Category Archives: India India! Hot air and warm smiles. Chaos everywhere: trash and cow pats underfoot, birds overhead, and roadways crowded with pedestrians, cows, cars, and bikes all around. But it’s the colour that I love… And the natural grace of the people: everywhere you look there are people, young and old, draped on doorsteps or leaning against […]  They say you are a long time dead and buried – Well, unless you are buried in Switzerland, where your plot is reclaimed after 25 years to recycle available land. Or, unless you are in a traditional Chinese cemetery, where your bones should be taken out and washed annually… In India, honouring the dead can take many varied […]  “Take me to the Light!” It is Christmas Day here in Australia: – A good time to reconnect with family and loved ones, even though some might be far away, or missing completely. An ideal time to reflect on the possibilities of love and peace – although the world at the moment seems to be providing few examples. […]  Cool sands underfoot. Starry, wide-open skies overhead. Firelight and music and drums. There is magic in the desert air. “Midnight at the oasis Send your camel to bed Shadows paintin’ our faces Traces of romance in our heads…” – Midnight at the Oasis by David Nichtern for Maria Muldaur It was nighttime in the middle of the Thar Desert. The Great Indian Thar […] It is pretty impressive: the world’s tallest brick minaret, set in a complex of archaeological ruins dating back to 1193 AD, on a site that is much older than that. The stories behind it are quite something as well. Qutb Minar, sometimes spelled Qutub or Qutab, was started in 1192 by Qutb-ud-din Aibak, the first Sultan of Delhi and ruler of North India from 1206 to […] |
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