A day at the burning ghats, Varanasi.

A description of the mortuary practices that occurs at the burning Ghats' based on observation, informants, and readings of text.  

Boat culture within India.

A brief survey of boats and their uses that intrigued and fascinated whilst traveling through the sub continent.

The environmental movment within India based on popular culture.

This article gives some insight into the environmental movement within India based on my 2017-2018 sojourn. There are a selection of street art and icons pertaining to environmentalism as well as a brief analysis of the situation.

Syncretic trends within India.

An overview of eight forms of syncretic (the amalgamation of different religious, cultures, or schools of thought) trends that I observed whilst traveling throughout the Indian subcontinent (2017-2018).

Religious minorities within India.

A glimpse at three religious minorities, and their impact on a travellers' stream of thoughts upon the 2017-18 sojourn.

Pilgrims on the path

A documentation on what is a sense of pilgrimage through a travelers' perspective of encountering the lived experience of pilgrims' in a contemporary setting based on the 2017-2018 sojourn.

Seeing the divine image in India

A brief survey of the significants of shrines within India, based on 2017-2018 sojourn.

Perspectives of the urban within India.

This perspective includes broad themes  pertaining to naturalism in contrast with the anthropocentric worldviews.

Work, eat, worship

A survey of the life of domesticated animals in the Indian context which is taken from my travels through the sub-continent in 2017-2018.

Public signs within the Indian context.

A selection of public signs that gives a pulse of the lived experience and sense of place within the Indian sub continent, around the time I traveled through in 2017-2018.

Street art, India

A series of depictions and notes on the genera of street art that I came across on my travels through the sub continent.

Itinerant stalls, India

A brief survey of nature of itinerant trader stalls on the sub continent of India 2017-2018 trip.

Cycle India 2017-2018 overview

This short article explores this interesting form of transport within the sub continent. 

View from the street

View from the street

Hampi revisited

A selection of image and text that form the basis for prints on fiberglass and sculptural works.

City of pilgrims

Varansi had that sense of timeless culture that allows the traveler to reflect on profound issues pertaining to being towards whatever. In this first article I explore the notion of various modes of being in time.

Travels' to the more remote regions of India

A highlight of my six month sojourn in the sub-continent was residing in a small hill station in Orisa. Koraput is the central town to many small villages that have their own distinctive cultural expressions. The article ( 18 pages) is a survey of religion, lively-hood practices, community development of the region that includes Jaypure, Jagdalpur and Koraput were I resided for most of the duration of my visit.

A contrast to the senses.

A comparative approach ( 11 page article of text and image) that contrasts the Himalayan region with that of Rajasthan as a form of travelography.

Reflections on Goa from a travelers point of view within a six month sojourn through the sub-continent.

Highlights from the Goa (article 14 pages) include world heritage listed churches, contemporary festivals, Arjuna markets, cafe/party culture, Portuguese cottages, beach life, street art, lifestyle.

Contrasting depictions of city life through a traveler’s lens.

To Travel through cities and regional centers reveals a juxtaposition of experiences which can give a unique encounter with the very big and small in terms of lived experience.

Charminar markets, Hyderabad.

Exploring districts like Charminar (10 pages of images and text) gives a glimpse into a place steeped in its own sense of history amidst the contemporary need for gratification, and all that it entails. 

A sojourn to Hyderabad

Street scenes of Hyderabad (ten pages)

reveals a city of beauty and simplicity that sits amidst the roaring traffic and the constant hum of humanity thronging narrow byways.

The stone garden. A sculpture community near Mamalapuram. 2018

There is a sculpture community situated amidst pastoral scenes in a small village West of Mamalapuram. The link explores my interactions with the sculptors and a selection of works I produced whist residing there for over a month.

A sense of place. Mamalapuram. 2018

Residing in the small beach side town for a couple of month. The prime occupation being sculpture, but also afforded some photography of scenes around the locale.

Sculpture community, travelography account

Being in Mammalapuram gave an opportunity for an extensive participation with a sculpture community some distance from the town. I was given a space to be creative on my own projects which gave me a unique opportunity to interact with many long time sculptors that were generous in giving their time, introducing me to many aspects of traditional temple sculpture (23 pages), or preview (5 pages).  Also the art practice in India extends into the art practice in Australia

 

Sculptural street art

A synopsis of sculpture in Mammalapuram ranging from street artists who produce all kinds of forms for popular culture to the companies that focus on religious iconography. My first foray into the scene was with a street artist (article 10 pages).  The basics of stone sculpture is simple, however it becomes complex when  adding power tools to the process that began with a hammer and chisel. 

Sun, a little surf and the Sea shore temple.

Life on the beach (9 pages) at the historical port town of Mamallpuram that is situated in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.

The community of Auroville. Pondicherry, India. 2017. IZG

Pondicherry has a distinctive Indo-Franco style, and only four hours from Tiru. Upon arrival I caught a bus out of the CBD to the Auroville community.

 

Its a large area to traverse both physically and philosophically. For a complete picture there is a review of Sri Aurobindos philosophy.

Holy city of Tiruvannamalai. Tamil Nadu. India. IZG. December 2017

It was around mid morning that I arrived in Tiruvanmali after an overnight train from Hospit. The previous visit had been in 2004, and upon arrival I had to navigate through the rather large town with a busy network of streets. Vague recollections of temples and familiar cafes near the tourist precinct only hinted of the direction I should follow so it was necessary to take guidance from satellite navigation.

