Desicritics Category: Culture: Photography

Photo Essay: Church of St. Stephens, Rochester Row

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 04:20:12 EDT

This church has a rather interesting history. The church of St. Stephens was built in 1846/1847 by Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts of the Coutts banking family after being encouraged by Charles Dickens.

She further extended the church in 1890.

Here’s a woodcut showing how it looked like back then. Interesting enough, the rated capacity of the church is 1000 worshippers but i very much about that, you will have to stack them up to fit them all in.

When I first saw it, it was extraordinary, in a way, its taller (200 feet) than its length and its quite narrow. Almost like they wanted to fit in a tall landmark in a very small corner plot. It was closed so I was unable to take photographs of the inside, but here’s a good site to see the internal decor.

The spire is the most eye catching piece, very tall and singularly fated with bad luck for being the spire of a House of God. Even the people who saw it back in the late 19th century thought the spire was too attenuated. It was struck by lightening in the late 19th century, then the Germans dropped bombs all over it and then British Health and Safety Departments got involved, the top was removed and it was only in 1994 that a replacement was constructed by workers abseiling inside the spire. I am sure it would have looked a bit strange.

The belfry has some good bells apparently and while researching this church, came across a recording of how they sound.

Here are some photographs of the bells concerned which were cast in 1850. Can you imagine? these have been in operation now for 160 years, still pealing out across the parish to call the faithful to prayer and mark celebrations.

There are four statues of saints up there, but not sure what’s the point of putting these statues up there at the base of the spire where nobody can see them? They look a bit weather beaten anyway.

Stained Glass windows. Looked nice from outside the little I could make out, but the wtf was the bits at the bottom of the arches. Can you see the heads?

What’s rather extraordinary about this church is (and something that I haven't seen anywhere else) is the profusion of small carved heads and animals. These heads were carved by Peter Wright of Vauxhall Bridge Road who left some really interesting faces decorating various corners and edges.

All over the church.

Here’s a pig on the left and what appears to be a hairless, wrinkly, large leaf shaped ear wielding, upside down dog on the right. This smaller spire also has a whole set of gargoyles.

One of the smaller spires seems to have been repaired or cleaned, and its looking a bit spotty..

Here’s the porch. It was closed, but i could see a parking attendant in there, there were two others and believe it or not, they were dancing inside. Seriously wtf.

The traffic wardens cleared off and then I could take a photo of the door.

St. Stephen I presume with another two disembodied heads grinning insanely on both sides. Presumably these were local / church worthies being immortalised. Looking at the history of St. Stephen, I was a bit confused, he was tried by the Jews for blasphemy against Moses and God, against the Temple and the Law. Then he was stoned to death by a mob which was encouraged by Saint Paul? Very curious story.

Then there is a thoroughly modern sign warning thieves off the property.

I think the roof can do with a spot of elbow grease and cleaning, getting quite mossy there.

A small door hidden behind the buttress wall.

And a list of notices, with one saying Be Quiet for Lent. Full slideshow with all the photographs in higher resolution is here.

Photo Essay: A French Market in Harrow

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 09:21:10 EDT

Harrow is twinned with a town somewhere in France, and every 3-4 months, its blessed with a French Farmer's Market. Small shops with typical French goods, and they do a rip roaring trade. While waiting for my little princess to finish her drama class, I wandered around there taking some photographs. Here are some of the photographs. The full slide show with higher resolution photographs is here.

A shop selling some painted china dishes

I am not really very sure what a shop selling semi precious and ordinary polished stones has to do with France, but the stones were very pretty.

Then we had a shop selling home made toiletries. They were perfumed beautifully except for the baskets of sea sponges of course, but they smelled very nice, iodine, sea weed, wet sand and the sea. Lovely.

Then we come to my favourite shop, the sausage place. This place has the most amazing variety of sausages, ostrich, lamb, beef, pork, venison, you name it.

As you can see, it was heaving with shoppers. Quite expensive, mind you, but still very nice. I usually end up buying 3-5 of them and then eating them over the next 2-3 months. Excellent breakfast food.

This was a cute shop, selling flower pots which were dressed up as small wooden men. Very cute.

Photo Essay: The Statues of Waterloo Place, London

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 07:42:09 EDT

We were out taking photographs on our monthly photo walk in the centre of town. I was walking from the Serpentine back to the Patisserie Valerie where couple of large moist pastries and a hot chocolate were calling for me. But on the way, I saw several statues and decided to take some photographs. Only few of the photographs are shown here, rest of them are up on this slide show here.

