Ganesha’s Pink Pants

Date: Author: Category: Flowers, Living Abroad, Sri Lanka, The Quintessential Sri Lanka, Travel, Trees, Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

Expression though the choice of vehicle colour is a fairly recent tradition.  Unlike the more conventional colours we see on our streets here in Queensland, colourful cars have been enthusiastically embraced by drivers in Sri Lanka, reflected in a myriad neon-hued blues and greens especially.  Three-wheelers however, have been a little slower to take on colours, so I was delighted when this vivid pink three-wheeler whizzed past me in Galle on my farewell visit.

Ganesha's Pink Pants 1

Amherstia nobilis – the Pride of Burma
A pink sunset from my favourite sunset site – the verandah at Sun ‘n Sea, Unawatuna, Sri Lanka
Offerings, Kataragama, Sri Lanka

Lots more gorgeous pinks over at Ailsa’s this week.

Before I finish, and apropos of pink pants, since it would have been her 101st birthday, I must also include Ma, in hers – posing in the courtyard of  the Gallery Cafe, Colombo (even though it’s been posted previously).  I’d had the pink voile blouse made before we arrived and she loved it so much insisted we shop for pink pants to match.  The ensemble became a favourite.

Ganesha's Pink Pants 2

68 thoughts on “Ganesha’s Pink Pants”

  1. splendid popping pinks Meredith! Your mother takes the cake, well it would have to be a birthday cake wouldn’t it? 😀 but I do love Ganesha’s pink pants and the offering photo too, like sweet pink icing on my morning thank you …

  2. I love it all, the pink Ganesha, the beautiful praying woman in the gorgeous sari, the sunset, the tropical flowers, and lovely Ma. It reminds me of Kerala . I haven’t been to Sri Lanka ( yet).

      • In China seems like they want to get noticed and who can blame them with over a billion people? Even their clothes are getting brighter… used to be sparkly. I guess anything to make you stand out in a crowd.
        On the East coast of Canda houses are often non-traditional colours -pinks, greens and yellows. It has been said the reason is for when the fishermen were out at sea they could see their homes. Maybe it helped them find their way back in the fog? This was before they had all the GPS and other technology. I haven’t been in years, but as far as I know the tradition continues.

        • I remember those beautiful pastel-hued houses – and for some reason around the same place fields of lupins in bloom – it was glorious! I suppose it’s the same impulse as the fishermen of Burano?

          Speaking of fashion in China, who can begrudge them after a generation of Mao blue jackets? 🙂

              • good question… many workers wear navy blue or dark blue. Some you can tell is uniform, others an unspoken uniform? Taxi drivers wear the blue blazer and some white gloves. Now after 4 years it is less likely to see the gloves, but when we arrived it was most drivers.

                  • I think maybe that is why they are gone… they would get so dirty so fast.
                    Pollution hasn’t been too bad lately. Only 1 or 2 inside days in the last month due to bad air. Shame since the one last week we had temps up to 25c! Hubby went to Beijing with our company from Canada and they had EXCELLENT air and said the views were so amamzing. When we went a year ago it was good, but not that good he said.

                    • Our winter was milder this year… In January we had days in the 20’s. The first and again the last few days of Jan. The average was about 8-10c this year! Usually they are damp and that is worse than the cold and snow sometimes. We only had snow flurries a few times and not much on the ground. Other years we have been here we had some snow on the ground.

  7. After eating, regardless of size of intake, I often think I must look a lot like Ganesha …
    The photo of your Mum is so joyful and touching … and you will have it always.

    • What I love about Ganesha’s rotund body is that it doesn’t seem to diminish his vitality – and that’s a lesson for us all, I think! Yes, it’s important to me that I have a decent shot of Ma – she didn’t have one of her mother and I saw how it saddened her – so this was taken on purpose – posed and with lots of coaching I managed a ‘natural’ shot that was so like a side of her personality she rarely let us see that I loved it!

    • Yes – isn’t he swish? Painted papier machee – I saw a huge one years and years ago and fell in love with it but my pockets weren’t deep enough to afford it so when I came across this fellow I pounced!

      The pink ensemble has become such a happy memory for me, Madhu and I love remembering her being so carefree – she was such a controlled person until the pink pants episode. I always think of it as the Sri Lanka effect – it does things to people! 🙂

    • It was so unlike her, and so heartwarming that she responded to the pink voile blouse like that – the years seemed to slip away and this girlish trait emerged I’d never seen in her before.

      • Cute 🙂

        I read somewhere that it was really popular in Japan for older people to dress in bright colours, something that would have been considered ‘undignified’ on younger adults. In effect, they were embracing a second childhood. For many of them, their first one can’t have been much fun, having suffered during the war years, so it’s kind of understandable that they want a second stab at it 😉

    • I wish I’d seen it at the time, but I was concentrating so hard on getting Ma to ‘pose naturally’, that I didn’t notice the reflection until I downloaded the pictures onto my computer when we got home.

  18. Really looks great!
    Sorry I have not been able to get at your blog recently, I’ve had health issues for several weeks now and have undergone two procedures on my back just this past week. I’m hoping things improve soon.

    • Poor dear felt the heat, though she didn’t complain. Those pink pants have been a real blessing because so many of my last memories of her are in them and they always make me smile – hard to be glum when you’re smiling 🙂

  24. A beautiful collection of pinks, Meredith, but your Ma steals the show. She’s not just wearing pink, she owns it. That’s the way to do it. 🙂

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