Monthly Archives: June 2011

Back In The Driving Seat?

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After a very happy month in Britain: the country of my birth, childhood and entire working life;
I am now back at home.

I am back in India.
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Back to the charms of chaotic, but generally well-intentioned, transport and shopping.

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Back to riding pillion on my houseboy’s bike, whenever there are local errands to be run.

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Back to constant warmth and frequent sunshine, despite this being the monsoon season.

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Back to pretending I’m running the house.
When I know perfectly well that it’s my kind staff who keep this show on the road!

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In Transit

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I sit in the airport lounge.
Fragmented English memories of both failure and happiness now behind me.

The warmth, excitement and comforts of life in India await my return.

An apt metaphor of my life:

A life in transit.

A muezzin sounds its plaintive summons to prayer:

An invitation extended to all who travel light, or with heavy burdens.

My heart is touched.
But lies elsewhere.

Picture of the June sky taken in London. Those of the airport are taken from the Emirates transit lounge in Dubai.

Home From Home

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It looked rather like home,

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It felt almost like home.

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Though this was not Kerala but Cornwall.

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I was beneath no tropical canopy

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But instead: the geodesic domes of the Eden Project.

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A welcome break from the near-arctic climate of England in June!

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Let The Train Take The Strain

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A is the affable guard whom you square:
B is the “Bradshaw” which leads you to swear:
C is the corner you fight to obtain:
D is the draught of which others complain:
E are the enemies made for the day:
F is the frown that you wear all the way:

From The Tourist’s Alphabet by Mr Punch’s Railway Book

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Pictures taken while changing train, on my journey from Wiltshire to Cornwall, during the English summer.

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In Gothic Grace

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An architecture which unites aspirations to grace, peace and final harmony.

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“Dona Nobis Pacem”

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Pictures taken in Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, UK

Living Waters

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The ancient cathedral in Salisbury has a modern font.

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On it are written words of scripture.
In it is reflected the cathedral’s beauty.

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Cloistered

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Salisbury, quite apart from its tall spire and ancient clock, also claims a record for Britain’s largest cloistered quadrangle: 
A slightly odd achievement for this beautiful medieval cathedral, which never housed a monastery.

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Rather than being designed as the enclosed walk for a “cloistered” religious community, it seems to have served the purpose of housing clergy and choir when they assembled prior to processional entrance into the cathedral. 

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An eloquent testament to the grace of Gothic architecture and spiritual aspirations.

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Pictures taken in the cloisters of Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, UK.

A Question Of Timing

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“To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:

A time to be born,
And a time to die;

A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;

A time to kill,
And a time to heal;

A time to break down,
And a time to build up;

A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;

A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to gain,
And a time to lose;

A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;

A time to tear,
And a time to sew;

A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;

A time to love,
And a time to hate;

A time of war,
And a time of peace.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. 

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This machine in Salisbury Cathedral may be the world’s oldest working mechanical clock, possibly dating from the fourteenth century.

It was designed without face or hands,
but tells the time by striking the hour.

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Dogged Resistance

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From well-disciplined patience
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To potential mayhem.
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A passing dog-handler with her charges inadvertently risks canine chaos.
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Pictures taken in Buxton, a spa town in Derbyshire.

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The Nature Of Stone

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From our kind hosts’ garden

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To still glorious ruins

The transience of beauty.

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Pictures taken in the Yorkshire Dales and the ruins of Fountains Abbey.

Up And Away!

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I am back in Britain.

A birthday and a marriage have called me from the exotic beauty of India to the more mellow attractions of Europe.

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