His Brother’s Child

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Picture taken in Cochin.

À la recherche du temps perdu

Woman with grandchild
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Music Of The Spheres

Walking home yesterday just after sunset, it was difficult to keep my eyes from the intriguing little dance which Jupiter, Venus and our moon are performing:

Evening temperatures are a gentle 28° C. (82° F.)
I didn’t need a coat!
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Picture taken from my front yard, around 7 pm.
Music clip features the theme tune of The Sky at Night, a documentary series which has run since 1957 on BBC Television .

The Corner Shop

Picture taken on our way to Sunday breakfast in Palace Road, Fort Cochin.
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A Shared Journey

Pictures taken from a considerable distance, on the Kerala Backwaters. 

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Preparation

A Kerala fisherman tidies his nets before leaving the shore.

Horizontal Hold

Picture taken in the Kerala Backwaters.
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An Awareness Of Waiting

A fisherman waits for dusk.
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Picture taken in the Kerala Backwaters, Chellanam.

Casting His Net

Picture taken at sunset in the Kerala Backwaters, Chellanam.
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The Lament Of Loss

The two chairs still sit together on their verandah:
his and hers;
the grandparents I never met.

Following a decade of health problems, all had assumed that he would be the first to go.
But it was my grandmother who quietly surrendered:
the unexpected loss of a son, too much to bear.

Life’s meaning was lost.
My grandfather turned his face to the wall.
In a matter of days he followed her.
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Dido’s Lament

“Thy hand, Belinda, darkness shades me,
On thy bosom let me rest,
More I would, but Death invades me;
Death is now a welcome guest.

When I am laid, am laid in earth, May my wrongs create
No trouble, no trouble in thy breast;
Remember me, remember me, but ah! forget my fate.
Remember me, but ah! forget my fate.”

From Dido and Aeneas
Music: Henry Purcell
Libretto: Nahum Tate
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Picture of the verandah in our family’s home, which my grandfather built, and where my father lived as a child and young man.