Srivatsan Chari’s Photoblog

Vrindavan is a funny place. The people beseech you from the streets, and the dogs ignore you from the ledges. (You’ll only get the picture of the dog though)

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Headed to Vrindavan on saturday with friends from work. Stopped off at Barsana first.

Porters carry people on these palanquin type things to the temple atop the hill.
Quick hipshot, focus was off.

Some people like doing things the hard way though. The vow these people take has them ascending and descending the temple on all fours.

The quaint smokey little town down there is famous for Laath Mar Holi

Reached Vrindavan soon enough. It’s got some good looking pigs. Serious.
The yamuna on the other hand, is just doomed wherever it flows. Took a short boat ride for some reason.
It reminded me of stories in my hindi textbooks from school.

Headed towards the Kesi Ghat next. There’s a bridge supposed to be completed by early 2010, seeing as the government has sunk 700 crores or something. But I could only see a few pillars. YayCorruption!

Anyone going to Vrindavan, make sure you spend an hour or two walking around the old town. It’s quite a sight, old and abandoned buildings, the sheer scale of poverty, the lack of any sort of government provided infrastructure. It doesn’t look like the town has changed for centuries.

Religious tourism and sales of religious paraphernalia seems to be the only source of income there.
The temples seem to get richer and the townfolk seem to go nowhere. YayReligion!

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There aren’t any charities for the poor in Vrindavan, although there is one for the many thousand poor widows who land up there. It’s called Bhagwan Bhajanashram.
Go, help.

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Enter, weary stranger. But pay the toll,
Give me your words, they’re needed no more

Spent the saturday showing a friend around the city.
We went to Chandni Chowk, home of the horrible parathas.
This is probably the only interesting photo I shot there. Shows…

Then, I found my way to the Lal Qila, right in time for the sound and light show.
The Diwan-i-Khas

The Diwan-i-Aam

The Naqqar Khana

Gates, swallowing people since the dark ages.

After which we hobbled towards India gate. When the sound and light show wrapped up.

I’m tired.

Winter in the capital -

Visibility today dropped to a few feet on the roads.

Canon 400d + Sigma 30/1.4 + Pulsar 150 dtsi