Category: India
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Via crucis
Via crucis or: the missing fingers Religion can be a true source of inspiration for Art with a capital A – countless examples can be found across the centuries in all the various religions.It can also provide inspiration for living folklore and the religious kitsch that goes hand in hand with it – of which…
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Washing at the pump
Washing at the pump The lives of seasonal workers in the brickworks revolve entirely around hard work, eating and sleeping in tiny huts and, as we can see in this photograph, washing themselves and their clothes at the communal hand pump. What struck me so much last week in the photographs of women working in…
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Pillars of strength
Pillars of strength So there they are, India’s working poor! Especially the women. Without their constant dedication and care, the whole of society would collapse in no time at all. Although they are vulnerable to exploitation and even slavery, these migrant women workers in the brick factories have one advantage over their middle-class employers. Their…
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White elephant
White elephant Sometimes you meet after many years an old acquaintance who greets you with the exclamation “You haven’t changed a single bit!” The same applies to the Indian Ambassador car. Since its birth in 1957 as a clone of Morris Oxford its looks have hardly changed during all those years that it has been in production. But…
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Mind your step
Mind your step Everyone who has moved around airports must be familiar with this phrase “Mind your step”. Seeing it, I immediately hear the proper voice with the right intonation warning me: “Mind your step!” But what is it supposed to mean here? Can it be a warning to those who are on the verge…
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A girl of character
A girl of character Cleaning, cooking, fetching water, looking after the children, feeding and milking the cow or buffalo, gathering firewood: all this and much more is women’s work in many traditional societies.This young woman from Kumaon is carrying a tree home, which she may even have chopped down herself with an axe, as in…
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Women at the village pump
Women at the village pump Such a common sight, but always inviting to pause for a while and enjoy. Here it’s a few women of the Gond tribe with their feet in the mud around the village pump, cleaning vessels and jars. The shiny silver of the traditional armlet, anklets and elaborate belt reflects its beauty…
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Roadside entertainment
Roadside entertainment Moving images, stories told with moving images, invariably attract the attention of children, women and men. Most animals on the other hand, like the cow or bull here, can’t care less. Last week’s post spoke of the close relationship between man and cow in India, the last one almost being considered by man…
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Home again!
Home again! After a long day wandering around the village or town, looking for vegetable scraps, paper, cardboard – in short, anything edible – a cow returns home. Is the cow sacred in India? In a sense, yes – at least to a certain extent. She is one of the living, part of the family,…
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An endearing smile
An endearing smile The young lady has taken refuge against the blistering sun in the cramped space between wall and tree. Confronted with my camera, she sees the amusing side of her position and presents me – and you – with an endearing smile. Photo of the week: Ganj, Orchha, Madhya Pradesh, India 2007
καιρός remembered 