First you have two statues of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth his wife, the Queen Mother. King George was the last Emperor of India, the Last King of Ireland, the first Head of the Commonwealth and the father of the current Queen Elizabeth II. His wife, Queen Elizabeth was much loved and she died in 2002. Lovely lady she as too. King George seems to have had an extraordinary life (do see the wiki article), he was never expected to gain the throne, was in the Royal Navy during WW1 and then was destined to be one of the lesser Royals. Till his brother, Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 over his love for Wallis Simpson and he was pitch forked straight into the throne and World War II. He lived through perhaps the most traumatic times for the British Royalty between the World War and losing most of the major Empire possessions till he died in 1952 when the current Queen took over.

Then for some reason looked up and saw this strange statue perched on top of the building.

Its actually another statue on top of a whacking big column of Frederick, Duke of York, 1763-1827, the second son of King George III, Commander of the British Army twice over. After researching more about him, I think he is a pretty good egg despite the doggerel which was written for him after he made a hash of his first army command. I didn't realise this doggerel was for this fella.

The grand old Duke of York,

He had ten thousand men.

He marched them up to the top of the hill

And he marched them down again.

And when they were up, they were up.

And when they were down, they were down.

And when they were only halfway up,

They were neither up nor down.

He was responsible for the establishment of Sandhurst, the UK’s military college where commissioned officers are trained. He also fully reorganised the chaotic state of the British Army. One can really argue that he laid the foundations of the success that Wellington and Nelson finally achieved by defeating Napoleon’s French forces. But since his work was organisational, training, administrative, pay and policies, it is not that well known. But the soldiers did know who was to thank for their betterment and each soldier gave up one day’s salary to fund this statue. By the way, he is also in the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest bishop at 196 days old. Go read the wiki link on this amusing interlude

Once you have climbed up the stairs below Fredrick’s column, you reach Waterloo Place and all the statues that I speak of below are in this square.

This is a statue of John Lawrence, the 1st Baron Lawrence. He was the Governor of the province of Punjab when the first war of Independence / Mutiny of 1857 broke out, he lead the troops who liberated Delhi from the rebels. Curiously enough, he also tried his level best to stamp out the practise of Sati and was quite concerned about the state of the Indian peasantry. He also made a treaty with Dost Mohammad of Afghanistan, and then went back to the UK. But he was back in India in 4 years to become the Viceroy till 1869. This statue was raised by public subscription from both British and Indian citizens. Hmm, curious.

The next statue is that of Colin Campbell, Field Marshall Lord Clyde, 1792-1863. He seems to have fought all over the world, Europe, USA, India and Crimea. He was the man who relieved the Lucknow siege and was responsible for the overall command of British Forces in India. Two soldiers, both connected to India.

The statue of Colin Campbell is fronted by a lissom statue of Britannia sitting on a lion.

The next statue is that of Robert Falcon Scott. Every time I read about him or his story, I feel so sad about him. Extreme bravery and ultimate failure, dying in the midst of the snow deserts of Antarctica from exhaustion, hunger and extreme cold. He wanted to be the first person to reach the South Pole, but he was beat out of this record by Roald Amundsen. Here he is wearing Antarctica winter clothing. The plaque below the statue states: Robert Falcon Scott. Captain Royal Navy who with four companions died march 1912 returning from the South Pole 'Had we lived I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood endurance and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman but these rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale.' — From Scott's Diary. Interestingly enough and quite uniquely, I must admit, it was his wife who sculpted this statue.

Then we have a rather pedestrian statue of Edward VII, son and successor of Queen Victoria.
The Edwardian era of British History is so named after him. He was king from 1901 to 1910.

The next statue is that of Sir John Franklin, 1786-1847, who was an explorer and a British Royal Navy Officer. He had a good career during the wars with France (Copenhagen and Trafalgar) and spent a significant time exploring Australia and Canada in the Arctic regions. He is also said to be the discoverer of the North West Passage in Canada, but this last voyage of his is shrouded in mystery as both his ships (Erebus and Terror) were lost and his entire crew died.

The last statue on this side is that of John Fox Burgoyne, 1782-1871, a distinguished soldier who saw action in Spain, France, USA, Portugal, Ireland and Crimea.

Then we have this horse block, something that people used to climb on top of their horses. The plaque says that this was erected by the Duke of Wellington in 1830. Very curious.

