Poetry in the city

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“I prowled the streets all day, feeling very strung up and ready to pounce, determined to ‘trap’ life – to preserve life in the act of living.
Above all, I craved to seize the whole essence, in the confines of one single photograph, of some situation that was in the process of unrolling itself before my eyes.”
(Henri Cartier-Bresson – French photographe, 1908–2004)

This picture was shot in Kalkaji in the garden which is at the corner of the place where I stay whenever I am in Delhi.
By chance I saw this beautiful horse grazing the grass among the tropical plants and the benches and bringing poetry to the city…

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“Clash of the Titans”

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“We enjoy playing with each other, which I think is a pretty important part of this.
If we didn’t, we’d have given it up a long time ago.
The idea when we started was to take five people and keep ‘em together no matter what and see what we could get out of it, and we’ve pretty much stuck to that plan.”
(Tom Petty – American Rock star, Guitarist and Singer (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) b.1950)

Tom Petty facing Steve Ferrone while performing on stage.
Those legends of Music gave an outstanding concert…

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The Matriarchs

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“Man, born of woman, has found it a hard thing to forgive her for giving him birth.
The patriarchal protest against the ancient matriarch has borne strange fruit through the years.”
(Lillian Smith – American Writer, 1897-1966)

Those ladies reminded me the four Matriarchs of the Bible as they were reaching the platform at Nepali ghat in Varanasi (Benaras).
Each wrapped her saree towards the upper part of the body in order to keep it dry from the holy waters of the Ganges.
It allowed to see those petticoats with bright colours like flamenco dresses giving a Seville fairground’s touch to the riverbank for a few minutes.
Suddenly rose petals fell from the sky.
This is the kind of magic that often comes in front of my camera in the eternal city…

 

The Land of Fairy

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“The land of fairy, where nobody gets old and godly and grave, where nobody gets old and crafty and wise, where nobody gets old and bitter of tongue.”
( William Butler Yeats – Irish poet and writer. Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. 1865-1939)

She came in a hurry, stepping down the stairs at Sankatha ghat.
There were shades of happiness emanating from her whole being, I saw her as a kind of fairy who would spread dust made of fiery particules of turquoise and azure from her sari.
In her cheerful acquiescence she was giving colours and life to everything.
The magic spell of the oldest living city in the world makes me often think that it might also be the last land of fairy.

“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”(C.S. Lewis -British Scholar,1898-1963)

Golden Daydreams

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“All men dream: but not equally.
Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”
(T.E. Lawrence – British Intelligence officer best known as Lawrence of Arabia, 1888-1935)

This picture was shot in Varanasi (Benaras) near Assi ghat at dawn when the holy waters of the Ganges become liquid gold.
The Eternal city is the sanctuary of many dreams, here they become reality for those who want to unfold what is kept in their inner soul.
Lawrence of Arabia was right, “dreamers of the day are dangerous men”, I managed to make mine possible…

All That Glisters

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“All that glisters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.
Had you been as wise as bold,
Young in limbs, in judgement old
Your answer had not been inscroll’d
Fare you well, your suit is cold.”

The line comes from the secondary plot, the puzzle of Portia’s boxes (Act II – Scene VII – Prince of Morocco) in William Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice.
“All that glitters is not gold” is a well-known saying, meaning that not everything that looks precious is precious.
The popular form of the expression is a corruption of the 17th century synonym “glisters”.

Those who come to Benaras have to remember that gold in its raw form appears dull and does not glitter.
Then they will leave the Eternal city with something glittering in their heart and soul.
This picture was shot near Assi ghat at dawn when the holy waters of the Ganges become liquid gold…
(There is no editing on this)

Dreaming by Moonlight

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“A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.”
(Oscar Wilde quotes – Irish Poet and Novelist, 1854-1900)

Following the birds which belongs to some kind of ethereal dreams, this is now the Asfi Masjid (mosque) which is one the largest places of worship in India.
It is in the Bara Imambara (also called the Asafi Imambara) complex in Lucknow, the city of Nawabs, built by Asaf-ud-daulah, Nawab of Lucknow, in 1784.
Bara means big, and an imambara is a shrine built by Shia Muslims for the purpose of Azadari.

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Dreaming the Past

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“I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time.
It expands later, and thus we don’t have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.”
(Virginia Woolf – English writer, 1882-1941)

This is a view of the Chhota Imambara, also known as Hussainabad Imambara, which is located in the city of Lucknow, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Built by Muhammad Ali Shah, The third Nawab of Avadh in 1838, it was to serve as his own mausoleum.
It is also known as the Palace of Lights.
Thousands of labourers worked on the project to gain famine relief.

This picture was shot at the time of sunset, the monument was reflecting in the waters and there was a kind of magic all around the place, it was easy to feel how the past could have been beautiful in the City of Nawabs.

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A Tear Drop in the Face of Eternity

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Since many years I wanted to take a few pictures of the Taj Mahal from the other side of the Yamuna river and a few days ago I could at last do it while I was going by car from Delhi to Lucknow.
Rabindranath Tagore once said that this wonder of the world was “A tear drop in the face of eternity”, those words allow me to fly away with the birds and to open a new ethereal dream, under a mysterious moonlight…

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Dreaming With Eyes Wide Open

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This is the main entrance of the tomb of the third Mughal Emperor, Akbar the Great (1542-1605).
It is located at Sikandra, in he suburbs of Agra, on the Mathura road (NH2).
I always saw this architectural masterpiece by night as I often use this road in order to go to Varanasi from Delhi and last week I decided to stop there during daytime and to take a few pictures.
Once again it was a dream with eyes wide open…

Akbar considered all faiths to be equal, and felt that they all taught of the same divine truth.
He invited missionaries and teachers from many faiths to visit his court, and teach their beliefs.
The grandson of Babur encouraged everyone to get along, and to be tolerant of one another with the will of strengthening his kingdom by bringing peace and stability to his land.
It was he who wanted both Hindus and Muslims to be united.

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