I wish you a Happy Year of the Fire Monkey, which I recently celebrated while awaiting my visa in New Delhi. The wait, imposed by the Government of India every five years, is always initially painful and frustrating. However, as I apply Shantideva's wisdom of doing what I can if there is something I can do, but not worrying, and accepting that there is nothing I can do if there isn't, and not worrying, I eventually relax and enjoy the wait. Here are some of the pix taken during my wait.

I lived very comfortably in the rooftop flat of my godfather's home...

I made my way down the stairs each morning

Ganshyam took care of us, cooking and serving

I went for walks, photographing the grand trees of Friends Colony

and watch cricket, which I still don't understand

and I sometimes went beyond the Colony's walls... to Chhatarpur temple complex where I met the statue maker

and a Kashmiri lady await her tea beside the grand Jama Masjid

I visited the Buddhist temple of some followers of B. R. Ambedkar, the author of India's constitution who converted to Buddhism in the 1950's

His followers revere him as much as they do the Buddha

And of course there was Delhi's the wildlife