The Ajanta Caves

The Ajanta Caves were a sanctuary for Buddhist monks that was forgotten, along with its stunning riches, for nearly 1,500 years. Jonathan Glancey investigates.

The Ajanta Caves, 30 spellbinding Buddhist prayer halls and monasteries carved, as if by sorcery, into a horseshoe-shaped rock face in a mountainous region of India’s Maharashtra state, 450km (280 miles) east of Mumbai, were ‘discovered’ by accident in 1819.
Unknown for more than 1,000 years except to wild animals, insects, flood waters, prodigious foliage and perhaps the local Bhil people, this magnificent work of art, architecture and contemplation, was abandoned by those who created it as long ago as AD 500. In 1983 it was designated a Unesco World Heritage Site.
John Smith, a young British cavalry officer, was on a tiger hunt when he spotted the mouth of a cave high above the Waghora (Tiger) River that could only have been man made. Scrambling up with his party, Smith entered the cave and, branding a flaming grass torch, encountered a great vaulted and colonnaded hall, its walls covered in faded paintings. Beneath a dome, a timeless praying Buddha fronted a mound-like shrine, or stupa.

The Ajanta Caves were abandoned in the 5th Century AD and weren’t discovered by the outside world until some 1,400 years later (Dinodia Photos / Alamy)

Smith carved his name on a statue of a Bodhisattva, a figure representing one of the past lives of the Buddha before he achieved Nirvana, or union with the divine spirit. Since then, thousands of people have added their names as the Ajanta caves – a gallery of the oldest and some of the finest of all Buddhist art – has gained fame and become a compelling tourist attraction.
News of Smith’s find spread quickly. In 1844, Major Robert Gill was commissioned by the Royal Asiatic Society to create reproductions on canvas of the wall paintings. This was the beginning of measures to reveal and document the prayer halls (chaityagrihas) and monasteries (viharas) that had, it seems, been hewn from solid rock in two phases, the first – five prayer halls – between the 1st  and 2nd  centuries BC and, the second – 25 monasteries, or monks’ lodgings – in the 5th Century AD.
Gill worked in truly difficult conditions. Not only was it often unbearably hot, but this was still tiger country, and the fierce Bhil people had never come to terms with invaders, whether Hindu or Moghul emperors or 19th Century British military.
Lost to time
What Gill and other visitors saw, having climbed ropes and ladders, to reach the caves – the original stone stairs had long gone – was architecture of a very high order and sculpture and paintings that took the breath away. Here, Buddhist monks had gazed on thousands of lustrous images of the lives the Buddha – Siddhartha Gautama – had lived before this 6th Century Indian prince took up teaching and inspired a way of thinking and being practiced by hundreds of millions around the world today.
Between images of the Buddha, were sensuous representations of glamorous princes and princesses, of animals, palaces, silks, jewellery, of lovemaking and life in all its mortal richness. Some of the images shocked Victorian sensibilities and are still condemned by religious zealots unable to comprehend that what these Indian artists saw was a joyous vision of natural fecundity and divine beauty.

The caves’ interiors are lined with extremely colourful paintings, which some have tried to chip way in order to move elsewhere (Ivan Vdovin / Alamy)

Along with the1st Century AD architecture, these paintings showed remarkable affinities to classical Greek art. This was not coincidence, but evidence of a Greco-Indian culture that had spread from the 4th Century BC expeditions of Alexander the Great. It stretched through Hellenistic kingdoms and trade routes from the Mediterranean to Persia, Afghanistan and India – with Ajanta along the way – to distant China and Japan.
Twenty-seven of Gill’s canvases were displayed in the Indian Court of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, south London; in 1866, 23 were destroyed by fire. Newly armed with a camera as well as brushes, Gill set to work again. Meanwhile, the Royal Cave Temple Commission founded by the Royal Asiatic Society in 1848 had led to the foundation in 1861 of the Archaeological Survey of India. Concern for the treasures of Ajanta grew, as did the number of intrepid experts and treasure hunters, some of whom did more than carve their names on statues: they scraped paintings from walls which crumbled into dust. One of the few known surviving paintings to have left Ajanta intact is in the care of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts today. It had been sold in 1924 for £1,000 at Sotheby’s in London.
The Government of Bombay commissioned new copies of the Ajanta cave paintings in 1872 from John Griffiths, principal of the Bombay School of Art. Griffiths and his students produced 300 paintings, only for a third to go up in flames at London’s Imperial Institute in 1885. In 1909, Lady Herringham, suffragette and art patron, began further copies with help from the Calcutta School of Art, and from the late 1920s the Indian art historian Ghulam Yazdani made a comprehensive photographic survey of the art of Ajanta, published in four volumes between 1930 and 1955.
That was the year the surviving Griffiths paintings were put in store by the Victoria & Albert Museum. Inaccessible and forgotten for half a century, in 2005 81 were uncovered and restored.
Searching for understanding
Since 1999, a team led by Rajdeo Singh of the Archaeological Survey of India, using new methods developed in Japan, have revealed the intense colours and sheer beauty of many of the 1st Century AD portraits along with the subtlety of their artists’ use of perspective, shading and other three-dimensional techniques including the use of bright stones, notably lapis lazuli from Afghanistan.

