Tales from the Island of Serendip 4 4

[Flex Mentallo]

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

To the extent that I could even take photos of religious festivals without giving offense.

 

[Flex Mentallo]

With the outcome - at first inadvertently, later with dawning realization, that I was producing a photojournal in 5000 pictures of life in a Bengali village.

 

[ciorac]

Thank You

 

I did not know/have not seen this , most enlightening.

 

My pleasure - thanks for the consistent input. I'm sure it's helpful to other boardies who don't know India that at least two of us have experience of it.

 

Actually, I am finding it harder to post about India than anything else I've done, because it is in my bones.

 

For example, I became so accustomed to the poverty that I scarcely see it. Bill/ciorac's spotlighting of that one picture would not have occurred to me.

 

I "went native" long ago. So far as to feel more at home in India than in the West.

 

 

I"m making my first trip there in early December. Dreading it actually. But I have to go, as I have an office there. I'm sure I'll be fine once I get there, but trepidation does exist in my bones. Having been to Korea, Japan, Singapore, and even Africa, I'm accustomed to customs that are not westernized. But Africa was not enjoyable, and I fear the December trip may fall into the same category. But I'll try to channel you while I'm there and perhaps that will make it better for me

[MrBedrock]

Thank You

 

I did not know/have not seen this , most enlightening.

 

My pleasure - thanks for the consistent input. I'm sure it's helpful to other boardies who don't know India that at least two of us have experience of it.

 

Actually, I am finding it harder to post about India than anything else I've done, because it is in my bones.

 

For example, I became so accustomed to the poverty that I scarcely see it. Bill/ciorac's spotlighting of that one picture would not have occurred to me.

 

I "went native" long ago. So far as to feel more at home in India than in the West.

 

 

I"m making my first trip there in early December. Dreading it actually. But I have to go, as I have an office there. I'm sure I'll be fine once I get there, but trepidation does exist in my bones. Having been to Korea, Japan, Singapore, and even Africa, I'm accustomed to customs that are not westernized. But Africa was not enjoyable, and I fear the December trip may fall into the same category. But I'll try to channel you while I'm there and perhaps that will make it better for me

Just go for it, Bill. Eat off the floor once...you'll learn to love it (thumbs u

[Flex Mentallo]

We are still waiting for your photos Ricky!

[MrBedrock]

patience

[Flex Mentallo]

patience

 

Hope never dies!

[Duffman_Comics]

Thank You

 

I did not know/have not seen this , most enlightening.

 

My pleasure - thanks for the consistent input. I'm sure it's helpful to other boardies who don't know India that at least two of us have experience of it.

 

Actually, I am finding it harder to post about India than anything else I've done, because it is in my bones.

 

For example, I became so accustomed to the poverty that I scarcely see it. Bill/ciorac's spotlighting of that one picture would not have occurred to me.

 

I "went native" long ago. So far as to feel more at home in India than in the West.

 

 

I"m making my first trip there in early December. Dreading it actually. But I have to go, as I have an office there. I'm sure I'll be fine once I get there, but trepidation does exist in my bones. Having been to Korea, Japan, Singapore, and even Africa, I'm accustomed to customs that are not westernized. But Africa was not enjoyable, and I fear the December trip may fall into the same category. But I'll try to channel you while I'm there and perhaps that will make it better for me

 

Bill, it is a lot easier in India to "insulate" oneself from some of the more confronting situations, with the simple application of a little money. In most of Africa, not so much.

 

Every major Indian city (which I have to assume is where you'll be heading rather than a Bengali village) has at least one five star, international standard hotel that's fantastic - and the area around it will be zealously policed (both officially and unofficially) to relocate, ummm, "mendicants".

 

Your hosts will most assuredly want to showcase India in the best possible light, so difficult interactions are likely to be minimal.

 

Unless you really want to get immersed. Then just get a taxi and let the fun begin.

 

I'm sure Duffman will confirm that it is very difficult to take natural photographs of people in India. The instant the camera is seen, children go into wild histrionics; adults come to rigid attention.

 

Boy, ain't that the truth. My problem was I was never in one spot long enough to build the kind of trust you (obviously) were able to garner. Some of your candid shots are wonderful.

Edited October 2, 2014 by Duffman_Comics

[Cat-Man_America]

 

I'm sure Duffman will confirm that it is very difficult to take natural photographs of people in India. The instant the camera is seen, children go into wild histrionics; adults come to rigid attention.

 

Boy, ain't that the truth. My problem was I was never in one spot long enough to build the kind of trust you (obviously) were able to garner. Some of your candid shots are wonderful.

 

Get some NG stickers made up and paste 'em all over your luggage and camera cases...

 

 

Should work like magic! (thumbs u

[Flex Mentallo]

 

I'm sure Duffman will confirm that it is very difficult to take natural photographs of people in India. The instant the camera is seen, children go into wild histrionics; adults come to rigid attention.

 

Boy, ain't that the truth. My problem was I was never in one spot long enough to build the kind of trust you (obviously) were able to garner. Some of your candid shots are wonderful.

 

Get some NG stickers made up and paste 'em all over your luggage and camera cases...

 

 

Should work like magic! (thumbs u

 

Or Bill could paint a big red target on his back - that works too when you want to fly under the radar!

[Flex Mentallo]

Excerpts from ongoing correspondence, for those who are following (photos added for this thread)...

 

 

Dear Michael

There is a good news Liza is accepted in her in- law house. She and her daughter has gone to their own home. Don't know what will be the future.

