Photos of Paintings - Lifestyle of the Past

As a passionate photographer, I enjoy capturing live moments and am equally interested in taking pictures of the paintings. Some of such shots ...

Typical houses on Kampung Air(Water Village in Malay)

I shot this pic at a friend's house and she said that it is a prized possession!

Pasar (Market in Malay) Scene

Chinese Settlement?!

It's just my guess that this scene is of a Chinese settlement, mainly because, people are wearing typical cone shaped Chinese hats:)

Joint Family

Unlike today's nuclear families, this scene shows the entire family under one roof...

Chemist

Western styled chemist...

Grocery Shop

All these Scenes have a couple of things in common,
- it shows lifestyle of the past!
- taken at a friend's house in Melaka!!!

Wandering Alone @ Gole Bazar

Again, I got a chance to wander alone! Well, this time it was in Kharagpur, West Bengal, which boasts longest railway platform in the world! On the first day, I was wandering within walkable distance from where we stayed. Later I was in for luck, and made friends with an inspiring personality. She suggested that I use rickshaws for exploring Gole Bazar, a place worth visiting to get a local feel of market and savour mishti (sweets in Bengali), from local's favorite shop.
Predominantly, the locals either spoke in Bengali or Hindi. English was hardly understood. Somehow, I managed to communicate with the rickshaw-wala (rickshaw-driver!) in my broken Hindi. The 5 KM ride cost me only Rs 60 (around RM 3.5!!!).

Shadow Shot Sunday

Though the ride was bumpy and slow, the open top helped me to capture life on the way to Gole Bazar.

Rickshaw wala was quite talkative. As we approached the bridge over Kharagpur railway station, he told that his son was working at the Eastern Railways garage. He added that 2 trains (with 20+ carriages each) can be parked back to back on this platform! Well, it could just be local lore, as I could not verify this information online.

Longest platform in the world - 1075m

My expectation of the bazar, was that of a crowded vibrant market, but When I reached Gole bazar around 11 AM, weather was a bit chilly and the bazar seemed to be lazy like this...

Gole Bazar

A push-cart with small earthen cups attracted me. He was just opening his business and I wanted to take a picture, but was not sure how the vendor would react, if I don't buy anything. So, I asked him for what purpose that cup was used and if I could just buy 1 cup. He replied that he sells tea in that cup for Rs 4. Surprised at that cheap rate, I asked again, if he was telling the rate of the cup or tea. He gave a weird look and told that the tea and cup together was Rs 4!!!

Matka Chai - Teh Tarik - Rs 4 or just around 20 sen per cup!

Then I understood that this cup was meant for one time use ONLY! What an environmental friendly disposable cup! I dared to take a sip, and fell in love with the tea as the flavor and fragrance was enhanced because of the earthenware:)

By now, slowly the market was coming alive and I bought a couple of duppattas.

When it was about time to leave, I stopped by the mithai (sweet) shop, which my friend recommended to.

Jamuns, rosgullas, sweet yogurt...

Later, I decided to take a 'share auto', as there was a lonely stretch on the way back. There I met two Midnapur university students (fellow passengers). I learned that one of them were married and continuing education! Well, marrying at young age is still prevalent, but at least education seems to have gained importance.

Altogether it was a lively experience.

Seedlings

Like watching the clouds, it gives immense pleasure to watch paddy fields, irrespective of the season. Here is a couple of shots that shows the early stages of rice planting...

Rice seedlings - planted randomly

Transplanting the seedlings

Karagattam - Folk Dance

Any village festival in Tamil Nadu is sort of incomplete without Karagattam. Until, my last trip to India, I never had a chance to meet and take pics of the dancers. This time round, we met a group in Namakkal, (Tamil Nadu, India) who were practicing for a competition! So I'd a good photo opportunity:)

Balancing the karagam - For SOOC and Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Yes, balancing this pot (Karagam) on top of the head without holding it and performing graceful, yet fast paced dance (attam) movements is KARAGAATAM!

Ready to dance

Until then, I used to wonder if they tie up or 'glue' the pot on their head and disguise with makeup! But now, for sure I know that it is purely an art of balancing the decorated 'karagam', which is most important to start the attam!!!

They dance with so much grace that it is hard to believe how the pot royally sits on their heads.

At times, as a challenge, they lie down on their stomach by few dexterous movements and pick up a small piece of wood or fruit from the ground, while balancing the karagam!!!

The dancers are called as 'karagattakaran (men) and karagattakari (women). The music is also very peepy and you feel like tapping your foot.

The man in white is musician of this troupe!

Karagattam should be highly regarded and encouraged. But, it is not considered as 'fashionable' among city dwellers, so, I feel that this form of art is under suffocation.

A Tale of Mount Kinabalu - Crocker Range

If I just say Mount Kinabalu is the tallest peak in Crocker Ranger in the Borneo Island, it sounds like a mundane primary school Geography lesson. To make it interesting, let me tell the local story that we heard from Hatta, our cabbie (similar version is available in Wikipedia as well).

After few KMs down the road from Kota Kinabalu, Hatta pointed at the distant mist covered Mount Kinabalu and I wanted to take a picture, so he pulled over. From then, he started telling about the legendary folklore vividly:)

Kinabalu sneaking out of mist

Eons ago A Chinese Prince was marooned in this part of the Borneo. He fell in love with a local Kadazan tribal girl and married her.