A replica set of caves has been constructed to accommodate the many tourists who wish to see the actual site (Robert Preston Photography / Alamy)

Their meticulous restoration raised anew questions asked many times over the past 200 years. How did the artists paint so well, with such precise use of colour, in the dark recesses of these rock-carved prayer halls and monasteries? Just how many architects, masons, sculptors and painters would have been at work between from circa AD 460-500 when so much of this glorious place, paid for by merchants and courtiers during the reign of the Vakataka dynasty emperor Harisena, was created? And, in those brief years before the fall of the Vakataka empire and its patronage of Buddhist art, could this really have been a place of quiet contemplation when it must have been one vast building site?
The many archaeological ventures over the past two centuries seeking to answer these questions, as well as to uncover, document and conserve this feast of Buddhist creativity have added immeasurably to Ajanta’s fame, along with the tramp of ever increasing tourists. In 2013, four replica caves, created by the Mumbai-based designer Rakesh Rathod, were opened at the visitor centre 4km (2.5 miles) from the rock face. The idea was to reduce numbers heading to the precious chaityagrihas and viharas.
The fake caves, however, have not been a success: evidently, visitors want the real thing even though many clearly revel in the shopping bazaar and food stalls greeting anyone making pilgrimages to Ajanta today.
And, yet the serenity of the sleeping Buddha lying in one of the caves, the summer and winter solstice sunlight illuminating statues of the praying Buddha, the spellbinding architecture and the compelling beauty of the wall paintings lift Ajanta above such worldly concerns. This might be a tourist magnet, yet thanks to generations of conservationists, Ajanta remains a gateway to Nirvana.
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Noise pollution is making us oblivious to the sound of nature, says researcher

Gift of hearing birdsong and trickling water is being lost to a process of ‘learned deafness’, says US scientist, as people screen out background noise

Yosemite national park in California where noise pollution is increasing. Photograph: Alamy

The tranquil chorus of the natural world is in danger of being lost to today’s generation as people screen out the noises that surround them, a senior US researcher warns.
Rising levels of background noise in some areas threaten to make people oblivious to the uplifting sounds of birdsong, trickling water, and trees rustling in the wind, which can often be heard even in urban centres, said Kurt Fristrup, a senior scientist at the US National Park Service.
The problem was exacerbated by people listening to iPods through their earphones instead of tuning in to the birds and other sounds of nature that can easily be drowned out by traffic, music and others noises, he said.
“This learned deafness is a real issue,” Fristrup told the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in San Jose. “We are conditioning ourselves to ignore the information coming into our ears.”
“This gift that we are born with – to reach out and hear things hundreds of metres away, all these incredible sounds – is in danger of being lost through a generational amnesia,” he said.
“There is a real danger, both of loss of auditory acuity, where we are exposed to noise for so long that we stop listening, but also a loss of listening habits, where we lose the ability to engage with the environment the way we were built to,” he added.
For the past 10 years, the US National Park Service has recorded sound levels at more than 600 sites across the US, including Yosemite in California, Yellowstone and Denali in Alaska. Not one was unaffected by some form of noise from human activity, be it over-flying aircraft, motorbikes, motorboats, or tour buses.

Yellowstone National park, Lewis Lake Photograph: Cavan Images/Cavan Images/Cavan Images/Cor

Fristrup’s team combined the sound levels recorded from national parks with similar data from urban settings to create a model of noise levels across the US. They predict that noise pollution is growing faster than the US population, and more than doubles every 30 years.

