kudal with bhu-shi

had been to kudal recently with bhushan and shireen. they got married in may, and as the custom goes, the newly wedded couple has to visit the native place and offer prayers to the kuladaiwat (the god of that place and its people). i anyway was looking for a good break from my job (that of looking for one!). so i tagged along.

i do not recall the names of the places we went to. so for now, i will just post the images. the laziness fairies have sprinkled their fairy-dust all over me, causing prolonged spells of horizontal floor alignment…

this is nitin kaka’s house where we stayed. he’s made a fantastic lighting arrangement on the terrace. monsoon nights will be a thing to experience!

cashews in the courtyard of the house. this time, the cashew crop has yielded better than the mangoes. my trip to bhamghar made me realise that this year is going to be a dry spell. sad.

aboli flowers. i have a distant cousin named aboli. it means ‘unspeaking’ or ’silent.’

nitin kaka.

cashew nuts drying on the terrace. they taste heavenly when fried on a tin sheet on an open fire. more mesmerising is the smell of them frying, hissing about as the liquid oozes out of them, catching fire.

temple. bhushan and shireen.

shireen with her nikon fm2. beautiful camera, classic metal body, much sweeter shutter sound than my fibre body fm10.

statue of goddess. fantastically carved black stone. konkan (the coast of maharashtra) is dotted with temples of various deities nestled among towering palms, overlooking pristine beaches with the whitest of sands and the bluest of waters.

drying red chillies. it is interesting to note that every house has a garden and is self-sufficient regarding food. vegetables, rice, coconuts, spices, almost everything is home grown.

was fun to be around cattle after a very long time. we used to have our own in bhamghar. this calf didn’t let anyone else touch it! the camaraderie the boy shared with it was a thing to see.

note: try touching the flesh around the neck of a friendly cow some time. it’s like running your hand through warm butter. also, please note the word ‘friendly.’

that’s the way water is heated for a bath. three stones, dried coconut shells, wood and an age old aluminium vessel coated with ash so that flames don’t burn the metal.

men of the house.

the old house of the family. it is being refurbished.

this is right opposite the house, an area known as the tali, literally meaning a lake. it contains an perennial spring which feeds the forest around it, and also provides drinking water.

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temple drums

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chariot in the temple area. it is brought out on special occasions and is pulled by men from the village in the surrounding area. like the jaggannath yatra in puri. that is where the word ‘juggernaut’ comes from, meaning an unstoppable force.

we headed to the closest beach after the temples and family visits.

those are the real colours. very minimum photoshop work.

on the way back, we were treated to a glimpse of a play performed in the village square. since it was hanuman jayanti, the play was an extract from the epic ramayana. we stayed back a while to witness the histrionics.

next day, more family. more temple.

saw this drawing in a temple.

shireen told me that these illustrations are made by drawing the shapes and then making patterns and details with a fine tipped needle. fantastic.

i have forgotten the names of the places we went to, and also the chronology of events. had taken a diary with me (london habit) but didn’t record the travels.

all in all, a very good trip. great beaches, loving people, and the familiar red earth. what else does one need?

~ by surhudd on April 25, 2009.