subjects and geography

Thomas, following your logic above, the great civilisations of the Greek, Roman, or in fact, the Indian or Sumerian culture should still be in their full glory, while they are obviously not. There's more than the prosperity of today that influences the future, and what I exactly ment above is, that all the cultures have/had/will probably have their great era (just like hungarians, my own nation, had their era, thousand years ago...and where are we now??) and it seems like an empirical rule that they will all sink after some time.

 

Sorry for diverting from your question, Harish.

"Thomas, following your logic above, the great civilisations of the Greek, Roman, or in fact, the Indian or Sumerian culture should still be in their full glory, while they are obviously not."

 

Which wasn't my logic. They didn't look out for their futures, by protecting their today and failed in their tomorrow's.

I am really amazed at your remarks. it just seems to me that you are one of those Spiritual Tourists. Why instead of remarks, dont you write something in deatils which could give me a detailed outlook of your opinon.

 

And I am not really happy with you, when you said "Calcutta Vulture." You can say "Fuck off," to me, but then you know its worthless. With every one of your writings, it seems that I am talking to someone who doesnt himself know what he is talking about.

 

Anyways, I wish you best of luck. ANd hey others! I will write soon, but for a night, I would wait for some more comments to come in.

 

Peace

Cough.Cough... Harish, you post asking about a cross cultural discussion of opinions. Now it seem to be going out of orbit. You said this= " "However presentations of emotions and thoughts based on nudity has still been a very less talked subject in the Asian world.." What thoughts or emotions are we getting at revealed by nudity.<p> What thoughts or emotions could I express if I stripped naked and revealed myself in my little portfolio biography.(I can see some of us mooning for the camera:-)) Our bodies are not all that georgeous..just babies are... Would I reach something important? Would women reach more,because their bodies are more the subject of art and photography. Why is the nude the subject of the discussion. Does it provide more fodder for discussion just because it is still something 'sensational.' Why is a world that makes nudity a commodity expected to treat in a serious way. And what do you see as an example of a serious treatment of nudity. Or one worth saying more words about. I do not question your sincerity. Just thinking some clarification or specifics are needed. Namaste. And aloha, Gerry

Harish - I had no intention of attacking you. Mother Teresa exploited the condition of the poor and desperate in Calcutta and elsewhere in the world to create a monastic (nun-astic?) order and save souls, but her care for them in concrete terms - such as giving them medicine, comfortable surroundings and so on - was notably lacking. With all the money she received in donations, she could easily have built the best hospital in India in Calcutta, instead of which she made her victims lie on wooden pallets without medicine while waiting for death. She was a stellar example of "Christian love", alright. She was a poster girl for the developed world's view of its role in the third world, and did nothing of any concrete value for the people she purported to help. I haven't visited her hostels - I should have - but I have seen enough pictures of them and read enough about them to know that she had little concern for the wellbeing other than spiritual of their inmates. I have talked to ex-volunteers at the hostels who were shocked and angry at the hypocrisy of her modus operandi, which had only one purpose: to save souls, not people. She was so successful in this that she was fast-tracked for sainthood by a church which would rather see people die of aids than use prohylactics. India deserved far better than Mother Teresa.

 

BTW - I am always a tourist, of course, but I hope not a spiritual one.

Dear Gerry,

Namaste! I am really glad that you got this discussion back to the track. Nudity?s serious treatment can be seen in the sculptures seen at the Indian temples like Ajanata and Ellora in India. I quote this particular example assuming that you have quite an idea about India.

Like you, I also have my reservation on nudity which infringes on pornography. However, I am sure that serious treatment of nudity is possible, and many photographers have and are trying to achieve that. I did go through your portfolio and saw your work. You have a style in which you prefer as you said Faces.

However, I am sure just as you prefer beautiful faces, people prefer to see beautiful bodies, though not necessarily like those of fashion models. It?s a pretty tough question to answer and really, its more about a way of expression of some facts of life.

I know I have not been able to answer your question properly, but then this is the best I could do.

Take care,

Harish.

I am not sure how to reply to you, but i will still try. I dont know what India deserves, or for that matter what other countries deserve. However, about Mother, I am sure she did something atleast. Most of us critics dont even bother to do anything and are content criticising.

 

I am not targetting you Bob. I know and I sense, that you have your own greviances with the surrounding, but then She did something for those who were just negelected, and I respect her for that.

 

Why dont you an do so many like us try to do something for people whereever we are. And I am sure she never bothered about remarks.

 

Bye

Harish - I have done a few things, but I'm certainly not going to talk about them on this forum.

Back to the original question. Perhaps we may not understand the laws which apply to the various nations in question. The whole world is not as free as we would like to assume it is. There are many terrors still alive in this world, which luckily most of us will never know.

This thread (or rather, my comment from it) made its way into an Indian newspaper in an article about nude photography in India:

 

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7724_1315759,001601000003.htm

 

(scroll down, if the page initially seems blank)

 

A strange occurence, but google is a journalist's best friend and photo.net is forever. So your wit and wisdom may live on long after the argument is over!