Tales from the Island of Serendip 4 4

[Flex Mentallo]

Interlude

 

Dear Michael,

Today I have checked my account. I have received the money and I have booked my train tickets. on monday I will do my registration. There was no tickets available so I booked it in Rajdhani Express. First time in my life I will travel in Rajdhani as well as in AC. I am too excited for the journey and seminar. Thank you so much.

 

Hope the work for your new centre is going well. yesterday I went to Botanical Garden for sample collection. I will visit it frequently because I have to collect the samples for my research from there. Sending you a photograph of taken beside the great banyan tree. hope your health is fine. take care of your health. Take proper rest and food.

With much much love...

Lucina

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 10, 2014 by Flex Mentallo

[Flex Mentallo]

Lucina's message is an excuse for a brief excursion...

 

The banyan tree she refers to is in the botanical gardens of Calcutta, a strange, time-warped holdover from the days of the British Raj.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 10, 2014 by Flex Mentallo

[Flex Mentallo]

The Great Banyan is the largest tree in the world, at more than 330 metres in circumference.

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

It was in these gardens that tea plants were first imported from China, leading to the establishment of tea plantations in Assam, Darjeeling and Ceylon (aka the isles of Serendip).

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

The gardens are quite overgrown and have an atmosphere all their own. (They are a quiet haven from the teeming city and a discreet rendezvous for courting couples.)

 

Here are a handful of the many photos I took on my last visit in 2008.

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

[comicjack]

Some awesome images of another world few get to see,i would like to thank you for enlightening some of us board lurkers.For all your hard work Michael,a hearty thanks from the heart

[BOOT]

Om Namah Shivaya

 

"May the greatest that can be in this world be created in me, in others and in this world."

Always enjoy this thread. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and insight.

 

For further reading...

[BOOT]

But I really want to see your synthesis of Garuda and Mothman...

[BOOT]

In regards to topics from the past, here is a comic regarding possible pre-Columbian contact in North America...

 

Produced locally in Minnesota. A great read!

[Pat Calhoun]

good stuff, Boot - I have a Garuda...

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Om Namah Shivaya

 

"May the greatest that can be in this world be created in me, in others and in this world."

Always enjoy this thread. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and insight.

 

For further reading...

 

Thanks BOOT! I might have known that if anyone on the boards would know about Indian comics it might be you!

 

I can remember walking into a musty bookshop in Bombay - probably 1979 on my first visit to India. There were enormous piles of Indian comics everywhere, in mouldering floor to ceiling stacks. As you show, they are predominantly based on religious themed adventure stories.

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

In the period between 1960 and 1990 a typical comic would have 500,000 copies printed, and they were distributed all over the sub-continent (the population of India almost matches that of North America, South America and Europe combined). Gaming and cable TV hit the Indian comic industry very hard, but it has bounced back.

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

So much so that recently a comic con was established in New Delhi and has become hugely popular.

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

The most recent in February 2014 was attended by Mark Waid and David Lloyd.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2014 by Flex Mentallo

[Flex Mentallo]