One of my all-time favorite places to visit is Varanasi (formerly Benares), the "holiest of the ancient Indian holy cities" that sits on the banks of the Ganges River. I was there in 2004, and I took this shot just after sunrise (I'm in a small boat looking back at the ghats).
Many, many Hindu pilgrims come here every year to purify themselves in the river. Incense fills the air and so do the sounds of chanting and celebration. Off to either side (out of view), four open-air cremations were taking place. Flowers float on the rivers. Incredible scene. The whole spectrum of life: birth (sunrise), renewal, and death.
We went back to the river later that evening. What a sight! Music, singing, chanting, swirling lights. Flowing colorful robes. Happiness. Frenzy. Delight. A feast for the senses!
Amazing. Just amazing.
Posted by: Jeff Mordan | 06 December 2007 at 12:37 PM
Roger
It all depends on your perspective, methinks, looking at that experience as you did. One could see the joy and color or the poverty and contamination.
Thanks for this jewel fo a site... In your ideas, I always find ways to accomplish more with others
Kare, MovingFromMetoWe.com
Opportunity is often inconvenient.
Remember the many
compartments of the heart,
the seed of what is
possible. So much of who
we are is defined by
the places we hold for each
other. For it is not our ingenuity
that sets us apart, but our
capacity for love, the
possibility our way will
be lit by grace. Our hearts
prisms, chiseling out the
colors of pure light.
Posted by: Kare Anderson | 06 December 2007 at 04:50 PM
Jeff: Yes, it was amazing.
Kare: "Opportunity is often inconvenient." How true!
Posted by: Roger von Oech | 06 December 2007 at 08:43 PM
Roger: I see no Ball O' Whacks here. What's happening?
My father was a great fan of Benares, too, having shot a film there many years ago back in his documentary days.
I'll make sure I visit the next time I'm in India.
Posted by: Stephen Denny | 07 December 2007 at 10:36 AM
Stephen: The Ball of Whacks was in prototype form then (and I left it in the hotel).
Interesting about your father. What sorts of documentaries did (does?) he make? Are they still available?
Posted by: Roger von Oech | 07 December 2007 at 11:18 AM
Interesting convergence-- I read this entry yesterday, then this morning heard a segment about Varanasi on NPR this morning.
One thing that stuck out: one local man spoke of drinking and bathing in the water frequently, which was far from pure by our standards. "Mere water can be polluted," the narrator says, drawing from the Hindu belief that the Ganges River is India's "mother waters." "Yes the river's polluted," says the local man, "but the goddess cannot be defiled; a mother cannot be impure." Many of the locals might be acclimated to any "bugs," but the narrator implied many others-- not local-- are not sickened.
So...did you perchance sample the waters?
Posted by: shelbey | 09 December 2007 at 11:46 AM
Shelbey: Thanks for the question (and concern). No, I did not drink any Ganges water. But I felt cleansed anyway.
Posted by: Roger von Oech | 09 December 2007 at 12:02 PM
Those are amazing pictures. Beauty can be found anywhere.
Posted by: Nedra | 10 December 2007 at 10:55 AM
This is good that we are able to take the loan and it opens completely new chances.
Posted by: OlsenERIN | 22 August 2011 at 06:56 AM