Hrid majhare rakhiyo, chere dio na.

Reaching in groups to the Joydev mela at Kenduli

The holy dip of makar sankranti

Cleaners & Driers

Path (Reading the book of mantra)

The Baul Akhara, at rest..Preparing for the night show.

Just after sundown the music starts with the strokes on khamak, dholok and ektara and people get enwrapped immediatly.

Kanai Das Baul

Engrossed in the spiritual music.

Seba : Having food here at the akhra is called seba. It means we are helping them to feed us and get some blessings. The food is actually had at hearts content and not at the palate’s.

A captivated listener.

Celebration in front of the Jaydev Mandir.

Lord Krishna on earth once again..

As if my search ends after I got you.

Bauls are a part of the culture of rural Bengal blended with Tantra, Vaishnavism, Sufism and Buddhism. The pictures below are from the jaydev kenduli mela held in mid january every year.

The Naga Show, Kumbh Mela, Haridwar 2010

That’s absolutely ridiculous. Faith is not that kind of an irrational thing at all. Faith, in fact, is something that you and I exercise every day in our lives. And we’ve exercised it from the very moment we were born. I suppose it’s true that your mother even encouraged you to feel that we could trust her when we lay in her arms. And we learned day by day that was true, she would not drop us, that she was reliable, and we could put our faith in her arms.
And so as we grew up and came to the age of two or three or four years old and our Mom would ask us to jump from one chair into her arms, we would jump, because we would feel, “Yes, we can put our faith in her because she has never let us fall before. And every time we have observed her, every time we have experienced the stability and the safety of her arms we have not been disappointed, and so we learned to put our faith in her.
It was the same when we began to ride on a bicycle. We started to find out that the bicycle would carry our weight. Then as our Dad taught us how to balance we found that it was possible, amazing though it was, to push the bicycle along on the ground in such a way that we could stay up even though it had only two wheels. And we began to put our faith in the bicycle and in our ability to ride it and to stay up all the time.
And so in all of our lives we have gradually come to put our faith in all kinds of things. If I ask you, “Would you put your faith in that chair that is sitting opposite you in your office or in your home?” You will probably reply to me, “That chair?
Yes, yes I would put my faith in that chair. That is, I would gladly go over and sit on that chair, because I have observed it holding other people. It has held me myself on many occasions, and I’m prepared to bet my life on the strength of that chair.”
It’s so in the car this morning. If you’re sitting in your automobile and you’re in rush hour traffic, and you see the guy’s lights in front of you or the woman’s lights in front of you brighten up, you put your faith in the fact that the car in front of you is going to slow up. And you immediately move your foot from your accelerator over to your brake because you put your faith in the stop light of the car in front of you working properly. Now sometimes, of course, it is not working properly and sometimes it fails to work. Then you find you are in real trouble at that moment. But even that failure of the car’s tail light is proof that you actually do normally live by faith in that mechanism working efficiently.
And so it is in all kinds of situations. You lift the phone when you hear the phone ringing, and you’re absolutely certain that you will hear somebody speak on the other side of it. And it’s the same when you hear the doorbell sounding, you’re pretty certain that when you go to that door and open it you have faith that there will be someone standing on the other side.

And so it is in all kinds of more important and vital matters. In connection with your bank account you have absolute faith that when you write a cheque out and send it to a certain person your bank will forward to them the necessary amount of money as long as it’s in your account. You put faith in your bank to do that.
Then we have all kinds of complicated expressions of faith when you get to the stock exchange floor. And you get to the buying of stocks and shares and you find that all kinds of massive purchases of stocks and shares in companies and investments are made simply on the word of one man. Often on the wild waving hands of some man on the stock exchange floor. And they shake the hand and that’s the deal done. Often, even thousands and millions of dollars change hands because they put faith in the shake of the other person’s hand, or they put faith in what the other person has said is going to happen.
So it is of course every time we step into a plane. We put faith in the incredible theory of aerodynamics that assures us that the mass of metal is going to lift into the air and going to cross thousands of miles of ocean. Then it lands us safely in another country, even though to our ordinary eyes and to our ordinary intellect we cannot understand why that plane could possibly rise off the ground like that. And yet we put our faith in it because we’ve seen it happen again and again.

And so it goes on throughout all of our life. We’ll often allow ourselves to be put to sleep by some stranger in a hospital because we’ll have absolute faith in what the hospital has done with other people. We have even seen other hospitals do this with our own relatives and we have seen doctors and surgeons do. We’ll put our faith in a great many unknown people and unknown events and unknown techniques, simply because we have observed in the past and we have good grounds for putting our faith in those things.

So practically everyday in our life we exercise faith a thousand times. We breathe because we put our faith in the fact that the air is clean enough to breathe and is not filled with poisonous gas.

So in all kinds of manifold situations we put our faith again and again in people, in things, in events, in techniques, in strategies, in processes that actually on many occasions we have not tried before, but we have observed other people trying them. So when we think of faith let’s not think of something strange and superstitious; let’s not think of something religious or something non-rational. Let’s see that faith is something that we practise every day in our lives.

Faith is something one “believes in”. It serves a major evolutionary purpose and has been an essential part of human nature since time immemorial. When shared by members of a group, faith strongly supports that group’s internal cohesion. It strengthens the group’s capacity to to cope with the challenges of a hostile environment. It adds to the group’s capacity to compete successfully with other groups animated by different faiths.

