Lake Palaces, Mandu

The most famous Islamic works of architecture in India were left by the Moghuls in the 16th and 17th centuries, but there were other pre-Moghul Islamic dynasties in North India, such as the Tughlaq or the Lodi Dynasties of the 15th centuries, whose magnificent remains are not very well known outside India. One of the great late-15th century sites is Mandu (Mandavgad), in the state of Madhya Pradesh, where a brief dynasty called the Ghuri Dynasty flourished in the 1400s. Spread out over a vast area are ruins of the once great city, including a giant mosque, numerous tombs, a caravanserai, and a palace complex with huge man-made lakes and marvelous pavilions. This is one such pavilion, the Jal Mahal in Mandu’s ‘Royal Enclave’. The pavilion was built out into the lake (arches of an aqueduct can be seen in the background), and was once roofed, so the members of the court could enjoy a swim and stay cool in the shade, caressed by breezes.

Stone Trees, Milan

The interiors of Gothic cathedrals are among the most impressive architectural sights in the world, and one of the most impressive of these is the cathedral of Milan. Its effect is magnified because it’s a five-aisled cathedral, and so has twice as many huge columns as it would have had if it had been merely a three-aisle cathedral (that is, it has a nave and two pairs of side aisles–two in the north and two in the south–as opposed to a nave and only single side aisles). It really does appear as a forest of columns on the inside. You can get an idea of the tremendous scale by looking at the heads of the group of people along the bottom of the picture. Milan is such a great city for art and architecture. You can see Michelangelo’s Rondanini Pieta, the Sforza Castle, the wonderful Brera Picture Gallery (which I prefer even to the Uffizi in Florence), Da Vinci’s Last Supper, and the Romanesque church of San Ambrogio, and of course the cathedral.

Humayan’s Tomb

One of the great works of architecture of Old Delhi, India, is the monumental tomb of the Moghul Emperor Humayan (d. 1556). He was the son of the founder of the Moghul Dynasty, Babur, but internal divisions led to Humayan being exiled in Persia for a fifteen-year period from 1540 to 1555. Whilst in Persia, he saw the magnificent architecture of the Persians, both tombs and mosques, and thus inspired Humayan built the first really grand funerary edifice in India, a sort of granddaddy to the Taj Mahal. The tomb is still surrounded by its walls and large garden, a place of tranquillity amidst the chaos of Delhi, a city of 16 million people. Elevated high on a platform, the domed structure dominates the garden like a massive mountain of red sandstone and white marble.

Arrogant Humility

Over the main entrance door of the great church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, there’s a mosaic that shows Christ enthroned with an unknown Byzantine emperor kneeling down at Christ’s feet. He thus shows his humility before god, but of course expresses this humility in a most arrogant gesture. It’s so high up on the wall that many people miss it as they are at that moment distracted by the now visible and spectacular interior of the church. It’s probably about 1000 years old, yet it still glows with golden light, one of the rare documents indicating how the Byzantine emperors articulated their divine rule with art.

Back of the Bus

Traveling by bus in India always provides adventures and all kinds of surprises. It’s like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates. Early one morning, on November 11th, 2016 in a town called Dhar, I waited as the sun rose on a chilly morning for the bus to Mandu. Tea stalls were steaming in the cold, and patrons, including myself, huddled around the tea wallahs’ warm coal fires. I bought a banana from a cart for breakfast. I was wearing all the clothes I had to keep warm, but the sun was warm once it cleared the buildings nearby. The bus arrived and these handsome fellows and I were the first riders. It was going to be a long, rough trip, at times I wished I had four legs.

Street Food

I don’t usually post ‘food shots’, since they get a bit overdone on Facebook and other image-sharing sites. But I wanted to post this one as it’s such a common sort of scene for me when I travel, a quick lunch at some roadside eatery; a sort of Still Life of things on a table. This was the tableau of my lunch at a sidewalk place in Khajuraho, India, on November 8th of 2016. Indian food, alas, isn’t my favorite, so I was happy to find a place that did Chinese as well, so I ordered a plate of Chowmein, which cost about two dollars. I wrote in my journal and watched people go by. One of travel’s, and life’s, great pleasures: a moment of relaxation in some marvelous place far away from the familiar.

Morning’s Music

I get to stay in the world’s best hotels, and count myself lucky to have many wonderful homes as I travel around the world. At the Jai Mahal Hotel in Jaipur they wake you up in the morning by having a flute player play in the gardens from sunrise. It must be the world’s most civilized way to wake up, unless you’re a heavy sleeper, in which case it might be a bit too subtle. This musician was nice enough to pose for early rising tourists as he continued his lovely music in the day’s morning light.

Patchwork of Parasols

Rajasthan, India, is one of the world’s most colourful places. Its textiles are wonderful. I took this picture in Jaipur, the famous ‘Pink City’ of Rajasthan. It’s a display of little umbrellas that craftspeople produce as tourist souvenirs. In many of the vernacular textiles, sequins and little mirrors are sewn into the designs. The little mirrors reflect evil away. There was no rain for these umbrellas, but they created their own rainbow.

