facebook
CRAFT YOUR JOURNEY
Benaras and I_3cover
NARRATIVES

Benaras, and I 

North India

Benaras and I_2

Like a predator and her prey.
Lurks, prowls and
a weary stillness.

Like lovers in a courtship game.
The hidden, revealed and
everything in between.

Masters in the art of waiting-dance

In what seemed like an eternity,
measured in each passing boat,
we stood exposed between
eyeblinks.

Tease, taunt or trap
one shall never know

Exhausted, and out of time,
I stared at the city

A city that has surrounded itself
by a fortress of stories, legends
and myths that have sedimented
over a thousand years

A city that has shrouded itself
in a cloak of gods, traditions
and ceremonies performed by
a million worshipping mortals

in defeat, humbled.

The city bid a forlorn goodbye
from behind its veils,
magnanimous in its vanquishment

Much like in Kamban’s Ramayana,
where Rama utters to an unarmed Ravana,
with a humiliating benevolence
that follows victory,

Leave          and return
to fight on the morrow

Under a pale golden sky,
the river watched in silence.

In its muddled reflections, lay Benaras

Explore More

The Hands that Create
The Hands that Create

Mostly unnoticed, all art emerged from handicraft. The clay turns to a pot, the wood is whittled to a veena, the nylons weaved into a net...

Narrative South India
Sunrise in Nimaj, Rajasthan
Rising With The Sun in Nimaj

Indians wake up early, often as the sun rises, to pray to the gods for a favourable day and enjoy the few hours where there is no need to hide in the shade...

Narrative North India
Daughter of the Mountains
Daughter of the Mountains

A journey along the cities of the Indo-Gangetic Plains exploring the ways of life of its people as shaped by the river Ganges...

Bespoke Journey North India
Journey of A Faith
Journey of A Faith

A journey tracing the history and tenets of Sikhism, a religion born in the state of Punjab...

Bespoke Journey North India
Taj Rambagh Palace
Taj Rambagh Palace

Hailed as the stunning ‘Jewel of Jaipur’, the Taj Rambagh is a palace of transitions. It was built...

Hotel Guide North India
The Jasmine Lady of Madurai
The Jasmine Lady of Madurai

The jasmine, called Mallipoo in Tamil, is said to have risen to significance when the legendary Kind Pari spotted it during one of his hunting trips...

Narrative South India