On the threshold of a new year
Reflections of a year past come by
to find a place on my memory shelf
My heart eagerly embraces the hope
the new dawns yet to come
Time paddles on
unmindful of many a
dawns and inevitable dusks
creating ripples that will jostle
for a place on my memory shelf
Another stroke of paddle
tells me to look around
enjoy the ride
‘cos it will be a memorable one.
Wishing you a happy, memorable New Year!
I was perusing some old photos today and came across photographs from Bhoomi Jathre held at Fireflies Ashram near Bangalore, India. This was a fantastic event held from dusk to dawn and with only word-of-mouth publicity. I went with Dada on the Yamaha RX-135 that Sukesh had lent me. Thanks to Sukesh, I was able to enjoy this event. Dada and I, both had a nice time enjoying quite a wide spectrum of music and dance performances. Looking at these photos that I have been hoarding for so long, I think I should share some photos from the evening.
These photos are from a dance performance called “Tale of a Tree” performed by the talented dancers from Shiri Dance Company. I wish I could credit the individual dancers but I do not know their individual names. I love the theatrical lighting on the dancers. All these photos are shot handheld without flash.
I visited Gwalior Fort again. It has been overcast and rainy the past few days but the Sun decided to shine again today, maybe, to mark the occasion of World Tourism Day. With Dada and Bobby, I drove up to Fort from Urwai Ghati instead of my usual hike up from the Gwalior Gate of the Fort. I had brought photos of Kushwahji and others that I had taken on my previous trips to the Fort and they felt happy on receiving the photos.
Man Mandir has undergone a fantastic cleanup. The blackened walls in the inside chambers have been cleaned and very few bats remain. The dark stairways leading to even darker circular dungeons now have lights as well to guide the tourists. This is where the Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb had imprisoned his brother Murad and had him executed. I took some long exposures of the dungeons and Jauhar kund.
After photographing the colorful tiles of Man Mandir Palace and visiting the chambers in Man Singh Palace, we went to see some older monuments in the Fort.
Some things never change: the desire of us mortals to leave our name etched in stone for generations to see. I have been to so many beautiful monuments and places that have inspired misguided lovers and mortals to etch their names on the walls thereby disfiguring those for others. Sometimes, all this reminds me of ‘Ozymandias’ by PB Shelley or even of that beautiful song by Kansas - ‘Dust in the wind’ (esp the lines - “all we are is dust in the wind”).
This particular graffiti looked fresh and brought to mind my surprise at seeing graffiti on Eiffel Tower in Paris. Now I really digress but I must tell you this; still cracks me up on my stupidity. Having heard so much about the graffiti and the messages for Jim Morrison on his grave, I had gone to Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise in Paris. It started raining and finally I saw a mausoleum with people around and graffiti on the walls proclaiming how Jim is loved and lives on etc. It easily seemed the most popular tomb around and I photographed it and the music lovers from all angles. I am about to head out when I see an American tourist taking a picture of his boys in front of a comparatively small grave behind the tomb. Wondering whose grave it was, I check out the tombstone. Lo and behold! It was Jim Morrison’s! Having gone all the way to the cemetery, I had almost missed out the grave that I wanted to see. You can imagine how foolish I must have felt.
Anyways, back to Gwalior Fort: I sought out some of my favorite views of Vikram Mandir, ShahJahan Mahal and Karan Mahal.
I keep returning, hoping to find better, more dramatic light. Still have not found what I am looking for but hope remains. I am sure I will be back again, to relive the moments I have spent with near and dear ones while walking, playing around the monuments in the Fort. The clock keeps ticking as this very moment passes us by. ‘Dust in the wind’, indeed!
Driving back from Lake Berryessa, I saw this beautiful oak tree shorn of the leaves. So, we decided to stop and invoke the spirits for all happiness everywhere. Here’s wishing all of you a very Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you all!
Driving on the road, my brother and I saw this group of horses on the hill.
My brother says -”wow brother! this is cool. You should take a picture of this. ”
And I want to stop too. So I ask - “Well, may I?”
W are on our way somewhere and I feel bad stopping in the middle.
So, I stop, take a few pictures and start back on the road. I am stopped at the traffic light when I see the horses running. The camera and the lens is still handy and I quickly shot three frames before the light turned green. I really wished I was not in the middle lane stopping the traffic.
I remember a poster I saw way back when in college which said - “To get the most out of life, paddle slowly.” Most of the times, it is not the destination but the journey that matters, don’t you think?
Saw the photoblog of Clay Enos and figured I could also use a blog to share random photos. Thanks Clay for the idea! Many of my friends have had blogs for a long while but I never thought of using it like Clay did. Well, better late than never.
So, I look forward to sharing photos with folks much quicker than I could before on my website. 
Here’s a detail of a church photographed two days back.
