Child of Ganga

One cannot deny what a photogenic place Varanasi can be—the kaleidoscopic colours, the mad flurry of activities, the uninhibited curiosity of the locals—there is no place in the world quite like this. Some people come here for a few days, some for a few weeks, some for years, some come here to spend the rest of their lives and even more come to die. Once here, home seems to be worlds away. I want so desperately to capture all I can; I wish my eyes were a camera, my eyelids the shutter and every blink the permanent imprint of an image.This whole city is a complete enigma, so full of character and contrasts that it is hard not to go about with a perpetually bemused expression. The challenge is in trying to come to terms with what initially seems like ridiculous contradictions surrounding the city—the conflict between the people’s unyielding belief in the city’s sacredness and the obvious lack of proper waste management infrastructure; the lives Ganga supports and the ones she snatches away through water-borne diseases; the display of respect for the river one moment and the thoughtless disposal of waste into it the next.This project is for Ganga, for her children and for everyone else to whom she might matter, in some way or another.Child of Ganga has since been developed into a hardcover publication of over 100 images and accompanying texts comprising information and statistics from accredited sources, quotations from various scriptures and influential figures, interview transcripts and personal reflective reportages. For a more raw account of my personal experience working on this project, you may visit the online journal I kept during my time in Varanasi: https://childofganga.wordpress.com

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© Nadia Binte Mohd Kamil. All rights reserved.