Friday, November 06, 2009

Bold Benares

I shot this photo of a water taxi on the Ganges during the winter I spent in Benares (also called Varanasi) doing research for my novel Sister India.

I'm starting a series of photos here that I took during that trip, one of the bolder adventures of my life. The two-bedroom guest flat where I stayed was maybe a third of a kilometer into the city from the riverbank, where people bathed away their sins at the moment of sunrise.

This city is often considered the holiest for Hindus; to die here means being released from the cycle of rebirth.






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4 comments:

Mamie said...

I'm looking forward to your photos. I really like the composition of this one - the boat afloat in the vastness of the water and the city.

Peggy Payne said...

Since I'm wowed by your blog photography, Mamie, that pleases me greatly.

I used to actually sell photographs with my travel stories. But was always more interested in the watching and writing.

Anonymous said...

wld that my sins were washed away when i splashed a bit of Ganga on me, but i've never gotten that awareness. wrong trance--mab ya gotta be Hindu ? anyway, i've pretty much let-go of my sins ,tho i'm not at all sure where that leaves me--i still do wrong things too much , tho i'm now way-better @ self-forgivness. Still do i have discomfort re certain repeative one's , minor as they may be in the great scheme of things. aiki

Peggy Payne said...

Sounds like you're in a pretty good place, Aiki. You might like Kushner's book How Good Do We Have to Be. It frames sins and mistakes as part of the human package.