There are many demonstrations in the historical record of how this principle has worked in practice. Look, for example, at the efflorescence of human society in the Middle East in the several centuries after the beginning of Islam. Islam’s sytem of beliefs provided a unifying force that permitted large numbers of converts to work together to accomplish historical achievements that would not have happened if Islam had never begun. Faith, when shared by large numbers of people, turns a group of aimless, discontented individuals into a purposeful, powerful force.

From the outside, as a cynical observer might see it, faith is an undertaking to suspend one’s critical faculties as far as certain specified basic propositions are concerned; it is a kind of voluntary, self-imposed frontal lobotomy. If you are a good Catholic and “believe in” the notion of the Trinity, you are not going to let yourself dwell on the inherent irrationality of Godhead being divided into not one or four or four hundred pieces, but just exactly and precisely three. If you are a good Muslim you will regard every last word in the Koran as issuing straight from Allah, with Mohammed as the vehicle through which the message was transmitted. You are not going to sit around and let some infidel draw you into a rational discussion of bits and pieces of the Koran, especially when your interlocutor is trying to rub your nose in that document’s many inconsistencies, irrationalities, and anachronisms. And so forth. The true believer will never let himself admit, even to himself, that he has been beaten in an argument about the propositions he believes in. He is stubborn to the point of total irrationality. There really is no point in trying to talk him out of his beliefs, because all you are likely to get from the effort is a punch in the nose.

From the inside, when you have faith you have moorings, direction, purpose that other people, the ones who do not have faith, lack. If you believe in nothing, you question everything, and where are you? You are like a ship adrift, without a destination. You have a crew but no captain, no pilot, no compass, no charts. You may end up in different waters than where you began, but to what purpose? What was the voyage for? The matter of faith changes all that. You know where you are going. If you die before you get there, at least you were going in the right direction–and your faith may give you the assurance that somehow, the voyage isn’t over, you’ll continue in some other form. Faith lends meaning to an otherwise meaningless existence. It makes the whole matter of life worth while.

Those of us who are getting a little long in the tooth can remember back to an earlier part of the twentieth century, when faith was much more common than it is now. The epoch that I have personally experienced has been extraordinary and probably unique in human history, in terms of the proliferation of rational thinking at the expense of faith. And the material rewards have been enormous: during my lifetime the amount we have learned about our own selves and our physical environment, and the degree of control we have gained over both, has exceeded everything we had learned earlier about either, in the ten thousand generations of humans that lived before I was born.

But this simply demonstrates the superior functionality of modern scientific thinking over religious doctrines that originated in the distant past, when people simply didn’t know very much about the world they lived in. It does not mean that humans have outgrown their need to believe in something, to accept as given certain basic axioms. People still need that sense of rootedness and direction and purpose. Where are they to find it? Is it possible to have faith without being religious in the conventional, old-fashioned sense? Can we find or define something in which we have faith, which is consistent with humanity’s present condition, and does not stand in the way of further progress? Can we expect to make further progress without such faith?

Faith vs. Religion:

All religion is based on faith, but not all faith needs to be religious, at least in the sense of requiring adherence to a recognized religious persuasion.

Religion teaches one to be altruistic, but traditionally that spirit of altruism has applied primarily to members of one’s own group. All too often, true believers have chosen to show their enthusiasm for their chosen faith by fighting other groups. Our tolerance for this kind of religious zeal is diminishing. Behavior that was admired when the Crusaders went off to fight the infidels and recover the Holy Land is now regarded with suspicion to say the least.

We are entering a period when the panhumanist view is increasingly becoming the preferred view of thoughtful and well-informed people all over the world. Most of us look at sectarian killing in Lebanon, Bosnia, or Bombay, for example, with the same sense of “this is very wrong” that we have for similar killings in places like Burundi that arise from ethnic or linguistic differences rather than religious ones. All this mayhem is wrong, we conclude, even when some of the killers are motivated to a large degree by their faith in the Almighty as their particular group defines it. A terrorist is still a terrorist, even when he invokes God to justify his actions.

The Golden Rule is basically a humanist precept. It resides comfortably at the heart of the panhumanist perception; anywhere else, inside any old-fashioned belief in a God that favors some group over others, it is an alien element, troubling the true believer with contradictions between tribal suspicion of outsiders, and the gnawing thought that maybe that outsider is a human being too. Like the sand in a pearl-bearing oyster, such a doubt can irritate the ranks of the faithful into gradually, over many generations perhaps, expanding the ambit of their faith in a pan-humanist direction, to include all humanity.

Now that humanism is becoming ever more widely accepted, the Golden Rule is finally coming of age. And no proper humanist need feel bothered when asked whether he believes in God. Nor need he feel at all belligerent or defensive. He can simply say, “Yes, I believe in humanity, which is the modern equivalent”.

The Limits of Faith:

As a humanist, I am skeptical about the old-fashioned faiths that require uncritical acceptance of the doctrines and dogmas of the major established religions. I have a lot of sympathy for the hard-nosed insistence of some modern humanists, like Richard Dawkins, that nothing be accepted “on faith”, that before you accept any idea you should turn it inside out, look it over very carefully, and verify it through the scientific method.

I agree with Dawkins that “faith…is a state of mind that leads people to believe something–it doesn’t matter what–in the total absence of supporting evidence.” And most of the time I agree with him that “…it is capable of driving people to such dangerous folly that faith seems to me to qualify as a kind of mental illness”.