Then we have the Crimea Monument. This was built in 1861 to commemorate the Crimean War, cast in bronze from the cannons captured at the siege of Sebastopol. There are three Guardsmen in the front and there is a pile of cannon in the back. These are the actual Russian guns captured in that horrible war. The Crimean War was frankly one of the most horrible, badly managed and perhaps pointless wars of all times. This is the war which had the Charge of the Light Brigade and also saw the work of Florence Nightingale, the first use of the telegraph and railways in a military sense plus extensively photographed for the first time. On the top is an allegorical figure of Honour or Liberty. But God knows there was very little honour or liberty in that war.

In front of the Crimea monument are two statues. On the left is Florence Nightingale holding a lamp and on the right is Sidney Herbert who was the Secretary of War during the Crimea War. So we come to the end of the essay about some Victorian Era (mostly) hero’s whose statues are in this small corner of London. I stood there and slowly revolved around looking at the various emperors, captains, generals and field marshals. Their exploits have made a massive difference to the world I live in, and I stand here looking at their stone and bronze statues so many moons later. Here is the full slide show with higher resolutions and more photographs.

Photography Times: Celebration

Vidhya — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 16:27:05 EDT

A few weeks back we headed out to Olive Garden for dinner. “We have some of the finest wines for you to start”, the maître d’ had said as he seated us at a comfortable table. That was when I first tasted Castello del Poggio Moscato – a fine sweet sparkling wine that is sure to make one surrender to its taste. It indeed was a perfect start for the dinner!

Wines have a distinct charm of their own, not to mention the health benefits generally associated with Red Wines. Wines have a special place in the field of photography as well. The color, the sparkle, the wineglass with its unique curve has been a subject of many a creative photograph.

This photograph of a rim-lighted wine glass with Red Wine is something I had been conceptualizing for a while. This area of photography is generally called the Concept Photography. Shooting a Concept photograph involves a significant analysis of the message one wants to convey. The idea was to portray the Red Wine glass as a sign of Cheer and Celebration; the reflection of the glass on the table denoting a level of sophistication and the dispersed red tinge towards the right arc of the glass symbolizing a sparkle.

The logic behind the lighting effects of this Wine glass was the fact that – when a beam of light is placed directly behind the glass, the rim of the glass reflects the light, while the wine in the glass blocks the light – thereby forming a rim-lighting effect. It required a few trials to get the positioning of the backlight to be at the best possible angle so that the rim is sufficiently lighted and at the same time there is no unwanted light falling on any other sides of the glass. Placing the glass on a shiny dark-wood table helped with the reflection on the floor.

In addition to the lighting and its angle, the photograph was shot with the aperture and shutter adjusted such that the exposure is controlled sufficiently to make the surroundings dark and to let only the light-reflected areas to show up. So after a few attempts to get the combination closest to what I had visualized – here's to all good times – Cheers!

Photo Essay: Third Church of Christ, Scientist

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 08:13:38 EDT

While out in London during one of my monthly photo walks, came across this sign.

The word scientist next to Christ made me stop.

Stepped back and saw this church facade. Then when saw the full words “Third Church of Christ Scientist”, I was immediately reminded of the Church of Scientology and the oft quoted statements around “Islamic Science”. The first because of the name similarity and the second because to associate science with religion always struck me as particularly extraordinary. Here is the full slide show with bigger resolutions.

It is a tall building with a proud tower in Portland stone. Very dignified indeed. It was closed so I could not enter but looked very impressive.

The top bowl like entrance has a crest on the top. The verbiage says, “Cleanse the Leper, Raise the Dead, Heal the Sick” around a winged lit lamp with entwined chains. Looking at the logo on wiki, it should have had another piece of text, “Cast out Demons”, but seems to have been missed here.

Lovely windows, with exquisitely carved windows on the left and some very good intricate iron work on the grills on the bottom windows. There is a display cabinet in front in the right hand side photograph

There are books displayed on the display cabinet. Nice, but nothing extraordinary. I did not know that it is this church which publishes the Christian Science Monitor. That is a very good publication.

But the next set of display items made me blink, on the left you have a standard bible quote but on the right, you have a magazine with the cover talking about countering terrorism. Not what i would have expected from a religious church magazine.

A lovely cast iron balcony with lamps. I think this is the first time I have ever seen something like this on a balcony. It doesnt look like a show balcony either.

