My eyes weren’t prepared for how magical @_now_and_when_ was. It was a privilege and an inspiration to be part of such a mosaic of creative expression. Thank you to every single person I met who found a way big or small to add their sparkle to this experience.
Photos @_jailwood@03cksho
Mural @elbows1
Lasers/glow art @simonhoward2
Lighting @tim_pawlak@moniquefatseas
Projections @darbydoolan
Wig Inn @freypatt
Did something pretty cool with @harryklein.av@_thommus_ darbydoolan for the beautiful and fun Weaselstock festival. These visuals were 3d mapped to the structure of the tipis, a unique and interesting challenge and we were stoked with the result!
Thanks for having us @themindfulmeanderers 🤙
This was my pilgrimage to Maha Khumb Mela - a 24 hour journey by bus, bike and foot to be one of over 500 million people coming to take a dip in the Ganges across the 45 days of the festival. This festival corresponds to the full revolution of Jupiter, and this year marked 12 rotations, making it a once in 144 years event.
We were fortunate enough to travel after the busiest period, with only 10-15 million people joining us that day, and camps that had been mostly deserted already. Even still, the remaining Saddhus (Hindu renunciates of material life) took us into their camps and fed us, demonstrating the generosity and openness that allows a festival of this size to even be able to take place at all.
This was an unexpected but totally special experience to be a part of, to feel the passion and hope of the people who came from all over India to gather at the sacred river Ganges. Thanks to @ghumakad_ladkii for letting me be another +1, Marcus for showing us around and Rudresh for being a legend, as well as everyone who fed us along the way.
Road tripping to Gangotri, one of the four holy pilgrimage sites in north India, considered the origin of the Ganges river. People make their pilgrimages here on foot (or like us, by car) to fill bottles or other containers with the pure, holy water. In the summer the traffic to get there could be jammed for hours and hours.
With some lovely new friends we took a lot of winding roads, ate delicious mountain maggi, sipped endless ginger tea, dipped in hot springs, piled on blankets to get us through the cold nights, cuddled the cutest and most friendly little guys and marvelled at the clearly normally bustling destination that felt deserted and frozen over. 10/10 would go again.
My first ever Indian wedding, and hopefully not my last. What a way to celebrate! We had 4 events across two days and a very long night. We saw and participated in a constant stream of beautiful rituals, prayers and traditions. The final ceremony and exchanging of vows didn’t take place until after 4am on the last night. It was importantly family members stayed for this, even if it meant some were snoring all through it.
Highlights for me included
1. Doing the Macarena to join in with all the performances given by close family and friends at the engagement.
2. Smothering the groom with a turmeric paste to symbolise purification and blessings at the Haldi.
3. Marching in the Baraat, a progression of drums, horns, fireworks, dancing and revelry towards the waiting bride.
The hospitality and generosity given to us was unbelievable, and for that (as well as being included in the first place), I’ll be forever grateful to Ankur and Anchal, as well as all their family and friends.
