Maybe it is the honor received for the photos, or the documentary production I mentioned in my last post, (in which production is now heating up with an ending in site), or perhaps it is the all the new friends from India I have found from the Clarity contest, I don't know, but it all points to one thing, I can't get beloved India out of my soul.
After my initiation into India by swindle, sickness and solitude, I finally landed at the Durag Niwas Guesthouse. This is the same wonderful family, that started the Sambhali Trust project which I highlighted in my last post with the picture of Monika. I was invited to attend this Jagrata and...well I'll let the slide show tell the story.
The woman in the orange sari is Govind's mother, and I'd like to ask for your healing thoughts for her. She has suffered a stroke recently, and although she is home now with the family, she has a long way to go for a full recovery.
Enjoy!
If you enjoyed the video, I have also written a longer version of this story. The celebration actually went into the next night and included a goat slaughter that went quite awry. It is quite a fun story, very different from the video, and I think you will enjoy reading it. You will find it on my website at www.catvibe.com.
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36 comments:
You put my dime-store production to shame. The sound is so crisp, and I love the Ken Burn's effect. Great voice too.
I need to update my equipment (on a shoe-string budget). Right now I'm taking an Adobe InDesign course which involves getting use to an Apple computer. Very frustrating.
Don't be surprised if I email you later regarding equipment and where to purchase it. This teacher of convicts is in awe!
Hi JR, I've been using Mac computers since 1988, and can probably help you with most operating questions. I have InDesign in my CS4 suite, but have yet to learn its secrets. Good luck with the course. Feel free to email me, I'd love to answer your questions.
Nice to see that you've got a genuine interest in my country.
:)
I'm honoured to see that you visited my blog,
:)
Thank you.
:)
I hope you liked it.
:)
:)
Nice blog.
:)
Me is gonna be a regular visitor here.
:)
Mac eh?
I haven't ever used a mac bcoz it hasn't yet gained popularity in south india...
loved the story.. the voice is amazing btw :)
and all my prayers got to Govind's mother. May she get well soon :)
Read about your travel experiences, was really curious since am planning a trip to India this year :)
:)
catvibe' with a indian soul
Riversoul, thank you, welcome and hello! I brought my Mac to India and would often bring it to a cybercafe to plug into an internet connection. It always drew a crowd of fascinated and curious onlookers! I loved your blog and I'll be back regularly. I'm glad you'll be back here too, you smiley person, you! :-)
Lena, thank you so much! I'm glad you read my travels. I don't know if you're referring to my website, or this blog. If you click on India in the labels section of this blog, all of my travel & documentary writing from there will come up. Where are you going? How exciting! I wish I could join you. :-(
Karmanna, funny you should mention that. If reincarnation is real and true, I'm sure I've been Indian before and quite likely from somewhere in or around Udaipur. I used to have a recurring dream as a child of a place with water and architecture like Udaipur has. And when I was in Udaipur, I felt such a recognition of place. Where are you from Karmanna?
Thanks for stopping by my blog - and the well wishes. Hopefully I get by parenting my teen and ONLY earn wrinkles (though I know gray hair and ulcers may be quick to follow....lol). Thanks for commenting on my piece @ Clarity, too!
Love your work! Beautiful pictures and video and writings. I am so looking forward to making your blog a regular visit!
jana
This is amazing! So beautiful. I enjoyed the video so much, as well as the longer print version.
Cat, you are very multi-talented! I am in awe of the video production, as well as all of the pictures in the last post. Yes, I would love to come see them in person:)
However, I am very sorry about Govind's mother. I will keep her in my prayers and thoughts.
I have always wanted to visit India, so now you have taken me there. Thank you for the beautiful visit! Yes, the voice is wonderful, too. You're one amazing woman, Cat.
