text: 29th August picture of the day… | Paul Bigland
  29th August picture of the day…
  Posted by Paul Bigland in India, Musings, Travel
  It's been another miserable day weather-wise here in the Pennines. You can tell it's a bank-holiday weekend! What a contrast to the early days of lockdown when we had the levels of sunshine that made things bearable. Now the weather seems as fed-up and jaded as the rest of us. Despite the holiday we're not going to be doing anything exciting. Instead we'll be staying at home and cracking on with work and jobs around the house that'll stand us in good stead when all this is over – although we will get out for a ramble at some point.
  Today's picture's a complete contrast to the mundanities of life here in the UK, although the image is of someone preparing for another day at the office as it were…
  This shot was taken on the ghats on the river Ganges, Varanasi. India in March 1998. It's dawn and a priest is preparing his stall for another day of handing out blessings to the faithful who'll be flocking to the river shortly. It's quite a magical place to sit and people watch. There's really nothing like it here in Europe and for Westerners who're unused to life on the sub-continent it can be quite a culture-shock, especially if they visit the ghats where bodies are cremated before the ashes are scattered in the Ganges.