Their job for the day: to carry baskets of shit on their heads to prepare the terraced soil for planting potatoes.  I try to imagine doing their job with even one tenth the joy – and cannot.  How humbling to be in the presence of their smiles as they heave the next basket onto their heads and walk it down the row.  My hardest task for work — trivial in comparison.

Walking a dirt pathway at a elephant camp in Tamil Nadu, India – this scene turns my head.  Washed in the warm evening light a moment in time that shows better than any essay how working elephants are often treated as family. Mom and daughter washing the days laundry, dad washing the elephant.  Its such a tender moment I can’t help but smile every time I see the image.

I don’t care how poor a man is; if he has family, he’s rich. – Dan Wilcox

Walking near the temple a splash of color catches my eye.  A devotee sits contemplating a flower.
I am reminded of  the words of Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism:
If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.

This man washes clothes eight to twelve hours a day, every day, standing in soapy water
until his skin begins to dissolve.  Yet every piece of clothing he washes
he inspects with pride in his work.  Ghandi once said satisfaction lies in the
effort…full effort is full victory.  Every piece of clothing he washed is his full victory.

The eye of a human being is a microscope, which makes the world seem bigger than it really is.
-Kahlil Gibran

Reflection of a pilgrim walking to the temple. The physical seeking the spiritual.  Empty-handed I entered the world, barefoot I leave it.  My coming, my going – Two simple happenings that got entangled.

-Kozan Ichikyo, Japanese Zen Monk

Shoes made from wood and upturned nails.  The pilgrim sleeps after circling the temple while wearing them.  Just when I think I have begun to understand a place, I come across a pair of nail shoes.

This pilgrim just walked barefoot a distance of 300 miles in the blistering heat of the plains of Tamil Nadu, yet his eyes were as fresh as a child’s.

Sari’s drying on tea bushes.

I rode by this beautiful scene every day on my Royal Enfield motorcycle in Ooty, India.

Slow the bike down, slow my self down, camera out, click.

Work is love made visible. -Kahlil Gibran

Every 12 days this group of women pick every fresh tea leaf on the estate.  Rain or shine, hot or cold.  Their colorful sari’s dotting the plantation in a visual manifestation of Kahlil Gibran’s words.