Genesis - soumya.org

The Future Of India

On the 61st anniversary of India's Independence, a flag hoisting ceremony brings out the new generation in their finest patriotic gear...

Who Needs A School Bus

 Who needs a school bus when you can drive your very own auto rickshaw to school...with a navigator to assist in the journey!

Missing

 Standing at a crossroad in Old Delhi waiting for the rain to stall, I spotted this poster plastered on the grimy wall behind my back.  The starkness of the black and white handwritten copy, reflected the pain that the family felt for a loved grandmother who had gone missing...

A Home Away From Home

Ducking into a winding alley of Kotla Mubarakpur in Delhi,  past wholesale timber stores, careening tempos overloaded with plywood sheets and honking autos, we came to a simple painted sign above a door of an anonymous gray building...1463/A.  Turning the corner after two flights of  stairs, the drab gray atmosphere suddenly changed into a riot of colors as bright murals and a beautifully etched glass sign welcomed one to "Home Away From Home" a shelter for children suffering from cancer and their parents. Conceived, created and run by the feisty women of CanKids, two floors of the industrial building have been transformed by a volunteer team of architects, students, donors and parents into an oasis with small nuances like an open kitchen with individual gas burners allowing families to cook comfort food, colorful beds arranged in an airy environment, cheery murals and a study area with attendant teachers, allowing families to feel at home in an alien city. Apart from shelter, CanKids also provides a support structure and education which allows parents of the  children from small towns and villages flocking to the All India Institute For Medical Sciences to navigate the complicated and expensive maze of cancer treatment. Spending an afternoon there left me enlightened, shaken and amazed at the spirit of the kids, their families and the selfless volunteers. So take a peek into an amazing world standing as a beacon in the battle against  cancer...

Ps: If you would like to help as a donor or volunteer, you can contact CanKids at the following email id: pritidhall at cankidsindia dot org

Vantage Point

The colorful festival of Holi often serves as a surreptitious training ground for inculcating neighborhood children into the art of guerrilla warfare. Dodging exploding baloons filled with colored water, dashing through sheets of water poured from overhead balconies and duelling with furtive multicolored figures lurking in the background with powerful water cannons, the struggle to capture precious ground rages from morning to noon with no quarter given. Emerging from these skirmishes, two kids rejoice in celebration of their possession of a key vantage point...

One Lakh Only

Available for the paltry sum of one lakh for a troupe or twenty five thousand rupees for a solo...full time dancers for your family or living room. There are some things money can buy and are also priceless...

Ice Age

The freezing cold in Delhi brought back memories of a snow covered peak on the road from Spiti to Lahaul. One can only imagine how serene that currently inaccessible stretch will be right now...

Arms Alley

Crossing the border from Bengal to Jharkhand, we were speeding down the Grand Trunk Road when we noticed that the road side shacks which normally housed dhabas or tyre shops were displaying a very different kind of merchandise. Lining both sides of the road were stalls selling sharp instruments of every conceivable variety. Spears, choppers, knives, swords interspersed with colorful baseball bats and hockey sticks for variety...a true anarchists dream. A much more genteel and watered down version of the famed Dara Adam Khel of Pakistan the roots of these shops lay way back in time when crossing the lawless stretches of Bihar was an arduous journey and people stocked up and traveled in convoys to tackle roadside bandits. (Even in this day and age it is advisable to only travel through the stretch during the day and nighttime trucks still travel in convoys.) Seeing our interest, the sales boys father went in to bring out his special stash which included commando knives and gleaming samurai sword knockoffs which are apparently big sellers with 'discerning buyers'.  After admiring these works of art, we big goodbye and continued on our way, not with any steel in our bags but with a few discerning photographs of the arms alley on G.T. Road...