But again, as a humanist, I insist that there needs to be some bedrock point of departure, some base point, if we are to establish direction and purpose to our lives. And accepting this has to be a matter of faith. You cannot go back and back indefinitely, asking “why” to every preceding answer like a curious but annoying child. You have to stop somewhere. For me the base point is that all humanity is our home team; I am a pan-humanist as a matter of faith.

Some of my philosophically inclined pen-pals on the e-mail network were arguing recently about whether there was a God. A couple of them were using Aristotelian logic and employing the trick holds, the verbal hammerlocks and leg throws that philosophers have been deploying in their verbal chess games ever since the time of Aristotle and probably long before that. A young friend of mine, who has made philosophy his career, came up with a modern answer that I think puts the old argument in a useful perspective: “…both theism and atheism rest on some kind of faith…because everything we believe rests on some kind of faith…the question is not ‘what can I show’ but ‘how will I live?’…because we are existing particular human beings and not abstract theoretical entities!”

As an “existing particular human being” I accept the need for some kind of faith, but I want as little as possible. (That is “how I want to live”). I will follow Dawkins’ ascetic rationality as far as I can, before succumbing to the corporal limitations of my essential humanity and defining those bedrock assumptions I am willing to take on faith. As with some computer games, I arrive on the scene facing a blank map of my universe. I spend my life traveling in as many parts of that universe as possible, conducting my explorations rationally and even, when possible, scientifically, to make sure I illuminate them as accurately as possible. Thus I do away with the darkness wherever I go; the islands and seas and continents are revealed, one by one. The longer I live and explore the greater the revealed area. Meanwhile the areas that are still dark recede. But they never go away entirely, I can never see the totality. I have to assume certain things about those dark areas that persist outside the range of my experience. I draw on what I have learned, so that I can make these assumptions as plausible and credible as I can, aiming to maximize the likelihood that they will prove accurate. The more I learn the better I become at this kind of probability assessment. But I seldom can be totally certain of anything, and I never can be even reasonably certain of everything.

My explorations are partly personal and involve my direct experience with the world around me. These are the best kind. But I also rely on the explorations of others, otherwise I wouldn’t get very far. Throughout my life I have been adding not only to my store of vicariously acquired knowledge, but to my skill at separating data that has been acquired through verifiable means from that which has not. It is all part of the overarching process of developing a comprehensive world view that adds to the functionality of my group.

And what is my group? On the basis of everything I have learned in my life, I will declare that my group is humanity. I say this as a matter of faith, but I have not made that leap of faith carelessly, or simply because I was told to by some external authority. I worked it out for myself. If you can think of a better place to establish your base point, one that suits you better, take it.

Faith in humanity is not a bad place to drop your anchor in this day and age. Most of the essays I have written in the last several years support this assertion, and I shall not try to repeat the arguments here. Basically, faith in humanity as a whole is the starting point for the progressive humanist world view.

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Abbas Attar:

“My photography is a reflection, which comes to life in action and leads to meditation. Spontaneity

- the suspended moment – intervenes during action, in the viewfinder.”

Iranian, b. 1944

An Iranian transplanted to Paris, Abbas has dedicated himself to documenting the political and social

life of societies in conflict.In his major work since 1970 he has covered wars and revolutions in Biafra,

Bangladesh, Northern Ireland, Vietnam, the Middle East, Chile, Cuba, and South Africa during apartheid.

From 1978 to 1980, Abbas photographed the revolution in Iran, to which he returned in 1997 after

seventeen years of voluntary exile.

His book Iran Diary 1971-2002 is a critical interpretation of Iranian history, photographed and written as a private journal.

During his years of exile Abbas traveled constantly. Between 1983 and 1986 he journeyed through Mexico,

attempting to photograph a country as a novelist might write about it.

The resulting exhibition and book, Return to Mexico: Journeys Beyond the Mask, helped define his photographic aesthetic.

From 1987 to 1994, he focused on the resurgence of Islam throughout the world.

Allah O Akbar: A Journey Through Militant Islam,

the subsequent book and exhibition, spanning twenty-nine countries and four continents,

attracted special attention after the 9/11 attacks by Islamic jihadists.

A later book, Faces of Christianity: A Photographic Journey (2000), and touring show

explored Christianity as a political, ritual and spiritual phenomenon

Abbas’s concern with religion led him in 2000 to begin a project on animism, in which

he sought to discover why non-rational ritual has re-emerged

in a world increasingly defined by science and technology. He abandoned this undertaking

in 2002, on the first anniversary of 9/11, to start a new

long-term project about the clash of religions, defined as culture rather than faith, which he

believes are replacing political ideologies in the strategic

struggles of the contemporary world.

From 2008 to 2010 Abbas travelled the world of Buddhism, photographing with the same sceptical eye.

In 2011 he started a similar long term project on Hinduism.

A member of Sipa from 1971 to 1973, then of Gamma from 1974 to 1980, Abbas joined Magnum

Photos in 1981 and became a member in 1985.

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ERNST HAAS

Haas attended medical school in Austria, but, in 1947, left to become a staff photographer for the magazine Heute.

His photo essay for the magazine on prisoners of war coming home to Vienna won him acclaim and

an offer to join Magnum Photos from Robert Capa. Haas and Werner Bischof were the first photographers

invited to join Magnum by the founders Capa, David “Chim” Seymour, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger

and Bill Vandivert.

