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The Pyramids
The Pyramids Going down the pyramids, one doesn’t do it every day. Nor coming face to face with them. When the moment is there, one can’t avoid the impression of absolute grandeur, and of well-nigh disbelief that thousands of years ago people have managed to plan, organize and build monuments like that. With its height…
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At home in Kumaon
At home in Kumaon A row of old village cottages; the ground floor is for the animals, whilst the people live upstairs. All built, finished and painted in the traditional style. But times have changed. In the background, we catch a glimpse of a new building, constructed from brick and cement. And so the charm…
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The cow lifting game
The cow lifting game What do you do when a cow is lying right in the middle of the path, blocking the way, and has absolutely no intention of getting up and moving out of the way? You don’t often come across such a stubborn cow, but that’s exactly what happened here. It was only…
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Bhang
Bhang Yes, it grows in the wild in the Kumaon hills. I’m talking about the Cannabis sativa, the Indian hemp plant. The seeds get blown in the wind or are taken and dropped by birds and so, all of a sudden, you can have some hemp plants growing in your garden. Local farmers may –…
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Tap tap!
Tap tap! That is what you hear in the pine forest when the man who collects the resin from the trees fixes the cone back on the stem. Then he moves to the next tree, empties the cone, puts it back, tap tap, and he goes on to the next. The resin is used for…
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Like mother, like daughter
Like mother, like daughter Human life may have changed in many ways since prehistoric times, but on a certain level – namely that of the basic needs the body requires to survive – we are still the same, and in that respect not much different from other animals. We need food to eat and water…
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Lakhudiyar
Lakhudiyar Already in prehistory humans must have been enchanted by the natural beauty of the Kumaon hills. They have left their traces, as we can see for example in the rock shelter the board on the photo speaks so nicely about. Lakhudiyar can be found between present day Almora and Jageshwar. It looks as if…
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The Kumaon hills
The Kumaon hills By 2050, 66 per cent of the world’s population will be living and working in cities. Rapid urbanisation is also an ongoing trend in India. In the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, where I spend most of my time when I am in India, I see the flip side of this exodus to…
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Venice upside down
Venice upside down It’s always a lovely sight: the washing lines laden with clean laundry, stretched taut between houses on opposite sides of narrow streets in the old quarters of southern Europe. But might we ask you to be a little more considerate of others next time, dear lady (or gentleman) doing the washing, when…
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Through the fjord with a bang
Through the fjord with a bang While the Maori section of the museum in Okains Bay offered an interesting picture of Maori traditional craft and culture, the colonial section looked a bit like a junk shop, a ‘brocante’, with a nostalgic making mishmash of early 20th century objects brought along by the white settlers. The…
καιρός remembered
… the right moment, position chosen, shoot …
καιρός remembered 