In pursuit of the hirsute

There's no denying that India's a pretty hairy country.

No skinny little eyebrows, not even on dolls.

Full heads of hair and well nurtured beards abound.
Ear hair's a common feature on older gentlemen in many countries...
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...and they start growing it young here.

Some go to enormous lengths to prove the virility of their hair growth.

If you have enough hair you can suppliment your income with it.

Turban Time

I am woefully ignorant about turbans and what the style of tying and choice of fabrics indicate. They're damned stylish though.

Neatly tied and a bit of a bulge at the back, I'd imagi ne this would be quite good for cycling quickly because of the aerodynamic styling.

This looks like what would happen if I tied a turban but mine would undoubtedly fall off whereas this one probably takes lots of skill to achieve a devil may care, casual look and stays on all day.

Impressive and practical, you could tuck all sorts of little things into this one.

Turban Trufax

Vietnam, return visit

I've had a bit of a blog break visiting the old "home" in Vietnam. Circumstances meant that there wasn't a heck of a lot of photography going on but there are more than enough Vietnam pictures on this blog to make up for that.

It's the first time I've left India since settling here exactly 166 days ago (acording the the man's widget on his phone). I never know how I really feel about a place until I leave and return to it. Vietnam was entirely familiar, like a comfy pair of shoes and it was great to go back to old haunts and old friends. It felt good to be back in India though but I realise that there's a long way to go before I reach the comfy shoes stage, still, at least they're no longer causing blisters.

Nurse in waiting

Nurse on duty at a basketball match, she doesn't look particularly impressed with the action.

Detail of painted metal garden swing

It's bright, colourful, dusty and messy and welcoming and a bit rough around the edges in places.
I'm really liking India.

Village People

I'm not really one for pushing my camera into peoples' faces, at least not strangers, hence I have lots of distance shots, back shots and side shots. Children are different though, I am perfectly comfortable interacting with them with a camera in between us. Here are a few kids I took pictures of in the Maharashtran countryside.

One day I'll get over my difficulty in taking direct portraits of adults, but until then there are always children and animals.

Dog with star quality

This handsome dog was found in a restaurant in the countryside which had a play area and open space attached. Clearly used to strangers he barely acknowledged anyone approaching him but patience paid off and the proffered hand was eventually granted a sniff.

Toran, Door Garland

I spent a day out in Malegaon around three hours outside Mumbai. It's my first visit to the Indian countryside, it was good to get out into fresh air and open spaces.

Swimming Against the Tide

The last in my current collection of pictures taken from Mumbai trains. I love that I can hang outside the doors and get angles like this, at least I can during the relatively quiet times when I travel. I wouldn't want to attempt it during rush hour, in fact I wouldn't want to attempt the trains during rush hour if I could possibly avoid it.

Fruit stop

Netted tubes of fruit for pulping and gulping