The "Ganga Arati" is especially brilliant.
It is a daily hour-long affair, starting at around 6:15pm at the Dashsaswamedh Ghat and the adjacent Rajendra Prasad Ghat, where anxious people throng the area and line the steps ; there are the usual foreigners waiting for a photo-op and also professional photographers (with their characteristic long "zoom" cameras!). It is quite a sight: the crowd..with no one getting into each others way...eager devotees waiting to take a quick dip in the river; boat rides might be particularly interesting since one would get a view of the ghat from the river; but the charges are exorbitant and somehow one just would'nt be in the mood for bargaining.
The arati is performed by seven young "priests",standing in stone diases, their faces betraying no emotions,mechanical to a certain extent.The chants are audio-taped and boom through huge box-speakers.The effect would perhaps have been more interesting had it been a live telecast.
THE "UMBRELLAS" :
Not being overtly religious:If there was one thing that i was going ga-ga over, were the "umbrellas" along the ghats.I don't know what they are called..chattars or whatever, but i was in love with them.Period.
I loved the shape, the form, the fact that they were covered with random chintz prints of cloth and for the fact that the skeletal framework of the umbrellas were a great photo-op...against the covered fabric..layering..the light and shadow..it was an absolute OMG moment!!
...and i must have taken shots of each frame,keeping these umbrellas in mind!centred, off-centred compositions and what not!!
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