Men of Badami
In Badami, women tend to sit together in front of the house, do some work and yap with their neighbours. Kids, restless that they are, keep going back and forth on the narrow streets, more often than not in their school uniforms. The younger men go out of the house to work. Old man have a difficulty in spending time. They gather under the ficus tree, in front of the temple, or wherever there is some space to sit. They discuss about world changing events, gaze at people walking on the street, try to strike conversation with anyone and everyone, play something and gamble or just continue to stay bored.
This evening, I spent time taking pictures of a few of them, and naturally a conversation or two followed. Somehow the first question that pops up in everyone’s mind is “where are you from?” Subsequent questions can vary, but still belong to a small predictable set. ‘What do you do?’, ‘Are you a tourist?’, ‘Can you speak Kannada?’, etc.
