The Great Driving Challenge

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11:03 PM

12 August 2009

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Benares once more.

Posted By radhika

With Bharath complaining about how everything was wrong in Benares, I started getting a little apprehensive. My favorite city in India might not be the same. I had taken away such a idyllic memory back in 2005, I began to wonder if it made sense to come back and ruin it.
As we headed from Lanka after the long narrow roads and crazy traffic into Assi, the first ghat, I began to relax. It was just as I remembered. A ton of people, the smells, the voices, the chanting.

What I love about being here is the absolute chaos. Benares, I think, is the absolute celebration of life. A complete mix of life and death, music and silence, ancient and modern. A blur of people and animals with a backdrop of the Ganges, Benares has an ancient energy running through and like it or not you become part of it.

Walking along the ghat I see a confluence of all that life offers. A man lying in his boat and singing about his Benares, the Indian child trying to sell me a candle with an English lilt to her voice, the Sadhus walking along chanting ( and some desperately conning the foreigners) and the celebration of death which runs absolutely alongside life. The mix of people where some foreigners are more Indian than I and some Indians more foreign to India than should be but walking along the same narrow path with the Ganges running along one side is as simple as life should be.

Posted by Praveen 12 August 2009	Ok .. before i even begin to read this post… i just have to saaaaaay.. you have just nailed it with the award winning shots!!!... WOW… Love you guyz!!
Posted by Gaurav Deshmukh 13 August 2009	At a loss for words to describe the thoughts running through my head after reading the post and looking at the images! Brilliant, mesmerizing, poignant, haunting.. just some of the things that pop up at this moment!! keep wanderin’ Gaurav
Posted by Imtiaz 13 August 2009	The pictures inspire me to go to sleep and wake up early…. it’s been ages since I woke up thaaat early…..
Posted by Gaurav Deshmukh 13 August 2009	The last image has kept me coming back, time and time again! And so too the second last!! Wait.. the boatman!! No.. Scratch that, The Funeral Pyre!! Jeez.. am at a complete loss here!! ALL OF THEM!!! Nothing left for chance
Posted by Harish Kukreja 13 August 2009	Keep up the good work Radhika & Bharath. Mind numbing images. Its a great effort from both of you.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) 13 August 2009	Keep up the good work Radhika & Bharath. As rightly said by Raj Kapoor ...“Jaha Dil mey safahi hothi hey…Hum us Desh ke vaasi hey Jis Desh me Ganga behethi hey….” All d best
Posted by Maya Matthew 13 August 2009	Its been a pleasure following both of you ( tailing is what I’d like to call it) and seeing places and people through your eyes. 10 days seem so short. In this post the colours in the photograps speak volumes about the mood. Breath taking.
Posted by Leena 13 August 2009	absolutely loved the snaps!! in fact, the first shot had me saying ‘wow’ out so loud that everyone ard me turned to look!! and i love the simple way you’ve described the whole place too…..want to go there sumtime…...
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) 13 August 2009	Consider a change of profession and think about doing travel journalism? You’ve now given us the ability to travel vicariously - not as good as travelling itself, but considering that a lot of us are office bound, the history, photographs and the details set out in your blogs are enough to make us feel like we’re there with you. You guys have taken it to the next level - phenomenal stuff!
Posted by Vamsee 13 August 2009	Radhika, This is a fantastic post. I love your “think aloud” style of writing. It is very simple and sweet. Most people might not look beyond the dirt and poverty and noise in such places, but you seem to have found peace and harmony!! This is exactly what I like about your team in the contest. In spite of the stress and lack of sleep, you spend time at the sites, reflect on your feelings and write about it. Wonderful post and look forward to more.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) 13 August 2009	my heart did a flip when I saw the pics. .....and the spirit of Varanasi is all there. WOW!!!! Hey! Radhika and Bharath, if you go on to win it’s fine…...........if you don’t, it’s also fine….....You are putting your best foot forward in every situation…...and hit the BULL’S EYE
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) 13 August 2009	Marvelous, amazing, out of world, fantastic, beautiful, unthinkable, mindboggling….huh….running out of words… Photography at its best…..way to go radhika and Bharath…. Its not been a single day i havn’t seen your blogs and photography..no matter visiting the same blogs everytime..but the photography is kinda magnet that attarcts me towards your blog… Cheers!!!!
Posted by Dilip D'Souza 13 August 2009	Thanks for capturing the place for me. dilip.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) 13 August 2009	Really great photographs.. briliant! you should consider working for indian tourism! wish you had said more about the place though.. next time please
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) 13 August 2009	Radhika and Bharath, your style of photograpy and writing is amazing. You are tempting guys following you to visit all these places by putting such wonderful photographs and blogs. I wish that you win this contest, looking forward to more wonderful photos and blogs from you.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) 13 August 2009	Dear Bharath & Radhika,Ypou both are doing GREAT ‘keep it up you are going to win I am 100% sure.Meena aunty aslo wishes. Good speed God Bless.Yours,ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE (VASU)
Posted by Arvind Passey 13 August 2009	These pictures speak… a much better blog than the one you wrote for Khajuraho.
Posted by ram 13 August 2009	bharat bhai! awesome shoot. “main late gaya hoon” (I am lying down in namaskar mudra” for getting me so many hints from this coverage on the driving challenge. You are one good photographer. btw, if those pictures are taken by radhika, everything I said, goes to her
Posted by ram 13 August 2009	Planning is the key! That is what navigator is for on a road trip! Plan, plan, plan. Your photos are very good. Your coverage has an emotional touch. All you need a plan to make the blog swoosh out of the waters into the wide sky and explode like a beautiful firework adding several stars to the already awesome sky view, mesmerizing the people. Ok, maybe I went in too much of a flow! ahem. plan it out guys. you still have a few days.
Posted by Manu 14 August 2009	Great photos. From the looks of these pictures not much has changed here for hundreds if not thousands of years. Nice to see these “timeless” places.
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