In 2008 my sister, Geraldine Westrupp, a professional tour guide and photographer, visited me in Tiruvannamalai and took a number of photos that featured my house, my garden, my friends and neighbours, some of my compound workers, and Arunachala. She arranged these photos as a slide show with a background track of Arunachala Ashtakam.
Here are the names of some of the people who are featured. The numbers refer to the point in the video, in minutes and seconds, when they appear.
1.05 Rajamani, our compound watchman and in-house farmer.
1.36 Hans, our Dutch neighbor, who built my house and the one that is half finished in some of the photos.
2.17 Priya, the daughter of Leela and Govind. We all live on the same road about 5-6 km from Tiruvannamalai on the south side of the mountain. Leela teaches at the Marudam School, about a mile from my house, while Govind is the founder and main driving force behind the reforestation project that is based behind the children’s park, opposite the Government Arts College on the pradakshina road. The children’s park was also built by Govind.
2.21 The children’s playground.
2.27 My sister Geraldine with Priya in the children’s playground.
2.58 Priya and her younger brother Nirmal squatting by my pond.
3.31 Me, Kaveri and Hans. Kaveri is my cook.
3.43 Kaveri.
3.47 Blackie, our compound dog.
4.12 Geraldine.
4.52 The catfish in my well.
4.57 Jean-Paul (JP), a Belgian devotee, with Priya and myself by my agricultural well.
5.01 Bhagirti, a US devotee, and her two children, Namy and Jack. We are about to go swimming in my well. The pug, Julie, is theirs and now lives with them in the US.
5.20 Bhagirti, Priya and Julie.
5.37 Deepam, 2008, seen from my roof.
5.46 Going to the top of Arunachala, just after Deepam.
6.17 Me and Robert Butler, working in my house.
6.22 Robert Butler.
6.29 Aruna, who does graphic design and occasional page-making for my books. This is her apartment in Tiruvannamalai.
6.39 Me and Aruna again.
6.41 Govind, Leela, Priya, Nirmal, and Suma, Govind’s mother.
6.58 Namy, Bhagirti’s daughter.
You can see more of Geraldine’s photos of South India at www.wildphotographyholidays.com.