Haas moved to New York City and in 1953 produced a 24-page, color photo essay on the city for Life, which then commissioned similar photo spreads on Paris and Venice. In 1962, the Museum of Modern Art mounted a one-man show of Haas’ color photos. Haas’ first photo book, Elements, was published the next year.

Some of Haas’ most famous pictures were deliberately out-of-focus and blurred, creating strong visual effects. He used the dye transfer process to make many of his original prints, yielding richly saturated colours.

In 1964, film director John Huston hired Haas to direct the creation sequence for Huston’s 1964 film, The Bible. Haas continued working on the theme, producing the photo book, The Creation^[1] in 1971. Other

photography books by Haas included In America in 1975, a tribute to his adopted country for its bicentennial year;

Deutschland in 1977; and Himalayan Pilgrimage in 1978. Other films that Haas worked on included The Misfits in 1961,

Hello, Dolly! in 1969, Little Big Man in 1970, and Heaven’s Gate in 1980. Haas also photographed a number of advertising

campaigns for Marlboro cigarettes.

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Art Wolfe is an American photographer, television host, conservationist, photography teacher and artist. He is most notably known for his color photographs of wildlife, nature and cultures.

Wolfe’s parents were both commercial artists in Seattle, Washington. Wolfe graduated with a

Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Washington. Within four years of graduation,

Wolfe had done assignments for National Geographic magazine and produced his first photo

book documenting Northwest Indian baskets.

Wolfe’s approach to nature photography combines elements of photojournalism

and art photography. Wolfe lists his major influences as Ernst Haas and Eliot Porter.

Wolfe has released more than 65 photo books and instructional videos of photographic

techniques. The U.S. Postal Service has used Wolfe’s photographs on two stamps.

He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and serves on the

advisory boards for the Wildlife Conservation Society, Nature’s Best Foundation,

Bridges to Understanding, and is a Fellow of the International League of

Conservation Photographers (ILCP).

Wolfe’s latest endeavor is the public television series “Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge”.

In the series Art shares his knowledge about the world around him and explores

different places and cultures. “Travels to the Edge” is distributed by American Public

Television. Art’s influences were his parents because the both where photographers

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For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. In order to “give a meaning” to the world, one has to feel involved in what one frames through the viewfinder. This attitude requires concentration, discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.  To take a photograph is to hold one’s breath when all faculties converge in a face of fleeing reality. It is at that moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy. To take a photograph means to recognize – simultaneously and within a fraction of a second– both the fact itself and the rigorous organisation of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one’s head, one’s eye, and one’s heart on the same axis.

After fire, Strand Road Warehouse, Kolkata.

The row of four massive warehouses standing along the Hooghly riverfront on Strand Road, once statements of the city’s power and prosperity, had over the years become symbols of utter neglect on the part of the Calcutta Port Trust, that owns them, and the city fathers as well.Strand Warehouse was the oldest, most ornate and aesthetically pleasing of the four. It was pushed to dereliction by several fires, the last and most devastating of which was on February 14, 2010.Deeper north, there are several other warehouses once owned by Bengali merchants, the most picturesque of which is the celebrated but disintegrating Putul Bari overlooking Sovabazar jetty.

Kolkata Strand Road Warehouse, Kolkata, India.

These four warehouses were constructed between 1901 and 1903, Calcutta’s boom time, and were the city’s moorings on the Hooghly. They were the gateway to the city for shippers and when they left, their vessels used to be loaded with shellac, linseed, tea and gunnies. No other riverine port in the world, save Liverpool’s Albert Dock, could boast such grand warehouses on its waterfront. Whereas Albert Dock, which was closed in 1972, was redeveloped in the 1980s, Strand Warehouse was allowed to rot. Close to a decade ago, several teams from the UK had visited the warehouses and there was much talk about regenerating them. Grand plans were drawn up to turn them into shopping plazas and tony blocks of flats, but heavily litigated as they are, the talks came to naught. Like its three other companions, the three-storeyed Strand was an exposed brick building and was divided into five sections. The lucid lines of multiple arches leaping along the upper floors imparted a certain grace to its structure. The end sections were squared in plan, and, here too, the arches progressively increased with each floor.

Strand Warehouse, Kolkata.

The prodigious girth and height of Strand Warehouse was delicately ornamented with exquisite floral motifs of plaster and masses of stylish cast iron grilles and lunettes that added a touch of opulence. These decorative features stood out prominently even after the fire in February when the building was on the verge of collapse. The crowning glory of the building were the finials installed at certain strategic points of the parapet. Long after the top floors were hollowed out by mysterious fires that would break out periodically, the leaping arches framed against the sky turned Strand Warehouse into a picture of tragic grandeur, quite similar to the Coliseum in Rome.

A century-old warehouse at Strand Road was gutted in a major fire that broke out in the wee hours of a February Sunday morning. Firefighting operations were still on at the time of filing of the report. The neighbours saw smoke billowing out of the building around 2 am and the Fire department was immediately called, said a Fire officer. Nearly 30 fire tenders were pressed into service, said the official, adding that electrical short-circuit could have caused the blaze. It may take nearly 48 hours to douse the flames as it was used as a warehouse for inflammable articles like kerosene, gas cylinders, tyres, tubes, cotton bales and paint.

Strand Road Ware House, Kolkata.

