Looking ahead

Kids from the Udana Tsunami camp (a special meditation program for kids from the tsunami-hit areas) visit Nilambe Buddhist meditation centre, near Galaha, Sri Lanka in 2005.

These kids were all from the most affected (east coastal) areas of Sri Lanka.

The camp was organized free of charge for them by Nilambe Centre, my favourite place in Sri Lanka. It's one of the best meditation retreats in South Asia and very reasonably priced. You spend some 8 hours a day in silence, which I loved.

In this photo, they seem to be looking forward with hope.

On the curve

Jantar Mantar
Originally uploaded by Sirensongs

My entry to the Lonely Planet Photo Challenges contest, "Curves."

These fellows were perched on one of the sundials at Jantar Mantar, built by Maharajah Jai Singh II in Delhi circa 1764.

You can view the other contest entries on Flickr.com at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/lpcurves/

Art appreciation

As some of you know, I spent about four years travelling around India and Nepal, and about two of those were following HH the Dalai Lama to his many places of teaching and discourse throughout India.

Nowadays, some wags probably consider that stalking. There was a day when it was considered pilgrimage. That's what you do with saints, in the Hindu and Buddhist tradition. Saints don't stay in one place, they keep travelling. You follow them around.

Anyway, some of my favourite moments were in and around the teaching sites, where "Life's Rich Pageant" coalesces.

This photo was taken one morning in 2006 at Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh at the Central Institute of Tibetan Higher Studies, where everyone was queuing for the metal detector to get into teachings.

Last week, I received some Art Appreciation from a Flickr user named East Med Wanderer:

Great shot! All life is there - it has the quality of composition of one of the great master painters. And with a point and shoot - terrific!

Sometimes that's all it takes to make your day, or week. One of the great master painters probably would include the entire face of the purple-wearing woman at left, though - for compositional balance. That way, there would be two women facing each outside corner.

I can no longer post the larger versions of the photos - they kept getting stolen off the blog site. You can view (but not right-click) a larger version here.

Competitive spirit

If you participate in Flickr (the best photo-sharing service there is), log in now and go vote for my photo here.

My photo of the Tibetan nun protestors ("Snow lions of peace") is one of the final 10 selections for the Lonely Planet Publications challenge, "Events."

Thanks for playing!

Landscapegoats

Vote, dammit
Kathmandu

Well, only one person voted on the ICONS category of photos (thanks Brother Martin). I guess my photoblogs are getting boring.

This is what it looks like when you 're actually getting important things done and deadlines met....boring. I dislike doing it for the same reason I always hated going to bed on time - there's always something more interesting to do....so I just kind of go till I fall over, like a little kid.

After I finally fall over, I'm too tired or sick to do anything exciting. It's only then that administrative things finally get taken care of.

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Now playing: Certain General - Hello My God
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Mustard flowers in bloom outside Panauti, Kathmandu Valley 2005

The next category is Landscapes. Admittedly mine is not a landscape camera. But I think I did all right with these 'uns. ....

Along the Indus River, Choglamsar Ladakh. 2007

In Nubra valley near the Hunder sand dunes, Ladakh. 2007

Okay, just one more Ladakh photo....maybe someday if I get sick enough (!) I will have to move to Nubra Valley and write a book.


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Now playing: The Gun Club - Preaching the Blues
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Icons

Yet another in a series of photo blogs, designed to force you to vote on which pictures I should submit to the photo competition.

This time the category is Icons.



Inner sanctum at Mahabodhi temple, Bodh Gaya India. 2007
Karumariamman temple, Bangalore. 2003Each lotus represents a footstep of the Buddha. The Mahabodhi temple Chankamana (meditation walk), Bodh Gaya 2007.
Astamatrika Bhairab mask waits to be "awakened." Patan, Nepal 2006.
Vintage colour print of the Dalai Lama, Swaymabhunath, Nepal. 2006


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Now playing: Patti Smith - Space Monkey
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Local friends

Another photo blog....
Kathmandu


Thanks to Ashini and John for comments on the photo entries. I can't really "see" these photos anymore, they're part of my brain now....;-)
Burmese monks visiting Bodh Gaya, Bihar. 2007

Another category in the competition is Local Friends. In addition to all the Smiling Peasantry I posted a few days ago, I would probably enter some of these.

Somebody help me weed out this glut of imagery....Tibetan folk dancers waiting for the Dalai Lama, Dharamsala, India 2007.

If it's Monday, this must be Shiva: this kid dressed as Shiva every Monday and Ram every Thursday. Koregaon Park, Pune 2005This woman in Pune's Shaniwar Wada had to get her husband's permission before being photographed. 2005


I offered to buy the flowers for this striking little Telugu girl, just to get this photo. Vijayawada. 2006. Too bad about the mobile phone sign, they're everywhere in India now....Ladakhi Muslim schoolgirls waiting for the bus, Nubra Valley 2007. Possible upper-right quadrant crop?

