On the long line of steps leading to Ganga in Varanasi, everything and everyone seems to become equal. Pilgrims, priests, mendicants, traders, common folk, tourists, rich, poor, birds, animals, gods, sacred, filthy and everything else that you can imagine shares the same space without any contempt towards the gathered mass. Everything commands the highest respect, be it the priest on the steps, the goddess in her sanctum, monkey on the balcony or the sewer-like waters of Ganga.
My first impression of Varanasi was a mild shock, seeing the insane chaos even by the standards of the chaotic country that we are. But as I learned to ignore the big picture and focused on the emotions of the city, it revealed another new world of devotion and piety that could only exist in Varanasi.
A big crowd gathers every evening at Varanasi’s Dasaswamedh Ghat to witness the colourful ritual of Ganga Aarti. Soon after the Aarti ends, a handful of visitors walk down to the river to light a lamp, put it in a leaf bowl and float it down the river.
I had long been wishing to photograph the beautiful warm lights floating down the river as it gently lights up the faces of people bending into the river. In all my earlier attempts, I was either not equipped with capable photography equipment or was trying to photograph from a wrong place. Things fell in place during my last visit a few days ago. I had the right equipment, found the best locations to get the photographs from, and luckily enough there plenty of people who were releasing these lamps into the water.
I have been bound to home (almost) for a few months now. Ever since my visit to Bhutan in September, there hasn’t been much of travel lately, except for the short drive to Coorg with Ford India two weeks ago. With the winters settled in that’s about to change. The days of travel are here.
In two days, work will be taking me to the ghats of Varanasi, where I am spending a few days photographing life on the ghats. Later, after a quick stopover at Agra, I am hoping to spend a few days again on the bank of Ganga at Rishikesh, watching the river flow out of the mountains and attending a very gratifying aarti in the evenings.
A short trip to Hampi will follow early in December and a longer tour across Rajasthan at the end of the year. It is going to be a busy, on-the-road month of December.
Late in January, I am going back to Ladakh – a place where I have made many long journeys, this time to visit the frozen Pangong Lake in the harshest of the winters that one can experience in India.
All of these are places that I have visited in the past, and are places where I always love to keep going back. I am looking forward to days of travel in the next few months.