Bloch, Donald and Iman Bijeveld. Seduced by the Beauty of the World. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 2003.
Reason read: India
Masti (Sanscrit) meaning (loosely): “the quiet, ecstatic surrender to the beauty around us.”
A dawn full of fishing boats bring a sense of community among the early risers. People, old and young, come to bathe in the Ganges and give thanks for the purification the healing waters bring. Citizens go about their bustling and hustling business, tending to their young and elderly alike. A culture of selfcare radiates from everywhere. People practicing yoga, getting massages, weight lifting and wrestling. The industries of bakers, barbers, potters, fishermen, stone cutters, teachers, marigold flowers sellers, cotton and tanning industries abound. The entertainment of camel racing is explored. The broad Ganges brings bathers of clothes and body and mind. The wilderness of Yakama, the once capital of Sikkim, with its misty mountains filled with butterflies and singing birds is in fully glory. Nature hides in plain sight. Readers will become intimate with the gods and goddesses: Allah, Kalijai, Indra, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesh, Parvati, Hanuman, Sarasvati, Surya, Jagannathan, Buddha, Yellamma, Menakshee, and Bahuchara. Bloch describes it all with stunning clarity and Bijeveld’s photography only adds to the beauty.
Edited to add: I forgot to make this comment. The last picture in the book tells a complicated story of struggle, defiance, and surrender. Heartbreaking and stunning in its complexity.
Lines I loved, “India is a land of ceremonies, rituals, processions, of bodies combining into crowds, crowds into masses” (p 13) and “This landscape needs no witness to exist” (p 103).
Author fact: the authors made four trips in ten years to India.
Book trivia: There are 152 color photographs that grace the pages of Seduced By the Beauty…
Music: one reference to Gershwin and another to Kishori Amonkar.
BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “India: a Reader’s Itinerary” (p 125).
~*LunaSea*~ 