Photographing the Ganges River
I lay flat on my stomach, angled downwards. Watch the video!
After Chai and Pakora at Neelkanth
After we stuffed our stomachs with pakora and chai at Neelkanth Temple, the two of us returned to Rishikesh. It was approaching lunchtime, but the warm glow of the pakoras was happy in our stomachs, and neither of us was in the mood for lunch. Except for the German bakeries, there were almost no decent places to eat in Rishikesh. On our first trip, the best place was our hotel’s restaurant, but it was popular, so we did not get a room there on our subsequent trips.
The Ganges is clean uptil this point.
It is my firm conviction that the water of the Ganges remains clean only up to Rishikesh. Small camping companies specializing in corporate and school camping trips have been setting up shop in this part of the Ganges, just before the water enters the municipal area of Rishikesh, so in the subsequent years, if you want to experience the last stages of the (relatively) clean river water, you will have to journey up to the point where the water’s path meets the plains after completing its journey through the mountains.
Climbing down at the chai stall.
I remembered passing a chai stall just as we crossed the bridge over the Ganges. One road turned left towards Neelkanth, and the other went right, past Rishikesh, to the Beatles Ashram and beyond. The last time I was in Rishikesh, I did not explore the Beatles Ashram because I did not wish to pay the 100/- entry ticket, but I will do so the next time. If my memory serves me well, it is at the Ashram that George Harrison added a verse to Donovan’s classic, “The Hurdy Gurdy Man.” As per the story, they were sitting under the starry skies, in a psychedelic mood, and that is when George penned those words. I’ve listened to the version that included George Harrison’s verse, and it is fabulous. You can watch Donovan sing George Harrison’s verse here or here. It appears that Donovan started writing the song in Rishikesh. Listen on.
On the way back, I overrode my friend’s objections, stopped at the chai restaurant, ordered some chai, and asked the owner the way down to the riverside. That chaiwallah – not our Prime Minister (!) - must be making a decent sum of money because of his restaurant’s location. Location is critical!
My good man, or his wife, pointed me down a narrow, broken path to the river. The “proper” path stopped after about 3 meters, and then the broken path plunged steeply towards the river. I walked over the stones and boulders you often find next to rivers in the hills, crossed to a sandy path, and reached a sandy embankment by the river.
Photography while angled downwards.
There was nothing interesting to photograph from the safe havens of the sandy embankment, so I climbed over to the boulders by the river, lay flat on one boulder, hooked my Timberland shoes into the cracks, and lay down. When I say I lay flat, I mean I was lying flat on the boulder, but my body was angled downwards, at a thirty-degree angle to the rapid waters. If my shoes had lost their grip, I would have slipped headfirst into the water, ruining my camera and cracking my head in the process. Still, it was fun, and sometimes – to misquote Cyndi Lauper – guys just gotta have fun.
I walked down to the riverfront alone, discouraging my travel companion from following my path. While I do not claim to have the nimbleness of a mountain goat, I am nimble enough, and I refused to take responsibility for my friend in case he tumbled, like Humpy Dumpty.
My Timberland shoes had stayed with me for over a decade, and I loved them, discarding them only when the soles separated from the upper. Nowadays, I wear Ecco or Timberland shoes, and own shoes from both brands. I invest in my shoes, and this is one article of clothing I refuse to skimp on. When I am out photographing, I am on my feet for three to six hours, sometimes more. There is little point in being miserly with your shoes, and then hobbling in pain.
However, I must comment on the people who live in the hills. I once met – a few times – a pretty young girl walking up and down the hilly paths near Bhimtal. She carried two boxes of tomatoes on her head, each weighing ten kilograms (twenty-two pounds. The young girl always marched up and down the steep slopes, smiling gently, wearing only a pair of rubber slippers. Whenever I met her, we’d chat for a minute or two and then go our separate ways. I always looked ruefully down at my Timberland shoes, wondering why I could never emulate her near-barefoot walking.
I had bought a pair of ‘barefoot walking’ shoes, but never quite took to them. There is much to be said for walking barefoot because your feet make contact (or near-contact) with the ground, allowing you to get a firm grip on the soil. My brief experience with barefoot walking had one side benefit: I stopped landing on my heels when I walk, and now tend to land on the balls of my feet.
I used my Nikon D200 on this trip, and it was a wonderful camera in its time. Now I mainly use it for digital pinhole photography. We had arrived at the chai stall at about noon, not the best time for photography. Yet, the water and air were so pure that it did not seem to matter. When I repeat this shoot, I will go to the same place early in the morning to capture the golden hour. The sun would be behind me, and in the shadows in the evening, so the morning will be my pick for the next shoot.
Ah, but hey, nature is beautiful. Always.
Till next time!!