Rummaged Souls

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“Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed.”
(From “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy)

Those men are ship carpenters working all day along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).

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Manish’s Birthday Cake

 

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“All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much.”
(George Harrison – English musician, singer, songwriter and lead guitarist of the Beatles, 1943–2001)

This is one more portrait of Manish, my brother, in order to celebrate his birthday.
It was shot along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).

(This year will be smooth and happy like a birthday cake…जन्मदिन मुबारक हो…Janmadina mubarak ho..!!!)

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Crystal Ships of Benaras

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“Before you slip into unconsciousness
I’d like to have another kiss
Another flashing chance at bliss
Another kiss, another kiss

Oh tell me where your freedom lies
The streets are fields that never die
Deliver me from reasons why
You’d rather cry, I’d rather fly

The days are bright and filled with pain
Enclose me in your gentle rain
The time you ran was too insane
We’ll meet again, we’ll meet again

The crystal ship is being filled
A thousand girls, a thousand thrills
A million ways to spend your time
When we get back, I’ll drop a line”
(“Crystal ship” by The Doors)

This is a view of Bhonsala ghat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) where the words of Jim Morrison echo through the ages…

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Light Of Lights

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“The sun does not shine there, nor do the moon and the stars, nor do lightnings shine and much less fire.
All the lights of the world cannot be compared even to a ray of the inner light of the Self.
Merge yourself in this light of lights and enjoy the supreme Deepavali.”
(from the writings of Swami Sivananda Saraswati – Hindu spiritual teacher, 1887–1963)

I WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY DIWALI AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR WITH LOVE, PEACE AND PROSPERITY…

This is a picture of Jain ghat in Varanasi (Benaras) shot during Dev Diwali.

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Vanishing Moments

 

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“We photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth can make them come back again.
We cannot develop and print a memory. “
(Henri Cartier-Bresson – French photographe, 1908–2004)

In the end of summer afternoons people enjoy taking deeps in the Ganges in order to forget the heat.
Those young men were swimming in front of Manikarnika Ghat, the burning ghat before Alamgir Mosque which stands in the distance.

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Carrying You with my Blood

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“Extinguish my sight, and I can still see you;
plug up my ears, and I can still hear;
even without feet I can walk toward you,
and without mouth I can still implore.
Break off my arms, and I will hold you
with my heart as if it were a hand;
strangle my heart, and my brain will still throb;
and should you set fire to my brain,
I still can carry you with my blood.”
(From “The Book of Hours” by Rainer Maria Rilke)

This is a view of the Holy Ganges shot at dusk from Jatar ghat in Varanasi (Benaras).
Those bamboo sticks carry baskets with candles lifted up in order to tell the spirits to welcome the people who recently departed from life…

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Into the Answer

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“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue.
Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. 
And the point is, to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will find them gradually, without noticing it, and live along some distant day into the answer. 
(From ” Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke)

This is a view of Scindia ghat shot from Anand’s boat at dusk along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).
The Eternal city allows anyone to to live one’s way into the answer…

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Dreaming All The Time

“If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less, but to dream more, to dream all the time.”
(from “Remembrance of Things Past” by Marcel Proust – French novelist, 1871-1922)

This is a view of Panchganga Ghat with Alamgir Mosque on the top which was built by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb on the site of the Vishnu Temple and it is a blend of Hindu and Mughal styles of architecture.
The lower part of this mosque still has a Hindu temple.
Opening a book with drawings of Varanasi (Benaras) by James Princep allows to see that many buildings were kept at that time in a worst condition than nowadays.
It is really surprising because anyone can easily believe that many palaces and temples are today in decay and those sketches prove the opposite, in fact as time went by, people preserved and even restored many historic buildings.
It changes the way to appreciate the oldest living city in the world…

Later, photographers of the XIX° and early XX° century made stunning shots of the ghats.
There is an old picture of this ghat made around 1910 which is a key to a dream,
www.oldindianphotos.in/2012/03/alamgir-mosque-and-ghat-in…
From the same place this was shot with the same angle and, in order to “dream more”, the two minars which fell down during an earthquake are back in the frame…
The Eternal city offers endless dreams for anyone “In Search of Lost Time”…

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Receiving From Life

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“The world is a mirror.
We receive from life not what we want but who we are.
There are reasons to our lives and painful times never last.
Trust that the winter of your sorrow will yield to the summer of your joy, just as the brilliant rays of the morning always follow the darkest part of the night”.
(from “Daily Inspiration” by Robin Sharma)

This morning at sunrise a priest was performing Ganga Aarti at Dasaswarmeth ghat along the holy waters of the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).

The Beginning

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“Getting up early is a gift you give to yourself.
Few discipline have the power to transform your life as does the habit of early rising.
There is something very special about the first few hours of the morning.
Time seems to slow down and a deep sense of peace fills the air.
Joining the Five o’Clock Club will allow you to start controlling your day rather than letting your day control you.
Winning the “Battle of the Bed” and putting “mind over mattress” by rising early will provide you with at least one quiet hour for yourself during the most crucial part of your day: the beginning.
If spent wisely, the rest of your day will unfold in a wonderful way”.
(From “Daily Inspiration” by Robin Sharma)

At Dasaswarneth ghat a priest is performing Ganga Aarti every morning along the holy waters of the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).
Since many years I was trying to take those pictures but always failed to come in time at this ghat, this season I managed to join the Five o’Clock Club…;)