Been locked in here forever, 
And just can't say goodbye..

In life, I don't want to be too busy.

Too busy to admire a scarlet sunset lightning up the west.
Or to notice birds on frail electric wires, casting silhouette against that sunset sky.

I don't want to be too busy to sit and stare at the calmness of still water.
Or too busy to praise the peace in the chaos of a waterfall. 
I don't want to be too busy to smile at the kid staring at me from his mother's arms,
Or to realise when it's a full moon night. 
In life, I don't want to be too busy that I forget how to live. . . .

ऊँची इमारतों से मकाँ मेरा घिर गया
कुछ लोग मेरे हिस्से का सूरज भी खा गए
- जावेद अख्तर

In Nagarkot, after hours of walking, tired, I stopped at a tapri for tea. These two were watching motu-patlu on the TV, sharing a single seat. I planned to take a candid shot of that innocent charm of their friendship. But well, they made it better by looking into the camera.

Kathmandu Darbar square, Nepal, 2018.

Photography module, National Institute Of Design, Kurukshetra, 2017.

Sheikh Chilli's tomb, Kurukshetra, Haryana, 2017.

एक जंगल है तेरी आँखों में,
मैं जहां राह भूल जाता हूँ,

तू किसी रेल सी गुज़रती है,
मैं किसी पुल सा थरथराता हूँ।

- दुष्यंत कुमार

Had a super fun time shooting this portrait..

Greyscale is graceful.

नज़ारा-ए-बनारस कुछ यूं है खास,
धुन आरती की, शीतल पवन और गंगा दिल के पास।

there is a loneliness in this world so great
that you can see it in the slow movement of
the hands of a clock.

people so tired
mutilated
either by love or no love.

people just are not good to each other
one on one.

the rich are not good to the rich
the poor are not good to the poor.

we are afraid.

our educational system tells us
that we can all be
big-ass winners.

it hasn't told us
about the gutters
or the suicides.

or the terror of one person
aching in one place
alone

untouched
unspoken to
watering a plant. - Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell

कभी-कभी जिंदगी धुंधली-धुंधली सी ही अच्छी लगती हैं।

Walking along the ghats on Banaras is an experience in itself. On the day of Makar Sakranti, the ghats were alive, abuzz with people, colour and activities. This person and his pet monkeys had a crowd gathered around them, there was an interesting story with characters out of Sholay, Basanti and Veeru. The monkeys acted on the script and the man’s narration was amusing, surprising at times. 

So here it is, experiences of an usual day in Banaras.