Last day in Chennai

Reading the newspaper in the streets of Chennai.. The last day.

Central Station. Chennai

My trip ends up in Chennai, the place where I landed. Onde again in the Central train Station, aplace to discover.
A beautiful journey, once again. Every time India brings me more... I will just have to wait a bit for the next one.

Colors. Chennai

The acrobat. Madras

Murghgeshwari

Murgheshwari is Hindu, she is cooking. She and Raja, a moslem made a love marriage, still unusual.
A very friendly couple living in a slum near the river in Chennai.

Alone in Chennai.

Dolsa Ma, a Leper. Chennai

Dolsa Ma, a leper, is begging with her son Rudirath in Chennai.

On the Road. Tiruvanamalai

An image of pilgrims on their way to Tirupati. Original images, no cropping...
On my last week in India, some pilgrims I met 70km outside Tiruvanamalai on
their way to the huge temple of Tirupati in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh.
They still had more than 120 km to walk..

Diving. Tiruvanamalai

A Student. Tiruparankundram

A young boy studying in a Brahmin school.

A silk weaver. Ayampatta

Smile. Tiruvanamalai

A cute smile in front of the temple... Tiruvanamalai.

Money. Tiruvanamalai

A begger counting the money she made that day in front of a goddess.

House Cleaning. Madurai

A woman cleaning in front of her house in a small street in Madurai

Working. Kailasha

Workers in Kailasha, a small village near Kanchipuram loading a truck with the dust coming from the rice after it was washed...

Students. Tiruparankundram

Students in a Bhramin school inside the temple in Tiruparankundram.

Paying respect to God. Madurai

Saluting God inside the Meenakshi temple in Madurai

Praying HANUMAN. Madurai

Another one of an Ayappa pilgrim in the marvellous Meenakshi temple in Madurai, same setting, different angle and shot this year

S I L K. Ayampatta. Tamil Nadu

A silk weaver in preparing his warp in his house in the small village of Ayampatta.
You can see the "Jacquard" cards in the foreground . J.M Jacquard believed that the weaving of complex patterns could be automated. He conceived a system that relied on stiff, pasteboard cards with various patterns of punched hole...
Exposure:1/15 Aperture:f/4 Focal Length:19 mm ISO Speed:1600

Fire. Tiruvanamalai. Tamil Nadu

A mother and her son in front of the Arunachaleswar Shiva temple in Tiruvanamalai (Tiruvanamalai is the Tamil word for the Sanskrit Arunachala), situated at the foot of the Arunachala hill, is one of the largest and oldest temples in all of south India.
"This fire is considered holy and everyone takes a blessing from it by waving ones hands over it and then rub the hands over own face" .

A lot of Fun. Tiruvanamalai

A bunch of kids having a lot of fun in the sacred tank near the temple in Tiruvanamalai. Tamil nadu

Colorful school. Cochin

Church. Cochin

.
A church on Vypeen island. Kochi

Working. Cochin

.
Sizing the betel nuts. Kochi

Betel nuts. Cochin

.
Working the Betel nut. Kochi

Betel. Cochin

.
A woman calibrating the Betel nuts in Cochin.

Morning bath. Parissinikadavu

.
Avant d'aller au temple où se déroule le Teyyam, les pélerins vont se baigner dans la rivière qui se trouvent devant l'entrée du Temple.

THEYYAM. Parissinikadavu

Theyyam. Parissinikadavu

.
This is the season of Theyyam, a ritual dance in the hindu temple of Kerala, usually early in the morning. So bad light conditions, and very difficult to approach the Gods..

School. Parrisinikadavu

.
Kids running out of school in Parrisinikadavu

Bananas. Kannur

.
Selling bananas in Kannur

Fruit Juice. Kollam

.
A cubist fruit juice stall in Kollam

Movie. tellichery

Un portrait cinématographique à Tellichéry

Geometry. Fort Cochin

.
Women working Ginger in the spices capital of the world : Kochi.

Beedis. Kudukkimotta

.

A worker rolling beedis in the Dinesh Beedi factory in Kudukkimota.

Holy Cow. Kochi

A woman feeding a cabbage to a cow in Kochi, not far from the huge and beautiful temple in Matttanchery.
I simply love that...

Mollywood. Ernakulam

A bunch of rickshaw drivers waiting for a client having fun with me in Ernakulam....

Hotel. Tellichery

.

Despite the fact that in India "hotel" means restaurant, I couldn't resist posting this image of a man sleeping in the heat of the afternoon. For the first time since I left it's hot and humid...I guess it's kerala.

Méditation. Brindavan

Enfin arrivé à destination dans un Hotel réservé pour elles par d'autres Jains, les "Sadhvis" peuvent commencer une méditation dans leur chambre.
Les Jains habitant dans les environs viendront leur payer respect et également leur porter des nourritures déjà cuininées.

Prière

Après quelques kilomètres, les "sadhvis" se rendent chez une famille Jain pour pouvoir prier dans le temple qui se trouve dans la maison.

Pause.

Une des "sadhvis" ayant initié un jeune, nous devons nous arrêter pour un peu de repos.

La route. Mysore

Les "Sadhvis" continuent leur route qui les conduit de Mysore aux jardins de Brindavan, à 20klm de là.
Une drole de façon de commencer l'année pour moi.

La route.

A mi-chemin, nous rencontrons toutes sortes de moyens de transports..

Le départ. Mysore

Le départ de ce parcours à pied vers Brindavan. Nous sommes encore dans Mysore, il fait encore nuit.

Prière. Mysore

Le 1er janvier 2006, j'ai partagé la journée des Sadvis. J'ai décidé de parcourir les 20 klm qui séparent Mysore de Brindavan, où elles allaient pour quelques jours. Avant de partir, vers les 6h du matin, nous nous sommes arrêtés à un temple Jain pour les prières matinales.

Le cuisinier. Mysore

Le cuisinier de l'Ashram cuisant des chapatis pour les Sadhvis.

Tapo Ratna, une "sadhvi" de 32 ans.

Une Sadvi durant la prière. Mysore

Dans un Ashram de Mysore. Ces femmes renoncent à tout pour vivre en petite communautée. Elles se dèplacecnt à pied d'un endroit à l'autre.

Sadhvis. Mysore

Des "sadhvis" Jain, rencontrées dans le centre de Mysore. L'équivalent féminin des sadhus.

Sortie du Temple. Mysore

A la sortie du temple, des pélerins accompagnent le Dieu autour du templesur Chamundi Hill.