Category: India
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Mirror images
Apart from confronting us with ourselves, a mirror can reflect objects from a part of the room or space around us that would otherwise not be visible from our point of view. Or it can reflect a side of an object that we would not be able to see without mirror. In the picture of…
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Jai Golu Devta …
So what are the requests like, that the worshippers of Goludev ask from him? They write their petitions on paper, which allows us to take a closer look at some of them. “Jai Golu Devta! My name, Priyanshu Gagola! Make me successful in finishing the 12th standard! May I get a government job! May I…
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Goludev the bell lover
I have never been able to really understand the meaning of the word ‘praying’, or maybe I should say ‘the act of praying’. One prays to god – at least according to my catholic upbringing – but since I can’t imagine anything when hearing or reading the word ‘god’, praying to god doesn’t make sense…
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The hotel room
The “welcome” poster in last week’s photo wouldn’t have looked unbecoming here either. I once spent a night in this room and I do remember it. I had reached Haldwani station in the middle of the night and found the town immersed in complete darkness due to a power cut. With difficulty I found somebody…
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The waiting room
The waiting room In spite of the wide open iron grid doors, the “welcome” poster on the wall doesn’t look like an altogether superfluous encouragement for possible visitors stepping over the threshold of this waiting room. The contrast between place and poster must have struck me as strangely funny when I passed here on the…
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Where I stand
After my comments in the previous posts on the Fall of man and Redemption of man, you may like to know where I stand. Well, I’m standing here under this tree and look up and think it’s beautiful. Through our observations of nature, and our thoughts and studies, we have come to a certain understanding…
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The lonely slipper
or Shiva and Parvati in a courtyard “Shiva is man and Parvati is woman; they are the causes of creation. All men have Shiva as their soul, and all women are Parvati. Shiva has the form of the male sign, the lingam, and the goddess has the form of the female sign, the yoni. The…
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Floating Baobab
The decisive moment for this picture came only after it was taken. It occurred to me that it could be interesting to turn the photo 90° anti-clockwise, and that’s what you see here. It suddenly becomes intriguing: it looks as if the tree is floating on a perfectly still water surface, creating a crystal clear…
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A stick in shallow water
Such a simple picture, but oh so deep! Ever since I saw this stick in the water and took a picture of it, the image has fixed itself on to my mind. What we see here is clear: 1) a stick in the sun, protruding from the water, 2) the refracted continuation of the stick…
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Fun-fair Ganesha
Popular places of Hindu worship, with their newly created temples and statues of the gods, are more often than not in bad taste. At Hardwar for example, where this picture was taken, there is a long row of new temples that seem to compete for first prize in cheap and kitschy design. How come? These…
καιρός remembered 