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Thursday, June 22, 2006,3:24 PM
GOING AWAY
Hi my dear friends
Going again, leaving in another couple of hours, silent Valley this time, I'll be back on 29th and reply to all the mail and comments. I think of you all the time
Love you all
Daylight Again
 
posted by rauf
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19 Comments:


  • 11:04 PM, Blogger ari4u

    silent valley? where is it? sounds exotic and mystical. Have fun :-)

     
  • 5:51 AM, Blogger Claudia

    I'm looking forward to your photos. Hope you find what you're looking for.

     
  • 11:18 AM, Anonymous Anonymous

    Silent Valley!! Awesome!
    I need a magic carpet right now!


    Have a coool trip Rauf.:)

     
  • 1:09 PM, Blogger Kate

    I left a message on your other blog; I am enjoying your photos. Thanks for sharing!

     
  • 5:37 PM, Blogger Patty

    wishing you a safe journey, Rauf! can't wait to see your photos once I return in 2 weeks!

     
  • 1:02 PM, Blogger Dusty

    It looks as if I found your site on the right day. Welcome back. You are so talented and in an area brimming with color.

    I do love the old crock. He was majestic.

    The Rajasthan pictures are straight out of a Jelaluddian Rumi poem.

     
  • 12:41 AM, Blogger Kathy Trejo

    Hi rauf

    looking forward to hearing about your adventures.

    kathy (from bamboo shade)

     
  • 10:44 PM, Blogger rauf

    Aamir, Silent Valley is in Kerala, kicked up some contovery during Indira Gandhi's time as the local govt. wanted to construct a dam on Bhavani river as a result the entire 50 million old thick forest would have been destroyed. luckily the environmentalists won and the idea of the dam was shelved.I went there abt 25 years ago when the issue was alive and I was not allowed into the forest thinking I was a journalist. But I managed to sneak inside and stayed there for 2 days. this time it was a piece of cake.

     
  • 10:47 PM, Blogger rauf

    Thanks Claudia, I'll be posting pictures today. Still very tired, getting back home makes me lazy. Watched the Monty Python's football match on your page, hillarious it was. loved Socrates most.

     
  • 10:54 PM, Blogger rauf

    please come for Onam e2dees. Magic carpet has no seat belts, please be careful. I'll introduce you to a vaithiyar, Nancy's uncle who practices tribal medicines. I am going to have a blog for him soon. the area around silent valley is just beautiful, attended a church service, unique experience, no faith just like that. The place is Mundampara, very remote tribal area near Attapady. You'll love it. Had kattan kaapi, I was shivering with cold. Hot kattan kaapee in shack was a life saver.

     
  • 12:28 AM, Blogger rauf

    Thank you Kate, I enjoyed seeing your pictures too. You seem to have such a lot of material to write. Thank you once again for your visit.

     
  • 12:38 AM, Blogger ari4u

    Silent Valley sounds very exotic the way you described it.

     
  • 3:36 AM, Blogger rauf

    Frida,
    I feel extremely pleasant knowing you. First let me apologise for my late response as I was away and came back yesterday.

    People generally claim using no medium to feel one with God or the universe, they have different names for it. For me there is no difference between material and spiritual happiness. Noticing my obsession in my childhood, my mother used to call me mad like Rumi. Even Jalaluddin needed a medium. He used his love for Shamshuddin as a tool which generated the idea of connecting with God. It was an obsession, just an idea, I use my camera, its just a tool I am not obsessed with the tool but what it can generate through my mind. It is material. I try to connect myself with nature, through my portraits, landscapes. I am afraid to disappoint you by saying that I have no faith as our existence has no meaning. We all make an attempt to know the unknown
    we have given different names to it. fight over it. Knowing the unknown has caused bloodshed, each one claiming what he knows is right. I have given it up. I don't want to know, What I see is nature, what I feel is nature, let me be one with it through a medium of love, of a material. Love is the platform on which I stand on Frida.

     
  • 3:40 AM, Blogger rauf

    Dear Patty, Hope you have a wonderful time, I am eager to see your pictures too.
    love and huggs

     
  • 3:53 AM, Blogger rauf

    Dear Kathy
    I am so relieved to see you back here, I was worried, wrote a mail to you asked Imemine but got nowhere. Like an invasion of a country I found some one else occupying your blog. I am glad you have a new page full of fun stuff.
    Great to have you back Kathy
    Hope lovely Marcey is doing fine.
    Lots of love Kathy.

     
  • 2:02 AM, Anonymous Anonymous

    hi Rauf! Would love to pack my bags and leave tomorrow..but cant.First of all classes start next month and second,no money.
    Planning to be there this Dec. No chance of finding any magic carpet.So its going to be the regular way with seat belts,bad food,etc all for a nice chunk of my hard saved money.Hope to see some spectacular sunrise though..now thats worth the money alright.
    Anyways... I have been to attapady. Went there to vist "Sarang". Its an alternate tribal school run buy a couple...Sarang Gopalakrishnan and his wife Vijayalakshmi(not sure about the wife's name).Both were government school teachers who resigned their jobs and set up home and school on top of a hill in attapady.It's a lovely trek to their place.I went there during monsoon.Bought special attapady slippers to trek up the hill:). Also, I think I have been to this place you are refering to. Mundanpara and the church.Not sure but sounds very familiar.

     
  • 10:07 AM, Blogger rauf

    No e2dees. your future is the first priority. Kerala is not running away. I am in a hurry because things are changing fast.
    You always give me such vital information e2dees, Now I am really interested in Sarang I'll be going to Attapady again in a couple of weeks, want to see the tribals there. Have to do some work for my friend who is going some good work in tribal herbal medicine.. I'll write to you about it e2dees.

     
  • 7:40 AM, Anonymous Anonymous

    Dear friends,
    I stumbled on these mentions about Sarang while searching for something. Glad to know that there are people who are interested in Sarang. Did you know that Sarang got a website recently? Check it out at www.saranghills.org (Some pages need fine tuning)
    Love and regards
    Gautham Sarang

     
  • 1:32 AM, Anonymous Anonymous