Mother and Baby

Walking around Heller lately, I have seen so many pregnant women. I can barely juggle the school work, I can't imagine being pregnant and in school. It made me think of the photo above, a woman and her newborn, 15 days old. I took the photo in India in 2009. When I took the photo, we were in their one room house and her eldest daughter and the neighbor's kids were running around. I love the photo because with all the commotion, contributing to the movement in the background, the mother and her child were completely still and kept their eyes on each other. It was as if they were in their own world, speaking their own language with their eyes. The bond between a mother and her child always amazes me...

soft

This photo was taken on my birthday of the flowers given to me by my dear friend Bhavik.  I love the soft feeling of the photo. It really doesn't have a story behind it other than I have a friend who cares. 

: ) 

Working Title

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and green is emerging. YAY!

I want to share this photo because I feel you can feel the warmth of the sun from the photo and I sure do need some warmth back after my first horrendously cold Northeast winter. 

This photo was taken on the steps leading up to the South Platform in Monte Alban in Oaxaca Mexico with my Canon point and shoot camera. I went with my mom to Oaxaca and Mexico City in June 2008, shortly after I returned from India. We've always wanted to visit our neighbor to the south, but always put it off for destinations further away, thinking Mexico is so close we'll eventually get to it. Well, 12 years of living in Texas and we FINALLY DID!

Monte Alban is one of the largest pre-columbian archeological sites in Mexico. It was the economic and political centre of the Zapotecs. I sometimes dream of being an archeologist trying to piece together stories of the past. But I always wonder when I go to historical sites, how much of the information is true and how much is speculation. We can sadly never know the whole truth of the past. All I do know, is that they were innovative and knew how to use their natural resources. For instance, I've been to Incan, Aztec, and now Zapotec ruins and have consistently found remains of rainwater harvesting structures. They knew not to let precious water go to waste and here some of us are watching rain fall and waste away without catching it for use. I'm no environmentalist, but that is sad. We should be promoting rainwater harvesting. Its low cost and can provide water for washing and bathing, leaving potable water for drinking only. Its a great idea, I think, for everyone, especially those living in desert regions where every drop counts. Its possible to catch water on rooftops and pipe it to a tank that has a simple filtration system. Hopefully, with time and people's support these ideas from the past will catch on again. More information on the pyramids is provided by my dear friend Wikipedia. 

HOME!

This photo was taken when I was home over the summer, 2008, during a family bbq. It's nothing special, just limes, but I LOVE limes : ) and I can't wait to go home and have a Texas size bbq! Only 1 more week!!!

r a i n

It's a rainy morning in Boston. I love waking up to the sound of rain. This morning made me think of the time I slept in a hammock in the rainforest in Bolivia. That was a great night with all the sounds: the rain, the birds, the bugs....perfect bliss. 

This photo was taken on another rainy day in Ramapuram village in Andhra Pradesh, India. I was working briefly with Stree Sanghshema Trust photographing their activities. While I was there it rained frequently. I can still hear the drops falling on the dirt roads and all the trees, so soothing. The only bad thing about the rain was the number of snakes that emerged! I took this photo after the rain had stopped, but a drop remained...  

For Women Everywhere

Mangi devi is the woman in the photo. She was punished for years for something not in her hands, endless miscarriages. But with support from friends, in particular Aruna Roy and everyone at the Barefoot College, she fought for her rights over her own body and as a woman and has now been working with Barefoot for the past 20 years. She didn't abandon her family, but worked and fought with them to win their support. Mangi devi currently advocates for human rights and trains other men and women as night school teachers, while continuing her work in the fields and at home. On top of it all, she inspires women like myself. 

This poem represents all the women I've met so far who have struggled against their husbands, their family, their cultures, and the world to prove that they are human. It inspires me and I hope it inspires you. 

Still I Rise

by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted  lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns, 

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high, 

Still I'll rise. 

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops, 

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin' in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words, 

You may cut me with your eyes, 

You may kill me with your hatefulness, 

But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame

I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise. 

A man and his friend

I had a friend who saw this photo and suggested I start a travel blog. Though this isn't a travel blog, it is one of my favorite photos. 

It was taken with a Canon Rebel SLR, not digital! This was my first SLR camera that my dad gave me when I was in high school. When he gave it to me he said he hoped that one day I would open up my own studio, alongside my 'real' job of course! 

The photo was taken in 2006 during my first trip back to India since I was 6. I went after graduating from undergrad to work with the Barefoot College. I took this around October of that year when the weather was starting to cool down and I was adjusting to life in a village. I had only started learning Hindi in August, so I did not catch the fact that there was a sheep shearing camp happening that day. As I walked around the campus, I wondered where everyone was and then I saw the buzzing crowd. It was just a sheep shearing camp, but it was the first ever solar powered sheep shearing camp! Members of the government of India were visiting various Rajasthani villages to promote sheep raising. Many farmers preferred goats over sheep because they felt that shearing sheep was too expensive because one had to go to someone else to sheer the sheep. The purpose of these camps was to show that sheering sheep isn't that difficult and could be a fruitful endeavor. They invited the few sheep herders around to demonstrate how to shear sheep. Barefoot learned of the camps from flyers and took up the opportunity to promote solar energy by connecting the shears to solar panels.  

This was my first time seeing a sheep being sheared. I was intrigued by the relationships between the farmers and the sheep. Barefoot asked me to go to Kotri, a nearby village, with the government members to visually document the camp for the day. It was a loooong day surrounded by sheep. One of the first farmers to come to the camp was the man in the photo. He had about 40 sheep, but out of those 40 the one in the photo was treated differently. I watched the man for a while and noticed he would hit the other sheep with a stick to get them in line, but he never laid a hand on this one other than to pet it. It was apparent that this was the farmer's favorite because of how the farmer interacted with the sheep. I love this photo because the sheep walked away from the herd to the squatting man and took the position in the photo. I saw it as a very loving and warm show of affection that even the sheep felt. 

Some people have dogs and cats and some have a sheep! 

: )