In Service

Back at the Ellora caves . . .

(for the beginning of the story see previous posts -
 http://barbarabash.blogspot.com/2012/02/drawing-in-caves_25.html
 http://barbarabash.blogspot.com/2012/03/in-ajanta.html

I notice I'm not ready to take on the "big guys" -
the dynamic gods and enormous seated buddhas.
Instead I focus in on the attendants, the guardians,
the helpers . . .

Nandi the Bull is the mount and gatekeeper 

for the god Shiva and his consort Parvati

Later in the day

I focus on the small figures above me - 

looking down . . .

Next morning at the Shiva cave 29

I am completely surrounded by a crowd 

of children from Uttar Pradesh. 

Bright-eyed girls with colorful jewelry and hennaed hands - 

slender boys with sparkling tikka marks on their foreheads - 

all so curious and excited ! 

Many photos are taken as I draw -

At the last Jain cave (32), 

finding a quiet spot . . . 

Everything is about to change - 

(searching everywhere, then pulled into the complex process

of acquiring a phone in India).

But first - for a long moment - 

I just keep drawing - 

absorbed and happy.