march forth

one week from today would be my brother Sam's 24th birthday. March Fourth. And I can only think I must march forth. Dual meanings can be found all over the lands, but I think this obvious one is essential. walk onwards, walk forward...

i think in the year and a half since Sammy died, one thing more than anything has stood out for me- life is precious and delicate. it is fragile and the ability to control the course our journey takes is impossible. the moment is what we got, and the next is unpredictable. memories of laughter echo off rocks and walls, get caught in big stormy clouds and cleanse us with the roar of thunder and moments of lightning illuminated...

the only automatic car in italia with euro club beats carrying us on to pick up davey, then 2pac soothing our souls in fog laden italian mornings at a cautious 60 kilometres an hour. blinkers a go. a hug and a smile in milan, your army bag full of clothes on your back, the last time i saw you healthy, smiling and laughing. to african skies...

los incan rythyms blasting through a brown vista, early 90s, heading east with momma in shotgun, her brilliant teeth, golden smile of love and silver curls glowing in late summer light searching for fresh springs on an island surrounded by salt water. poppa manning the wheel. we were three in the middle, together like indians in public transport, but not. three brothers forever riding together, hips touching and sometimes even fighting.

filling up bowls of water dumping them off a balcony eight stories high. surprising those below with a summer shower. felipe on the insta com, boys... random nights at grandmothers, with a bell for comfort or uncomfort for that matter... long island living, veggie picking, lobster baking, atlantic lounging.... the first time together, on a hill around a fire in the land of 10,000 lakes. drinking sweet aged hops together with friends and fams, under a clear dark sky. smiling together, living together, breathing together, loving together...

sammy

you are the man.

love and health to all...

river of life

the ganga river hits the plains of India in the holy city of Haridwar, about an hour and a half from Dehradun. i travelled there by bus on saturday to attend a friend's marriage. arriving early, i meandered along the banks of the ganga- breathing and listening, people watching while birds sang. throngs of people sat on the banks for a sunset ceremony and i broke from the crowds and headed towards the wedding ceremony.

love and health to all...

head and shoulders above the rest...

Two Recipes For The World-- 1) Yogurt 2) Bounce Your Dandruff

One: How to Make Yogurt/Curd/Dahai

Heat one litre or so (a nalgene) so that it is just warm. Take one tablespoon of yogurt and put in vessel. Stir yogurt and stop. Pour just warm milk into vessel. Cover and let set 4 hours on counter or in cupboard but not in fridge. After curd is set and firm, put in fridge.

Two: How To Get Rid of Dandruff

Work a mixture of 1/4 cup of Mustard Seed Oil or Coconut Oil and half a lemon into hair and scalp. Massage head for 15 minutes. Let sit for 1 hour, then bathe/shampoo/conditioner. Next day work yogurt into hair and scalp. Let sit for one hour, then bathe without shampoo. Next day, work more oil and lemon into hair and scalp. Massage and let sit one hour. Then bathe shampoo/conditioner. Next day, work a mixture of yogurt and one egg into hair. Let sit one hour then bathe without shampoo. Continue this cycle or variation of it till dandruff is gone. Then to your liking, continue with this (once a week/once every two weeks) either yogurt or oil or alternate both, depending on if dandruff returns.

I arrived in India with gnarly winter dry scalp/dandruff, I've rocked this and my dandruff is gone, scalp is loves...

questions?

this is my friend Munesh (left) and Puran Joshi (right), in a dusty rural area on an old school three wheeler, a big dandruff producing region...

love and health to all...

tag in a maze...

i stay on a short bed in the middle of a room in a small little house in the basti of jharkhand. i barely fit on the bed. for the past few days workers have begun building a house in the plot next to the home i stay in. the day before yesterday, some kids were playing tag in the dirt maze, outlining the layout of the new home...

love and health to all...

