i have a new image up in Referential, the magazine that coss-connects images and texts. in January, i revisited Elizabeth Akin Stelling's referential poem "Check Please", which is set in a restaurant. it made me return to a photo i snapped in an Indian restaurant in Vienna - "Elephant in the room".
now the 2 pieces are complimenting each other online. and i hadn't realized it, but even the titles click: Check Please, Elephant in the Room
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above, a collage of the elephant-image, and the one i took an hour later. i can't remember the name of the Indian restaurant, but it is in a side street of Mariahilfstrasse. Karyn and i visited it on our first evening of our Vienna-meet-up. from there, we went to Stephansplatz, which also inspired a photo, and even a poem, which then appeared in Istanbul Literary Review. later, both became part of a longer essay for the language/place carnival: Vienna, Bratislava, Istanbul (scroll to bottom). the trip to Vienna held so many moments. i keep coming back to it.
the beauty of journeys: all the surprise moments and connections they spark.
and a note on the elephant, which itself is a reference to the Hindu elephant god Ganesha - the God of Obstacles. when travelling in India, Ganesha will be a travel companion that greets you in many forms and places. from mythology, he hands obstacles to you, but also makes sure you have the tools to overcome them. and of course, if you try to skip or bystep them, he will hand you the same obstacle again, only in another shape.
PS: and now i just saw that this is post #1000. how fitting, that it's a post on travelling, references & ganesha, of all themes.
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