Human Droppings
Humans Impact Nature
We humans impact nature. There is no doubt about that. More often than not, the impact is harmful. But, let me go back to my childhood years.
Those days I worshipped Krishna, and I would go to a lady’s home down the road and help her dress up Krishna every day. Then, I went to boarding school, and then to college. In college, I discovered the world of black magic, the dark arts, and the occult. This took me away from religion as practised today.
This is also the time when I discovered that most ancient religions were animistic - read pagan - in nature. When I began my corporate career, I continued to read about religion. About this time, I was drawn to Shiva and considered him to be the most fascinating God we have, and followed him.
I follow him, the Sikh religion (because of its emphasis on service), and animism. There is no conflict between my innate faith in Rudra-Shiva and animism. Rudra-Shiva is far, far more complex than the simple term ‘destroyer’ that people ascribed to him. If I may be irreverent, he is a cool dude who sits in his home on Mount Kailash, in a state of blissful meditation. He is one with nature, as is Pan, the Greek God.
I think it is no wonder that I have a tattoo of a Trishul, as well as a symbol of Pan!
But, I get ahead of myself. Let me talk a bit about this picture, which is in my gallery called “Human Droppings”. I call it “Human Droppings”, because it has images of stuff left behind by humans, in nature. It’s not all bad. Some images, like Stonehenge, are good!
At The Pong Dam
During my trip to Kangra, I travelled to the Pong Dam in the Indian Hill State of Himachal Pradesh. Our authorities, in their wisdom, renamed the Pong Dam after some historical figure from India’s hoary past I really don’t know why our Indian leaders are so jingoistic and brainless.
It was a wintry day, with temperatures below zero degree Celsius. Sadly, mist and fog shrouded the lake, and patters of rain came down in a drizzle. There was not much to see, except the fog, some distant anglers and the waters. Yet, it was strangely beautiful, cold and mysterious..
When I walked around the grassy patch, I noticed this set of cement steps made, presumably, for a building that was subsequently abandoned. It seemed quite like a stairway to Hell, which is what I call this image.
I did the edit in a manner to reflect a gloomy, surreal mood. It is almost hellish; I think.
But then, we humans do have an impact that can seem like hell.