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“It’s not surprising people are putting on earphones or even noise cancelling earphones to try and create a quieter or more congenial environment,” he said.
“As you raise background sound levels it has the same effect on your hearing that fog would have on your vision. Instead of having this expansive experience of all the sounds around you, you are aware of only a small area around you,” he said. “Even in most of our cities there are birds and things to appreciate in the environment, and there can be very rich natural choruses to pay attention to. And that is being lost.”
People quickly become accustomed to changes in their environments, including rising noise levels, and over time, Fristrup fears that we will accept far worse environmental conditions than we should, and forget how much quieter the world could be. “If finding peace and quiet becomes difficult enough, many many children will grow up without the experience, and I think it’s a very real problem,” he said.
The warning came as other scientists reported beneficial health effects from listening to natural sounds. Speaking at the same meeting, Derrick Taff, a social scientist at Pennsylvania State University, described preliminary experiments which suggest that listening to recordings from national parks, of waterfalls, birdsong and wind, helped people recover from the stressful events.
In one experiment, Taff told participants who visited his lab to give an impromptu talk that would be judged by researchers standing behind a one-way mirror. Measurements of their heart rate and the stress hormone, cortisol, before and after the speech, found that people calmed down faster when they listened to nature recordings than when the same audio tracks were interspersed with sounds from road traffic, aeroplanes, and even normal conversation.
“We know that natural sounds are very important to people. They are some of the main reasons people visit protected areas. They want to hear the natural quiet, the birdsong, and the wind and water,” Taff said. “We may be losing this as people are listening to the iPods all the time, but I do believe that the public is appreciative of these sounds. My advice is to go to your protected areas and experience what you are missing.”
Why natural sounds might be calming to people is unclear, but Fristrup speculates that over millions of years of evolution, we may have come to associate the more tranquil sounds of the natural world with safety. “I suspect there’s something about these intact soundscapes that reminds our ancestral brains of a place that’s safe, where there’s no sense of a predator nearby, and that these more cluttered soundscapes are problematic for us because we know we’ve lost that surveillance capability,” he said.
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Frantic Intrigue of Abdullah's Last Hours

 