It is not a derelict building, there are services held on Wednesdays. But why Wednesdays? Off I went to check the wiki entry. The adherents of this church believe that they can heal through prayer and they reject medicine. I will let you judge where this is going. I find this extraordinary, children have been murdered (yes, I use the word explicitly) when members of this church have relied on prayer rather than medical attention when their kids have fallen ill and subsequently died. And the final nail in the coffin? Mark Twain looked upon this church and the lady concerned with jaundiced eyes. As GB Shaw said, Christian Science is neither Christian nor scientific”.

Still, nice building.

Photo Essay: Roman Walls in London

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 00:05:38 EDT

It is tough to imagine that London was, at one time, a Roman City called as Londonium. With a Roman fort, legionnaires, governors, Caesar and the full fledged paraphernalia of a Roman Province. Not much is left of the old London Fort but for the outside defensive walls and some bits and bobs around the city of London. This photo essay concentrates on the fragments of the London Wall left in the Barbican Estate. Interestingly enough, the Museum of London has an interesting Roman gallery which overlooks the actual wall, but that’s for another essay sometime later. Dont get your hopes up, this is a far cry from what you see in Italy, a huge amount of imagination is required to see these brick and concrete walls and imagine the tramp of legionnaires on these defensive walls, the gurgle of water down the drains and the smells of the kitchens. Do take a look at the full slide show with higher resolutions.

The wall was 6-9 feet wide and 18 feet high with a bunch of bastions about 150 feet apart, built around the late 2nd century BC after the construction of the main court. The wall was designed to protect against the attacks by the Saxons and the bastions would protrude from the walls so as to provide protection to the walls and pick off the Saxon tribesmen who might want to attack the walls or climb them. In the back, you can see the beginnings of another bastion. The Romans could have also mounted big battle catapults inside these bastions. This photo has been taken from top of the barbican high walk.

Walking down the ramp, you see the inner curved structure of the bastion.

There would have been a ceiling in the middle of the wall, this staircase would have allowed one to walk up to the floor where the catapult would have been kept. On the right, you can see how the wall has been repaired with metal staples.

This doorway would have allowed the legionnaires to exit the bastion and then walk out on the top of the wall.

A doorway at the bottom of the wall. The wall is green with moss and lichen.

These pillars would be to strengthen the wall.

Some wooden scaffolding to support the age old Roman wall.

Walking down the wall, I notice an alcove. Looks like a hearth of something.

It does look like a hearth, and a white stone lintel as can be seen from the right hand side photograph

Poked my head inside the hearth and peeked up. It was open. Is this a chimney to let the smoke out? Or worse, was this the outlet to a loo or something? I withdrew hastily..

I come to the end of the wall where there is a half a bastion left. A different shaped bastion without the accoutrements that we saw in the previous one. Then reversed direction and went right back to the beginning and then crossed the road to the other bit of the London Wall.

There is a semi transparent glass wall with a painting of what the fort would have looked like.

Peeking behind the glass wall is rest of the London Wall. Strangely enough, we have to thank the Germans for bombing the heck out of this area which exposed these walls. The area where I am standing was hit by several bombs over several days and significantly flattened and damaged.

As part of the preservation, this bridge was built so that archaeologists can walk over the ruins.

One of the main bastions of the wall. This was a square one as opposed to a round one, see the map above. Also ironically this wall actually helped stop the Great Fire of 1666 from spreading northwards. While the wall was designed to keep the enemy out, it turned around and kept fire the enemy in.

The Roman walls were then actually built into the fabric of the city itself as this boundary marker shows.

Observing the wall from the other side, you can make out how the much newer building has made the old roman wall as a seamless extension of itself.

The end of the wall with another bastion looks like. You can see the sewage tunnels on the bottom left and heating / water brick formations on the right. Could also have been a bathhouse.

At the end, there is another glass window showing a painting of how the wall would have looked like in the past.

Looking back down the wall. That’s is, that’s all that is left of this outpost of the Roman Empire. To walk up and down and observe the last remnants of imperial power is a bit discombobulating indeed. What arrogance, what power, what design those Romans had. They established their presence and almost two millennia later, I am standing here watching their bricks and mortar again rise up in my imagination.

Photo Essay: London Monument to the Great Fire of 1666

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 06:58:38 EDT

London burned for 4 days, from Sunday 2nd Sept to Wednesday 5th of September 1966 and burnt out the ancient city of London. Burning 14000 houses, 100 churches and a huge number of public buildings making 70,000 inhabitants homeless. While only six deaths were reported, this made a huge impact in the Londoners' minds and hearts.