Blue Sugar Jana, Hello and welcome! Just remember, there IS life after the children leave home. It is trial by fire to get there, but the rewards are tremendous, I assure you. Just keep that love flowing toward the little devils. ;-)
Julie, when you do come here, I'll show you the other 10,000 pictures. :-0. It'll be almost like being there, yet not at all! Wish I could play the tabla to accompany the journey, but sadly I did not attend Indian musical lessons for 10 years to master any craft, so I'll just have to play CDs during show and tell. For revenge, you can bring every awesome poem you've ever written and read them to me while I record you.
I am so impressed by your beautiful work here, Cat. You have given us a rare look into the culture and ceremony of these stalwart people.
I felt myself just drawn into the video, as if I were sitting along side the others. I am sorry that Govind's mother had a stroke - she will need many positive thoughts sent her way.
It was wonderful to hear your voice, Cat. Thanks for this! I read the story via link and was bowled over by it! Loved it all!!!!
i read it on your site :)
and am planning mostly to visit delhi and surroundings.. promised to visit friends long ago.. its time to fulfill promises :)
K! Thank you, and I"m glad you read the story. Definitely not flash anything, so thanks for taking the time. :-) And I'm glad you liked the movie. It was my first foray into multimedia, before I was all about audio OR photography OR writing, so it was really fun to do something that required all three.
Lena, Awesome! So that means you'll be visiting the Taj in Agra most likely. First thing in the morning is the best time to go, so you can watch it change colors in the sunrise. I lost my breath and started crying when I first laid eyes on it. Be sure your friends meet you at the airport! You'll understand when you get there.
prayers, positive energies and wishes are sped to your friend, cat...
another mac-er? how cool is that? i have 5, and all work ;) lol
Thanks Laughingwolf, and congratulations on your placement at the Clarity contest! Yup, I've always had Mac. It wasn't the first computer I learned how to use, but it was the one I always preferred. What do you do with 5 computers? I only have two these days. My laptop, and my multimedia computer.
Great video. You have quite a voice. My prayers for Govind's mother.
Thank you so much for your kind words Khaled! Also, I wanted to thank you for being so receptive to the feedback I left on your blog yesterday. :-)
To everyone: Govind has seen all your responses and well wishes toward his Mumy, and is deeply appreciative and grateful to you.
:)
cat-ji,
maybe u were my bhen(sis)in our last janam ;)
me belongs to kerala.
Karmanna, if that is true then we are truly blessed for finding each other again in this strange world of the internet. :-)
I hope to meet all of you new friends from South India in person with a very long sojourn to your land. I wish I could say it would be soon, but I am taking care of my father so it may be some years before I can travel again. I am saving up my airline miles.
Until then, I have many adventure stories and other multimedia delights of India yet to create and post and I will post the documentary my brother and I are producing here as well.
India is always calling softly from the depths of my soul...
:)
'it is declared that the soul is imperceptible,inconceivable and immutable ' - Bhagavath gita
take care of ur dad .
eagerly waiting to see more on India.
may god bless u :)
Karmanna, these words from the Bhagavad Gita are certainly true. You are hinting at how I came upon the name for my blog. My secret pun. :-)
This is just amazing. And your redering of it-your voice--is beautiful. Controlled, deeply respectful. Gorgeous work. Thanks for sharing it.
Interesting post, Cat. I'm going to link you to my blogs :) ~Namastai
I also would love to visit India one day.
:)
Jennifer, thank you. I'm glad it is respectful, I do worry about those kinds of things. :-)
Billy-Thank you! And Namaste!
Etain, it is unforgettable. And if you have always dreamed of it, that is the song of the peacock calling you.
Cat, this is very interesting, very beautiful, and it was a great joy to hear your voice. Thank you! :-)
My good thoughts go to Govind's mother. I hope she gets much better soon.
Vesper- Thank you! I hope to do more with audio soon, and I am hoping to do some collaborative efforts with some of my blogging friends. ;-) More about that later.
Hi Cat, its nice to see that you enjoyed your India visit... (Though I am an atheist and do not believe in such rituals)... Am sure you got to witness a very wide variety of culture and religion here!
