As I walked through Asakusa Temple, I came across pigeons - both flesh and stone. The live ones are very tame (no-one is allowed to catch or feed them) and they walk about as they please. The stone pigeons are charming too, as you can see - though not too many people pay attention to them - the temple dominates one's consciousness completely. There must be some history associated with them, which I'm yet to find out.
As I stood there, a local person approached and waited for me to finish my picture-taking. When I was done, he smiled and pointed to the pigeons, and I nodded back. Then he said, "Where from, you sir?" I replied, "India." He looked puzzled, so I reiterated, "India, land of Buddha, Buddha - yes?". Upon which he said, "Oh, India hai-hai! Buddha hai-hai!" He smiled, bowed to me (I bowed back) and left.
As I walked through Asakusa Temple, I came across pigeons - both flesh and stone. The live ones are very tame (no-one is allowed to catch or feed them) and they walk about as they please. The stone pigeons are charming too, as you can see - though not too many people pay attention to them - the temple dominates one's consciousness completely. There must be some history associated with them, which I'm yet to find out.
As I stood there, a local person approached and waited for me to finish my picture-taking. When I was done, he smiled and pointed to the pigeons, and I nodded back. Then he said, "Where from, you sir?" I replied, "India." He looked puzzled, so I reiterated, "India, land of Buddha, Buddha - yes?". Upon which he said, "Oh, India hai-hai! Buddha hai-hai!" He smiled, bowed to me (I bowed back) and left.
Posts
2 comments:
well, technically you're from California, aren't you?
Isn't it interesting that when people ask us where we're from, we say India? It happened often when I was in Europe, and just for laughs I'd say Boston, at which they'd seem rather puzzled, and inevitably ask - I mean where are you really from, and I'd smile and say, I'm really from Boston, but I was born in India.
you're a global nomad, and there's no getting away from that!
Post a Comment