 

 

She has completed her basic computer course and admitted into an advance course but her graduation is going to be incomplete because at their place she cant continue her study. The baby is growing very fast. We are all upset, she became our sweet heart.

 

 

 

Feca was crying so much when she gone.

 

Feca is also growing very fast. She is in high school and also admitted into a dance school and drawing school. She is becoming so smart. Last time when you came here she was so small but clearly reminds your everything and misses you a lot.

 

 

 

Hopefully my fellowship will start from next month. It has transferred to my university account by DST. There is eid on 6th of October. We will miss you again like all other years. You remember one year I wore one pink sharee and you took my photo.

 

Hope your work is going well and what about your new center? Have you opened it? Waiting for your reply.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Dear Lucina

I am happy and sad all at once. So happy to hear from you, and to know that Feca misses me. I always knew she was smart, and even when she was very small, she had a kind of wisdom. I miss her very much. I miss you all, and I wish I could be with you.

 

I am a little relieved about Liza. Please give her my love. I hope things now go well for her, and she will be happy. Please tell her I am always here to help.

 

Here we are working steadily, while all around us an inferno rages. The analogy is not too strong. When the banks collapsed some years back, it had a delayed impact on local government's capacity to deliver services, and to provide core funding for agencies in my (voluntary, charitable) sector. Unlike almost all of those other agencies, Arc never had a large amount of local govt funding to rely on. It has always been my task to make sure we continued to evolve, to make ourselves interesting to the charitable trusts that are an alternative source of funding. This funding is not easy to obtain - especially when everyone is facing cutbacks. For example, a professional fundraiser will aim to be successful about one in every ten applications.

 

Though strictly speaking I am not a "professional" fundraiser, I have had to be successful perhaps nine times out of every ten. In some years, I barely managed. Yet somehow we have always gotten by. It has made us fit for purpose, because we have never taken anything for granted.

 

We have learned to deal with disappointments as well.

 

Local government has slowly come to realize that we have the survival characteristics needed to evolve to face future challenges. That is why they want us in the town center, a journey so far of two years, that feels more like two thousand. There have been setbacks and dramas almost weekly. But in the end, I realized that we could not rely on others, only ourselves. It had to be our decision, which we have taken even though total support is lacking. And so in a way we have become strong.

 

Now we are very close to realizing our dreams. We will have two centers, one for health, one for the arts. Funding is coming into place little by little. Other support is being explored - for example, for marketing and sponsorship.

 

It is all a huge risk, but the greater risk, as other agencies are now finding, would be to do nothing, and sit tight hoping for rescue that will not come.

 

One cannot map an actively volcanic island (because of course the landscape changes almost every day).

 

One must have an internal map. So I sometimes find it helpful to think in metaphors.

 

For example, mountain climbing. A century ago, the Eiger was the greatest challenge in Alpine climbing, the last of the major peaks to be climbed. It claimed thirty five lives before a team finally managed it in 1938. It took them three days, against bad weather, rocks falling on their heads and so on.

 

But a couple of years ago a man named Ueli Steck climbed it alone, in the midst of winter. He set out after breakfast and had climbed it by lunchtime.

 

He trained for a year to do this. And he did not climb - he ran, up a nearly vertical cliff. The weather could not catch him out, the rocks bad weather sends crashing down were avoided.

 

We are not waiting for bad weather or rocks to fall on our heads. We have learned that standing still, going carefully, is the greater risk.

 

So now I think that maybe 6 months or a year from now, we will have climbed the Eiger... I will keep you up to date as things unfold.

 

I am a little concerned about your scholarship. I am thinking you may have a lot of pressure on your shoulders. So I hope you will not hesitate to tell me if you need any help.

 

Whenever I came to home, I took so many photos and everyone became quite tired of it. But now, those photos are my memory palace.

 

Whatever my hope and dreams, I always felt that the most likely thing is that I would be here, and my family there.

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Dear Michael

It feels so nice to see the older photographs. All of them reminds me that I have changed so much with time. There is again the bad news. Liza's husband has left his house with another woman. We thought he has realized his mistake but he proved us wrong. Now Liza and her daughter is in her in- law house but we must take her to home.

 

 

 

 

I have complete faith and belief that you are far better than professional "fund raiser". You can get success in 100 out of 100 cases. Everywhere the Govt. realizes lately and they only want to do but hardly they do something. I know you dream will come true because you dream to make it happen. Self-sufficiency and self-dependency makes every organization sustainable and Arc is blooming that's why day by day. It will have its centers world wide one day. With your proper planning and organized execution Arc will flourish day by day than what it is today now. I know it is already a very big organization and it is working for the people and by the people. I feel really great when I think I am your friend.

 

 

 

 

My scholarship will be continuous from next month hopefully. The fund has transferred to University Account but the letter of order has not reached yet. So waiting for that. After the letter reaches there will be some internal processing and I will get it. I have always thought about you whenever I was in need and I will ask from you whenever I will be in trouble. Don't worry I am managing well.

 

 

 

Hope for a meeting soon. I was talking about the photograph in which I wore a pink saree and was eating kebab, in another the same dress but wore a pair of large shoes. I will send you photographs of this Eid (06.10.14). Please take care of your health and take your food timely.

Much much much love......

Lucina

 

[Flex Mentallo]

In December 2008 Lucina and I went with a group of her fellow students to the Ganges delta...

 

[Flex Mentallo]

[Flex Mentallo]

[Flex Mentallo]

[Flex Mentallo]

[Flex Mentallo]