A walk in the Village

Today I went into the village next to my community to speak with a woman who runs an organization called The Sri Sai Ram Children Welfare Association. She is having an event on Sunday and two opposing political organizations are trying to tie themselves to the event to get exposure for do-gooding so she has asked me to stand with her. Why me? 1) She wants someone non-political so it won't be tagged as a political event 2) she can't choose one political organization over the other because then she'll loose the support of the other AND when the election is over she'll probably never hear from the organization she did side with 3) foreigners, especially from the U.S., are high profile so she'll get a bigger bang for her buck (I'm not being paid, but you know what I mean) for having me there. She will hand out 100 free sarees to less fortunate members of the community and has asked me to help with that. Hell yes I'll help with that.
I decided to walk because being in the villages is always a treat.


Big pot hole filled with rocks in the street outside Ozone.

Darling schoolgirl on her way to school.

Election is coming - political flags

Rangoli on the sidewalk outside a house

Gutter filled with trash and human excrement

Cyber cafe? I wonder what speed they run at...



Peeking over a fence

Roadside temple

The woman in yellow is Varalakshmi, head of the Children Welfare Association. She is beautiful and the mother of SIX children! This is her 2-room + bath home and three of her children.

1 more little one sleeping on a mat on the floor.

After our meeting, Varalakshmi took me to meet her mother. She is stunning with her long gray hair, strong features and not a wrinkle on her face. I wanted to take a close up of just her but she couldn't understand why I wanted to take her photo in the first place so I just have this one.

On my walk back home I stopped to appreciate the beautiful purple blossoms on this tree, as I was framing a shot I noticed the goat cadavers hanging in the doorway behind the tree, so I had to include them.

Watch where you step!

On Whitefield Main I walked passed many very generic looking shops but as I passed one driveway I saw an interesting building in the background. I decided to investigate and was surprised to see "The General Stores Whitefield EST 1915" - too bad it's so hidden, it was beautiful.