Magic box photo

My dear old friends Kalpana and Shamik came to visit for a couple of days. Santoshji took a photograph of the 3 of us with his ancient magic box camera, and it just so happened that he captured a picture of us from a previous lifetime!

Life moves at a steady pace, and all is well.

Prash

Kalpana and Shamik

Respect

Mosque

Krishna

Hanuman's Birthday

Flower-seller

boat

Chet Singh Palace

Emily in the Rain

Drummers

Diwali

Namaste,

This is the auspicious month of Kartik, and right now houses are being white washed, fairy lights are being strung up and oil lamps lit, all in preparation of the festival of lights, Diwali, which ushers in a new year, on the night of the new moon.

During this month, akash deeps (sky lamps) are hoisted up on tall bamboos along the riverside in remembrance and as offerings to the ancestors. Some say that in days gone by, they acted as beacons to merchants who returned back to their houses along the river, after being away during the monsoon season.

It has been a wonderful week thus far, and much has happened! My room opens into the central courtyard of the Ganga mahal, and it used to be a small classroom of the WLC children's program (which has now been moved to the neighbouring Tulsi Kunj....another gorgeous building). So it has great vibes. It is simple and peaceful, and my little niche in the wall houses new flowers brought to me by Pravin and Jyothi.

I have gotten into the swing of things with work and some prototypes have already been made with the women of the sewing programme in Katesar village.

Well, a happy Diwali to all of you.
Much love and happiness during the festival of lights,
Prashant

Harmony

The most wonderful bookstore on Assi ghat.

Varanasi's verisimilitude

Lamps and offerings

En route to India

Venture forth

Here is an excerpt from Bruce Chatwin's "Anatomy of restlessness" that I love:

"Gradually the idea for a book began to take shape. It was to be a wildly ambitious and intolerant work, a kind of 'anatomy of restlessness' that would enlarge on Pascal's dictum about the man sitting quietly in a room. The argument, roughly, was as follows: That in becoming human, man had acquired, together with his straight legs and striding walk, a migratory 'drive' or instinct to walk long distances through the seasons; that this 'drive' was inseparable from his central nervous system; and that, when warped in conditions of settlement, it found outlets in violence, greed, status-seeking or a mania for the new. This would explain why mobile societies such as the gypsies were egalitarian, thing-free and resistant to change; also why, to re-establish the harmony of the first state, all the great teachers - Buddha, Lao-Tse, St. Francis - had set the perpetual pilgrimage at the heart of their message and told their disciples, literally, to follow the way."