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...
Walking up the steep path to the Edakkal Caves, I stopped for a while to catch my breath, and leaned against this huge rock - one of many such along the path.
"Amma, it looks like a face" said Samhith, and I wondered what he was talking about. It was only when I heaved myself up that I was struck by the look of the rock I had been leaning against! It did look like a face.... in fact, to me, it looked a bit like a gorilla! A throwback to the ancestors who left their mark behind on the caves? What do you think?
Yes it certainly looks like a face, not of a gorilla to me but more like a Buddhist monk.
ReplyDeleteHmm.. it does look like a face. A mummified face to be precise to my rather overactive imagination ;)
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