A Newly married couple coming to seek blessings from mother The Ganges

Walking amid the bustling crowds, utter chaos, pollution and high decibel noise I found that life reigns. Amid all odds belief makes all these obstacles look so trivial. With all the attacks and terrorist warnings things are as usual the same, warm, affectionate, loving, religious, strange and weired but absorbing.

'Chita' – The last bed for carring a dead person to the pier, by The River Ganges.

Life does not stop here, like the river it flows. Not even death can make it stop. Like The Ganges it takes along everything that comes its way. The oldest of the living cities of today, Varanasi has witnessed history being written again and again. Perhaps thats the reason that its still the icon of the great Indian civilization. Its not that life has not changed around the city, its not that the city has not been effected by the ripples of open market and open society but the core remains the same. It remains as Indian as ever along with all the dogmatic parochialism, its religiousness and also its spirituality. Along with The Ganges, it remains the same as it was thousands of years back. Like a living fossil Varanasi remains with all a mental well being.

Sradh-By The River Ganges

The people of Varanasi are proud of their love of mauj- masti, a reckless spirit of fun. They love music, dance, food and conversation, enjoy wrestling in the akharas and the carnival of festivals. They defiantly face life by putting kohl in their eyes, stuffing paan into their cheeks and venturing out with a gallant swagger. A visitor is often amazed at Kashi’s blase acceptance of death. You renounce the world here, and wait for death, serenely sipping Ganga water and listening to mantras. The experience of Kashi spans the spectrum from masti to mrityu, joy to death. Open the windows  of your mind to its elusive, ephemeral magic and let Kashi speak to you.

Hand in hand, Varanasi, India

Known as the cultural capital of India, Varanasi is known for its religious and spiritual lifestyle. One of the most important pilgrimage spots for Jains, Buddhists and especially Hindus, it is situated on the banks of Holy Ganges, which plays an important role in day-to-day lives of the people of Varanasi. Being the oldest living city, Varanasi has been a mute witness to many great historic upheavals and events.

For a better future, Varanasi, India

Mythology reins the city and there are many religious places and institutions and places of worship throughout the city where people visit everyday, especially in the mornings and the evenings. On closer look, one can still find the primitive worship cults that are still in practice in the city. The religiosity of the region is evident from the fact that Buddha, Jain Tirthankars, several Shaiva and Vaishnava saints, Kabir and Tulsi were either born here or were associated with the place in a significant way and have spent a long time here.

Varanasi, India

People of Benaras are known for being the exponents of literature, music, Vedic philosophy, arts, crafts and architecture. Socio-economic aspects of the city are highly influenced by the Ganges and on most of the Hindu festivals; people can be seen using the bathing ghats even before daybreak as an important part of their rituals. In the city, the atmosphere is relaxed in general and we can see people chewing the famous ‘paan’ and chatting in a laid-back manner. That does not keep Varanasi behind, as is evident from the growing modern industries in the city. It is also the most ancient seat of education in India and Benaras Hindu University is still famous throughout the world for its scholars. The city is also a seat for Sanskrit and one can still see the Guru-Shishya tradition being followed here at certain places.

Varanasi, India

Several social and religious customs co-exist in the city and the caste system is still prevalent here. People wear ‘Gamcha’ (a cotton towel), as they go bathing in Ganga and drink Thandai (a coolant with milk as its base), which have become a part of the cultural identity of traditional ways of Varanasi. Music, drama and entertainment have found a place in the lives of the people. Its dance traditions and vocal and instrumental music is highly developed and one can catch the glimpses of folk drama in the ‘Ramlila’ organized before Dussehra. Traditional games and sports include ‘Akharas’, where wrestling or ‘kushti’ competitions are organized. Foreign tourists love to ride horse-driven ‘Ekkas’ and cycle rickshaws that are still in use here. Indian medical science of Ayurveda, yoga and meditation are cherished here since ages.

Varanasi, India

Varanasi, the holy city of India, is also known by the name of Kashi and Benaras. Kashi, the city of Moksha for Hindus since centuries, is known for its fine-quality silks, ‘paan’ and Benares Hindu University and Avimukta of the ancient days, Varanasi is the most popular pilgrimage point for the Hindus. One of the seven oliest cities, Varanasi city is also one the Shakti Peethas and one of the twelve Jyotir Linga sites in India. In Hinduism it is believed that those who die and are cremated here get an instant gateway to liberation from the cycle of births and re-births.

Living by the river, Varanasi, India.

Considered as the abode of Lord Shiva, Varanasi is situated on the banks of River Ganges, which is believed to have the power of washing away all of one’s sins. As pundits here will tell you, whatever is sacrificed and chanted here or given in charity reaps its fruits thousand times more than those good deeds performed at other places because of the power of that place. It is believed that three nights of fasting in Varanasi city can reap you rewards of many thousands of lifetimes of asceticism! Varanasi is the oldest city of the world. Varanasi is more than 3000 years old and is famous as the city of temples. In Varanasi, there are temples at every few paces. Looking at the number of temples in Varanasi, it is hard to believe that a large number of them were demolished during the medieval times. Jyotirlinga Visvanatha Temple or Golden Temple, rebuilt in 1776, is dedicated to Lord Shiva. The Jnana Vapi well (meaning ‘Well of Wisdom) is believed to have been dug by Lord Shiva himself. It is believed that the majestic Alamgir mosque has replaced one of the most ancient shrines known as the temple of Bindu Madhava. The thirty-three hundred million shrines fill one with awe and wonder with sheer numbers.

