| Diary Entries June 7, 2010 April 29, 2010 October 27, 2009 July 25, 2009 July 18, 2009 July 12, 2009 July 5, 2009 June 27, 2009 June 25, 2009 June 20, 2009 June 13, 2009 June 6, 2009 May 30, 2009 May 23, 2009 May 16, 2009 May 9, 2009 May 3, 2009 April 25, 2009 April 18, 2009 April 11, 2009 April 4, 2009 March 28, 2009 March 21, 2009 March 14, 2009 March 7, 2009 February 28, 2009 February 21, 2009 February 14, 2009 February 7, 2009 January 24, 2009 January 17, 2009 January 10, 2009 January 3, 2009 December 27, 2008 December 20, 2008 December 13, 2008 December 6, 2008 December 1, 2008 November 24, 2008 November 17, 2008 November 10, 2008 October 27, 2008 October 20, 2008 October 13, 2008 October 6, 2008 September 29, 2008 September 23, 2008 September 15, 2008 September 8, 2008 September 1, 2008 August 26, 2008 August 18, 2008 August 8, 2008 July 28, 2008 July 21, 2008 July 15, 2008 July 07, 2008 June 30, 2008 June 23, 2008 June 16, 2008 June 10, 2008 May 26, 2008 May 19, 2008 May 12, 2008 May 5, 2008 April 29, 2008 April 14, 2008 April 9, 2008 April 1, 2008 March 25, 2008 March 18, 2008 March 11, 2008 March 04, 2008 February 26, 2008 February 19, 2008 February 13, 2008 January 29, 2008 January 22, 2008 January 15, 2008 January 8, 2008 January 1, 2008 December 18, 2007 December 10, 2007 November 20, 2007 October 23, 2007 October 3, 2007 September 16, 2007 September 9, 2007 August 28, 2007 August 21, 2007 August 14, 2007 August 7, 2007 July 24, 2007 July 17, 2007 July 10, 2007 July 03, 2007 June 27, 2007 June 17, 2007 June 11, 2007 June 4, 2007 May 27, 2007 May 22, 2007 May 07, 2007 April 10, 2007 March 20, 2007 March 13, 2007 March 6, 2007 February 27, 2007 February 22, 2007 February 13, 2007 February 6, 2007 January 30, 2007 January 15, 2007 December 12, 2006 November 28, 2006 November 13, 2006 November 7, 2006 October 31, 2006 October 24, 2006 November, 2006 October 3, 2006 September 26, 2006 September 21, 2006 September 11, 2006 September 05, 2006 August 11, 2006 August 8, 2006 |
The festive season has stretched on for almost all of January! My gorgeous son Nick and his delicious girlfriend Mimi arrived in Australia and have been staying with us along with Mimi’s mum Josephine and stepfather Phillip, who’s an old friend of mine from Guyana. So it’s been huge fun to catch up and show them around. Nick, in his modest way, also happened to mention that ah, by the way, he’s just successfully submitted a Ph.D in Buddhist Studies and Asian Art History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Halleluiah! Even if he wasn’t my son I find him such an interesting person, as well as being fun, calm and intelligent. Nick says living in both India and Pakistan for many years inspired his curiosity to explore the cultural, religious and historical heritage of South Asia. Nick chose to study the inadequately understood but spectacular World Heritage Site of the Buddhist Caves at Ajanta in Maharashtra, India.
Originally dating to the first century BCE, the caves were hidden deep in a picturesque gorge and by the fifth century CE at least 29 caves had been excavated at the site, each gloriously painted with murals depicting the many lives of the Buddha. This art at Ajanta represents the oldest and finest extant examples of Indian painting. Their very existence, somewhat ironically, can be attributed only to the fact that after the fifth century the site was apparently totally abandoned, for reasons historians can only guess. Several caves at the site, for example, are preserved in such an incomplete state that it’s as if the workmen downed tools and walked away. Consequently these stunning caves lay hidden for more than a thousand years until a British Calvary officer out hunting followed a tiger into the gorge and spotted the ornate carvings around the entrance to a cave high above. Imagine how he felt discovering this treasure. It’s believed monks and other wanderers sought out the site for meditation but through the centuries no-one else knew of the caves. The artwork and sculpture is utterly stunning.
Nick took me there a number of years ago and it was then I realized we had crossed some threshold and he was the teacher and I the student. The travel and living was rustic to say the least but with Nick’s fascinating, wonderfully eccentric and brilliant professor it was a memorable time. In the basic government accommodation we ate hot curry, talked to the local and thanks to the professor’s ancient record player were entertained by Mozart and discussed the life and times of a civilization we can only wonder at. It’s now an Indian tourist destination and there are regulations, officials and roped off areas. I cherish the memories of being there with my son, the bats and ghosts of an ancient civilization.
Cheers
Di’s latest book The Islands, published by Pan Macmillan, is now on sale.
|