Marigolds for sale in Ason Tole at Dasain time, Kathmandu - 2006.
Amma Garu who ran the idly hotel in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. 2006, and her granddaughter.
Krishnakumari was all ready waiting for the school bus one morning. Her mother had just drawn this muggu. Brodipet, Guntur AP 2006.

Gurung woman selling cilantra and turmeric, Kathmandu. 2007
This is a fun shot, but not sure it could win a competition. Marathi men in traditional dress, Bombay, 2005


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Now playing: Ali Farka Toure & Ry Cooder - Soukora
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Real life experiences

...is the name of one category I am entering in a photo competition.

Needless to say, I have a surplus of such images (not to mention the experiences themselves).

Help me narrow them down.
Young monks dressed as the Cemetery Lords, Thiksey Monastery Cham dance, Ladakh 2007.
Newar Astamatrika dancer just before donning his mask and entering trance. Patan, Nepal 2006.

Some of these photos will be familiar to long-term viewers here. The deadline is 30 June.Ladakhi ladies serve tea at the Dalai Lama's teachings, Choglamsar Ladakh, 2007


Tibetan Buddhist nuns blindfolded for the Dalai Lama's Kalachakra initiation, Andhra Pradesh 2006. Rajasthani dancer and musicians visiting Nepal's Bhaktapur, 2006


My friend Mohanlal and a visitor at the inauguration of the new Murugan temple, Parayakadavu, Kerala. 2005
Washing the buffalo, Pune. 2005

Makar Sankranti musicians in the street, during the Kalachakra, Andhra Pradesh. 2006
Sadhu doing puja in the Ganges, Rishikesh, 2006.



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Now playing: Digital Underground - The Humpty Dance
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Now playing: Billy Preston - Outa-Space (Single)
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Smiling peasants make your day

First world images of the majority
Kathmandu

I'm preparing to enter another international photo contest - two, actually.

One appears to be (judging by past winners) really big on smiling peasantry. Toothless old ladies in traditional headdress. Happy poor people. Friendly natives.

I admit to having a lot of these cliches in my portfolio...should be a shoo-in. ;-)

Here are just a few I have shortlisted.

Lhasa letter

Another vicarious letter....am I getting lazy?
Lhasa via Dharamsala, India via Kathmandu

My American friend Amy asked me "what are you hearing from Lhasa these days?" I was sorry to say I didn't have a direct contact to Lhasa, and that the Tibetans here report a near-total news blackout. The blog of Tibet activist Jamyang Norbu, though, has an anonymous letter on current living conditions in the city.

Norbu is a well-known author, one of the more lucid writers on the Tibet issue and former Tibetan freedom fighter. His blog is well worth a visit.

Walking the streets of Lhasa, seeing big tea houses unusually empty and many shops still closed, makes you aware of how scared people are these days. Very few people stop on the street when they meet friends, because every gathering of people is cause for suspicion. A lot of people still stay at home because they are scared they will get arrested for no reason if they go out.

When you finally find someone not too scared to talk to you, you hear consistent, dramatic, disturbing and daunting stories that give you nightmares.

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Now playing: Snow Lion of Peace
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Blatant self-promotion, but for a good cause

I was thrilled to learn, late last night, that my photo of an elderly Tibetan demonstrator in Dharamsala had won in an international photography competition.

(Okay, I didn't get first place, I got first commendation - but we all received $200, and besides the winning picture - of a woman interviewer in a burqa wielding a microphone - really was better.)

The contest, themed "Women and Communication," was organized by the Canadian organization World Association for Christian Communication.

Here are the specifications:
WOMEN AND COMMUNICATION
Photographs that capture women communicating; women's communication rights in action or photographs illustrating how women use communication to empower themselves.

Other winning photos hailed from Afghanistan, Honduras, Thailand, Maldives and Argentina.

In most of the other photos, the women were acting through various outlets of modern media (radio interview, public address, graffiti). In addition to carrying the flag, this woman was visibly praying. Like many elderly Tibetans, her mouth was constantly in motion breathing mantras. I am continually amazed at the Tibetan community's sincere belief that prayer is a definite, pro-active force in changing things.

This woman was probably a young girl at the time of exile and has grown old in India, hoping for return to her home. The day was pouring down rain and quite cold; still she made it out to what had in many ways become a very routine event with little or no signs of progress (that is, the annual Uprising Day vigil), to pray for change.

My gratitude to the woman in the photo, to WACC, to Rita Banerji of 50 Million Missing for alerting me to the contest, and to Cheryl Hurwitz of New York City who was visiting Dharamsala that day and was kind enough to loan me her camera.