King Abdullah's death was triggered by massive internal bleeding and not by pneumonia, informed Saudi sources have told me. The collapse in his health, which happened on December 31 last year, prevented the King from carrying out a plan to remove his half brother Salman from the position of crown prince and replace him with Prince Muqrin bin Abdel Aziz. Abdullah's own son Prince Meteb would have become next in line to the throne, the sources said.
On December 31, the palace issued a statement which said the king had been admitted to hospital, but which disguised the severity of his condition. According to the state SPA news agency the king " entered today, Wednesday ... the King Abdulaziz Medical City of the National Guard in Riyadh to undergo some medical tests".
The King was rushed to hospital from the Rawdat Khraim resort near Riyadh, where he had been preparing to convene a meeting between the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. The meeting, which would have sealed the reconciliation between the two sparring states, never took place.
Had it done so, the late King would then have announced a series of decisions which he had taken and which Meteb and the head of his royal court Khalid Al-Tuwaijri had been urging him to take for some time. The decisions would have secured the transfer of power to his own son, when the crown was handed over to the grandchildren of the founding King.
Abdullah's sudden collapse triggered panic in the Tuwaijri camp which foresaw the consequences to them, and their partners who staged the military coup in Egypt of Salman coming to power. Abdullah was being ventilated and under general anesthesia, so he was unconscious.
Meteb and Tuwaijri fought to keep his condition under wraps. They tried to prevent Salman from entering the king's room. They searched for ways to keep the original plan in play, so that the king's decision could be announced under his name.
To get the plan out into the open, they passed instructions to the Egyptians to float the idea in their media. The Egytian TV anchor Yousef Al-Husseini revealed in his show that a decision would be announced, relieving Prince Salman from his position as Crown prince. Al-Husseini said that would be better for Egypt and went on to attack Salman's son Mohammed for " meddling in the business of others."
Salman fought back. His camp successfully pushed for an official statement which admitted that the King had been intubated, and thus was unconscious. On Jan 2, the royal court issued a second statement which said that Abdullah was suffering from pneumonia and " temporarily needed help to breathe through a tube". This extra detail puzzled observers at the time, but it was an official admission that the king was in no state to announce any decisions.
Tuwaijri and Meteb then tried another tack. They proposed to Salman the idea of an announcement that the king had abdicated due to illness. Salman would become king in exchange for his guarantee that Meteb would become his deputy crown prince. Salman refused to enter any discussion while the King was still alive in hospital.
This attempt continued after the death of the king and that explains why it took so long for the official news of his death to come out and the conflicting media accounts of that night. It also explains the speed with which Salman acted when he inherited the crown, announcing the removal of Tuwaijri before his half-brother had even been buried.
During that period, Tuwaijri and his ally Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, used the Egyptian media as their personal press office, and as a way to advance their intrigues. The day before the death of the king, the Egyptian Al-Nahar TV Channel broadcast as breaking news, a report item saying that "King Abdullah will abdicate within hours, Salman will be King, Muqrin will be Crown Prince and Metev will be deputy Crown Prince." This was the proposal Tuwaijri and Meteb were trying to get Salman to accept.
We know from leaked recordings of conversations that Abbas Kamil the manager of Sisi's office instructed journalists directly and that he was in contact with Tuwaijri's office. Saudi sources now point to a second man in the chain of command. He was the UAE Minister of State Sultan Al-Jabir. His job was to communicate with Abbas and TV channels and asked them to broadcast information about Egypt as desired by the UAE and Tuwaijri.
Since Salman came to power, the Tuwaijri camp has lost out. The new crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef has gone out of his way to show that the kingdom's friends are changing. Yesterday he met the Turkish interior minister. Last week he chose Doha for his first official visit.
There have also been a number of hints that the Kingdom's policy on the Muslim Brotherhood , which Abdullah declared a terrorist organization, is about to change.
Four days ago a Saudi journalist quoted Foreign minister Saud al-Faisal as saying he had "no problem" with the Brotherhood. "We do not have a problem with the Muslim Brotherhood; our problem is with a small group affiliated to this organisation," he said.
He is the world's longest serving foreign minister, so his statement last week could not have been a slip of the tongue. Then, two days ago a confidant of Salman gave an interview in which he said it was "unreasonable" to designate the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
Ahmed al-Tuwaijri (no relation) a former member of the consultative assembly said: "He denied the Interior Ministry had designated the whole Brotherhood as terrorists and explained the "context" around the group's designation as an outlawed organization.
"There is something called linguistic context," Tuwaijri told Rotana, a television channel owned by Saudi billionaire al-Waleed bin Talal.

"The kingdom couldn't say in one statement that the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization. It (the designation) came as part of a list of terrorist organizations and the Muslim Brotherhood's name was added to that. It (the designation) is a group of organizations that follow the path of violence, intent on spreading terror [the designation condemns] all those to whom this applies.To take this concept and have it generalized over this huge organization that stretches from Indonesia to Morocco and to say that it is all terrorist is unacceptable to someone of reason."

The story of the court intrigues in Abdullah's last days, and the leaked recordings which have come out since then, show something that was not immediately apparent in June 2013, when Egypt's first elected president Mohammed Morsi was overthrown by his army, after mass demonstrations against his rule.
The story shows how close the connections were between one faction in the Saudi royal court, the Egyptian military and UAE. Sisi was doing their bidding and expected to be paid handsomely for it. The tone of his remarks in the leaked recordings is one of a man who is contemptuous of his paymasters. At one point in the private discussions of his kitchen cabinet, the Gulf states are referred to as "half-states".
The long arm of the Saudi royal court holds true for the shake-up that is currently under way. Salman's new personnel will create new alliances, and put Egypt's rulers under pressure as never before.

A Reason for Everything

Nobody's day is perfect. Life is full of disappointments and pitfalls, but if you look deep enough, you'll find that many of these little problems ultimately lead you on a better path. After all, there is a plan for everything, and we're all part of it. So sit back, relax, and enjoy these peaceful thoughts.

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Today is a gift of grace.  Share something precious with someone you like.   Take 60 seconds to be nice to someone. Rejoice in the miracles of your life.   Identify one thing you're happy about.  Be glad you have family & friends.

Source: Franscine J.

The Couple That Couldn't Spend a Day Apart.

The story of this couple took my breath away. It's so rare to find such love, such a complete sharing of one's life, that not one day could you go on without the other. To even know such love exists is like food for the soul.