See the range of the fire in the above diagram. To commemorate this Great Fire, a great monument was created near the northern end of the London Bridge (see above map) at Pudding Lane. See the full slide show here and here is a good history of this monument.

The height of the monument is 202 feet, the exact distance from where the monument stands to the baker’s shop where the fire began in Pudding Lane.

The top of the monument is supposed to be a gilded urn of fire, designed by Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke.

There is a square walkway around the base of the urn where people can walk around and admire the wonders of London after climbing the 311 steps. I wouldn't climb that, not with my gammy knee. You can see the slots on the column which provide thin windows into the staircase.

This is a sculpture by Caius Cibber. On the left is London, in the form of a woman, who is sitting on ruins. Time with its wings, is helping her up, while another female behind her is pointing to two figures on the top, Plenty and Peace. In other words, London will be repaired via Plenty and Peace and time will raise her up to her former glory. , showing King Charles II and his brother James on the right, surrounded by Liberty, Architecture and Science giving guidance on how to restore London, both are standing on Envy who is gnawing on a heart. Its quite a nice allegorical sculpture. And to think it has survived so many centuries.

North Panel: How the fire started, damage and how it was put out, in Latin and English in the lower metal plaque

East Panel: Which London Mayor helped to start the monument, construct and complete the monument

South Panel: This Latin inscription talks about what Charles II did after the fire to reconstruct.

Some dragons on the roof.

Makes you feel a bit tiny, no?

Some tourists heading up the monument, well, best of luck to them, pay £3 and then climb? For that money, i want an elevator at the least.

Another view of the monument base from the Monument Tube Station. It is quite extraordinary to see this structure, one has to admit. Its now 344 years since the Great Fire, and very few people remember it. Looking around the architecture of London, you wont see many signs because since the Great Fire, lots of other events such as the London Bombing of WW2, then the loads of constant development in London, all have wiped out all traces of the Great Fire except in the Museum of London, some small plaques here and there and in some old dusty history books. And this whacking great monument. It does not talk to me, there are no referential points, this Portland stone building is strangely bereft of its surroundings and a context. Tourists read the text and wander off, it doesnt touch them. With one set of exceptions, Japanese Tourists. They make it a point to come here and see this. Japanese are frightened of fire and with their houses of wood and paper, its very dangerous. Japanese history is replete with city wide fires, so they can appreciate this. But not many more.

One also forgets what happened to the Catholics after the fire. A mentally deficient man confessed to starting the fire, he was convicted and then hanged on 28th September 1666, just three weeks after the fire. Quite a lot of people blamed the Catholics and it was so bad that, and I quote from Wikipedia:

In 1668 accusations against the Catholics were added to the inscription on the Monument which read, in part:

“Here by permission of heaven, hell broke loose upon this Protestant city.....the most dreadful Burning of this City; begun and carried on by the treachery and malice of the Popish faction...Popish frenzy which wrought such horrors, is not yet quenched...

This was then chiselled off only in 1831, a full one hundred and sixty five years later. Just gives you an idea how long anti Catholic sentiment lasted. While reading and researching this, I was just struck by the reactions (or rather the lack of it) after the London Bombings of 7/7. We did not see any kind of islamophobic reaction post 7/7, but the rise of the BNP gives rise to my concern that perhaps a similar thing might indeed happen. Anyway, the monument thus stands also as a monument to racial co-existence, of falsely blaming an entire community for accidents or the actions of one/few. Would be good to learn it more and let others know more about this.

Photo Essay: Westminster Square - The Heart of British Democracy

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Tue, 6 Jul 2010 08:26:05 EDT

Parliament Square is the square in front of Westminster, constructed in 1868 and boasted of being one of the world’s first traffic signals. It is a fascinating place and one which I always wanted to photograph. I have been to Westminster many times, but I never got a chance to actually sit there and take some good photographs, so this time, I made sure that I had 40 minutes or so before my appointment and trundled around taking pictures. I was hoping to be arrested or questioned by a policeman, but damn, my innocent face always gets me through (heh!). Anyway, here’s the slide show with bigger resolutions and more photographs.

Getting to the Square.

Westminster Underground Station. It's quite impressive, if a bit stark with all the exposed concrete.

