Kathm-haiku

Smell of dull incense
Coiled in the dying-out street
Late passers-by don't stop anymore

Cackling at her offspring
Like a hen would at her chicks
She chides them into place around the table

Lull

Namaste guys!

I know it's been quite a while since I last published anything on the blog, but being on Indian and Nepalese roads isn't quite as blog-enticing as I thought it would be. A great many things to see and do, especially here in Nepal. Many people to meet and to learn from and to listen to. Mountains to behold. Morning dew to play with. Temples and shrines and festivals to contemplate. Brightly-coloured prayer flags and snake-like incense wisps floating in the breeze.

'Tis fun, I have to admit, to have to stay in one place and getting to know the people. Spraining my ankle up there in Langtang wasn't such a bad thing, after all. Everyday I sip a cup of black tea with Krishna, help him at the shop (taking care of the shop for 5 minutes and then closing down yesterday night was quite something) and meet and greet the newcomers. Sometimes guiding some, like Shota, one of my Japanese friends.

Strange to say, I am not sad to leave them all on the 15th. Pokhara - and then Lumbini, the historic Buddha's birthplace - promise to be of note on my way back to India (Uttarakhand). Perhaps it is so because I know I'll come back to Nepal, sooner than later, and that like the Himalayas, some people remain immutable.

For a stranger reason still, Japan has never seemed closer to me than now. I really should busy myself learning the language. Natsuko, Shota, and even more importantly Yoko, domo arigato gozaimasu!

In the meantime, I hope you are all keeping well, and enjoying whatever you are doing, wherever you are. For those who are embarking on a trip around the world, the Irish people would say:

Go n-éirí an bóthar leat.
Go raibh cóir na gaoithe i gcónaí leat.
Go dtaitní an ghrian go bog bláth ar do chlár éadain,
Go dtite an bháisteach go bog mín ar do ghoirt.
Agus go gcasfar le chéile sinn arís,
Go gcoinní Dia i mbois a láimhe thú.

Which loosely translates:

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind always blow at your back.
May the sun shine softly on your forehead,
May the rain fall lightly on your fields
And until we meet again
May God keep you in the palm of his hand.

If any Irish wants to tighten my translation and/or correct the text (not sure about the accents and it would be even more surprising if I haven't mis-spelt a bunch of words), you're heartily welcome!

Namaste everyone, and take care.

The Long Corridors Underneath the Cities

It could be morning, it could be night

In this long corridor of the metropolitan.

The underbelly of the megalopolis

Swollen with myriads of humans.

Down there it is livid, disinfected, air-tight.

Down there, moon and sun are worth nix.

Down there people lurk, and people change.

They lose their difference, and their age.

Down there rats, cockroaches and fungi thrive.

It is a catacomb designed for, by and alike the living.

At unpunctual intervals, a rasping breathing is heard.

And the entire length of the reptilian inside

Which runs for exactly a hundred-and-five metres,

Heaves, pants, suffocates – and finally respires.

Every five metres, precisely every seven strides,

A steel arch ribs the breadth of the concaved gutter.

A long spine of neon lights like greyed corallite

Blanch the methacrylate of the floor, the tiles of the parietes.

It could be mourning, it could be right

In those long corridors beneath the cities.

Quoting

"A writer -- and, I believe, generally all persons -- must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art."


Jorge Luis Borges, writer (1899-1986) 

Ernst Haas

I missed, two days ago, the anniversary of the death of Ernst Haas, brilliant photographer who brought colour photography where it is today, member of the Magnum Photos Agency.

He had his pics shown in the MoMA, he also worked on some films, like Little Big Man and The Misfits.

To discover his immense and diverse work, it's here.

It's been quite a while since I last quoted Albert...wrong righted

"I never think of the future - it comes soon enough." Albert Einstein

Labyrinthe de Chartres

On ne peut pas dire que je sois allé très souvent dans cette superbe cathédrale de Chartres, mais jamais je n'avais vu la nef dégagée de ses chaises pour laisser place au labyrinthe. Ce labyrinthe qui n'en est pas un,  puisqu'il trace un chemin continu de plus de 250 mètres de long, accueillait le pèlerinage silencieux d'une vingtaine de croyants, pour certains chapelet en main, marchant et priant, oublieux du monde autour d'eux. Je n'ai pris que trois photos, dont une floue, ne voulant pas déranger. Les voici.

Je viens de comprendre, en lisant sur Internet, pourquoi je n'avais pas pu voir le labyrinthe jusqu'ici : il n'est ouvert que le vendredi de 10h à 17h...il m'arrivait de bosser à ces heures-là.

Plusieurs dernières choses sur la cathédrale : plus vaste superficie de vitraux des 12 et 13ème siècles et plus vaste crypte romane du monde, plus long transept et plus vaste choeur de France, une des plus grandes rosaces du monde, j'en passe et des meilleures...palsembleu ! Me voilà en train de dire du bien de Chartres...ah, non ! Juste de sa cathédrale...À voir quand même, et à apprécier encore plus le vendredi.

 Une der des dernières choses : il paraîtrait qu'une plaque représentant le combat de Thésée et du Minotaure aurait trôné au centre du labyrinthe...je vais creuser un peu la question...en ressortant du labyrinthe, car tout le monde peut entrer dans un labyrinthe, mais il ne faut pas perdre le fil pour en ressortir.

Cloudless sunset over the sea

Delicatessen

Spider vs fly, in the wilderness behind the window pane.

More light at night than meets the eye

Yesternight's pictures of Saint-Michel-Chef-Chef's (France, 44) harbour and seaside.