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How to Deal with an Emotional Extortionist A healthy relationship is based on trust, mutual respect and a feeling of safety. Both parties need to feel valued, and that the love they receive is unconditional. Sadly, not everyone finds the perfect relationship. As adults, we learn how to tell when we're egotistical, demanding and unpleasant, and most of us work on bettering ourselves. This is a necessary quality in a good relationship, be it marriage, work, family or friends. On the other hand, you probably encountered emotional extortionists – people who use passive-aggressive behavior to get whatever they want, or make sure that you don’t say and do anything they don’t like. They aren’t always aware that their behavior is hurting others, or that they’re doing it to begin with, but undoubtedly, their behavior is unacceptable. Allowing emotional extortionists to continue will drain you of your energy and self-worth, and doom you to a one-sided relationship. By paying attention and recognizing these eight warning signs, you’ll know you’re dealing with emotional extortionists and will have the tools to deal with them. 1. They turn your words against you

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The emotional extortionist can’t take responsibility for his or her behavior, especially if you call them out on it. Once you do that, they’ll find a way to turn the accusations back at you, making you feel bad or guilty for doing so. For example, if you make a legitimate complaint such as “It really bothers me that you didn’t clean the house after you said you would”, instead of apologizing, the extortionist will acknowledge his lack of action by saying “You wouldn’t have asked me to clean if you knew how much work I have. Why do you never take me into consideration?” In addition, they might offer a partial apology along the lines of “I’m sorry, but I had to work late last night. I should have told you that I’m feeling tired and stressed. I think I’m getting sick”. This kind of manipulation is worse than a lack of an apology since it makes you feel guilty for asking something in the first place. Your response should be: If you feel that the apology wasn’t sincere, that the other person is being defensive or is trying to make you feel guilty, don’t give them the satisfaction. If you do, you will empower them and encourage them to do it again. Make it clear that a real apology is unconditional and is followed by a change in behavior so the issue won’t repeat itself. 2. They say things and later deny having said them The emotional extortionist may agree to your request and even commit to doing what you asked for, only to feign ignorance in the moment of truth. Unless you have a recording of them making the promise, there’s nothing you can do to prove it, and it’s your “bad memory” versus their word. An expert extortionist will twist previous conversations to make you seem like a forgetful person with unreasonable demands. It’ll cause you to start doubting yourself and even feel guilty for something you didn’t actually do. Your response should be: If this is a reoccurring pattern, start writing down everything the other person promises. Date it and email it to yourself and the other person to remind them and yourselves that this is what was agreed upon. This action may anger the extortionist who will start doubting the trust you have in them, which will make denial more difficult next time. 3. They use guilt to control you

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The ultimate extortionist is the passive-aggressive kind, they know where your emotional Achilles tendon is and will cut at it until your surrender or feel like an obedient dog. They will say things like “You can go to the movies without me, it’s OK. I’ll stay home and finish the laundry on my own”, “If you really want to go spend time with your girlfriends this weekend, go. I just don’t understand how you can leave our kids for such a long time” or even “I know we can’t afford a new car, I never had a new car. I guess I’ll keep driving this old piece of junk”. The extortionist knows exactly how to play the part of the victim. They’ll spoon-feed you a mixture of guilt and empathy, and say anything that will help them get what they want. Your response should be: You’re not crazy. It’s the extortionist that is driving you crazy. Don’t let them manipulate you. Don’t succumb to their passive demands of sympathetic appeals. Remind them that they’re an adult, and they can deal with your decisions and actions. 4. They marginalize problems and hardships The emotional extortionist doesn’t really care about your problems, unless, of course, they can use it as a platform for emphasizing their problems. The extortionist will say things like: “You think you had it bad in traffic today? Imagine doing that every day! It stole years from my life already! Be thankful that you only had to endure it today”, or “I’m sorry to hear you had a fight with your mothers, but be thankful you have a mother. My mother passed away, and even if she were alive today, we’d fight more than you and your mother ever did”. Forget about trying and show the extortionist how they marginalized your problems, they’ll will not acknowledge it, and instead will make you feel like a selfish person. Your response should be: There is very little you can do in this state other than finding someone who’s more mature and caring. Don’t expose your weakness to people who will use them to step all over you. 5. They use emotions as a back door Instead of being forward and direct, the emotional extortionist will avoid honest communication and will instead rely on a more passive-aggressive approach. They may talk about you with others behind your back, or ask another person to talk instead of them to avoid being the “bad guy”. For example: They may ask a friend to tell you that they want to break up with you, or talk to a friend and tell them how unsatisfied they are with your relationship. The extortionist may use more passive ways to let you know they’re angry or disappointed. They’ll moan, grunt, stop responding or make a supportive statement without following with supportive actions. Your response should be: For your personal peace of mind, show the extortionist that you’ve noticed their behavior. Their response will most likely be angry or defensive, but at least they’ll know you’re on to them. If this behavior repeats itself, it may be time for counseling or even to formulate an exit strategy from the relationship. 6. They often use anger