There are quite a lot of exits from the tube station, but coming out of the Westminster Bridge exit, you see this heroic statue of Boudicca on a chariot drawn by a couple of rearing horses. This was made around 1902, but I was reminded of the irony of putting Boudicca up there, who fought against an overwhelming central government which ignored the natives. A pretty fair approximation of the current Westminster Government. Poxy gits!

Westminster Bridge. A bit boring, a bit adequate, fairly innocuous, does its job, much like the British Government actually.

Westminster Palace, under repair. It will require much more than this to repair the bunch of useless gits inside.
The square.

Whitehall, this is where the grand bureaucrats live and govern our lives and is on the east of the square.

The daffodils were out in force in the flowerbeds.

Two views of the square. Looking back at the Houses of Parliament on the south side and the Westminster Abbey on the right.

The Statues.

The square is filled with statues of the great and good on two sides.

Nelson Mandela on the left and Robert Peel, Conservative PM in the mid 19th century, on the right.

Abraham Lincoln on the left and Benjamin Disraeli, Conservative PM on the right.

Edward Smith-Stanley, another Conservative PM on the left and George Canning who was a Whig PM, on the right.

Viscount Palmerton, one of the great Prime Ministers of the country on the left, famous or infamous, he is a fascinating fellow. . On the right Jan Smuts, another South African on the Square. Interesting fellow, he was responsible for the League of Nations. I had a bit of an irreverent thought. Doesn't Palmerton resemble the Beast? Here’s the beast picture I thought about.

Then two wrinkly PM’s. Liberal David Lloyd George on the left and Winston Churchill on the right. Good Lord, horrible statues, and what’s with the damn coat on the left and the bell shaped overcoat on the right? Did you know he received a Nobel Prize for Literature and was the first Honorary Citizen of the USA? Impressive!
The Protest Camp.

There is a protest camp on the south side of the square facing the Westminster Palace, Houses of Parliament with a fairly moth eaten set of peace flags fluttering bravely in the wind.

This is the famous Brian Haw. Such a brave, committed, determined and courageous Brit. It is a measure of his personality that he was voted as the Most Inspiring Political Figure at the 2007 Channel 4 Political Awards. Rest of the politicians are a bunch of wastrels compared to this brave man. Go read his biography on wiki, very good and inspiring indeed. He is protesting against war since 2001. Now that’s determination for you in face of significant governmental opposition through the courts and the police, wearing a battered corduroy hat with badges. The front badge says, “Keep my Muslim Neighbours safe”. Good man.
What worries me is that the UK fails the Nathan Sharansky's Town Square Test. Which is a very sad indictment of the current Labour Government which has catapulted the UK into a situation where people cannot even protest freely. Still, hope springs eternal.

This was the base of his tent. Can you see the photographs of the soldiers killed in Iraq mounted on the plastic poster?

What I loved was this flower, growing behind the plastic tenting, on the straggly grassy lawn. It gives one hope, despite overwhelming government pressure and war, there is still hope. Do take a look at the slideshow, more photographs there.

Fiction: The Park

IdeaSmith — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 06:43:55 EDT

A park separates them.

If it can be called a park, that is. A grassy patch chequered with muddy patches, that turn into puddles in the monsoon. The dogs like it anyhow. They keep him awake at night with their barking. Nobody seems to care at 2 in the a.m.

One such night is filled with little vapours of heat rising from under his neck each time he shifts, on the pillow. He sits up and puts his feet down on the floor. The ground is cool and the thought of sleeping there occurs to him. But he turns it aside. He’ll only wake up with aching muscles. A sudden buzzing in his ear reminds him of the reason he woke up. Getting up is surprisingly easy. He supposes he didn’t really fall asleep earlier. So he crosses the room to draw the mosquito net across the window. Small relief, that - the mosquitoes still get in mysteriously. He curses the puddles, the lazy gardener responsible for the park’s upkeep, the real estate agents for whom it’s a reason to hike up the flat’s prices.

His head hurts. The EMI is due in three days. He could put it on his credit card but then what will he shop with for the rest of the month? The incentive. One windfall that’ll take care of all his problems. But he’s having trouble even keeping up with so little sleep. And the worry keeps him awake nights. Not for the first time he wonders how different his life might have been if he hadn’t bought this flat.

A thin rivulet of sweat runs down the side of his forehead. In the heat, it is almost a relief to feel something cold. The ice of his impotence.

A sudden gust blows across his cheek and he slides back the mosquito net and leans out to catch it. It’s gone. Great, a grand welcome to more mosquitoes. But he doesn’t pull back. He’s past caring now.

