Muscle in the town of soul: Mr. India 2010

The night before a friend was wondering about the unusually high number of buffed people he was noticing on the streets lately. The news paper report that morning got me jumping. Mr. India 2010 was being held in Benaras. Not a big fan of the muscle league, but the fact that it was being held here in Benaras, that certain bit of paradox was fascinating.

Even more irony heaped here with this show of brawn being held on the grounds of the Sanskrit University. It worked perfectly well for the organisers though. With marauding drunk university hooligans on the sides, politicians/mafia sitting in the front seats, scouting for bodyguards and henchmen, and a bunch of locals more used to seeing religion and music on stage rather than calves and deltoids.

The physically challenged came first to mad roars from the crowd. The peeks behind the stage were far more interesting where the builders were flexing every muscle for the camera. I had one 39-year old gasping for breath as he flexed and I couldnt get my focus right. The demographics of the builders were fascinating. The ones from Kerala were winning a lot, the Delhi boys were there and made a little mark with the medals, Punjabis were there too and got the crowds going with their Punjabi songs for their pose rounds. There were overly built Maharashtrians who have always had this body building habit which I think emanates from their complex of their build. The Manipuris who could be the most gifted athletic community in the country, were my favourites, they left the locals baffled by their ways. Except a few snide and racist remarks of the Chinese not having a chance against the Indians, most cheered them on. They went on to win the most by the end.

The next morning the buff was off the streets of Varanasi.

Shot on Nikon D60, Nikkor 18 - 55, 55 - 200mm.

Mr India 2010, Benaras, India from Akshay Singh on Vimeo.

Of madness over chai and philosophies over bhang

I wouldn't really care about introducing Kashi to you, for if you are reading this, you know what it is, what flows through it, which God was banished to it, what do most of its' citizens do for a living and what is the difference between Kashi, Varanasi and Benaras. Instead, I would like to write and initiate a discussion on what gives Kashi and its' people, its' distinct flavour of a tolerant, culturally responsive and a largely intelligent and informed society. Even though development, emancipation and all its' synonyms have largely shied away from the town, its' easy to see the flow of intellect and some stark opinions flowing through its' chowks and gullies. Sticking around at one of its' many obscure chai stalls, I sit down and reluctantly put my ears to work to hear the paltry citizenry making their voice heard with a louzy tone on a pathetic platform. Where is the rebellion, the guns, the blood? Or so I thought, for this paltry bunch like every other normal day would consist of professors, sadhus, recluse vagabonds, tradesmen, musicians, journalists, beggars, ignorant onlookers like me, the mediators-chai-wallas, the list is as varied as Kashi itself. Not leaving the boundaries of society and its' tentacles, this motley crew can be found at nooks and corners sipping chai in kulhads, discussing intensely, life and its' intricacies and looking beyond mundane topics of politics and cricket. With a varied range of intense philosophical dialectics and socio-cultural vagaries, I wonder if we have our own Sartre and Bertrand Russell at work.
One of my favourite past times in the city, its' hard not to sit amongst one and listen to these absorbing debates and discussions. And by the end, one is always left wondering what aids this vox populi in their wisdom fuelled conversations. Their perpetual bhang-induced state or the concoction of culture and religion in the city that helps them to look beyond the two or just a desire to explore new topics. For any, who read this and have remotely experienced what I wrote, I would love to read your thoughts for the same has baffled me immensely.