The bond: Come what may, The Ganges binds us to the harmony of life and death, Varanasi, India.

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Reaching Varanasi: Varanasi can be reached by train and bus mainly.

Trains are the easiest way to reach Varanasi, with multiple daily services to cities including Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, Mumbai and Kolkata. Varanasi is served by two major railway stations. Many trains arrive at Varanasi Junction (IR station code : BSB) in the heart of the city, and many others arrive at Mughal Sarai Junction (IR station code : MGS), about 15 km east of the city (Rs 20, 45 min in a rickshaw). Here is a list of useful trains to reach Varanasi:

Also see Rail travel in India

By bus

There are daily buses to the Nepali border and other points around northern India. Local buses leave from the main bus station near the train station, almost every hour in the morning and one in the evening, to Gorakhpur (5-6 hrs), from where buses leave to the Nepali border at Sonauli (~3 hrs). There are buses run by state government from Lucknow (8hrs), Kanpur (9hrs) and Allahabad(3hrs)

Jakholi

Jakholi a quiet and serene hamlet in the Garwal Himalayas was a recharging stay for our tired nerves after a hard Kedar trek and hectic schedule. A couple of days stay galloped away, as if it was not 48 hours but just a couple of hours. The location of the GMVN is at the best possible spot of this small hill town and is maintained well. Service is good but the best part above all is its location. One will hardly stay in-doors and see the same old stuff in the TV. Life is easy at Jakholi. Farming and cattle raising is primary though there are schools around along with other basic necessacities.

Curvature

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Kentora Hotel

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Jakholi @ Evening

There were no places to for here and we all had an utter relaxation amd the chirping birds, noise free and pollution free, smooth breeze. Being on the top of the hill we could see the town clearly. And everything looked so simple and uncomplicated. Needs are so basic here and so is life. The question that rises, how much does one need to live life? Such phylosophical thoughts comes here by default. Its one of better locations I have seen to unwind and find one-self back within self. Amid all the socio-economic pollution of the modern age its very much needed for such tranquility where retrospection becomes easy. Here at Jakholi and many such places people live amid nature and if we consider nature as God, people live amid God.

Though our cook was very talented and made some exquisite cooking yet our team wanted some self cooked lunch. We walked down the market to get some chicken and vegetables. Dr Apurba with his sharp clinical observation first scanned the market in full. Strangly enough he could see what others could not. His X Ray vision could even see those vegetables that the shopkeeper did not know was there in his shop. After the survey was over he started buying vegetables in perfect combination with the end product in mind. We all stopped  like hyenas after we saw a truck full of chicken. Well, not to say, it was included in our menu. After chicken and vegies, it was fruit time. Mr Paul did not want any of the fruits to taste bad. So he ( after giving a little share to us) tasted almost every fruit we bought. Mangoes and watermellon taste great. Our car had to ply twice to reach the fruits and vegies. and then came the cooking part. The ladies folk managed it well. And at lunch time a warning was issued, as availability of food is on first come first snatch basis. So we had to watchfull but later it was so ample that we had to request others to finish it up, accept the tasty vegtable and chicken. All my life this chicken prep (dinner) will come into comparison from my sub-consious everytime I have chicken.

Watermelon tasting -1

Watermelon tasting -2

The best thing was yet to come. By default we had to be to bed after lunch. The laziness had creeped into us like never before. But it was not bed that was calling. It was the green carpet of grass outside. Many of us lied down on the carpet and within little time went off to a nap. The sweet sunshine was so pleasent that it almost cured all my backaches. Grand. We laid there till it was the sun was about to set.

Child's play

Dr Apurba

We

Mobile menace

Climbers

After the nap, it was not much of daylight left but our wishs were many. Visited an eco-graden very near. The sunset looked fantastic from there. Evening time was party time with tea and loads of snacks along with lovly music. It included mostly classics. At times, I thought,I never knew Cliff Richards was amid us. Sovon made things so musical that many of us got moved by nostalgic feelings. Then came the famous Rabindra Sangeet. It echoed in the qiuet atmosphere and resonated in my ears even now. The evening ended as every good thing comes to an end. Next day we are leaving The Himalayas early morning but our memories will stay forever only to refreash them again, some where else.

The Day End-Jakholi

Kedarnath

Way to the Kedar hills is not new to me. But as always nature stores something new always. At every bend it changes like the dynamism of life, its unpredictability makes it so interesting.

Twenty four of our friends and their relatives started the journey but we all knew not all of us was destined to reach Kedar. Some didn’t want from the beginning and some couldn’t, even if the desire was very deep. Such unpredictable is Kedar.

It all started with a hitch. The bus booked from Delhi looked very shove and the people concerned also seemed the same. Gradually it came out to be a nightmare. The bus was straight from the showroom and smelled the same. The sweet fragrance of new paint made us feel so special. But with time the special feeling was turned downed to earth and mowed. This bus didn’t even have a proper number plate. It was given to a painter to prepare the plate, the papers and certificates were not prepared, rather they were on the way and every time we asked ‘why are we waiting’ the reply came, ‘panch minute’. The typical Delhi transport business clan. They are so unique and so consistent of being such crooks. Perhaps most of those who have tried them at least once will agree.

