Readers of my monthly newsletter may have seen this image before, because I offered it as a free wallpaper download in the December 2012 issue (you can click the link if you missed it then and fancy emblazoning your desktop with it now, and if you’re not a subscriber then you can sign up here). That month, an assignment for GSMA Mobile for Development (which you can read about in my Journal here) took me to the city of Banares (or Varanasi) in Uttar Pradesh. North India felt very different back then. It was winter, and the nights were pretty cool. My translator hardly seemed to remove the thick scarf from around his neck, possibly even while he slept! Now, as yesterday’s festival of Holi signified, Spring is very much here.
During some free time between trips out to rural locations, I strolled down to the ghats, the steps that descend to the Ganges, the river that’s so sacred to Hindus. There’s so much going on down there, as pilgrims flock from all over the country and abroad to perform rites, people come in search of healing or else to die and be cremated, children play cricket or with kites, foreign backpackers and hippies play the tabla or even the West African djembe together, and much more. I just wanted to let it all unfold around me. Then, as darkness fell, the real magic began.
Back in Bangalore, I shared some of my images with writer Meera Vijayann, the recent winner of a CNN-IBN Citizen Journalist Award (read all about that here), and together we crafted this photo essay for you: