Shobha & Mithoba.

Shobha's a farm laborer. One of many in Maharashtra (India) that live in small huts on the farms they and their spouses work on.
She keeps her parrot in a cage so small, his tail grows out crooked. It's the best she can afford. The parrot (Mithoba) imitates the calls of the farm peacocks and laughs raucously afterward. He loves peanuts and green chillies & makes straight for Shobha's modest kitchen each time he's released. She's the only one who can hold him. He keeps the neighbors entertained.

The Dhangars (shepherds).

Mid fall. Alexandria 2007.

The small apartment in Alexandria, VA, that we chose to move into in early 2006 satisfied 2 very important criteria. It got direct sunlight (important after 2 years in a North facing flat) and we could see trees from the windows (important after 2 years in a North facing flat surrounded by woods). In fact the tree outside our balcony was so close that many toys the kids from the floor below threw at it, stayed there. The only things I don't miss about that place were those kids and their chain smoking mother.
    Right. Where were we. The tree. It looked gorgeous in fall. The already warm sunlight that streamed through it in at sunset turned a richer gold by the time it hit our living room walls and flooded our endorphin deprived brains. I loved that tree.
    One fall evening, when it was too cold to go shooting on the streets, I stepped out onto the balcony and got the images above. One was back lit & the other was barely side lit.
     Out here (in Cambridge, UK) all we see is the block of flats opposite us and the windows in which students dry their underwear. And this flat faces North. Suburban America never looked so good.

Staring at windows.

The great thing about being in a crowded, busy and public city like Cambridge (I'm talking downtown here) is that you're unlikely to get arrested for staring long and hard at windows. Of course, it helps to be a woman. Other than the fact that I may have made the facilities manager at one of the colleges very nervous, I live to tell the tale.
    Windows. They make great reflections of the outside world that we tend to ignore. Unlike water, they're vertical. Go stare.

Potters of Pune.

The potter community in Pune has been around since the time of the Marathas. 'Kumbharwada' in the city of Pune is where many sell their pots but the community continues to fragment & disintegrate.
Their business lives are open to to public. Potter women relaxing on the edge of their shops, 2 feet away from a very busy road don't flinch when you make eye contact. They watched my back as I bent & squatted next to the road to capture their environment & faces.
Many of their children will be forced to enter the family business & many will leave to enter unrewarding jobs.
This was one of the most engaging communities I've ever had the pleasure to interact with.

Painting our walls red.

While passing by a butcher's shop in Sikkim, I noticed the wall where he'd hung his instruments. No fancy panels - just a slat driven into the wall with nails & painted red like the rest of his shop.
Waiting to do their job were his instruments. Their contrast with the wall & their visible sharpness was ominous. The meat hook actually had a piece of the goat he'd just cleaned still stuck on it. I couldn't let it pass.