Every night
The aarti fire
Five priests
Pay homage
To Shiva’s gifts
While one boy
In their shadow
Shines bright
The aarti fire
Five priests
Pay homage
To Shiva’s gifts
While one boy
In their shadow
Shines bright
Tag: The Ganges
The Birds
They flock
The gulls
To feed
On seed
And bread
That’s thrown
From boats
On which
The tourists
View
The banks
Where
Funeral
Pyres burn
All day
And night
The gulls
To feed
On seed
And bread
That’s thrown
From boats
On which
The tourists
View
The banks
Where
Funeral
Pyres burn
All day
And night
Marker on the Way Home
She’s my marker
The jewellery seller
Leaning against
The Tower of Baba
The jewellery seller
Leaning against
The Tower of Baba
I stop by her ad-hoc shop
Mapping my way home
In my mind
From here
A set of stairs
Like a hundred others
All along the the Ganga banks
For miles north and south
Except these stairs
Lead home, almost straight
Spirits Cleansed
They come to bathe
In waters pure
Then, with spirits cleansed
They dry their saris
Upon the steps
Which bore them down
To Mother Ganga’s shore
In waters pure
Then, with spirits cleansed
They dry their saris
Upon the steps
Which bore them down
To Mother Ganga’s shore
Rower on the Ganga
Flotilla at rest
On the quiet river
In the grey cool morning
On the quiet river
In the grey cool morning
A few boats rock
As tourists clamber aboard
Laughter and photographs
As my camera surveys the scene
One boat begins to move
Oars dipping, splashing
I find frame on the boat
Zooming out; zooming in
Click a few exposures
Fire, flowers and flow
In the moonlit night
Release flowers and fire
Into Ganga’s flow
Release flowers and fire
Into Ganga’s flow
For pilgrims and believers
A gift to Ganga, river goddess
Holy of holies
Source and purifier
Context ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #80
To understand
And embrace
Paradox
And embrace
Paradox
I recognize
The limits
Set by context
Which, I’ve learned
Confines me
Not reality
Daughter and Mother
At Rishikesh
Where the Ganga
Leaves the mountains
Completing her journey
To womanhood
Where the Ganga
Leaves the mountains
Completing her journey
To womanhood
From the daughter
Roiling and playful
Down the narrow valleys
To the gentle, fertile
Fulsome matriarch
Mother of the plains
Finding Presence
There is nothing so grounding
So inspiring to me
Nothing which brings the moment
Into my own presence
Like sunset
So inspiring to me
Nothing which brings the moment
Into my own presence
Like sunset
Except
Perhaps
Sunrise
Ganga Calm
Travelling a land
Of extremes in high contrast
Of crowded bustle
Brown noise and car horns
Confined in concrete chasms
With slivers of sky
Of extremes in high contrast
Of crowded bustle
Brown noise and car horns
Confined in concrete chasms
With slivers of sky
I arrive in Rishikesh
Where the Ganga
Gently exits
The Himalaya
Heave a sigh
Breathe deeply
And collect myself
On the riverbank
Pix to Words 