Gandharan Gautama

In the second century CE a kingdom called Gandhara extended through the regions that today would include parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. Some of the first images of the Buddha were produced here, in a region that was strongly influenced by Hellenism since this was an area that had been conquered by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE. In its beginnings, Buddhism had been an aniconic religion, that is, a religion that forbade the creation of an image of the god. But later centuries saw that rule relaxed and soon Buddha images were common. The Gandharan Buddhas almost look like depictions of the god Apollo, and the undulating drapery of the Gandharan Buddhas’ robes appear equally classicizing. They are among the most beautiful images of the Buddha ever created. I took this picture in the Archaeological Museum in New Delhi. His elongated ears indicate his earlier life as a prince (from heavy, golden earrings), the dot in his forehead (the urna) the third eye of consciousness, and the bun of hair on the top of his head (the ushnisha) also symbolizing his enlightenment.

Rare Rupees

When I arrived in India last month, November 4th, 2016, I arrived just in time for the worst air quality in New Delhi’s history. Anxious to get out of the city, I headed to Mandu, in the countryside, where I thought myself free and clear of problems. The the government of India then decided to immediately demonetize the 500 and 1000 rupee banknotes. These two banknotes comprised 85% of all the currency in a country of 1.3 billion people in which 97% of all commercial transactions are done in cash. The new 500-rupee notes had not yet been printed. It doesn’t take an economist to figure out what kind of chaos would ensue (and still continues over an month later). There was an immediate and catastrophic currency crisis. It became almost impossible to get money. My travels, then, were not easy, and in ten days had to be curtailed because I couldn’t get enough rupees to travel. Happily, I had wonderful friends in Secunderabad, and I spent my last rupees to get there where they took me. Such are the unpredictable aspects of travel.

Palace of the Winds

As part of the City Palace of the Maharaja of Jaipur, India, was a wing for the harem, known as the Hawa Mahal or ‘Palace of the Winds’, which probably more accurately be called the ‘Palace of the Breezes’, since the women of the harem could come here and enjoy the cooling zephyrs during the hot summers. From here they could observe the ostentatious festival parades on the main street of the city below without being seen by anyone. It’s one of the most famous facades of India, built by the Maharaja in 1799. In some interpretations of its architectural form it’s thought that it took the shape of a corona, alluding to the crown of the Hindu god Krishna. Like many of the buildings, and the city walls of Jaipur, the Palace of the Winds is made from the local orange-hued sandstone, for which Jaipur became to be known as the ‘Pink City’.

Old Ferries of Istanbul

Istanbul is my favorite city in the world. And one of my great loves are the old ferries that go across and up and down the Bosporus. During my last visit, in October of 2016, I took one of the ferries out to the Princess Island, a day trip to one of the city’s real treats. Cars aren’t allowed there, and people go about in Phaetons or horse-drawn carriages like in the old days. The boat ride itself is the main treat, but when you get there you can have a nice lunch, walk around, and catch the next ferry back. It’s a great half-day trip. But the old ships like this one are quickly being replaced by modern ferries that don’t even look much like boats. I know the new ones are safer and more efficient and probably less polluting, but I still have a real nostalgia for these boats, and when they’re all gone, I don’t think I’ll ride in any more. It just won’t be the same.

Sacred Offerings

When boating on the Ganges River in India, here at Varanasi, the most holy site of all, it is a tradition to pay homage to the mighty goddess river by making her an offering. On the ghats of the river children sell tiny trays with a candle surrounded by marigold blooms, appropriate since orange is the colour of devotion in Hinduism. It is the colour of the sun, of fire, and of the saffron thread and the robes of the Buddhist monks of the Thereveda tradition. I love this picture because it’s so rich in orange and fire and light. See the post below for the following moments.

Floating Votives

I know this looks like one of those ‘colour selection’ photographs, where you select a single colour and leave the rest black and white. But this is actually how the scene looked as we lit our little trays of marigold blooms and set them on the the great river, the Mother Ganges, in Varanasi, India. It was a ghostly dusk, silent and mysterious. Downstream the lights of the burning ghats flickered. The river of life and death flowed silently.

Say No to Crackers

The title of this post is a joke maybe only my good friend Constance Penley will appreciate. I’ll give you a hint: she’s from Florida. I arrived in New Delhi about a month and a half ago just in time for the worst air quality the city had ever experienced, with particulate matter and toxic gas amounts well over the ‘severe’ rating. Face masks were in such demand the price for them was inflating day by day. I was staying in a little 20-dollar-a-night hotel in a district called Karol Bagh, in the wonderful Channa Market area. The hotel was called ‘The King’s Inn’, though my bet would be no royalty ever stayed there. I think the idea was that they tried to treat all their customers like kings. They were very nice. Near the hotel was a small pre-school, and this was its facade. I loved the hopeful and colourful iconography. I saw six panels encouraging positive thinking: a happy birthday wish to Nehru, India’s post-independence leader, a drawing celebrating friendship, an homage to a Santa Claus-like guru, a pot brimming with flowers, and the hopeful saying “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”. Only one of the panels is specific to the moment, current events as it were. “Say no to Crackers” was part of an anti-fireworks campaign circulating in the city at that time. The poor air quality was caused by a perfect storm of contributing factors: the farmers’ burning of fields in north India, the out-of-control automobiles and motor-rickshaws and motorcycles of the city of 16 million people, the toxins from coal-burning plants and other industries, the perpetual burning of garbage in the streets, and, the week previous, of the flagrant use of fireworks to celebrate the season. Hard to imagine there being so many fireworks in a city that it effected air quality but there you have it. So say no to crackers. Now if we can just get to the point of “say no to coal, say no to internal combustion engines, say no to burning”, well, we just might be able to have fireworks now and again.