Optical Inaccuracy

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“To achieve accurate knowledge of others, if such a thing were possible, we could only ever arrive at it through the slow and unsure recognition of our own initial optical inaccuracies.
However, such knowledge is not possible: for, while our vision of others is being adjusted, they, who are not made of mere brute matter, are also changing; we think we have managed to see them more clearly, but they shift; and when we believe we have them fully in focus, it is merely our older images of them that we have clarified, but which are themselves already out of date.”
(from ” In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower” by Marcel Proust – French novelist, 1871-1922)

This was shot in a street of Bhagwanpur near BHU in Varanasi (Benaras).
Those men are carpenters, they were resting under the shade of a tree next to several tables ready to be delivered.

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Shraaddha

“Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.”
(Epicurus – Greek philosopher, BC 341-270)

This picture was shot at Ahilyabai Ghat in Varanasi (Benaras) where an old man invited a Brahman to perform Shraaddha along the holy waters of the Ganges.
Shraaddha (Death Anniversary) is a Sanskrit word which literally means anything or any act that is performed with all sincerity and faith.
In the Hindu religion, it is the ritual that one performs to pay homage to one’s ancestors, especially to one’s dead parents.

“Rites with offerings known as shaddha are periodically held after a person has died to nourish the soul in the afterlife.
The rites are often performed once a year and feature a feast with a plate of food of food offered to the dead.
Hindu believe the living must feed the dead living in the World of the Fathers.
If the ancestors are properly taken care of they will reward the living with prosperity and sons.
The shaddha is thought to day back to the Aryans.
It is viewed as a meeting between the living and the dead.
The souls of the dead who are nor properly buried are thought live outside the World of Fathers as ghosts that torment their relatives until they are there. custom”
(“World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder, Facts on File Publications, New York)

Conceptually, it is a way for people to express heartfelt gratitude and thanks towards their parents and ancestors, for having helped them to be what they are and praying for their peace.
It also can be thought of as a “day of remembrance”.
It is performed for both the father and mother separately, on the days they became deceased.
It performed on the death anniversary or collectively during the Pitru Paksha or Shraaddha paksha (Fortnight of ancestors), right before Sharad Navaratri in autumn.
View On Black

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Memories & Dreams

“We all have our time machines.
Some take us back, they’re called memories.
Some take us forward, they’re called dreams.”
(Jeremy Irons – British Actor, b.1948)

And sometimes time machines are mixing memories and dreams in the old Kashi…
Nearby Alamgir Mosque the milkman was riding a bicycle in the narrow streets of this part of Varanasi (Benaras) in order to deliver a lady who was waiting in the shadow of a door.
The summer heat was already loading down the atmosphere…

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A Particular Image

“…the memory of a particular image is but regret for a particular moment..”
(from ” In Search of Lost Time” by Marcel Proust – French novelist, 1871-1922)

This picture was shot at the end of Laksa road at a few steps of Dasaswamedh Ghat in Varanasi (Benaras).
Those two ladies were walting towards the Ganges…

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© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.