the hand that strokes the elephant

[asakiyume]

I had my whole today turned yanked sideways by a possible medical emergency that turned out not to be one, for which I'm grateful, but I still needed to drive 45 minutes north in the driving rain and then 45 minutes south in the same rain to see disparately located specialists.

Fortunately I had reading material, Tasha Suri's The Jasmine Throne, which I won in a Goodreads giveaway. It's set in an alt-Indian subcontinent in ancient days, with an empire ruling over many principalities and one conquered people, and there is a mythic forest, an abandoned temple in which a hideous massacre took place and where now an imperial princess is imprisoned, spirit powers and a cursed ailment, and moving through all this, the main protagonist, a serving girl who was once a temple child at the aforementioned temple and who has a special connection with it.

The way into the temple is so steep that you have to hold onto a rope to help you scale it, and in the rain it becomes slippery, and there are chasms you can fall into. I have vivid mental images of it, and went to see if I could find good supporting images from real life--sort of like this:



(though I believe that's actually Angkor Wat in Cambodia, not anyplace on the Indian subcontinent.)

In my search, I found some great temple images from Myanmar, including this wonderful image:



(Source)

The kneeling creature looks to be an elephant, so imagine the size of the hand. And there are devotional flowers--I love it.

This image is very beautiful too, from the same place--the Shwe Inn Thein Pagodas west of Inle Lake in Myanmar.

Comments

[sovay]

I had my whole today turned yanked sideways by a possible medical emergency that turned out not to be one, for which I'm grateful, but I still needed to drive 45 minutes north in the driving rain and then 45 minutes south in the same rain to see disparately located specialists.

I am glad it was not actually an emergency.

Thank you for the second photo especially.

[asakiyume]

I'm glad too! But I came out of it stressed out. I thought about the times you've posted about spending a whole day doing that kind of stuff, and I thought about how tough you must have to be...

Re: the image--there's something simultaneously so tender and so powerful about it. Something about making a god--or in this case it's probably (a) Buddha just BIG. That size could be an aspect of divinity/enlightenment, and that grandness of scale doesn't get in the way of gentle, tactile affection.

[sovay]

and that grandness of scale doesn't get in the way of gentle, tactile affection.

Yes. That's very important.

(For the rest, *hugs*)

[minoanmiss]

Meep, I'm sorry you had a dramatic bit, but I'm glad it wasn't actually something bad. And I really want to read The Jasmine Throne based on your description.

[asakiyume]

Oh I hope you will have a chance to read it when it comes out--I'm enjoying it! (And thank you for the good health wishes--I appreciate them)

[amaebi]

Thumbs held for your health.

[asakiyume]

Appreciated! I guess I'm fine? I thought--and an ophthalmologist thought--I had a retinal tear, but the retinal specialist looked at the spot the ophthalmologist indicated and didn't think so, and he can't laser-fix something he doesn't see, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I mean, I'm definitely happy not to have a retinal tear! He said to come back early next week and he'll look again.

[amaebi]

I'm glad he'll look again, sorry you have to drive for it.

[asakiyume]

Now that I've done it once, it'll be easier--the hard thing was the drive from the ophthalmologist to the retinal specialist on the interstate in the rain with dilated pupils! I can take back roads from home (very grateful for that!)

[cmcmck]

In India one of the Hindu avatars of God, Ganesh, is elephant headed and happens to be my favourite (as he is with many of my Indian friends).

But you knew that! :o)

[asakiyume]

I did indeed know that! Or at least the first part. And I'm not surprised that you'd appreciate such a charismatic deity.

[osprey_archer]

Glad the medical emergency turned out not to be a medical emergency! And the book sounds like the perfect absorbing distraction for the situation.

[asakiyume]

The book is a great distraction. I like the main character a lot, and although the various roles and positions in a story of a subjugated state are pretty well known to me, this *setting* is fresh for me, and the details and particulars are absorbing.

[wayfaringwordhack]

beautiful places!

[asakiyume]

Yes! So grateful to the internet for letting me visit places I can't actually get to ... I mean I guess books also let us do this, but the internet makes the travel so quick.

[sartorias]

Great pix.'

VERY glad the emergency turned out not to be one!!!!!

[asakiyume]

Thank you--and yes, me too, absolutely!

[http://lotuslandfineart.com/velvetrope/]

I'm relieved your supposed medical emergency turned out not to be!

[asakiyume]

I am too, very much! Thank you ♥

[rimturse]

Today has been an odd coincidence day. I see a flamingo meme on Facebook, go downstairs right afterwards and my husband is watching flamingos on TV. Yesterday evening, I googled images of Angkor Wat to use for an art project, and this evening I'm reading your post. :)

[asakiyume]

Isn't it strange when that happens? Like when you scroll through your friends feed and two people in a row, in different places and maybe not even known to each other, post about the same thing.

[pjthompson]

I'm glad that the emergency turned out not to be one.

[asakiyume]

Thank you 🙂