Karuppu-than-enakku-pudhicha-colouru ( Black is my favourite colour*) It was never a woman thing. Atleast in the time and place that she grew up. She never imagined she could do it. Worst of all she never thought she would need to do it. It was a do or die situation. She had lost her job. Her job in the city which was well connected by public transport. With the meltdown of the financial markets she knew the jobs in the city were hard to come by. She applied to every job that came her way. She applied to everything far and near. It was when the interview calls came that she felt handicapped. Handicapped, by lack of her driving skills. That is when she resolved to learn driving. Driving lessons did not come cheap. She scraped through her savings to pay for the driving lessons in the hope that she would land a job somewhere. It was not just about the desperation to...
A- AArtist by the Riverside Pyarelal and his cousins wash clothes by the Dhobi ghat every morning. It was an occupation their fathers and forefathers have been doing for many generations. In the pilgrim city of Varanasi where the holy river Ganga flows peacefully from the south towards the north there are more than 84 river banks earmarked for various purposes. Dhobi ghat is where the launderers launder the clothes. As in ancient times, many of traditional dhobis do not use soap or any other harsh chemicals to wash the soiled clothes. A soiled cloth could well come out as a spotless piece of crisp white dhoti when it is washed with the sand, silt and the clay deposited by the flowing river and beaten on a flat stone to wash off the dirt. The clothes are then dried in the open sun by spreading them out on the dry steps that lead to the river. When Pyarelal is not laundering the...
The Undertakers at Manikarnika Ghat Legend in Hindu mythology has it that King Harishchandra gave away his kingdom, sold his family and agreed to be a slave – all to fulfill a promise he had made to the sage Vishwamitra . After nearly losing everything to fulfill his promise when King H arishchandra came to the cremation grounds with his son’s corpse, the toll collector at the cremation ground demanded from him the tax to give a flame from the sacred fire that would light the funeral pyre of his son. Since he had nothing else left to give, in order to uphold his promise King Harishchandra gave himself up to apprentice at the cremation ground in exchange of the sacred fire to light the funeral pyre of his son. It was at that moment that the Lord who had disguised himself as Kallu Dom revealed himself and returned to the king his kingdom, his wife and brought his young son Rohit back to life. The Holy fire that is ...
Whoa! That is a fantastic capture!
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