The Hollow Land

"The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
'This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms"
The Hollow lands
filled with such stark immensity.
flooding with light.
Plains 17800 feet in the sky
Sikkim 2008

Shanti Shloka

15 days spent in Sikkim.
I went there in search of peace.
and I found it. In every drop of rain.
Mist that erased mountains.
In Silence.
In sunlight.

To yellow walls.
to our bodies that we underestimate.
To remembering divinity.
and the absolute.
and love found not in fingertips
but every thing that shimmers.

much much more later.
Sacred lakes, Monks, Peace, Art, Hollowlands.
Simplicity.

Faces.

Familiar Places.

Your eyes.

become Black skies.

Yercaud March 2008

the second official photograph I ever took.
3 years ago.
we found that dragonfly together.
We held her in our arms.
it was too late to save her.
so we made her a home in the soil.
and let her fall asleep for a hundred years. or more.

the first photograph I ever took.
he was blind and singing
on the steps leading to a temple.
with many blind men whispering prayers
and singing praises.

Glass Bead Game

shukri from the haalaki tribe in honnavar.
worked with her for a week.
we played glass bead games.
I took a black and white picture of her
she asked me where her colour went.
so I filled it in again, as promised.
(handpainted with inks)

Everything I touch turns to stone

This weekend was Hampi.

College (I got into srishti for those of you who don't know) starts on wednesday.
I needed to escape one last time before these holidays came to an end.
and so I did.
Swimming in the river, Riding on a motorcycle watching all the ground beneath me drop,
Sprawling myself over rocks. Like a crocodile.
I needed it. the stones. the dust. the wind.
"The idea is to remain in a state of constant departure while always arriving. It saves on introductions and goodbyes."
- Waking Life

Raw Umber

Brown fingers and little toes
in Anegundi
near Hampi.
straight out of school.

everybody wants a picture taken. or a sweet.
I give them both.
a camera becomes their only mirror.
they look at their reflections
and laugh
at how everything is brown.

the floodgates open. the dam is unleashed.
the river overflows.
and mantapas swallowed by the rising current.

I have known these ruins, and traced with my eye
the scratchy paths
that were erased by the dust

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Minds

It all starts in Hyderabad where I was last week. Summer sinks its teeth into our flesh.
We walk around charminar, I find a street where everything is blue.
Walk in and get lost in a maze of gulleys where half moon blue flags hang from the sky and little muslim boys and girls love being photographed itseems. And then another gulley, and then another.
This is where this story begins.
So this little Girl in a Burkha comes up to me and asks me to take a picture of her. (that you will see later)
Ofcourse! I reply in hindi,mix in some urdu,and clickity click away.
Then there are three children
Then four.
Then fifteen!
All jumping up and down waiting to be photographed.
then comes the little boy here. Abdul is his name.
"Mela bhi pikchar lo naa didi"
Ofcourse! I say, and instead of smiling sweetly or giggling like the other kids he gives me the
most dacoitish looks and comes closer to the camera, and closer, until finally he's right in front of my lens. :) kheekhee
he refuses to move. Outright refuses.
After much explaining that I cant really take a picture of him with his nose rubbing against my lens he moves and smiles.
"Didi mein kya fillumstaar banoonga didi?"
"Zaroor", I reply, give them all a lot of boiled sweets and am escorted by my little league all the way back to the mainroad.

"Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
There beneath the blue suburban skies"

High and Dry

somewhere in tamil nadu- 2006

I cannot rest from travel.
I will leave.
Soon.