Triplicane Parthasarathy Temple - B&W

After quite a long time tried my hand at black and white photography -- not the digital version but good `old' black and white film photography (stress on old because what got me going was a roll of neopan that had been in the refrigerator for several years and was well past its best-by date) followed up with processing at home with D76 chemicals.
Digital came in handy for scanning and getting the image on to CD.
The topic is ofcourse an old favourite -- the festival at the Parthasarathy Temple Triplicane. Last month when the festival was on I decided to use the film just on a whim and rediscovered the joy of b&w processing.

Blessing

Here are a series of pics that I took at the Kapaleeswarar Temple festival. Initially, I did not want to post them on the blog as they were of no particular interest. In this ritual parents let their babies be placed near the deity to seek the goddess' blessing.
As I was going through the images I noticed an interesting aspect I had captured unintentionally... There was this kid sitting at the base of the deity assessing blessings in a more tangible form. His interest in the `hundi' (donation box) I found quite amusing...

Vadapalani - Aeroplane Kavadi

Talking of aeroplanes in the previous posts, I happened to see this sight a few days back - I realised it was what is nowadays referred to as the `aeroplane kavadi.' A rickety structure of casuarina poles tied together to form a frame from which people were suspended by hooks. These were devotees fulfilling a vow to the Vadapalani Murugan -- the temple gopuram can be seen in the background. Luckily for me, I happened to have the camera with me...

It was a hot afternoon with the air around shimmering in the heat.

... and these two guys were dragging the cart on which the frame was built...

... the whole thing was hooked to their backs... the road was so hot they had to stand on a piece of sacking to avoid blisters...
...that they had some help in pulling the cart was no consolation... the whole structure was swaying and there were two-three chaps on the cart to stop the frame from keeling over...
...I do not know about them but I was certainly relieved when the group reached the temple and people helped get the devotees off the hook.

Life

Did You Know?
Air India was the world's first all-jet carrier. So says this ad marking its 30th year of operations. Just picked it off an inside page of a Life magazine from the late 1960s or early 70s.

At the Beach

The Chennai beach never ceases to offer variety - each time you land up there it has something new on offer. About ten days back it was a special occassion - the Indian Airforce was putting on a special show.
Just minutes before the show was to start, the beach was getting crowded and I saw this group serenely going through their prayer. I kneeled down to one side and waited to catch the eye of the guy leading the prayer - got his go ahead - and started clicking away. What caught my eye was the unhurried way they went about their ritual without being bothered by the crowd... like I had mentioned in the Kapaleeswarar Temple posting earlier... this too was an island of concentration in the midst of the hurry and bustle of the crowd.

Minutes later they packed up and left and the crowd was treated to a cloudburst, I think that is the term to this particular move, by the Suryakirans - the aerobats of the IAF
...and this...