Gyarah Murti

On this Remembrance Day weekend I've been thinking about Gandhi and the Salt March he led in 1930 and how, thanks to Gandhi, civil disobedience has become an increasingly popular and effective way of effecting social change. The group of statues above depicts Gandhi at the head of the Salt March. I photographed it in Delhi in April of this year.

"Somewhere Saturday" - Red-Cheeked Cordon Bleu

Regular visitors here will know that I sometimes venture further afield than Victoria, on Saturdays. I wish this photo was more competent but I think what it lacks in craftsmanship is more than equalled by the cuteness of this pair of Red-Cheeked Cordon Bleus (Uraeginthus bengalus). The house I lived in then (in West Africa) was surrounded by orange, lemon, grapefruit and mango trees and these two lovebirds were cuddling up in the lemon tree that was beside the veranda that wrapped around the house. I was too busy in those days for much photography but seeing these little birds every morning on my way out the door was so delightful that I took this photo in order to remember them. The song/video below captures some of the feeling these birds gave me.

Humayun's Tomb

For this "Somewhere Saturday" here's another of the sights to see in Delhi, Humayun's Tomb. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and well worth a visit if you are in India. I took this photo during my trip there in March of this year. Below is the text of a plaque at the entrance to the tomb.

Humayun's Tomb
1565-72 A.D.
Hamida Banu Begum, his grieving widow, built Emperor Humayun's mausoleum. Precursor to the Taj Mahal, it stands on a platform of 12,000 square meters and reaches a height of 47 meters. The earliest example of Persian influence in Indian architecture, the tomb has within it over 100 graves, earning it the name, 'Dormitory of the Mughals'. Built of rubble masonry, the structure is the first to use red sandstone and white marble in such great quantities. The small canopies on the terrace were originally covered in glazed blue tiles and the brass finial over the white marble dome is itself 6 meters high.

Somewhere Saturday - India

Among the many splendors of India, something that I find stimulating is the constant juxtaposition of the old and new. Here we have a statue representing Nandi, a deity thousands of years old, resting comfortably beneath a modern overpass. You can read more about Nandi by clicking HERE. This photo was taken in Delhi in March 2011.

Milk River Tubers - "Somewhere Saturday"

One of the places we visited on a recent trip to the neighboring province of Alberta is located in the southernmost area of the province, just north of the border with the USA. It is called Writing on Stone Provincial Park. The Milk River flows through it and on the afternoon pictured above and below, the river provided a cool way for some kids to tube through the park.

Grasslands

In the mountains above Osoyoos in the southern interior of British Columbia is a fragile grasslands. It is a beautiful place, windswept and open to the heavens. I was happy to see this splash of mauve among the Sagebrush, Bunchgrass, Yarrow and Black-Eyed Susans. Locally it's called the Mariposa Lily. Wikipedia idenifies it as one of many species of Calochortus, probably Calochortus gunnisonii

Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana)

Though my recent trip to the neighboring province of Alberta was quite brief I saw a remarkable number of interesting things, not the least of which was the Pronghorn pictured above. This animal was high on my list of things to see because we have nothing else like it on this continent and it has been many years since I saw one. Wikipedia has a good article on the Pronghorn and here is some information I found interesting. This is the fastest land animal in America and has been clocked at 80 kmh, making it the second fastest land animal in the world. Only the African Cheetah is faster and then only for very short bursts. It is not an antelope (as I had long thought) but a separate zoological family that evolved independently of old world antelope.

Corner of Seneca - "Somewhere Saturday"

Last year I visited the city of Seattle in neighboring Washington State, USA, and there is so much to like about that city that it is hard to pick out details. One thing that really made me realize how small scale and low-key Victoria is was the skyscrapers. Downtown Seattle soars into the sky and mostly they are very attractive buildings. I just about got a crick in my neck from staring upwards like a country bumpkin as we walked around.

