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Sandy's spaceApril 14 Mullickghat Flower Market, I join you here to pick up the broken pieces
                        To day I am here to share the tragedy of Mullickghat Flower Market.
http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.php/weblog/marigolds_of_mullickghat/ This amazing flower market was almost burnt to ashes on night of 11th April 2008. http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.php/weblog/comments/mullickghat_flower_market_burns/ http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080412/jsp/frontpage/story_9129093.jsp This is one particular place where I love to visit whenever I find my self down in spirit. I was first taken to this market by a close friend, to purchase some flowers to decorate the church for our son's marriage, Febuary. 2004. After two years when I first learnt how to use the camera , I took my husband with me to visit this flower market : 30 July 2006. We were so amazed by the market scene, especially me, like a child finding a new ground to explore.I went on clicking my handycam... when we came home, I found I had taken more than a thousand photographs in Mullickghat that day!!... Yes, the market looks so old and broken... but the basic human feeling for supporting each other to survive through flowers is very much in this market, and it makes one feel so fresh and ageless. It's a very, very crowded place, yet you'll neither find your pokect being pinched nor you being cheated or mugged. They keep their cool when they find a transport vehicle breaking down in the midst of their stalls, patiently they will hope the mechanic repairs the truck fast... When they saw me with great enthusiasm with my camera, they would smile for me and even offer me a flower!! At one point of time, it started drizzling... and I lost sight of my husband in this sea of human..I, being so small and tiny, it was not possible for me to locate him or he to see me, though I tried to stretch my neck as long as I could... I must have looked very helpless, therefore, one flower seller offered me his stool and allowed me to stand on it to locate my husband!! I had added 3 ft. to my 5ft. height, that had enabled me to be tall enough for my husband to see me!! In the meantime, I was getting so much encouragement from my dear friend Julie Ardery http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://humanflowerproject.com/images/uploads/on-the-road-to-lautrec.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.php/weblog/about/&h=398&w=400&sz=88&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=4-7QXW7Qp2j7CM:&tbnh=123&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djulie%2Bardery%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DGGLR,GGLR:2006-02,GGLR:en%26sa%3DN
and the great support from my husband Bendangnungsang Ao http://morungexpress.com/index.php?news=3866 I went on visiting Mullickghat , and each time I visited this place I'd come back home feeling so fullfilled. I learnt so many things that I had never bothered to learn, be it flowers, custome, or human behaviour....
And Mullickghat has become a healing touch for me ever since... I love to see the madness with which the flowers are being valued by the sellers, growers and the buyers. I try to get drunk with the perfume from the flowers that's floating in the market air. Each season has its special scent, during winter the marigolds smell so sweet, that it makes you turn your head to search for the flowers. I guess that's exactly how this sweet smell works on the insects to locate the flowers. Once in a while I'd peep through the shoulders of the humans to get the beautiful sight of the faithful Hoogly with its beautiful Howrah Bridge.. This place is like a complete community living in hormony. With the tea makers offering a good cup of tea in a small terracota cup; the locally made ice cream/lemonade to cool oneself in the summer heat; the coconut flesh to quell the rumbling tummy ; the sweet water melon to refresh the dry throat; the blacksmith to sharpen the knife in his cycle stone grinder... This is the only place where one never hears of anyone complaining of the summer heat! In fact, it is the most eco- friendly place ...
If one can afford, there will be a small table fan near his stall, or else, a palm/plastic fan is good enough to keep oneself cool... who needs the air conditioners? The gods/goddesses never ask flowers that need to be kept in the air coditioner! Only the exotic flowers sellers need an air condition stall.. but then when it is too comfortable, the owner goes off to sleep!!! For cold storage? There are men who sell ice in plastic bags, and this packet of ice can be kept amidst the flowers to prevent them from wilting in the summer heat!!
Who says we need a modern building for the flowers? We do not need to become multi- millionaire through flowers... we need only the faithful devotees to come and collect the right flowers for the right gods/goddesses... The way Mullickghat has been doing for the last 125 years....
Dirty? But they are only waste from the flowers... it's organic dirt... why not turn around and look at the river bank and see the dirt that has been ignored!!