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Now playing: Lama Gyurme & JeanPhillipe Rykiel - Calling the Lama from Afar via FoxyTunes

More blogs about buildings and food

Psyche...

Kathmandu, Nepal

It's not really about buildings and food. Good title, though!

"Does this movie even have a script?"
"NO, but we've got a poster!" - Ed Wood

More scenes from the 'Du.....

This one (below) is a favourite; doesn't look like much, but in fact it is an ancient Devi (goddess) temple being turned into an ATM.

MyTube

Plan for worldwide multimedia domination
Delhi

Since all I've done is run to offices the past 24 hours, this seems like a good time to mention other sources of Siren-based content on the web.

First, there is my YouTube channel, SirenTV.

As some stupid folk singer beat me to the username "Sirensongs," I had to register as Sirensongsindia. Connections and bandwidth are so poor here, I have only been able to upload 9 videos so far, each one taking at least half an hour.

The most popular has proven to be that of a young Bharatanatyam dancer (viewers recognized her and wrote in that her name is T. Sangeeta).

My favourite is one from the Mahabodhi Society in Sarnath, showing four young orange-robed monks chanting the Buddha's first sermon in Pali language, by candle-light.



YouTube seems to attract very abusive commenters, for some reason. After five various abusive, profane and disgusting remarks from users, I disabled the Comments section.

Judging by the names (south Asia is a lot like Africa in that you can determine "tribal" affiliation by names) alone, two abusive commenters were Indian men, one Nepali male, and one Sri Lankan male. I had my own south Asian diversity-program of verbal abuse!

Welcome to my world
What is it about the internet that brings out the absolute worst in people?

The derogatory comments included the predictable - "Why don't you include the so and so. You really know nothing and are not a real blah blah and a REAL blah blah would do such and such, and...." (no extra points for guessing this nationality was -- drumroll please - Indian!).

Naturally, this guy had nothing up on his own page, he just roamed around criticizing others.

...- to surprising allegations and ethnic slurs ("end the slave culture of child abuse that is Buddhist monk culture"; "you MONK-ees have to understand...")

...- to the outright vulgar ("if you like the Kumari so f**ng much why don't you make your own f**ing daughter the Kumari").

I guess it really sucks to be a mama's boy all your life and be spoiled rotten the first 18 years and handed everything you ever look at, then get out into the big bad world and realize it isn't going to be like that. This appears to be the disease afflicting a lot of south Asian men.

However, my page is not the place to vent your spleen. That's the beauty of the net, you can have your own page to spew onto. (Don't worry, either your Mom or your dutiful wife will clean up after you.)

Eye of the Siren
The other Siren-supplemental audiovisual site is my Flickr account.

Organized into geographical sets, this features about 600 photos from my travels all over India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

For whatever reason, the Flickr community is far more laid-back and less confrontational than that of YouTube, which explains why I spend more time there.

Here are just a couple of photos from my Flickr.

At left are women of the Lambadi/Banjara group, originally from Rajasthan. They had migrated to Pune for construction work. I met them on the job site.

They were building - one head-load of cement at a time - a high-rise mall, the kind they would almost certainly not be allowed to enter themselves once it was completed. (Such malls 'reserve right of admission.' Gypsies like these are considered, sometimes rightly, to be habitual thieves).

Amazingly, they wore their full traditional garb during work hours as well. This photo was taken after hours at their "hutment" or corrugated tin hut erected as temporary housing on the building site.

The masked skull dancers in the photo above are novice bhikkus or young monks at Thiksey Monastery, Ladakh, at the annual Thiksey GuStor festival. They are all dressed up as the Cemetery Lords or harbingers of death. These young dancers get license to run about and tease the audience, sitting on laps, messing with cameras and so forth. The idea is that Death makes a mockery of us all!

Release Forms of the Dragon

The saga continues
Leh, Ladakh

I heard back (do only Southerners say that?) from the people at China Stylus. They want to use three of the six submitted photos in Treasures of the Dragon. Now, all I have to do is figure out how to print out the photographer's release form (done - only took an hour), and either scan it (huh? ) or fax it to them from Ladakh. I haven't seen a scanner since I arrived; there might be a fax machine somewhere in town. It probably operates on a hand crank.

Weather Overground
The weather is slowly but surely shifting winter-ward. Going outside now requires a fleece jacket, and I can no longer sleep with the windows open. This morning revealed a very respectable coating of snow even on the lower elevations of what I think is the Zanskar range.

The Leh-Manali road (ie, lifeline to The Subcontinent Proper) is normally managed by the Indian Army, but it officially closes on September 15. This is not as drastic as it sounds. Cars and vehicles still run on the road. What it means is that after Sept. 15, the Indian Army is no longer available to dig you out if you are snowed in on Baralacha-La (a mountain pass).

I will still be in Nubra on the 15th, so I will have to arrange for a share jeep down to Manali in a few weeks. I call shotgun.