Whatever, after LOTS of good work the bus which was scheduled to start at 1PM at last started at 5PM, and this late of 4 hours made our start very skeptical, though the in-bus spirit was so undeniably high that no one even thought about it. Our travels company, Cheap n best travel india, Mr. Sushil Kumar only said ‘sorry’ for such great work.

Comrades in the bus

We were to reach Lansdown that day via Meerut, Nazibabad, Kotdwar. It was almost the next early morning 2AM that we reached the GMVN rest house where hot chicken and rice with vegetable and dal was served as soon as we checked in. It tasted like the most awesome food that we ever had in life. We all went to bed instantly. Next morning got up early. This was my second visit to Lansdown and I had planned to walk to the ‘tip-n-top’. On the way there was an old church, that looked very serene in such a old British colonial setting. A little walk ahead reached us to the tip-n-top, another old cottage which is now a GMVN guest house. The picturesque setting was so calm. Had some tea out there and sat at the view point for some time before it got clouded and started drizzling. Had to rush back for lunch and travel to our next destination, Pauri.

Its always said, you get what you pay for. But out cheap and best travels was only four thousand rupees cheaper than the rest as per the quotations and where definitely the best crooks that I have ever witnessed regarding all Delhi travel companies. On our way to Pauri the bus suddenly stopped at a junction and the driver started a conversation with the bus owner and denied to go ahead. When asked, he replied that the bus does not have a hill fitness certificate so cannot move ahead. He has go to Rishikesh (50KM) and come back to Pauri. After lots of argument it was settled that we all are heading for Pauri in three jeeps and the bus will return to Pauri after the fitness corticated made. We headed as per the arrangement and probably this was the end of the nightmare. With time it proved it so.

Pauri is a comparatively bigger township, busy and happening. This is my second visit to this town. In fact it was a mere stop over for the trip ahead. The breaks were made to get away with the fatigue had have a pleasure travel up-hill so that all the family members find it comfortable. The bus contract had to be severed as we could not rely on them and the GMVN manager was requested to arrange for three jeeps for the rest of the travel. He was good enough to help us and we got three good jeeps along with three nice drivers. As we started for Ukhimath, it was known that out bad days are over. It will be only good travel from now onwards.

Pauri @ Evening (along with the embeded effort of 'manashputro' Sardarji; Sarmistha, Shovon, hope you don't miss him out )

Ukhimath is a sacred place, where Kedarnath resides in the winters. But now He is up there at Kedar Hills, so this area is now flaunted with lots of marriage ceremonies and other social functions. 24 of our comrades had bookings at two different lodges, one is GMVN and other is Bharatsevashram Sangha. The pleasant climate and the view of the mighty Himalayas with the snow capped peaks looking so recharging that we all became refreshed again. The only thing that bugged us at Ukhimath were bed bugs at the Bharat Sevashram lodge. Next morning the description of our comrades who slept stood on their toes the whole night was so dangerous that I had to thank our friend manager Mr Sandeep Paul for giving me the privilege to staying @ GMVN even though my booking was at the bugging lodge.

We left Ukhimath early for Gaurikund. From Gaurikund we have to trek up to Rambara, 7 km uphill, enroute Kedarnath. So far so good, it was peak season and the volume of cars was very high. Just a few KMs before Gourikund our jeeps stuck up. It was the gate that is locked now and will only open after 100 vehicles come back from Gaurikund. This is the eighth gate of about 24 gates per day and our waiting started. It was long which got longer. Precious time was lost as we had to walk up about 7 KMs the same day. It was afternoon when we reached Gaourikund. Had our lunch fast which we even had to have fast even if we were not late to get away with the distasty food. Some of us planed to stay back and about 15 of us walked up. It was summer time, so the days were longer, it wont get dark very soon, so walking should not be a problem. But there were problems, first was the rain which made the path slippery. The hugh crowd and  the extracts of the mules and horses made things much more dangerous and dirty. But the amount of belief, trust and faith made look every odd a very trivial issue. Nature was changing along with the elevation of the path. Sometimes the sound of the Helicopter pierced through the silence of the mountains. At times the sound of the bustling crowds and the noise of the horses are making things feel warm and lively. But amid all such good things lurks the dangers of sudden fall and slips just of one’s own misbalance or being hit by the horses. Deaths and injuries because of such incidents are not uncommon. But nothing can stop the spurt of life and faith.

It was late evening when we reached Rambara. Around 7PM I found many people who had to go to Kedarnath are stopping here. Rooms are not available and its getting colder. The rain which had stopped seems to be starting again. People are busy to find a shelter for the night and some warmth. I found a group of villagers taking warmth from a fire lit up by stall owner in a desire that they will stay for the night there. He must be wishing to have brisk business for that night with all the food and stay of about 30 odd men, women and children. Its getting darker, electricity has left us but I believe it will be back soon. Here electricity is very regular, probably because its a peak season. Uttarakhand gets surplus electricity in the summers and gets less in the winters as most hydel projects don’t get water in the winters because the water freezes upstream.

After Work, horses resting after a days work at Rambara. Way to Kedarnath.

The GMVN rest house of Rambara is very good place to stay though the food was not served by them as the kitchen was not working yet the stay was comfortable, warm and cozy. A thought came jetting out about that 30 odd people group and so many others as what they are doing to stay warm. It was a soft drizzle outside that dark with shops and eateries were getting closed. We had to rush our zadded bodies for dinner. After some research zeroed on to a dhaba sort of eatery. As the group was big we got special attention. It was not very long that we could stay awake after dinner and have our young night chat.