Souls Of Their Ancestors

Walking down the furthest ghats of Varanasi, we were having chai at Gai Ghat when the sounds of a familiar dialect wafted into my ears...Marathi! Having grown up in Bombay, hearing the language in the heart of Uttar Pradesh was like music to my ears, so I chatted with the grey haired gentlemen engaged in animated conversation. What I learnt was fascinating...A group of over 50 people from rural Maharashtra, a majority of them aged over 65 were traveling by bus for close to two months across North and Central India. Organised twice a year by the "Jai Balaji Yatra Company" for the princely sum of 14000 rupees, this was dream come true for these folks as it allowed them to experience a pilgrimage to holiest of the holy shrines in India. They were in Varanasi to perform the ancient ceremony of "Pind Daan" where one offers rice balls mixed with flour and honey in the presence of the mighty Ganga to put at rest departed souls of ancestors. The entire ceremony was choreographed like clockwork by a Maharashtrian priest whose family had settled in Varanasi many generations ago. Time stood still as we watched them perform the rituals and when they were done, we left humbled at the perseverance of these hardy souls, who had journeyed across the country to pray for the souls of their ancestors...

Ayyars Cafe In Varanasi

Having started our explorations of the ghats of Varanasi before sunrise on a cold winter morning, our hunger pangs were reaching a crescendo when a shopkeeper pointed us to Ayyars cafe, located in a small alcove on the main Dasashwamedh Ghat Road. Pleasantly surprised to find a restaurant serving South Indian food in the heart of the North, we ordered our upma and idli and struck up a conversation with the genial old man at the counter with the quintessentially Indian question: "Where are you originally from?" His eyes brightened and face warmed as he looked up and said..."Kerala, but I was born in Benaras". The food arrived and and as we tucked into the delicious dishes and ordered more dosas and real filter coffee, he regaled us with the history of how his grandfather moved from Palghat to Mumbai and then to Varanasi many decades ago and established an outpost for South Indian food. We also learnt that the man serving us tea not only ran the restaurant but was an accomplished practitioner of yoga, who was also the director of a yoga institute in his prime. Now retired, his son Balaram runs the restaurant, his other children are settled in Varanasi and other parts of India and he spends his time practicing yoga and supervising the restaurant in the mornings. We left the restaurant  after an amazing breakfast, a complimentary copy of a book on Yoga and fond memories of S. Balakrishnan Iyer, the proud owner of Ayyars Cafe in Varanasi...

College Street Coffee House

A stone staircase winding past poster splattered walls, signs for bookstores and banks of silently humming electric meters usher all seekers into the iconic Indian Coffee House in College Street, Kolkata. Established in 1942 under the vaulted ceilings of the Albert Hall the Coffee House has remained the favorite place of of artists, writers, revolutionaries and of course groups of bright eyed students in animated discussions on every possible topic from changing the face of India to the latest political gossip. Elegant waiters in spotlessly white uniforms with turbans and cummerbunds waltz through the tables serving coffee and snacks from the eclectic menu where the prices on the balcony floor are strategically priced at two rupees more than the main hall and tea remains conspicuously missing. Spending a few hours here is like stepping into a time capsule where everything moves in a slow unhurried pace like a graceful ballet in a world where the images are still in black and white...

Chronicles Of The Raj - Christ Church Mussoorie

A few sharp turns off the Mall Road of Mussoorie, led us to the doors of the Christ Church, the oldest church in the Himalayas. Consecrated in 1836, the chapel holds a treasure trove of chronicles from the years gone by. Memorial plaques for fallen soldiers and members of the East India Company stand next to stained glass panes imported from England and a William Hill organ gives company to a bible dating back to 1889. Sitting in the pews, it was easy to be transported back to another era and visualize the generations which have  congregated under the high roof and prayed at the glorious altar. Leaving the church we stood for a moment to touch the deodar tree planted by Mary the Princess of Wales in 1906 and turned to catch a repeat glimpse of this majestic sentinel of the Himalayas, whose memories we will always carry in our hearts...

Eid Mubarak

On the evenings of the holy month of Ramzan, the streets and bazaars around Jama Masjid in Old Delhi come alive after sunset. Families pour into the streets partaking food from the myriad hotels and food stalls, glances from behind veils reveal faces of women in excited animation, children scamper through the streets in wondrous fascination and vendors beckon you to inspect their colorful wares. As the world celebrates Eid today, here are some visuals of these joyous moods...

Guns And Roses

A hard nosed and armed policeman admires the softer side of life...

Window Dressing

A casual glance towards the window revealed a delicate ballet in progress as the window washers waltzed down with their high tech equipment and low tech buckets...