Of The Peepul, By The Peepul, For The Peepul

The Daily Lama

All photographs copyright: NIRMAL GHOSH

These arresting pictures were sent to me by my childhood friend Nirmal Ghosh, the Bangkok correspondent of The Straits Times group of newspapers. Nirmal is a conservationist, author, photographer and film-maker; his short film about Indian elephants,`Living With Giants', recently won two international awards. You can see some of his stellar photographic work at NirmalGhosh.com. The three photographs published above were taken on his recent trip to Yangon, Myanmar.

This is the story behind the photos, in his own words ....

``I went to Shwedagon fairly early one morning in the first week of September, when some monks were on the pagoda itself, uprooting the peepul (ficus religiosa) tree saplings that had taken root on it. It struck me as almost absurd that trees could take root on something that looks so sublime. But it was the monsoon, and it is the fecund tropics. Look what happened to the stone temples of Angkor.

``In the morning, fat clouds piled high into a blinding blue sky. I went back just before sunset and walked around and around Shwedagon, clockwise, barefoot as all visitors and pilgrims must be. The sky was clear now, the light more gentle.

``The place seemed to become more magical by the minute as the sun went down and the angle and intensity of the light changed – and the moon rose. At times it seems almost other-worldly. At Shwedagon every place you turn, every corner, seems enchanted. ''