Its always fun too see the world and make new friends! I cherished my trip to Wisconsin too... I think I left a part of my heart at Memorial Union! :)
PS: Nice to see Lena making plans of coming here too! :-D
Hi Aniket, welcome! I don't know if it matters if you believe in something or not, so long as you are open to being a witness without judgment. With that kind of spirit, amazing things can happen!
Where in India are you from?
Couldn't have said it better myself... If you meet someone without having any sorts of preconceived notions.... then you start of with a blank slate, and what comes on the board later is entirely how u carry it forward! You obviously did a marvelous job!
And I was born and brought up in Madhya Pradesh and stayed 5 yrs in Bombay and now stay in Pune (Maharashtra).
Aniket, Pune is on my list! I have a friend there, she's a radio producer who escaped the US to live in India with her cats.
I also have many friends who have spent a great deal of time in Pune at the Osho ashram. I've never been into Osho, but it seems I know a bunch of people with special names that he gave them.
I live 5 min walking distance to Osho ashram!!! There are a large bunch people from all over the world that join it here! Do give a call if you ever come here.... It would be both pleasure and honor to meet you in person! :-D I was goin through your website... "Voice for Prince of Persia 3D" han.... :) I spent a lot of time of my childhood playing POP 3D and Dave!!! And a large part of my college life playing POP Sands of Time, Warrior Within and Two thrones... eagerly waiting for the movie now!
And couldn't help but smile on 'people trying to get into your pants' part on the extended version of the article on ur website...:) :) Sadly that happens here a lot! They'll make the rates for everything 4 times when they know u are an outsider! Wonder when the winds of change will strike here....
Small world, eh Aniket? Especially with the internet bringing people close together who otherwise would never have met.
Thanks for reading my other story! Yes, we white women have to put on suits of armor to enter India. Not an easy entrance, but well worth the effort!
Just remarkable, Cat. Such a seamless weaving of audio, visual, story, and feeling. You paid great respect to these traditions and earthly cycles (loved the part about the musician welcoming the dawn), and yet managed to make your outsider perspective understood and felt, too. That takes a lot of talent to walk all those lines, and make a compelling product. But you did it beautifully.
And I love hearing you! :) You've got a lovely voice, and an adventurous, genuine heart. Can't beat that combination in a documentarian. Great job, Cat. I feel like my world has expanded in watching this.
Well a hell lot of credit for such an attitude goes to James Bond too! :) As the lesser privileged people out here only go to see bond movies because they get to see him woo gorgeous females and hence the feeling that foreigner females are easy! (Similarly some still think that we are the land of snake charmers and Kamasutra... but obviously there's much more out here... thanks to Indiana Jones) Movies have a lot of influence out here...
I am a movie freak myself... but I take pride that I have seen at least 5000+ Hollywood movies and got inspired from ones like "Into the wild" , "The Shawshank Redemption", "Office Space", "The butterfly effect", "The motorcycle diaries", 'The great Dembators', "the Emporors Club" etc more than Bond! :-D I watch a great many serials out here too.... House MD, Heroes, Damages, Dexter, The Mentalist, Fringe, Lie to Me,24, Prison Break, Chuck How I met your mother, the big bang theory, So you think you can dance... I see them all! :-D Probably that's why I fitted right in when I went there! :-D
But still am glad that after all the trouble you went through you still have fond memories from here... in the that's all that matters! :-D
I meant... "The great Debtors" and "in the end that's all that matters"
(The nightmare of making grammatical and typo errors in the comments at Clarityofnight continue here too!!! :))
Sarah, that should give you a tiny hint at what is to come with the future project of which we have discussed. ;-) I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Aniket, someone once told me Baywatch was the show that too many men watched in India. Not a good place to get an understanding of an American woman's mind! Made by men, for men. Most women cringe at those kinds of shows. And then there are those who travel to India for enlightenment and are shocked when they get to India and see what they will see. It kind of bursts those romantic notions of what India is just to set foot on the soil.
You have good taste in movies. Into the Wild is one of my favorite movies ever.
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