgrims, tourists, trinket sellers and guides. And touts, who basically cover the last two categories.
Carved statue of Nataraja, Madurai Temple complex. I am unfamiliar with this particular god, but I like the carving!
Little oranges in a bowl – but not how we usually see them.
Just a bit of fun with photographs, again. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, rather than try to create the perfect photo – which never looks natural, anyway – I like to take them ‘down’ a little; strip them down towards something simpler and more basic. Something more artistic, I like to think.
Or kid myself, perhaps.
But there seems to be so little time at the moment. So far, I’ve only managed a second edit on two of the short stories for ‘A Dozen Destinies‘, leaving (obviously!) a grand total of ten still to do. And that’s before I hurl them towards a second beta reader.
Out by Christmas? In my dreams…
Mick Canning 