Sunday, February 19, 2012

Photo February Day Nineteen


Temple Cat, Bangkok, 2009

Temples are as much a part of life in Thailand as eating. They are revered and enjoyed by the population. Thai Buddha's are wrapped up and dressed with the seasons, they are visited, left offerings and treated like kings - which is probably the point of being a deity.

So wandering around the temple complex of the Big Golden Bhudda, finding these guys wrapped up in plastic while renovations were done, it just felt a little out of character. The cat skerricking away, t, the drums of paint, the plastic sheeting, the lack of workman, the lacksadaisical way the buddha's are wrapped - it's hard to work out whether this is all being done out of duty or care.

Then there's the cat. What's he doing there? Who does he belong to? Who feeds him?

I discovered over the ten days I was in Thailand that surly cats are a temple feature, pissing in pot plants, swiping at visitors, other demanding a flea providing cuddle or just sizing you up, protecting the buddhas as if they were infirm people.

They're like the silent heartbeat of these magnificent places.

 

2 comments:

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi Pand,

That cat looks remarkably like my new hellcat - Liquorice. She's watching me at the moment ...



:0)

Cheers

PM

Elephant's Child said...

Temples in India often had cats of character (bad) in addition to the monkeys who spent their days eating, masturbating and piddling in corners. When I got home I was a tad surprised at how many of my photos had immortalised such a private moment.