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Emotional extortionists will try to push others into a corner by using aggressive language, indirect threats or even direct anger, especially if they notice that it makes the other side uncomfortable. They will use this method to control you and get what they want. In this case, the extortionist’s goal is to make your feel uncomfortable or even fearful so you’ll give up quickly. Your partner may have a short fuse when it comes to their spending, or they slam the doors and screams at you when you do something they don’t like. In time, the extortionist will learn that all they need to do to get you to surrender is to rile things up a little. Your response should be: As long as there’s no fear of physical violence, make it known that you’re onto them. If this causes them to be angrier and more aggressive, leave the room or even the house. If left unattended, this aggressive behavior can become more destructive. Demand that you go to counseling so that your partner will realize what they’re doing and maybe change their behavior. 7. They prey on sensitive people with low self-esteem An emotional extortionist looks for vulnerable people in order to exploit them, and will often look for a relationship that gives them control (knowingly and unknowingly). Extortionists can easily tell who’s a people-pleaser or has low self-esteem, which makes them put away their needs to accommodate others. The extortionist can seem, at first, as a caring and sensitive person, but with time, they will slowly start to take advantage of the other person’s sensitivity. Your response should be: If you know you’re a sensitive and generous person, you may be susceptible to emotional extortionists. Learn to recognize their behavior early on in the relationship, so you don’t get too invested and drained. If you’re already in a relationship with an extortionist, you may find it hard to break it off. Sensitive people often feel a combination of anger, a crisis of loyalty, guilt and a lack of confidence while in such a relationship. You may need help from a psychologist that will help you understand these emotions and will help you free yourself from your destructive predicament.   8. They suck all the energy out of a room

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The emotional extortionist can enter a room, followed by a dark and brooding cloud. They’ll want all the attention and is experienced in making everyone in the room know they’re upset. Some people may try and talk to the extortionist to make him, or her feel better. Asking questions like “Are you OK? Did anything happen?”, will serve as a trigger the extortionist was waiting for to suck all the energy and sympathy from them. A sensitive person that shares a room with an emotional extortionist will feel how their energy is being drained. Your response should be: If possible – leave the room and don’t let them siphon your energy. If you’re stuck in the room with them, imagine yourself surrounded by an impenetrable armor that shields you from the extortionist’s negativity. Remember – you can’t cheer them up. Final words Emotional extortionists need to be in control, often because they themselves have self-esteem issues. An extortionist compensates for that by displaying a façade of confidence and power. Their motives are almost always selfish, and they ignore the effect their behavior has on other people. They need to feel superior and will use different forms of manipulation to get what they want. Your emotions are the best tools to fight against emotional extortion. Look inside and ask yourself if you feel like you need to defend yourself constantly, often feel guilty or even upset. Do you find yourself making excuses or that you end up putting aside your emotions and beliefs for the sake of the other person? You may not be feeling it at the moment, but remember these warning signs and see if they apply to your relationships in the future. If you suspect that you’re in a relationship with an emotional extortionist, this is the time to do something about it. Consult with a professional who will help corroborate or alleviate your concerns, as well as help you find a way to possibly salvage the relationship. Waiting too long can mean losing yourself in the relationship.

Homage to the crystal light

Pattarawadee Saengmanee
The Sunday Nation February 8, 2015 1:00 am

A gorgeous illustrated biography of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn offers guidance and fun

AMONG THE many events being planned to commemorate Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's 60th birthday in April, the ML Pin Malakul Foundation has a head start with the launch of a spectacular biography, "Dang Dung Kaew Song Sawang Tang Sai Ngam" ("Bright Crystal Light Over the Beautiful Way").