Tiru hosts an important south Indian temple that is one of five south Indian Shiva temples associated with classical Indian metaphysics. The Arunachaleshwar temple is dedicated to the element fire, and is situated within the city, taking up 10-hectares, which is one of the largest temples in India. 

After navigating a maize of streets eventually I found the foreign tourist accommodation hub. Its just one street near the Ramana ashram. I found a small room in a house that's run by a couple of retired government employees.

My first days were spent checking out the scene around the sacred mount Arunachala. There is a plethora of Sadhus (professional religious folk) that throng the area along with householder pilgrims who come to circumnavigate the mountain. 

 

Upon visiting the Ramana ashram each day I found a basic routine that involved cycling around Tiru by day and visiting the bookshop in the afternoon where there are readers of the philosophical works of Ramana Maharshi's message. By late afternoon there is the opportunity to observe priests offer food and chant in the main precinct of the ashram. 

Tales of Hampi

Hampi is located in the state of Karnatika which is not too far from Goa. It was about late afternoon when I began to cycle for Hampi which is around 15 km from the Hospit rail junction. As I passed the last shops at the edge of town, street lights made way for an unlit road. I stopped along the road side, scrambling around, trying to find a head light in one of the bike paniers. Then after a minute or so, a group of inquisitive onlookers appeared from nowhere.

The number of people speaking all at once made the encounter a blend of nice-to-meet exclamations and nonsense questions. Closing the pannier, I headed for the a near by lit up tea stall. However even this did not deter, as they followed me and continued with a melody of interrogatives and exclamations. Eventually, they went their way, and I was left to search for the light.

It was either head for Hampi or turn back to Hospit. I decided to press on because finding hotel accommodation is a challenge at the best of times, and particularly in areas not set up for the foreign tourist phenomenon. This is due to the requirement that hotels must have a special license to host non-Indian citizen tourists. So I checked for the turn-off, and then by coincidence a passer-by confirmed the directions. Though he ended up indicated that getting to Hampi is 'no'. So on reflection with my recent encounter I decided to turn back to Hospit and brave the accommodation scene.

There was a shelter next to a temple where Indian pilgrims and the homeless had set up to take rest. In emergency situations, train stations, and even bus depots can be rough but safe enough to stay if valuables are secured and no deep sleep, so keeping a high stress level in such areas is a basic requirement. The caretaker agreed that cycling to Hampi should best be done in day light.

The next morning I set off early into fresh air and pastoral scenes of plantation cane, bananas and livestock followed by their keepers. About 4 km into the ride the scene suddenly suddenly broke into a series of large boulders strewn across the field. As I proceeded to ascend the small hill, a series of monolithic rock temples appeared, then hordes of tourists, street stalls, and upon descent a river with lots of circular paddle boats, and a couple of ferries with one packed but the other nearly empty. The oddity was that both were heading for the same side of the river, leaving lots still to catch a ride.

I was told on the Hampi world heritage side of the river that the ferry ride across the river is frequented by travelers', so I decided to take the ferry and check it out. This short boat trip turned out to be a lesson in political economy. Only two licensed boats operate (each by different company) and although at times one side of the river has a large crowd needing transport only one boat will pick-up whist the other boat will return empty and only pick up from the other side.
 

This is due to an agreement each company has struck up the other. Its based on some economic principle so to avoid the downward slide where competition would make it worse for both groups if they competed for market dominance. The duopoly is not so good for consumers because there's an extended wait for a ride, and a relatively high price for a short ride across a narrow river. 

It took a day to settle in with all the usual demands of tourist life (article with 10 pages, scroll to view all). Where to eat, what to do, how to find stuff, when to catch the ferry. This side of the river offers a host of side adventures like boulder climbing, themed cafes, musical instrument playing, therapies, street art. 
 

The first days world heritage sojourn was on foot. I roamed around aimlessly, with a vague intent of being anachronistic, in a social/cultural historical sense, but most likely was just a need to take rest in nostalgic spaces.

The next day I cycled around the vast area of restored and crumbling relics (article with 10 pages). There were electric vehicles that zoom around, though a bike gives lots more independence. Around five pm its a dash for the last ferry ride. 

 

I have created a website of the photographs from this period as well as a site that relates to the artworks generated from this encounter. 

Travelling south from Omkareshwar it was on to the caves of Ajanta, and Ellora then off to cosmopolitanism Pune, then further south to Goa.

I had a series of rough bus rides from Omkareshwar to Pune, and then a nice easy sleeper class by train to Goa.

The world heritage site of Ajunta is a testament to early Buddhist thought and devotion where celestial beings are depicted both in stone and painting. Ellora is also a world heritage site that includes Buddhist, Hindu and Jain iconography. The distinct traditions worked in close proximity to each other and shows evidence of religious tolerance of that early period. Photographic detailed analysis is followed through with syncretic art.

The city of Pune boasts rapid modernization along side classic British Raj architecture.  However its draw for many foreign tourists' are the renowned Hindu reformers' that popularized their meditation techniques on the international stage. 

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There is a distinct sense of Indian Internationalism in Porchagese influenced Goa

with its vibrant beach scene, 

contemporary secular festivals like India bike week and international beach culture (short film on beach party)

visual expressionism

colorful markets, 

the general sense of place (short film) and street scenes in Goa's capital Panjim,

and heritage churches of Old Goa, and Madgam

 The next section of the travel is a train from Goa to Hempi, then to Tiru, then Pondi, and then to Mamalapuram.