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Dasara Festival 2006
Floral Show,
September 24, 2006
Ganesha the elephant headed god. He is the remover of
obstacles. The platform and the arch are made from rolled palm leaves.
Yes, those are yellow peppers AND Christmas tree balls.
Another bold combination:
Artichoke, tomatoes, sea shells, lilies, and rocks.
These were just so beautiful I had to take some pictures of them.
Cranium Flower
A wandering harmonium player. He was walking around the neighborhood,
playing for people who would listen and pay. My landlord and I listened to
him for a while and then he wandered down the street. I shot this picture
from the balcony of the flat as he was walking away. I liked the
motorcycle in the background -- an ancient mendicant wandering in
modernity. |
Roar! It looks like a cross between a snapdragon and an Iris. I've never
seen anything like it before.
Ayurvedic Herbs 1
This looks like mom's raindeer plant.
Ayurvedic Herbs 2
Red trunks and green leaves.
Note the scooter to the left side of the tree -- this tree is massive.
Posing Dragonfly |
Dasara Festival 2006
October 1, 2006
Bus Decoration 1
As you'll see from the pictures below, they actually drive these buses
with their windshields covered. The Dasara Festival demands decoration!
Bus Decoration 2
Bus Decoration 3
Bus Decoration 4
How can they actually see?
Mysore Palace: During the Dasara festival they "illuminate" the palace at
night. People come from all over India to see this. The line to get in
stretched, literally, for a mile.
Mysore Palace: The palace was the home of the Maharaja until India won its
independence from Britain.
Horse painted and dolled up like a little tart.
Another massive tree of Mysore. I can't even imagine what the root system
must look like.
Monsoon Rain as seen from the "rooftop garden" in downtown Mysore.
The Monsoon season ends in October. It's only rained like this 3 or 4 days
since I've been here.
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Sharath's Birthday Party:
October 2, 2006
Puja
The smoke filled the main room of the shala. Lots of
chanting and lots of fire play. It was Sharath's, Guruji's grandson, 35th
birthday.
Cake Cutting: now were talking. There are 4 generations of family in this
picture: Guruji (grandfather), Saraswati (his daughter - third from left),
Sharath (son of Saraswati - fourth from left), and his child cutting the
cake (the middle child).
Eating: Stage One
The Palm leaf is only for special occasions.
Eating: Stage Two
Large shirtless men with distended bellies come by and fill your plate with a scoop out of a
metal bucket. It takes about 10 minutes to move from Stage One to Stage
Three.
Eating: Stage Three
All the food is eaten with the fingers and, of course, there are no
napkins. It's quite an art to eat like this and not make a mess. It would
have been fun to be a kid in India.
Sri K. Pattabhi Jois: He celebrated his 91st birthday in July of 2006.
Closeup: Find out more about Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, or as he is
affectionately called, "Guruji" here:
www.ayri.org or www.ashtanga.com.
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Kolams
Stay tuned forthe Kolam/Yantra page. |
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Movies of Mysore
Dasara Party Bus: This bus is
leaving the station to make the rounds during the Dasara festival. They
blare music out of the large megaphone speaker at the top of the bus
because everyone likes to hear the music. How they manage to see out of
the windshield is beyond me. Oh, by the way, my sandal makes a guest
appearance at the beginning of the film.
Sharath's Shala Puja: This was
during the puja phase of the birthday party. Notice the smoke filling the
room and the atendees lungs.
The Crooked Rickshaw Driver: After
agreeing to a price before I got in, 5 minutes into the ride he decides
the price is now triple. Here is the transcript:
Rickshaw Driver: "Goakulum?"
Me: "Yeah."
Rickshaw Driver: "One-fifty."
Me: "What? (pause) No, fifty."
Rickshaw Driver: "One-fifty."
Me: "No, no, no, no. No, no no. No."
Monsoon Rain: Rain from the
"rooftop garden." |
