Ketas

Here I am, still (mentally) in the Salt Range, in Pakistan. As I was scanning my slides I got attracted to one of a ruined Hindu temple at Ketas, and decided to try to paint it. It seemed to exemplify what attracted me to that place: an austere beauty, a limited pallette of colours, the way the buildings seemed to merge with the earth. Here's what I posted about this temple earlier. I saw it in 1986:

In nearby Ketas a ruined Hindu temple complex straddled the main road. On one side of the road caves were cut into the cliff, on the other a sacred pool had declined into a marsh. Behind the pool were a fort, two large buildings with domes like inverted lotuses, and a few whitewashed shrines with plain yellow-washed domes.

No one could tell me to which god the temple had been dedicated. Later I read that it had been a temple of Shiva. The pool was full of Shiva's tears, which fell when his wife Sati died. The place used to be a centre of pilgrimage -- Hindus came to bathe in the pool -- but it was now very dilapidated. The temple was situated in such a way that it controlled the road, which was at this point a pass between low cliffs. According to the British District Gazetteer for 1904, "with some exceptions these priests are ignorant and quarrelsome, and are by no means popular in the neighbourhood." They used to extort tolls from travellers through the pass.

Squatters lived in the buildings now. A boy sat on a roof, reading a book beside a petaled dome. Behind the temple a hamlet sprawled beside a few cultivated fields.

Several Things

I'm on vacation, first of all. Hurray for wi-fi!

Secondly, a few days back I was able once again to see the blogsites which had been banned by the government earlier - blogspot, typepad, geocities. Many ISPs had lifted the ban earlier; mine, Hathway, was apparently one of the last to let go. No notice of imposition, and none of lifting: one day it was all just there again.

Thirdly, I am amusing myself with a little pamphlet I made out of old wedding invitations:



I'm filling it up and posting the pictures on my sketch blog, for those who are interested in this kind of thing: fire star arts.

That's about it, I guess. It's so lovely in Bangalore right now - soft air, a breeze making the most beautiful sighing sound in the branches of the trees, birds with more melodious cries than those of my household crows. As in the beginning of every vacation, it's hard to imagine ever leaving.

Ayudas económicas directas para fomentar la natalidad

Para fomentar la natalidad, el Ayuntamiento de Albatera se ha decidido por un sistema muy directo: ayudas económicas para ayudar a sufragar los gastos que genera el nacimiento o la adopción de un hijo. Los interesados en acogerse a este programa social deben rellenar una solicitud y cumplir los requisitos de la convocatoria: estar empadronados en la localidad desde un año antes del nacimiento y que el nacimiento se produzca entre el 1 de enero y el 31 de diciembre del año 2006. La cuantía de la ayuda es de 125 euros por hijo nacido o adoptado. En este último caso, se podrá solicitar la ayuda sea cual sea la edad del niño. Asimismo, en caso de parto múltiple, se suman las ayudas correspondientes a cada hijo.