When he finally looks up, hand on the window to slide it back into place, he stops. The city is never completely dark. The lights on the billboards, the neon sign flashing the name of the mall next door (another reason the real estate rates are so high) all contribute to little stray beams. Like leftovers thrown to the dogs, even the park is aglow in an imitation of moonlight. The dogs are scampering.

And he realizes that he looked up because of the sound. He squints into the darkness for the source. All around the park, ghostly black shapes tower, the other buildings that share the park. It’s like a crossword or a reverse of one. More black but a few white (and yellow) squares here and there. He looks at the familiar visions of other late-nighters. A fan is going in one while flickering images of a TV from another throw out strange reflections on the facing building. And in the building exactly opposite, a blue-white window frames a dark silhouette.

He can’t see much else around it. And because they’re exactly level, there’s no sight of the walls and shadows that fall on them. He doesn’t know anything about the flat or its occupant. They face each other, separated by the park.

He feels the need to avert his eyes immediately. It feels like the figure opposite is aware of him, knows he’s been watching. When he looks up, the figure hasn’t moved. So he stares back, defiantly. But the same uncomfortable feeling overcomes him. He turns away and sits down on his bed. But once he’s sitting, he can’t see the window. So he stands up again.

His stomach flutters and little beads of sweat form on his forehead, this time a different temperature. It’s a curious, forgotten feeling, this knowing that someone else is awake at the same time. It feels companionable.

The dogs start whining again and he grimaces. He feels like he could strangle the barking ones. If he only dared. Suddenly a shout rings out and he hears what sounds like splashing water. The figure across is holding up something that looks like a plastic mug. He starts laughing. It’s effective, he thinks. The dogs vanish almost instantly.

The black shape has the left arm placed on the hip, or perhaps on the windowsill. The other arm is crooked at an angle and seems to be saying hi to him. But it isn’t moving so he concludes that it is resting on a screen. Then, impulsively, he lifts up his hand and mirrors the pose.

The figure shifts almost immediately and turns to its left. In that flash, he can see it’s a woman or perhaps a girl. Her nose is sharp and ends in an equally defined chin. She turns again. Then she lifts up her right arm and reclaims her pose. It’s like she’s saying hi back.

When he returns to bed, the clock shows that it’s seven minutes since he got up. He turns around again. The figure has gone but the light is still on. The dogs won’t come back tonight, he thinks. He lies down and shuts his eyes. In a few minutes he’s fast asleep.

Photo Essay: Courtland Gallery, the Gambier Parry Collection, Islamic Metalwork 3/3

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Mon, 7 Jun 2010 10:52:02 EDT

Gambier Parry spent quite a lot of time collecting these amazing pieces. These are brassware inlaid with gold and silver, made in various Middle Eastern Countries between 1200 and 1500 AD. As usual, I am not showing all the items that I photographed in this essay, for the full list in bigger resolution, please see the full slide show.

Small display case. These pieces are a combination of products made for export to Europe (top shelf) and for domestic use (bottom shelf).

A candlestick holder from Turkey, late 13th century, bronze, engraved and inlaid with silver.

This is a wallet, bronze with gold and silver inlay, from Tabriz, Western Iran, around 1300 AD. This shows 16 medallions all over the wallet, with musicians and horsemen. Very fine detailed work.

A bucket with a swing handle from Anatolia around 1500 AD, extremely fine work.

A bowl with a cover, and on the lip of the bowl, one can make out a signature of the maker, namely Master Mahmud. Pretty neat, in both Arabic and Roman script.

On the left is a Mamluk bowl from Egypt, around 1300 AD, brass, and inlaid with silver. It would be used for water or food. You can make out the Arabic inscription in the middle, these are honorific's for the user which would have been inscribed into the bowl. On the right is a Mamluk inkwell from the same time, same workmanship, possibly from Syria.

A bowl shaped box with a cover from Syria, Mamluk times, around 1500 AD. Could be used to store sweets or spices.

This is a Syrian incense burner, half of it at least. Used in Italian households, these are made out of brass and inlaid with silver. Apparently these would have been ferociously expensive for their time and even more expensive when you include the cost of the very expensive fragrances such as musk and sandalwood.

Now we come to the end of my journey at Courtland Gallery. As i mentioned, it is perhaps one of the world’s best small galleries, one can see the entire gallery in half a day. Lovely place and highly recommended.