The rains are here!

The rainy season is almost upon us, with each passing week showers are more frequent, one every three days now and a welcome break it is from the hot months!

Rain brings with it a new set of issues, the main so far is the run off - most of the road here remain dirt roads and its not unusual for roads to become almost completely inundated as the water seeks lower ground.




The pattern now is relatively predictable; a gradual rise in temperature for two or three days to be followed by sullen skies and eventually for the heavens to open releasing blessedly cool rain. The thunder cracks, lightening forks across the sky as the rain drums harder and harder, driven by gusts of wind.



Today's shower was a short but violent one, cooling the air down so rapidly, it brings an immediate lifting of the spirits. Its nice to feel cool again!

Sri Lanka - Small Miracle

A stunningly beautiful video, brought an ache to my soul, Sri Lanka is such a beautiful country indeed. Almost perfect if not marred by robot singing towards the end... Its kind of symptomatic really, such an amazing county with so much potential, and yet there is always something that someone does to make it less so.

Kudos to the producers!

Leaf

Salif Keita Live!

Just back from Salif Keita Live and oh wow!

The show kicked off two hours later than scheduled but getting to hear him sing, to watch him live was indeed a treat!





This man has a powerful voice, he opened his concert singing so softly, it was hard to hear him over that of the music; and then he let loose, almost a bellow, it was easy then to believe that he descends from an Emperor.





Referred to sometimes as the "Golden Voice of Africa" Salif Keita is a world renowned Afro pop singer and song writer. Ostracized and cast out by family and community due to his albinism, Keita joined a government promoted band, which subsequently fled Mali due to political unrest in the 70's. His travels eventually lead him to Paris where he lived for many years before returning to Mali and Bamako to set up a recording studio from which he now works.



What a night...

Guess Where I'm going?!

Thats exactly where I'm going, for a Salif Keita concert come Saturday!

And I hope he plays this

Of music and native guitars

Zaka is this little oasis in the middle of Ouaga, a place for a cold drink and the possibility to meet some rather interesting people.

Last week I met Akili Gnouma a local musician who plays a mean Goni - a stringed instrument much like a guitar.




I was given an impromptu performance as I sat there drinking a soda, one that resulted in me buying my own Goni that afternoon. Why I did this I don't know, I cant play for toffee nor can I sing.

Oh well...

SouthWest

Work took me to the South Western part of Burkina Faso, to Bobo Dioulasso and further to the dusty sleep town of Banfora

Banfora is just 60km from the border with Cote d'Ivoire, and surrounded by a lush green countryside.



I was drawn to this area by the Peaks de Sindou, a range of sandstone 'mountains' that over the eons has been sculptured by the elements into out worldly shapes. Classified as a 'World Treasure" these peaks are awe inspiring in their splendor. The drive here from Banfora is a along a 50km dirt track, one that in the wet season must surely become impassable. But on this day, just after a sudden rain storm, the surface was smooth enough to do 120 for most of the distance - a rally drivers experience indeed!



Sleepy Banfora was just what I needed, to rest up and recuperate. I'm sorry that time did not permit more than a day off for me to experience this beautiful part of BF. But I did get a nice send off. As I drove out of town I came across a bunch of imps upon a donkey cart. A handful of lollipops had smiles on their faces and a wonderful photo op for me too!

Returning to Bobo I went in search of the Grand Mosquee - an 18th century mud structure and a beautiful representation of Sahel architecture. Inside there is room to seat 800 of the faithful as they gather every day to kneel in prayer. The immediate surroundings are tranquil, serving the community as a place to meet and socialize. The wooden struts serve two purposes, one as the supports upon which the Mosquee is built and the other as scaffolding for repairs and re plastering.



As I drove around Bobo I was fortunate to come across the celebration of a marriage. Part of the street had been commanded to accommodate all the guests, all women who arrived dressed in their finery each bearing a chair to sit upon!The celebration consisted of the women taking turns to dance in the middle pausing to kiss one another and tuck money into the bride; hand. Where the groom was I had no idea!



Ah, life in Africa!

As is customary, more on flickr!

Its been awhile

18 months is about as close as I can figure, 18 months since I've actually taken a break from work and I think I'm starting show the effects of that.

It was fine till October I guess, there was always my "little shack by the pond" to get away to every Friday evening, to wind down, re charge the couple of grams of gray matter before Monday came around again.

Thats no longer possible and I can only dream about lolling the afternoon away on a hammock drinking Mojito's engrossed in a book or just watching the play of light on the water.

I'm tired, and it shows in my inability to focus on the work at hand, the lack of any creativity in developing POS material or designing a carton. Nothing.

Realization dawned only after I sat down to draw up a new business card for myself - this should be a straight forward exercise, requiring no more than perhaps 30mts of thought; but no, rien, 无, ništa, nichts, nothing!

Think I need a break?

Tagged I've been

Delilah's got me in the spot light, tagged me to come up with five words that encapsulate my thoughts on the recent events in SL...

Rules of play are

a) Five words to describe what you feel about events

b) Tag five bloggers and

c) Sit back and watch the fun (AKA 'relax')

So with no further ado

1) Saddened

2) Relieved

3) Apprehensive

4) Watchful

5) Hopeful

And now DeeCee, Paan Waati, Sachs, Shades of Jade and Gutterflower

A pleasant weekend all!

In the Buddha's footsteps

For quite sometime I've been disillusioned in my faith, primarily due to the antics of the Buddhist Priests of today - The ones who march screaming in protest, the ones who are chauffeur driven in fancy European cars, the ones who somehow seemed to have millions to invest in financial companies that offer fantastic returns, the ones who preach fire and brimstone, nationalism and intolerance,these monks have shaken my faith to the extent I no longer worship the robe as we are taught to, rather holding back till I know the monk and what he stands for.

It was therefore a pleasant experience to meet a monk who seems to walk along the path as it was laid out by the Buddha.

He is about to take Vas, isolating himself from the general community to spend the next three months in meditation. He sleeps on a mat, touches no money, is a vegetarian, and each day, walks the roads on "Pinderpathaya" - walking in search of alms for his meal.

His demeanor is serene and calm, soft spoken, contemplative. Listening to him, conversing with him an experience, and insight into a life that is pure in its purpose. At the end of this year he will move to a forest, to live in a wattle and daub hut he is building little by little, to spend the next five years in retreat.

All this strikes me as being the exception rather than the norm - I'm sure there must be more monks out there who live their life in a similar manner, sadly we meet so few of them. But there are a few more things that make this monk an exception and one to restore one's faith.

This monk was not always a monk. In another life he owned a very successful business, in the USA. Today this Caucasian man who speaks a few words of Sinhalese, ordained as a Buddhist Monk, walks barefoot, possessing nothing more than his robes, umbrella and begging bowl, conducts himself in a manner in which I suspect the majority of monks born in Sri Lanka no longer do so.

I kneel to worship him, humbled and a little sad, that in this Buddhist country, the exemplary example of what a monk should be is a man from another land, another culture who has embraced the teachings of the Buddha in such a pure way