The coming ...

The idols came in the night before last . Durga in one truck , her family in another . A Durga not yet resplendent in her finery , her head bald, her arms and hands , bare of ornaments and weapons, raised in supplication .Her shoulders bare and naked , her figure adolescent with prepubescent breasts and hips too slim for child bearing - strangely defenceless , a girl -woman ...unprepared for any eventuality that might befall her - her multiple arms a bizarre burden...

And yet as I took the photograph from below , she seemed to rear up above me into the night , arms held aloft for all the gods in the Hindu pantheon to arm her .


Meanwhile her family huddled in a truck , like refugees, waiting
for someone to give them shelter