forest officially

i accompanied manto bhai to the forest district area Sahransara, to meet one of the many Van Gujjar communities that lives in and around Rajaji National Park. it was my first venture into the community to say hello, show my face and slowly meet some families, students and community leaders, a vital piece of the puzzle before jumping in with all these cameras...

the gathering was actually organized byt the govt, which had arranged an afternoon of free medical care, a lil' animal husbandry education and an open forum for hopes and dreams and fears. i walked around the little hump of a hill in the middle of a dry river bed while the programme was happening, so that no one felt uncomfortable with me being there and the community and govt could feel free to express themselves with no worries. my camera for most of the day stayed in my bag.

eating an orange in the riverbed, a forest official came and invited me into a home for chai. i was reluctant, hoping that i wouldn't be taken to the programme, but found myself in a van gujjar home, drinking chai and listening to both the forest officials thoughts on it all and then sharing a beedi with the young van gujjar, talking about migration, the lifespan of buffaloes and walking distances...

sunil kumar, forest offical and the van gujjar whose name escapes me now...

the dusty river bed...

love and health to all...

re arranged

on my first full day in the city of dehradun uttarakhand, i made my way to a wedding of a friend's cousin. it was a big day but also, a small gathering on an indian scale, as there must have been only about 100 people at most, gathered to dance bhangra, and even reggaeton in the celebration of 2 lives brought together in an arranged marriage. of course, i didn't know anyone and found myself seated and then grabbed to dance and then seated again and all of a sudden in the midst of the dance floor, repeatedly without my blessings.

all in all people were happy, although the bride looked a smidgen uncomfortable at certain times when she was sitting in front of the crowd. above are some moments- the videographers directing the newlyweds, the bride and groom together for the first time and a young mover and shaker...

love and health to all...

dusty delhi

I arrived in New Delhi yesterday and spent my first day here resting up, and lagging, trying to catch up with my jet. Did a lot of reading and saw my dear friend Asif, who is a lawyer here in Delhi and is getting married in March, to a young lady he's never met before... I also found myself turning page after page of Barack Obama's autobiography, he wrote after law school- Dreams from my Father. Which is really a beautiful and honest book.

Today, I went outside into dusty delhi with my camera for the first time. A short little walk, full of smiling Indian boys and men, a young beggar who told me he was two years old, no way I replied, you gotta be at least six. Bicyclers cruising dangerous roads, dogs parking where they shouldn't, young guys working, trying and doing a good job of pounding dust out of freshly sewed mattresses and of course, a goat scuffing up someone's poor car.

It's a friendly reminder that this world continues to be diverse in a thousand and one ways.

love and health to all...

sochet it to 'em...

As I was preparing for my journey this week, a dear friend of mine passed away suddenly on Monday. Neighbors from the get go, my man Marvin was a solid friend to me, my family and my brothers from late 1980 on...

Marv bought my brother Sam a Playboy magazine as a birthday present when he was 12 yrs old or so. It was a present much loved for many years. Marv introduced me to the carrot dog at Mike's Papaya, back circa 1997. A bun with a whole carrot in it, kraut and mustard. My pops spent a summer scaring pigeons off our balcony with a string attached to a dancing Rabbi that Marv gave us as a present. That Rabbi brought heaps of laughter to our home, but not to the pigeons. Truth be told, my momma and my brother are showing Marv the ropes, Bienvenidos... Namaste... How about this place!

Tomorrow I am going to India to work on a couple documentary photography projects I've had implanted up in the back of my mind for some time. Since I was a young little Benny, my friend Marvin taught and reinforced that it's all good to just do what feels right, no matter what peoples round the world may think. And truth is, a thought like that is crazy important to take in and simmer on...

With that the boat glides on, with a smidgen of help from the tides, the moon, the oxygen that sustains all of us fams, sweet fresh mint growing in the dirt.

Keep an eye on the Lenz, as thoughts of life pass by on the shores of the world, and with sandals on the dust will certainly rest between my toes.

love and health to all...