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Kashi 3.0

Memory is unpredictable . One never really knows what we will remember and what we will forget. Which is why nostalgia arrives in unpredictable waves, highlighting something and skimming over others. Recently, I have found myself thinking of how memory works, as I was assailed by nostalgia over a trip to Varanasi, a city I prefer to think of, as Kashi. The nostalgia hit right as we landed at Varanasi airport. The last time I was here, it was 1988, I was 13 years old, the airport was brand new… regular flights hadn’t started yet (I think) … flights landed about once a week, and for the rest of the time, everything was open to those of us who lived in the airport quarters nearby. There were fields everywhere, vast expanses of green… I have vague memories of corn and sugarcane… and being overwhelmed by the vastness of the fields (this was the first time I was in such close proximity to them), and the warm hospitality of complete strangers who lived and worked amidst these fields. I h...
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Parakeets and Kites at the Qutub Complex

They once were haunts of the rulers of India - from the ancient and now almost forgotten Hindu rulers of the place now called Delhi to the Mughals who left their indelible mark on the capital of India -  the ruins around the Qutub Minar have plenty of stories to tell. Instead of the royals who once walked among the lanes, today there are tourists who rush past, stopping just for a photograph or two to commemorate their visit to the place which was built to remind a city of the greatness of its ruler. The only inhabitants of this place today are these birds, which are free to fly wherever they please.
No restrictions stop them from approaching the tower and entering it through one of its windows.... they move happily between the modern buildings just outside the complex to the ruins of centuries old structures... at home in either place.... Here are a couple of birds I photographed at the Qutub Complex....





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