Published by Nanmee Books, the collector's edition is the culmination of four years' work, much of that time spent gathering the details as well as a wealth of photographs that illustrate not just her life but her aptitude in 60 different fields of endeavour.

"The book promotes Her Royal Highness as a role model for young people," says Nanmee managing director Suwadee Chongsatitwatana. "She is grateful and respectful to her elders, impeccably behaved and always determined to seek out knowledge. This is her life story amended with impressions shared by her teachers and friends."

Khunying Sumonta Promboon, the Professor ML Pin Malakul Foundation's vice chair, explains that it was established in 1995 under the Princess' patronage, so the account is undeniably factual.

"We want children to take inspiration from this book and follow in Princess Sirindhorn's footsteps. They'll be able to see why people love her and have so much faith in her."

The content is transcribed from more than 50 autobiographical articles the Princess herself wrote. Chapter 1 deals with her birth and education, which commenced in 1958 with kindergarten at the Chitralada School. She was a bookworm from the start and always achieved high scores in examinations. Clever and diligent, the Princess graduated from Chulalongkorn University with a master-of-arts first class.

Chapter 2 demonstrates her remarkable abilities in various fields of study. Her ambition to ensure that every Thai youngster had adequate nutrition and educational opportunities led to sweeping developments.

In 1980 she launched the pilot project "Agriculture for School Lunch" at Border Patrol Police schools in Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi and Prachuab Kiri Khan. Students at the schools began growing their own produce and preparing their own meals. The concept was such a success that it was extended to more than 700 schools in remote areas around the country and now encompasses culture, local wisdom and care for the environment.

"Her Royal Highness has sound knowledge in the basics of ideology and philosophy," says Khunying Sumonta. "The Agriculture for School Lunch project was her first initiative, and it demonstrated that having the children plant vegetables themselves was better than waiting for other people to help them. And, to get a good education, children need to have good health."

Over the years the Princess has accumulated hundreds of postcards, odd-shaped stones and old pens and pencils, and she uses these to create art. She displays many of these collected items at the Suan Pratum Villa where she lives, along with her artwork, souvenirs from her travels abroad, traditional Thai musical instruments and various innovative objects given to her by others.

Chapter 3 of the book is a real charmer - a survey of the Princess' oft-praised sense of humour, presented in the context for her yen for acquiring fresh knowledge wherever she goes. The chapter is largely drawn from "Ram Luek Tueng Thewalai Tin Aksorn", which she wrote and published in 1986 while having to skip school because she had to accompany Their Majesties the King and Queen on a national tour.

To keep up with schooling, the Princess had the lessons tape-recorded to play back on her own machine, which she called the Taypajarn.

Never decline a chance to try something new, she enthused in an article titled "Rattanamanee Sri Silpasat" - or anything odd, either. She recalls visiting a village in Yunnan, China, and sampling the highly recommended gecko soup. It was as flavourful as chicken but smoother in texture. "Don't know if my geckos in Thailand would be delicious or not," she quips.

Chapter 4 comes from the book "Karn Jadkarn Suksa Khong Kapajao" ("My Education Management") and reveals the Princess' gift for languages. She explains that school holidays her mother the Queen Sirikit allowed her to learn English, French, Pali-Sanskrit and Latin - as well as piano, painting, math, science and more. Good teachers from several provinces were happy to fulfill her thirst for knowledge.

The Queen was even keener to ensure that her daughter grew up healthy. Every weekend the Princess had to complete a regimen of exercise and play outdoors "to blow the cobwebs away". She swims, cycles and loves playing football, volleyball and badminton. But in her book "Keela Penya Wiset" ("Sport is Wonderful Medicine"), she confesses that she didn't do so well in ballet classes. It was beneficial nevertheless, she says, because it straightened her legs and she learned how to do summersaults.

The final chapter assembles fond messages from friends and former instructors. Assistant Professor Sukunya Bumroongsook, who teaches history at Thammasat University, remembers having the Princess as her roommate when they were both students at Chulalongkorn.

"Princess Sirindhorn is very generous and friendly to everyone. She always acted like any normal person. She had a big backpack full of pens, a stapler, scissors and inhalants and was always happy to share her stuff with her friends. She participated in all the university and faculty activities."

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