"Somewhere Saturday" - West Africa

The photos above and below were taken in an African village so small it doesn't appear on any map. But its location in the Sahel region just south of the Sahara Desert is not what's important here. Though discolored by age and hard traveling, what shines through in these photos is the character and beauty of the young girls above and the grandmother below.

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Somewhere Saturday? Every Saturday I post a photo I've taken somewhere NOT in Victoria.

Somewhere Saturday - Madhya Pradesh, India

I had the privilege of living for three months in an ancient village in the center of India in the state of Madhya Pradesh. While I had some duties, most of the time I was free to wander around the countryside. One morning I came across this caravan of camels. Having been bitten young by the travel bug I have a special fondness for nomads who slowly take shape in the dusty distance and then disappear silhouetted against the sun.

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My apologies for the aged quality of the photos but these prints have crossed deserts, jungles and oceans with me and have lain in forgotten closets for years. Still, it seems appropriate that, like me, they show the ravages of time.

Bu Halima Enclosure "Somewhere Saturday"

This is the gate that opens into the tomb garden of Bu Halima in the same park as Humayun's Tomb. The gateway dates from the 16th century. I don't know if the gate above is that old but it looks like it. This is in New Delhi, India, from my visit there in March of this year.

"Somewhere Saturday" - Seattle, USA

I've visited or lived in some of the world's most beautiful cities but one of the nicest and most interesting is relatively close to Victoria. I am speaking of Seattle in the State of Washington, USA. As is so often the case with places that are nearby I had never spent any time in Seattle until recently, although I had passed through it many times on my way to other places. Today's photos are of the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum building designed by famed architect, Frank O. Gehry. It's only one of the many interesting things to see in Seattle. There are four Seattle Daily Photo Blogs - one two three and four. They're all worth visiting but I recommend especially the first of these not only for the quality of the photos but since I have had the pleasure of meeting the photographer, Kim, several times, both here and in Seattle. It's a wonderful city.Above, looking up inside the entrance to the Science Fiction Museum one can see the monorail whizzing past.

Abang Dancers

For Somewhere Saturday today we will visit Calabar where I lived for a few years. Calabar is in southeastern Nigeria, on the eastern bank of the Cross River, about 5 degrees north of the equator. When I lived there about twenty-five years ago it was a sleepy city with more of a history than a future. Calabar, early developed as a slave port, became a major export location for the trade from the “oil rivers” when slavery declined in the mid-nineteenth century. In those days, the oil referred to was not from offshore wells but was the palm oil derived from the abundant natural growths of oil palms in this area and the vast Niger delta just to the north. This oil was a hot commodity during the industrial revolution and is still widely used in many industrial processes.

The climate in Calabar is hot and humid. The average air temperature is slightly less than body temperature (around 85 degrees Fahrenheit) and the humidity is often as close to 100% as it is possible to get without actually being under water. Calabar averages 116 inches of rain per year. By comparison, Seattle, in the rainy northwestern USA gets about 38 inches per year. If you sit perfectly still in Calabar, large beads of perspiration will form on your skin and roll down until they drip off you. People install electric lights in closets, not for their light but for their heat, to keep the clothes a little dry. Without such bulbs, clothes hanging in closets become moldy within a few days.

There is a brief period each year around Christmas, euphemistically termed “the dry season,” when it rains less than normal and the temperature is marginally cooler. The local people don woolen sweaters, wrap scarfs tightly around their throats and complain of the cold when the temperature drops below 75 degrees F. However, these “cold” days are few and far between.

This season is also an intense period for traditional activities of the Efik people of Calabar when many secret societies display their dances and songs to the public by walking in their groups from compound to compound. When they arrive they are invited in and will usually perform for fifteen minutes or longer depending on the amount of encouragement they get. It is traditional to offer them a donation and some refreshments. The photographs above and below were taken in my compound in early January 1989. These beautiful young girls are members of the Abang Society, a traditional association of women and young girls. Traditionally the girls dancing would be trying to attract marriage partners. Much of the dance consists of the girls miming the performance of various women's tasks such as preparing food in a mortar and pestle or hoeing in a field.