View from Bundhu Tuhan - a kampung (Village in Malay)on the way to Kinabalu

They lived happily and had children!

The Prince started missing his parents, and wanted to visit them. He told his wife that he would go home, meet and get permission from his dad (the Chinese Emperor), and take his wife and the children to China.

Pic taken from the moving cab - using sports mode

Though the girl was apprehensive at first, she believed in the prince's promise that he would come back for her and bid him farewell.

From the moving cab - Village where the Kadazan girl lived!?

Entrance to National Park - UNESCO site

The Kadazan girl was eagerly waiting for the prince. However, the sea shore was far from her village. So, she climbed the tallest mountain near her village to gaze at the South China Sea, hoping to see the prince' ship.

Guest houses for the climbers

As months passed to years, there was no sign of the prince.

Timpohon Point view - Kinabalu

Forced by the Emperor, the prince married another princess for the benefit of the kingdom, and kept away from the Kadazan girl with a heavy heart. Sounds like a typical bollywood movie plot, or any mythological, mystical, historical story, right?

Timpohon Point view - valley

Well, the poor girl was not aware of the prince' betrayal, so she went up the mountain everyday at dawn and came back to the village only at night, to tend to their children.

Entrance to the trekking path leading to Mount Kinabalu

Only climbers with permit are allowed and guide are allowed

We heard only seasoned climbers could make it!

As you go higher, the weather is cold. Imagine how the Kadazan girl would have suffered the harsh weather! By, now the villagers had started calling her the widow of the Chinese prince, as they assumed that the prince might have died on the sea!

Mount Kinabalu - from the viewing deck above the trekking entrance

Finally, the dedicated wife died on the hill top, still longing for the prince. The villagers started believing that her ghost was up in the mountain, waiting for the prince' return and they honored her by naming the mount as Kinabalu meaning Chinese Widow in Kadazan language!

We were touched by the story:)
You might also like to read/see pics of my other Borneo experiences...

Poring - Canopy Walkway Bridge
Aerial Views - Borneo
Water ways of Brunei - Air Kampung, Venice of the East
The Giant Flower - Rafflesia
Jesselton - Kota Kinabalu

Water ways of Brunei - Air Kampung, Venice of the East

Brunei, the first thing most of us remember is its oil and the Sultan who is one of the richest men in the world. The tiny country is in the Borneo island and has the same tropical climate as Malaysia. Abundance is seen everywhere and there is no income tax! The taxi driver who took us around commented 'RON 97 petrol is just 53 cents/liter, where as mineral water is $1 per liter'. Perhaps, it is cheaper to drink petrol in Brunei!!!

Let me come to the topic of this post, Brunei river spans through the country and here is a river view. Obviously, waterways is the major 'roadways' and 'water taxis' are common.

River view, besides Nurul Iman Palace

People who live in the Water village or Air Kampung, park their cars on the river bank and use the water taxis for commuting to their homes in the river!

River Bank

You have to flag down the boats, like how you hire a cab. Tourists like me, take these boats just to get a closer view of the water village life or take on long tours in the hope of catching a glimpse of Proboscis monkeys along the river bank. We just went for a water village round, as we had only a day in Brunei, because we had planed to go to Labuan and then to Kota Kinabalu.

Water Taxi

The boat man said that this water village was considered as the Venice of the East! Well, my husband who has been to Venice didn't see the similarity except the water taxi:) Whatever, it was a full fledged village, with all the modern amenities. Let's take a photo tour:)

Imagine speeding in this boat!

Such a Big School in the water!

Petty Shop

Taxi stand!?

Power cables

Dish Antenna!

Cute house

Road or lane

Junction!

We met with a local and made small talk while we walked down the junction. As the sky was overcast, I asked him, 'how deep is this river? are you not worried about floods?' for which he replied, 'center of the river is deep, but near our houses, its shallow and during low tides you can even see the riverbed! This part of the river doesn't flood, may be in Belait area, there are floods...'

Dilapidated building

Grocery Shop

Alley

Venice of the East or not, it was a great experience!

Palmyra Palm - Padhini

Before my Indian holiday becomes a vague memory, I plan to post them. On the way to Aliyar dam, we saw many padhini sellers by the road side. It brought back my childhood memories and told my kid how we used to force our grandpa to buy the sweet padhini at night. In those days, they used to sell it in push carts, but now the peddlers are modernized...

Padhini or pathanir is the palm sap extracted from the barks of Indian Palmyra palm tree. Mostly, villagers extract the palm sap directly in a mud pot so that it gets fermented and becomes kallu or toddy, which is alcoholic. For padhini, the collecting mud pot is coated with chunnambu (edible soda lime calcium) so that the extracted sap is sweet and non-alcoholic. Traditionally, padhini is served in palm leaf bowls.

Optionally you can add nungu as well.

Somewhere I've heard nungu is ice apple in English, but am not sure. The drink is delicious and refreshing. Finally, when I asked if the vendor sold kallu, he just pointed at a plastic bottle hanging in his motorcycle...

Well, none of us dared to try it...