But then, the mystery fire did take place on this weekend... Every one was speechless.... I was speechless too.. I went and visited all the familiar faces....Yes, there is sadness in the eyes..there is the smell of burnt wood in the air but the devotees still have the faith; the sweet smells of the flowers make them know the gods/goddesses will bless them ever more nevertherless... I came back home feeling stronger, and I believe Mullickghat will rise again like the phoenix- come alive from the ashes again and again... There will be a modern facilities for the flower market in Mullickghat very soon, but the people will continuously selling the flowers abundantly in the same old fashion to please the gods/ goddesses . For that's the only way they know. I know Mullickghat will be my healing touch once again, I will pick up my own broken pieces within me as the way the humans in Mullickghat are doing now! (The first 7 pictures - Mullickghat after the fire. The remaining pictures - taken during my earlier tirps to the market) January 17 My birthdayWednesday, January 16, 2008My Birthday
I think I am like my little granddaughter, how she loves birthdays. But to be honest, physically, I do feel every bone of mine is 60 years old, otherwise, I feel I am as young as my one year old girl! I guess I'll have to start singing "when I am 84".... not 64...!! December 26 Merry Christmas and a Happy New YearMerry Christmas and a Happy New Year
October 06 My Moon
         I do not know if it is because I am not active with my blog or time flies off faster than I thought?
And it appears most of my writeup are of "Birthday".
Well, for a change today I will share here with you:"My Moon".
 In the past few years , after the Chinese Moon Festival, the urge to paint would always take place in me. And I would be painting for a while in this season.
May be this is one of the most romantic seasons in the Chinese calendar....
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2006-02,GGLR:en&q=moon+festival+china With the crisp air and the clear night sky one tends to calm down and wants to dream away one's fantasy...
But, this year without knowing, The Moon Festival was over and I haven't eaten any Moon Cakes!!
Fortunately the romantic air is there and the urge to paint is still there...
But,
 before I seriously start painting, come join me in "My Moon" in Sandy's Space.I guess every one loves gazing up to see
The azure sky,
The clouds,
The rain and its rainbow,
The rising, and the setting sun.
In the twilight we will try to search out
The morning star,
The evening star, the Polaris and
The moon.
Of course not wanting to miss any shooting stars that streak across
The universe.
And this season ( Autumn) to see the milky way
With the faint light of the moving satellite and the jet airplane adding extra
Twinkle in the dark night sky...
Endless imaginations and wonders,
These heavenly bodies offer to us. Especially
the moon and the stars...
Here are few pictures of "My Moon".
I used the simplest digital cameras, (Sony handy cam, Sony digital cam and Olympus) and experimented my mood with the Moody moon.
Third and the last four pictures were taken during one Live concert where Allan and his group played one of their best performances.
With their sweet music in the air and the gentle wind moving the leaves,
the moon looked so beautiful and abstract...
I guess I need not write more than this,
as the most versatile object is on the centre stage of
Sandy's Space...
Enjoy her eternal performance...  September 23 supposed to be a floating museum
           (Actually this was one of my fond blogs in Sandy's Backyard : http://sandyao.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.htmlAt that time, I was just learning how to take photographs from my husband--Bendangnungsang Ao.(The first picture is his).
I guess as a beginner , one always come up with fresh views in everything one does.
And to be honest, these pictures bring lots of satisfaction to me... mainly seeing how the simple bomboo stumps
and the pond transformed into some abstract pictures....
May be my urge for taking up the brushes to start painting was not happenig due to travelling oft., at that point of time, and able to get some images that similiar to a painting compensated the urge!)
I wonder if everyone has a 'Penny lane' and 'Strawberry Fields Forever' in one's backyard.
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Penny-Lane-lyrics-The-Beatles/E3F5C9971741CE6148256BC20014277E http://www.youtube.com/v/YHBKAyn17vw http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Strawberry-Fields-Forever-lyrics-The-Beatles/D9A941B443BA338B48256BC200142A40 http://www.noolmusic.com/blogs/YouTube_Music_Videos_60s_70s_-_Beatles_-_Strawberry_Fields_Forever.shtml This is my 'Penny lane', situated at the backyard of the Government College of Arts and Crafts ,Calcutta. It's a place where we used to hang out and dream of becoming a Picasso, Van Gough or a Monet... Wow ... Once in a while, there would be a fish popping up to greet us and add some beautiful ripples on the surface of the water making our dreams so much like Salvador Dali's world... Well , many years back, The Indian Museum of Calcutta planned to build a floating museum on this pond, but somehow the project did not take off, leaving behind these bamboo stumps in the pond. During the rainy seasons, with the reflections of the bamboo stumps, buildings and plants around the pond, we see the pond transformed into a beautiful piece of art ... we must say God is the greatest artist and Nature is his masterpiece. Recently, I noticed that my little granddaughter was aware of her shadows when she was 7 months old... and she was crawling after her shadow! May be we all love to see the mystery of the shadows?!
So, come and share with me these almost like Chinese Brush Art painting pictures of my 'Penny lane'...
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which her mother bought... and how she enjoys the flowers
that her fahter bought for me... and how my husband still think 
I can look as young as ever through his 
lens...!!!
