A Hard Land Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

This is the arid, desert-like landscape outside Phalgu village, 18 kilometers from Budhgaya. It leads to the Mahakala or (or Dungeshwar)Caves. It was here that the Buddha lived during the years that he practiced sever physical mortification. In the caves here, he came to the realization that sever mortification did not lead to enlightenment and he developed his central teaching of ‘the middle path,’ having reached this understanding, the Buddha walked this way and made his way down to Bodhgaya where he eventually attained his enlightenment.

This area is not easy to get to and is not much visited. (I came on the back of a local lad’s motor bike.) If you do manage to get here you tend to be mobbed by wretched, hungry children.

International Buddhist organizations have wanted to build a road and infrastructure in order to allow pilgrims to reach this place. But the Biharis, who tend to be hostile towards Buddhism (except as a way of making money), have refused this.

WelshTraveller, CycleEyes, phwall, papagolf21, adores, siolaw, Davids, MLINES, xuaxo, westcoastgirl1 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

WelshTraveller (354) 2009-01-24 2:56

Hi Kevin
A lovely documentary type photo that certianly conveys a hardship of living in a desert. It also shows the bond between the young sister and younger brother. It was clearly worth the effort it took to get there.
TFS
David

tomescuc (2837) 2009-01-24 12:42

I like this one. The harshness of desert versus the hardness of life. Good documentary shot.
Cristian

phwall (5821) 2009-01-24 13:25

Hi Kevin,
What an inhospitable looking place, still the young girl appears to be smiling at her younger sibling, there is always a bright side to any situation I guess.
Wonderful colours, the red gravel against the pale blue sky makes for a striking image.
Good on you for making the effort to get there, thank you for the image and the informative note.
Regards
Peter

papagolf21 (57029) 2009-01-24 13:27

Bonsoir, mon ami Kevin,
La pauvreté, on s'en remet. La misère, c'est cette chose atroce, qui coupe les jambes et la tête. La misère, elle, est tragique.
Malgré tout, l'on constate qu'à travers cette composition, le bonheur semble irradier les personnages.
Une très belle image.
Amitiés.
Philippe

adores (15853) 2009-01-24 14:52

Hi Kevin!
This really seems to be an arid place and somehow, it makes the tenderness between the two children much more powerful. You framed the scene really well!

siolaw (25914) 2009-01-24 22:57

Hi Kevin,
I like the compo with off centered kids and a vast extent of barren parched land... Only the sky is quite noisy, and also i see you have a dust spot on your sensor... if you are in Bangkok, go to Canon company, in 'Bangkok city tower' Sathorn... not far from your place... they ll clean it for a couple of 100 B and in a couple of hours!
Regards
Laurent

Davids (48) 2009-01-25 21:53

Kevin,

It has been (too) long since I visited your photo's . . . and my eyes came across this one.
I enjoyed the note . . . and I'm beginning to wonder if your portfolio is starting to become the travelers guide to Budism :) . . . all you need now are some more places in China and you're complete :)

After reading the note and looking at the photo . . . I must say I like the note better . . . something is not feeling good . . . maybe the sky was washed out and you tried to correct it . . . I don't know.
Like Henk (oochappan) sais; India is impossible without color . . . but with this level of saturation I could immagine a B&W.
sorry for the critique . . . I mean it well :)

points are off . . . so it's all in bare honesty.

best of luck,
greetings,
David

MLINES (11068) 2009-03-03 23:56

Hi Kevin, It is always good to see new places through the TE site. Here is something like i have never seen before. Good presentation with the subject well positioned. Excellent notes. TFS. Murray.

scalerman (25787) 2009-08-11 11:37

Kevin: this is an effective image - simply, stoic landscape isolates your subject. Well seen and constructed. c

xuaxo (5917) 2009-09-13 10:12

Hi Kevin,
It seems that life is not easy there.
It seems like some views of Cape Verde.
The note is very interesting also.
Greetings,
F.

kensimage (8543) 2009-09-14 23:20

A hard land indeed, Kevin, and it takes a girl with very tough feet to live there. She does not have an easy life ahead of her, and she already has to take responsibility for her little brother. But we can see that they stick together--some warmth amid the desolation. It will be a long time before the "new India" reaches such places. Regards, Ken.

westcoastgirl1 (1696) 2009-10-17 3:54

Hi Kevin

You photograph people well, I can see from your gallery.

This photo does show a harsh looking land. But you captured a tender moment here. Very good technical photo.

TFS,
Tosca