Value of Human Life

India India

Ah...what good fortune to be able to get online.

After the last month spent in a modern metropolis where monstrous concrete, glass and steel are called buildings, these pictures are a stark contrast.

Look at the bus. It is something I rode to school as a boy. The flared bell-bottom pants is from the Beatles era. Times stood satill here.

The bike rides 4. I was told it is a rule for the rider to wear a helmet but not his passengers. Wonder what the rule book says on the max number of pillions.

Bollywood Hooray

There he was again with a lustful...sampah heiiiii...in true bollywood fashion.

Who is this guy you may ask. Well, he is our neighbourhood's regular garbage man. he always appears taking out all the garbage from the bins and stacking them by the road side for the truck that soon appears. This saves time.

But it is his cheeriness with his sampah heiii that I like. It is his way of announcing to all to bring out their gabage. He does appear to love his job for as he goes about his work, he sings bollywood songs. I like this guy. He is probably Bangladeshi or Indian.

Reminds me of the dumpling vendor in Manju Tilla Delhi who wakes all and sundry with his "sheeee....sheeee..ah..rey....!" but more of this story another time.

India Crossing

This remains one of my favorite images.

It was taken on the road from Dehra Dun to Dharamsala, not the main highway route but that off track route further to the west.

This crossing is actually over a dried up river bed for the bridge had collapsed. The lorry people are washing their trucks on the river. Basic as their livelihood may be but a lot of pride is present. Just as the cow is sacred because they are partners in eking out the land, so are trucks as they are part of the sustenance of life.

As the sun sets, it tells of the sweetness of rest and a meal at the end of a long hard day. It offers peace and recovery for the toil of the next day.