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Timeless Tibet
Timeless Tibet A child coming down the village road. It could be 200 years ago but then Daguerre’s invention wasn’t there yet to deliver proof. It could be today from a smartphone sent instantly to your screen. It was, in fact, June 1996 captured by my camera on Kodak film. Photo of the week: Shekar,…
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Foot Bath Temple
Foot Bath Temple Robert James Waller and his ode to the beauty of Indian women: Orange saris and green saris, red and blue, and gold adorning their bodies, bracelets on their arms and combs in their hair. The women were graceful and seemed almost to float above the ground. Even as they wade through the…
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Worn down worshippers
Worn down worshippers Thousands, if not millions of feet must have stepped on the threshold of this place of worship, wearing down bit by bit the reliefs of worshippers sculpted on its surface. Touching signs of the passage of time. Photo of the week: Entrance of Vitthala temple complex, Hampi, Karnataka, India 2014
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Massive arcades
Massive arcades Such is the abundance of granite rock at Hampi that massive projects could easily be envisaged. Like constructing two lengthy arcades for the entranceway to a temple complex. Hundreds of massive pillars, heavy but simple, for a massive project indeed. In contrast, inside the complex, reliefs of love and tenderness that clearly betray…
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Stonecutters’ paradise
Stonecutters’ paradise Elegant camels, mounted horsemen. and of course, as always, the graceful women … it’s as if we can appreciate these scenes from daily life even more when depicted in stone. Maybe it is because we can feel the pleasure the sculptors of Hampi must have had in cutting these reliefs. The non-sculptured walls…
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Giant boulders galore
Giant boulders galore “Better on top than underneath,” the little bird must have thought as it alighted on this enormous chunk of granite. This must be Hampi, yes indeed. It is not only the ancient monuments of the historic capital of the Vijayanagara Empire that enchant us; the boulder-strewn landscape in which they are scattered…
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Globed breasts adorned with pearls
Globed breasts adorned with pearls Globed breasts adorned with pearls sandal-misted, wide curving hips with girdles strung with bells, precious anklets making music on their lotus feet, lit with happiness deep within women now enhance their beauty. In strophes like this Kālidāsa sings of the feminine ideal in his long poem Ṛtusaṃhāram (The Gathering of…
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Classmates
Classmates Classmates on a school outing to Hampi. Two lovely girls, each one in her own way, as so many children of this age the world over. Photo of the week: school children visiting Hampi, Karnataka, India 2014
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Miss World & Mr Universe
Miss World & Mr Universe Aishwarya Rai was Miss World, way back in 1994, after which she went on to become one of Bollywood’s superstars. And yes, the person next to her is Mr Universe, Shiva, the cosmic dancer, a title he has held for quite some time now.It’s lovely to see them standing there…
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Shiva is taking a break
Shiva is taking a break They’ve put him under the tree for the time being, until further notice, until they need him again for some procession or festival.He looks magnificent, as tall as he is, with all his usual trappings. If he hadn’t been standing there, I certainly wouldn’t have noticed the truly beautiful and…
καιρός remembered
… the right moment, position chosen, shoot …
