Stylishly perched

Chawri bazaar, Delhi

P.S: He could be on The Sartorialist perhaps, don't you think?

Chawri bazaar madness

En route to the Jama Masjid. A few hours back, today.

Graved Courtyards

Nizamuddin's dargah, Delhi

Two men and a minaret

The courtyard of the Mecca Masjid, Hyderabd.

Old man and a monk

Badami, Karnataka

Luang Prabang, Laos

Swallowed by the snake

Chidambaram, India

By the temple gate

Ekambareswarar Temple, Kancheepuram

Onion Domes

So many months in Delhi and this time I still haven't made it to the old town. Many reasons - I have been in and out of town, it's been murderously hot, I've been too lazy. But it's ramzan now and the Jama Masjid's onion domes and the gorgeous old Delhi food are too tempting to resist. A trip should be made soon ... if only to update my photographs. This one is about 3 years old.

Hampi: Garuda's Chariot

Vithala Temple, Hampi

In all Hindu temples, the vahanas are always present outside the shrine of the main deity. There is never a Shiva sans Nandi the Bull and Garuda is always around with Vishnu. The Vithala temple is unique because here Garuda has a chariot - usually the half eagle, half man has to be content seated on a pole. The chariot is a wonderfully carved structure and - though surrounded by gorgeous mandapas and often blending in with them in perspective - the focal point of the temple's entrance courtyard. Though originally drawn by horses, it is now elephants who shoulder the load. The horses were destroyed centuries back but the ASI thought a chariot without animals to pull it was hardly a chariot at all and thus these elephants were brought from some other part of the deserted site and installed here. They make for nice photos, too.

Hampi: Gnarled Tree

Vithala Temple Complex, Hampi

Hampi: The Virupaksha Gopura

The magnificent and awesome in every way gopura of the Virupaksha temple in Hampi almost seems to act as a navigational aid for the site. I still recall gasping at the sight of it. Nine stories, fifty three meters high, it towers over everything in the vicinity, almost providing a watchful shadow over the happening inside the temple.

A functional temple, unlike many of the architecturally gorgeous but plundered temples in Hampi, the Virupaksha is abuzz with activity early morning on - devotees make their way through the huge compound to seek their deities, rushing through the elaborately carved pillared halls, stopping in the courtyard to take the blessings of the resident temple elephant. All in all, absolutely wonderful.

Coracle-ing

On the Tungabhadra, Hampi

Boats on the river

Benares

Holy Men (?)

Benares

Hampi

In Benares, I also met a Naga Sadhu (not photographed) who spends all his time at Rajghat, attracting his own followers, since he shifted base there decades back. I was told he was close, if not older than a hundred years and he certainly looked it, wrinkles, fallen teeth and all. Benares is full of all sort of characters, but I doubt anyone could really sham their way through that long a time, or really have the will and inclination to. The sadhu we met himself certainly didn't look like one - a shammer, I mean - but it was a general thought about all the sadhus and babas that abounded. Who really knows. Though, I guess, if some one manages to be in character for years on end, that's a pretty significant achievement too, isn't it?

The three characters we met outside the magnificent Virupaksha Temple at Hampi were quite something else, stubbornly, loudly, asking for baksheesh the moment they saw they were being photographed. I had tried being surreptitious, but they noticed and posed fantastically, living up to all those cliched images of India . As they told dear E in all seriousness as they opened their palms in front of us, "Your choice madam - demons or no demons." Indeed.

Bovine pedestrian

A shockingly common gali sight, Benares.

Lane-side cooking

Gali side kachoris, jalebis. Benares.

On the steps

Many people, caught in the midst of mostly sitting.

Near Kedar Ghat, Benares.

Riverside

Praying, bathing, washing, horoscope reading, walking. Benares.

Washing, in sepia.

Dhobighats, Benares.

*Am off to visit my grandparents in Ranchi for the week so the slew of Benares photo uploads might just be interrupted. But I am taking the Mac along, so hopefully not.

Mostly blue, with a tinge of red

En route to Vishwanath Gali, somewhere. Benares.