Beijing International Airport

A couple of weeks ago on "Somewhere Saturday" I posted a photo of the stunning Bill Reid Sculpture in Vancouver International Airport. Here's a sample of what you'll find in Beijing International Airport. Above is a detail of a tea house, complete with a large pond full of carp, that has been erected inside the departures terminal. It's a vast airport and though these traditional structures (there are two of these tea houses) seem a little out of place, they nevertheless bring a more human scale to the building.

Somewhere Saturday - Beyond Timbuktu

When I was young Timbuktu stood for all the wondrous places that were so far beyond normal human experience as to be almost otherworldly. But at least we had heard of Timbuktu. And today's photos were taken in an area equally unknown, strange and beautiful. These photos of young cattle herders were taken on the banks of the Kaduna River near the headwaters where it tumbles down the slopes of the Jos Plateau in central Nigeria. Nearby towns are Jos, Vom, Riyom, Manchok and Kafanchan, names that for me are even more evocative than Timbuktu. I lived in this area for about a year, amongst the Aten, Birom, Hausa and Fulani peoples. The first two are mostly agricultural, growing crops. The Hausa are generally traders and the Fulani usually have cattle as their main source of income. The cattle in these photos are Fulani cattle but are being herded by Birom or Aten boys. These boys will care for the cattle, ensuring they stay off crop land and find enough to eat and taking them to the river each day to drink. After a year or two the boy herder will be given a calf as his pay. This he will raise to form part of his gifts to the family of his bride when negotiations for their marriage have been completed. These photos are particularly suitable for Saturday since they were probably taken on that day a few decades ago. I often used to spend Saturdays on this riverbank washing my clothes and cooling off in the shallows.

The Spirit of Haida Gwai - Bill Reid

Modern international airports, as gateways to their respective countries, are generally decorated with works of art representative of their history and culture. But no airport that I've ever seen can match this magnificent work by Haida artist Bill Reid. It graces the Vancouver International Airport. Another casting is in the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. When both these buildings are long gone and we are all dust in the wind people will still marvel at this superb creation. It is called "The Spirit of Haida Gwai" and you can read about it on the Bill Reid Foundation website by clicking HERE.

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For those of you who may be wondering what this has to do with Victoria, this blog now features on Saturdays photos I've taken in other parts of the world - "Somewhere Saturdays."

"Somewhere Saturday" - West Africa

I mentioned yesterday that starting today I would feature some photos from places I have lived in or visited in the past. Since I spent about 15 years living in various West African countries many of my photos and reminiscences are of that area. Today's photo is of a beautiful Toucouleur woman in the midst of her family. I knew this family well and visited them several times in their village and stayed in their compound. Note the large gold earrings that are traditional amongst the Toucouleur women. Also note the baby peeking out from her back, another very typical sight. I chose this photo for my first post about West Africa because it is full of people looking peaceful and friendly and it was that which made my time in West Africa so interesting and rewarding. I mention this because for many people in the rest of the world Africa is synonymous with animals - lions, elephants, wildebeest, giraffes, etc. - rather than people. Most of these animals are found in modern times in East Africa. West Africa on the other hand is more characterized by dense human populations. In terms of population, the largest black nation on earth is in West Africa - Nigeria, with a population estimated at 154 million. West Africa has a fascinating history and hundreds of ethnic groups.

Above right is the village where the people in the top photo live. The houses are made of mud bricks and thatched with straw. I hope you have enjoyed this brief introduction to West Africa. It's a wonderful and little-known part of the world full of warm and friendly people. Tomorrow and Monday another new feature of this blog begins - photos and posts from another team member, my daughter, Fern Long.

I wrote about many of my African experiences in a book called "The Moon's Fireflies." You can buy a copy from Amazon.com if you would like to find out more about West Africa.