Treasures of the Dragon

Coming soon to a coffee table near you?
Leh, Ladakh


Every little bit of good news helps. Three of my images have been chosen from my Flickr.com gallery in the "first round" of selection for a coffee-table book called Treasures of the Dragon. It's the third in a series of successful books, published by China Stylus. The first two were called Legends of the Dragon and The Dragon's Playground.

Probably, this means that if I am lucky, only one of the images will make it to the actual book. I am up against pros with real cameras, DSLRs and so forth. When people compliment my photos (which I appreciate greatly), I feel like adding, "Yes, and just remember, it was all done with a $300 point and shoot ultra-compact with a lens the size of your pinky fingernail." That is, a pinky nail without French tips.

If I can sneak in an upload here in upload-less Ladakh, on this page should be one of the nominated images. This is a masked Tibetan "chaam" dancer or "lama dancer" at Bemchen Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Photo okay?

Intercultural multimedial etiquettisms
Whew, for someone who hasn't done much since Thursday, I sure am exhausted. Think I will recycle some viewer mail I received last week, from Ron in Missouri.

Ron writes:
Hello Sirensongs - I was referred to you by a member of Virtualtourist.

I'm a street photographer. I love photographing people in candid situations. My experience is limited to the western United States and Vietnam.

I am wondering about any special customs about photographing women in India, things I might not be familiar with. I notice that there are very few photographs of women in the website galleries that I have found. Much of my work is in open markets and at fairs and like events, so I frequently photograph vendors, then return with copies of the pictures to give them the next day. I try to establish relationships in this way, rather than just pointing a camera at people and then disappearing.

Anyway, I'm going to Gujarat in two weeks, my first trip to India, and any advice would be appreciated. I have enjoyed reading your travelogues.

Dear Ron:
Like everything Indian, the issue is complex and not without contradictions.

On the one hand, most of the culture adores (literally) images and imagery, everything from home movies to pictures of film stars to icons of the gods.

On the other hand, there are traditional concepts of modesty to deal with, as well as complicated inter-gender relations - that is, as a woman, it is much easier and less "intrusive" for me to photograph another woman than for a man to do so.

(You get mixed messages, too. The Bihari ladies at left are waving and yelling, "No photo!" - but still smiling playfully. They are "supposed to" be modest and shy, as a cultural expectation, but may actually enjoy a little attention - if no one is looking!)

Additionally, there's the perception of "rich" foreigner "taking something" from the local. All these things must be considered.

In general, when someone is in a public place doing a public job, (ie, selling things in the market or on the sidewalk, or working on the farm) I consider them "fair game" - but always approach them with a smile, and making the "click click" motion indicate, "Photo okay??" Again, this is much easier for me as a woman - it is never misunderstood as a "come-on."

Sometimes women will say no and dismiss me with a wave of the hand. More often, they will smile and indicate yes (the various 'head woggles' of south Asia can be confusing to newcomers, though).

Occasionally (very) they will demand money - I do not give money to them as I think it fosters a whole range of unhealthy reactions.

Also, sometimes they will indicate that they want you to give them a copy of the photo. Never promise "yes" unless you absolutely can do it and intend to. Otherwise, they think you're just another foreigner who does not keep promises.

Most often, I indicate "sorry, not possible" and shake my head. ("Not possible" is Indian English, understood by all.)

When I'm in one place long enough, though, I do as you suggested and return photos to the models, who are usually delighted.

Whenever feasible (if crowds are not too rowdy), I do show them the digital image in the viewfinder. More often than not this is met with a big smile and loud laughter. It is much appreciated, since many people have never seen a photo of themselves.

It also serves to bond with people and give something back to them.

A couple more things :
-Muslims in general, and Muslim women in particular, are very touchy about being photographed. Their religion officially frowns on any image-creation (though personally, they may enjoy it), and the women especially bear the brunt of extreme "modesty" requirements.

They may say yes, though, if you ask politely. I think it's more difficult for a man to photograph a Muslim woman. One exception is Muslim kids - boys and girls. They usually have no objection to being photographed!

Another thing to keep in mind:
Oftentimes, people will be engaged in activities on the street or sidewalk that are, in fact, private - washing kids, bathing themselves, cooking or doing laundry. (see photo at left)

This is the nature of lower-class Indian housing -a great deal of it is out in the open; lots of people live in lean-tos and sheds, half on the street and so on. Many people have to bathe at the public pump and have no privacy.

Try to be sensitive with anyone, but especially women, in such situations. Again, the kids usually have no objection at all and enjoy it!

And one more thing: Please check out and perhaps contribute to, after your trip, the Flickr.com group "50 Million Missing" - dedicated to representing the Indian women and girls who are "missing" in India's ongoing gender-wars.
Thanks for writing, and happy snapping!