Di Shu, Water Calligraphy in the Park

In several spots within Xingqing Park, I spotted some people, mostly elderly gentlemen, doing a curious form of painting. At the end of a metal rod was a flexible piece of foam shaped to a point, just like a paintbrush. With a dip of the foam brush into water from a cutoff bottle, the man begins his temporary art form. Known as Di Shu, which means writing on the ground/Earth, this art form has gained in popularity since the 1990's, spreading to parks all over China.

The process seemed to be several things at once –meditation, exercise, art, literature, and conversation.  For some, it is a way to celebrate brush calligraphy in an era where most writing occurs on a keyboard. At times, the man was in his own little world. At other times, he engaged with onlookers. After a short discussion, he went back to adding more characters. After a short while, the once glistening characters would have faded, evaporating to invisibility. This reminds me of another beautiful temporary art form of south India - the kolam. Interestingly enough, I didn't see any of the Di Shu calligraphy artists photographing their writing. This further contrasts it with ink calligraphy, which prides itself with long-life. 

Would you expend energy making such impermanent art?

For more information on Di Shu water calligraphy, check out this and this article.

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Flaming Coconuts and Riverside Exercising

We also had the opportunity to walk around the riverfront and a bit of Phnom Penh's downtown. Numerous weddings were taking place on side streets. Similar to tradition in India, cut banana plants and flowers adorned the weddings, whose festivities averaged around $5,000. One could see fewer people walking and certainly less busses than in Chennai, but motorcycles remained popular, as did (more comfy-looking) rickshaws pulled by motorcycles. The riverfront became a hub of activity at nightfall. Buddhist devotees lit incense, brought flowers, and placed placed candles inside hollowed-out coconuts, chanting to music by a temple. Further onward, both young and old were doing line dancing to various music styles emanating from large speakers. For those wanting even more action, exercise equipment was available. Not exactly your average playground! After a pleasant dinner at a restaurant located in a well-kept colonial building, we went into a few of the many cute shops. ATM machines abounded, spitting out US$, the preferred currency of the country.

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Bangalore TV touts "the most important event of 2009"

On our way to the hotel, we passed by some men in a truck waving a flag and holding a large photo of a man. Our driver said it was for an actor. He pointed out that most of the businesses were closed – that seemed strange, as it wasn’t a holiday. When we arrived at the hotel, we found out that a famous local actor had suddenly died, and the whole city was in mourning. Some got out of hand and began rioting. Buses were favorite targets, many of which had their windows broken. A McDonald’s (thankfully not the one we had just visited) received similar treatment. One fan even tried to immolate himself; another attempted suicide with the rescuer dying. Businesses were told to close in honor of the actor, as well as for safety. We were advised by the receptionist not to go outside – so much for sightseeing! On TV all of the news stations showed Vishnuvardhan the actor, through live updates, events that had occurred, some clips of his movies, people going up to his glass coffin, and that evening, the funeral pyre. Stations called it “the most important event of 2009.”

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