The Mistress of Spices

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“Each spice has a special day to it.
For turmeric it is Sunday, when light drips fat and butter-colored into the bins to be soaked up glowing, when you pray to the nine planets for love and luck.”
(“The Mistress of Spices” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni)

This lady was walking barefoot in a little street of Kashi, the oldest part of Varanasi (Benaras).
It was early in the morning, she came back from the Ganges and she was on her way to an ashram where she was probably staying while visiting the Eternal city.
She had turmeric on her feet, that spice is considered highly auspicious in various Indian ceremonies.
It is often used in Pujas to make a form of Lord Ganesha, the remover of obstacles.
Turmeric is also currently being investigated for possible benefits in Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, arthritis and other clinical disorders.

This lady was walking, she was not from the city.
We crossed each other, there was a beautiful scent made of several spices left behind which remained in the street for a while…

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Perfect Knowledge

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” “What would Buddha do to search for perfect knowledge ?”
“Your mind becomes Buddha.
Your mind is Buddha.
All the Buddhas’ ocean of perfect knowledge begins in your very mind and thought.”
(Amitayur Dhyana Sutra 17)

Buddha doesn’t have to do anything to gain perfect knowledge.
He knows he has it already.
He knows we have it already.
But someone we seem to be left out of the loop.
How ironic that we don’t know we have perfect knowledge !
What went wrong ?”
(From “What would Buddha do ?” by Franz Metcalf)

Those two Tibetan monks were under the Bodhi Tree which is behind the Mahabodhi Temple, the place of Gautama Buddha’s attainment of nirvana (Enlightenment), in Bodh Gaya (बोधगया), in the Indian state of Bihar.

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Singing Colors

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“Why do two colors, put one next to the other, sing?
Can one really explain this?
No.
Just as one can never learn how to paint.”
(Pablo Picasso – Spanish painter and sculptor, 1881-1973)

 

No one can explain why colors sing nor why Varanasi (Benaras) like the rest of the country is an amazing auditorium to listen to those blissful symphonies…
This picture was shot in a workshop nearby Sarnath where magicians display colors on sarees using the art of block printing.
This place which gives birth to unlimited shades is a treat for the senses…

 

 

 

 

In a Golden Coating

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“Yellow, mellow, ripened days,
Sheltered in a golden coating;
O’er the dreamy, listless haze,
White and dainty cloudlets floating;
Winking at the blushing trees,
And the sombre, furrowed fallow;
Smiling at the airy ease,
Of the southward flying swallow
Sweet and smiling are thy ways,
Beauteous, golden Autumn days.”
(Will Carleton – American poet, 1845-1912)

There is a private temple dedicated to Lord Shiva near Manikarnika ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras), I often go there.
The angle that I get from the balcony allow me to take pictures of the people who are walking along the holy waters.
Season after season it became a kind of game, sometimes I feel I am watching a fashion show, some are walking with attitude, some have style…

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The Golden Fleece

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“Happy the man who, like Ulysses, has made a fine voyage, or has won the Golden Fleece, and then returns, experienced and knowledgeable, to spend the rest of his life among his family.”
(Joachim du Bellay – French poet, critic, and a member of the Pléiade, 1522–1560)

This is shot from the balcony of a Shiva mandir (temple) near Manikarnika ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) from where there is an amazing view over the city.
I often come there and enjoy taking pictures of the people walking under, sometimes they were timeless garments.

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Golden Wanderer

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“I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils.”
(William Wordsworth – English Poet. 1770-1850)

I often spend some time on the balcony of a Shiva mandir (temple) near Manikarnika ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) from where there is an amazing view over the city.
There I see people walking along the holy waters.
This man came and kept my attention as I realized that we were almost wearing the same garments…

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Golden Hands

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“A friend is one to whom you can pour out the contents of your heart, chaff and grain alike.
Knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.”
(Unknown)

This picture was shot from the balcony of a Shiva mandir (temple) near Manikarnika ghat, in Varanasi (Benaras) from where I see any kind of people walking along the Ganges.
Those friends were walking holding hands, it is a common gesture in India which doesn’t imply any other overtones whatsoever.
However physical demonstrations of affection in public between opposite sexes, even between husband and wife, are frowned upon.

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Golden Alliance

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“We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet; and amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog has made an alliance with us.”
(Max Depree – American businessman and writer, b.1924)

On a cold afternoon of winter, this man was walking near Manikarnika ghat in Varanasi (Benaras).
I took this picture when he came under the balcony of a Shiva mandir (temple) where I often spend some time.
He was eating something wrapped in a newspaper and a dog was following him so he stopped and shared his food with this unexpected companion.

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Satya Yuga – The Golden Age

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“…there were no poor and no rich; there was no need to labour, because all that men required was obtained by the power of will; the chief virtue was the abandonment of all worldly desires.
The Krita Yuga was without disease; there was no lessening with the years; there was no hatred or vanity, or evil thought; no sorrow, no fear.
All mankind could attain to supreme blessedness…”
(The Satya Yuga as described in the Mahabharata)

The Satya Yuga, also called Sat Yuga, Krta Yuga and Krita Yuga in Hinduism, is the “Yuga (Age or Era) of Truth”, when mankind is governed by gods, and every manifestation or work is close to the purest ideal and mankind will allow intrinsic goodness to rule supreme.
It is sometimes referred to as the “Golden Age.”

Once again I went to the balcony of a Shiva mandir (temple) near Manikarnika ghat, in Varanasi (Benaras), from where I often take pictures.
I saw those men walking along the Ganges, they were echoing people from another holy city…

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Delicate as New Spun Silk

“When the Present has latched its postern behind my tremulous stay,
And the May month flaps its glad green leaves like wings,
Delicate-filmed as new-spun silk, will the neighbours say,
`He was a man who used to notice such things’?”
(Thomas Hardy – British Novelist and Poet, 1840-1928)

This carved wooden block is used for block printing.
This picture was shot before to apply ink on it and to be used on this yellow spun silk sari, in a printing workshop of Varanasi (Benaras).
Block printing has become popular because the simple process can create such sensational prints in rich and vibrant colors.
Sometimes each design has seven colors. 
The main colors used are red, the color of love, yellow the color of spring, blue as in Krishna, and saffron of the yogi.
The main tools of the printer are wooden blocks like this one in different shapes and sizes called bunta. 
Blocks are made of seasoned teak wood by trained craftsmen. 
Each block has a wooden handle and two to three cylindrical holes drilled into the block for free air passage and also to allow release of excess printing paste.
The new blocks are soaked in oil for 10-15 days to soften the grains in the timber.