Life flitters on Ganga’s banks
A small cascade of humanity
Going about its day-to-day
Details succinctly lit
Or lost in silhouette
The same to my mind’s eye
What seems a bath
Instead a spiritual cleanse
What seems unclean water
Instead the holiest of rivers
On the banks of its holiest city
The Ganga (Ganges River)
Kashi (Old Varanasi
Uttar Pradesh, India
Taken during travels, 2017
Pic and a Word Challenge
Last week we got Ready.
This week, let’s look into the seeming contradictions of Paradox. Or seek something else to inspire you in this photograph of Hindus performing the rite of spirit cleansing on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India.
The Pic and a Word Challenge is a weekly creativity prompt offered Mondays.
With each challenge I provide a photograph of mine along with a single word. The challenge? Use the pic and/or word as inspiration to create something — a photograph, a painting, podcast, video, prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, longread or just a few words. You are welcome to use these two elements (photograph and word) literally, thematically or metaphorically. If you create both images and words, all the better.
To participate:
- Use any title you like
- Your response can be words and/or images
- You may use my image to illustrate your post, or any images you have created
- Mention that you are responding to the Pic and a Word Challenge
- Add a link to this post in your response
To help us find your response — whether on WordPress, Instagram, Flicker, Tumblr, etc. — you can also:
- Add a comment on this post to announce your response
- Apply the tag/hashtag “Pic and a Word Challenge” or “#picandawordchallenge” to your post
Each week, I’ll list the previous week’s responses at the end of the new challenge. I may also share some on my social media: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc.
The previous challenge was: Ready

The word for last week’s Pic and a Word Challenge #375 was Ready, along with this photograph of boats tied up on the Ganga banks in wait for the evening Aarti ceremony, in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Three bloggers were much more Ready than I was this week. 🙂 Thanks everyone.
View all the Pic and a Word Challenges, including the current challenge, on the Pic and a Word Challenge tag page.
Happy Creating! ❤