But, received some lovely gifts.

My friend in the box started crocheting this on the day she heard that I’d resigned from the box. She would weave it bit by bit, every day, after going home from the box. And she gave it to me as a farewell/ birthday gift. Such a warm and lovely gesture

I can sew a bit – but knitting and crocheting are unknown skills. So this is really a work of art for me.

And this gift is a shawl from Sindh, Pakistan. Yes, really, from across the border A friend of ours had gone there on a press-tour, and got this shawl with such rich, warm colours. It is called an Ajrak  - a unique form of blockprinted shawls created in Sindh. Its lovely

And best of all – this from K!

A field hockey stick!!! yippee .

(making do with a tennis ball right now, till i get proper hockey ball. But wow, i love this gift. I’d given away my old stick to a cousin, who never took to the game, and lost my other one. I’ve held a hockey stick after ages – so this is just just just great. It also came to me on the day our team made it to the finals of the Champions Challenge. I smell a good omen )

Finally, I’ve stepped off.

Yesterday was my last working day in the box. I’ve got out of there, and have set out to do the things that will make me happy. Its possible I’ll fail, but at least I’ll have the satisfaction of having tried.

I’ve been prodded, nudged, pushed, and supported to take this decision by some very close people; to all of whom I’m deeply indebted. “So you take that leap!” was an inspiration that came all the way from Brisbane.

I did.
And I’m happy.

Two weeks ago I made my first trip to Rajasthan as part of my work in the box and was taking some pictures of a village women’s meeting. One of the images i captured was this.

Even as i was framing it, the one image that kept coming to me was Dorthea Lange’s iconic depression era photograph of the migrant mother. And throughout the shoot I was consciously trying to match that image.

History, memory, readings and interpretations. In strange places. In stranger ways.

photos taken on a muggy morning at MandarMoni, on a fungus ridden Nikon D80. Sepia tones and border added via my latest Mac.

* Sunlight among clouds

* Cloud shadows on hills

* Hills covered with green grass and tiny blue flowers

* The Time Travel Machine.

* Ability to forget that all of the above are impossible for me right now.

Sometimes life can be utter bollocks.

tada! look at the design they have used!

Wow, i love spotting glimpses of our ancient history in every day objects. The motifs used are from the Indus valley civilization, (3300–1300 BC).The Indus Valley is one of the world’s earliest urban civilizations, along with its contemporaries, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.
Among the various finds during excavations in the last century, archaeologists were astonished to find this figure of the dancing girl and much later, the sculpture of the “priest king”

kitschy? perhaps. But actually i want to tip my hat to the artist who did this.

(the image of the dancing girl, and priest king are from Wikipedia commons)