OznAsia

Recently I spent an afternoon riding my bicycle around Mahasarakham taking photos of some of the local temples. At one I got chatting to a monk and some of the novices led me to interesting things to photograph. A man turned up selling talismans. The novices were greatly interested in these. Some brought out their own collections to compare. They had a little money and one or two were buying. Most of the talismans were Buddha images or perhaps showed a monk who was reputed to have attained great powers. I looked closely at them in case there was an anorexic Buddha among them. There wasn't. I asked the monk if they were to be had. He told me they were very rare.

One caught my eye. As far as I could see it was a yoni—wide open. The monk saw me looking at it and said 'That one very powerful.' I asked what it did. He said, 'If you have that, many women want to be in your family.'

I thought, that's the last thing I need. I wonder if there is one that attracts women to me without them wanting to be in my family. Still I was curious and I thought there might be a story in this one. So I bought it.

When I got home and put on my glasses for another look I realised that the yoni was my illusion. It was actually two birds arranged symmetrically, perhaps kissing. The space between them formed the shape of the open yoni.

I took it to a friend to see if he knew anything about it. He didn't. He could see the two birds and guessed that it must be some sort of love symbol. If he saw the yoni he did not say anything.

So far I have not attracted any more women who want to be in my family.