Next morning we started for Kedarnath, the gradient got steeper and the rain got a bit harder but the spirit was high and so was the energy after a good night sleep. Sleep, itself is no work but is the mother of all works. Once again I realized the need of good sleep and the way to get it. Way up, every step counts. The tree line is gradually disappearing. After having some tea, drinks and some food my energy got refueled and so my walking. By afternoon reached Kedarnath. For the third time I got lucky enough to reach this place of ultimate beauty and worship.

Our stay there was at Bharat Seva-Ashram which is supposed to be just beside the Kedarnath main temple. We walked on a long way and reached but it was very cold because of the breeze and rain. People almost succumbed to cold and children were crying. At the Ashram reception there was a charcoal fire for the inmates and travelers to get warm. It was crowded as there were people who were also drying their clothes. Perhaps such things makes this world so interesting and make us the most interesting animals of the creation. Our Maharaj-ji gave us our rooms. The were clean this time and the bed was furnished nice and probably free from any bed-bugs.

Way to Kedarnath, Pilgrims on a Duli. Uttarakhand, India

After getting away with our luggage we suddenly felt hungry and headed for the canteen. Lunch was ready as it was ordered ahead. Seven of us had our lunch, seven as that’s were all who were staying here. Two of our comrades came by carriers and returned back to Gaurikund, some stayed back at Rambara and two returned back to Rambara. We were working out things for the next few hours after lunch till it gets dark. I had to go out for shoot and did so shortly after lunch. This time I witnessed Kedar from another point of view that I did not last two times. Walked around the small holy town and reached the meadows of the extensive Himalayan ranges. I had plans to walk down the Gandhi Sarovar but could not get enough time and company for the same. Still then it was excellent stay this time. Till then I never knew what nature had in store for us. I came back from the shoot which was very satisfactory. Got in the Q for the worship of Lord Shiva and as we were about the get into the temple, evening ‘Aarti’ commenced. We were again lucky to see the grandeur of Lord Kedarnath. After the worship walked down for sometime and had to head back as out dinner time is almost ending. Lots of pilgrims thronging the canteen so had to wait for dinner. Post dinner went out in the market for some shopping and having sweets. It was Great to have some hot ‘Gulab Jamuns’ out there in the cold, the only thing that struck was its price which is also very hot. At Rs 15/- each it is the costliest Gulab Jamun I have ever had from any shop. But it was a delicacy. One should have it if he/she does not have hyperglycemic issues or cholesterol disasters.

It was about to be another sound sleep till 3AM but after that thunder struck. The sound of rain and thunder was so hard that I could hardly sleep because of its sound. However sleep had to creep into and at around 5AM, Nilanjana shouted, ‘look outside’ as if destruction had struck and we were the only survivors. Within seconds I could make out that we were not the only survivors as sounds of chatting next door is very clearly audible.

As I slipped out of bed I was stunned. I was snow everywhere, 6 in think and increasing, it was snow rain as the rain water came down as ice. Shortly got ready with my shooting gear but not of much help as it was all wet outside. Yet with no ways out had to move on in the snow and keep shooting. People were astonished to see snow at this part of the year. Its said that it snowed after 30 years in the month of June. We were thought to be lucky and so was I. I had witnessed one of the rare things at Kedarnath. The awesome beauty of this holy place is undeniable but such an extravaganza of nature and God is like being supper lucky. I thank my luck, I thanked God and nature and all the elements that made this trip possible. I thanked my friend to allow me to be here. Its something that money cannot buy. The best things in a so truly FREE..

My comrades worshipped Lord Kedarnath again and again as it was sparsely populated. The temple was almost empty as pilgrims could not come because of the huge snowfall. Some went in and sat there for good amount of time which is impossible at this part of the year because of the crowd. They felt lucky, they felt as if God wished to see them a little longer. Such is the greatness of Kedarnath, even the biggest atheist becomes His fan. Shiva has perhaps the biggest fan following, though its a question of controversy yet I think I am not wrong.

After lot of shooting, it was time for return. It was not very easy. By 9AM snowing stopped and we started dismounting at 11AM. It was all the more difficult. The snow was melting now and had got solidified. Its melted water is flowing like streams on the pathways. The pathways are getting slippery and hence walking down was not easy. We had to go very slowly, got ourselves two walking sticks for a better balance and grip. The animals were laso cautious. Down the way, seen a horse died, never knew why but seemed because of cold or might be because of fall. Suddenly there was a commotion amid the walking crowd. Stones are heralding downhill because of the snow melting. Its a common problem in the rainy season and its very dangerous too. But unless there is danger there is no beauty. I walked down and kept shooting the bountiful nature with all its grace and beauty. Every time I thanked God for me making me a human being so that I can witness, enjoy and praise all the elements of life. I thank Lord Shiva for staying here and his followers for coming to worship Him amid all odds, where money, power, country, state or any such thing does not make any difference. On way back I was about 2KMs from Gourikund of this 14KM trek when an old lady asked me ‘aur kinta baki hai?’. As I asked about her destination for the day, she said Kedarnath. I was astonish, this bare footed lady starting at around 5PM to walk up 14KM to reach Kedar tonight. Its perhaps this faith, belief that gives the power of being so strong mentally. Our friends were waiting at Gourikund to receive us. After meeting them and having coffee we all headed back to Ukhimath GMVN once again.