My stories from India

[mystoriesfromindia]

Sometimes you realise from far away a good person. A person who works hard. A person with bad thoughts. Well, that happened with me & the fisherman. I was next to the chinese fishnets in Kochi, Kerala, just enjoying the sea & watching the fishermen working. They saw me there & they invited me go closer and see what they were doing. It was not a lucky day for them. Only a few fishes. The most of them were young and full with energy, but somewhere on the back, it was an old man, full with wrinkles, sitting quite & observing the work. So, I saw this man and had this feeling of a good person, who has an interesting past. I went near him & ask him first for a few photos & then he told me that he was working there for more than 25years. He loved his work & he was waking up early every morning to go for fishing. His legs were full with scars & his hands full with scratches. It’s so beautiful to see someone enjoys his work so much & waking up every morning full with happiness to go... fishing!

[mystoriesfromindia]

I was in Hospet for three days. The third day, I just took my camera & walked on the streets. People were so welcome & asking me to take them photos. The happiness on their faces, when they were looking their photo on my camera’s screen was unique! I pass by from a big tailor place and the women, which were sitting on the stairs stopped their work & they were waving & smiling at me. Then I asked if I could take some photos of them. I sat there, next to them for a few minutes & was asking them about the job. Unfortunately, they could speak only some basic english. But they show me their job & what they were doing. They were repairing & sewing clothes. Their place was really messy, but they were seem to handle everything really good. 

[mystoriesfromindia]

Yes! Indians are eating inside the hindu temples. A lot of the hindu temples in India have a separate room, in which they serve food for free! In specific times and days. I was so excited visiting Sri Virupaksha temple in Hampi. The temple is dedicated to Virupaksha, a form of Shiva.  In the entrance of the temple is the temple elephant. Many major temples own elephants; others hire or are donated elephants during the festive seasons. While I walked from the other side of the temple I found this room. People were saying “hello” & invited me to eat with them. It was the first time I saw this & it was pretty awesome how people enjoy in such a simple way their meal.

[mystoriesfromindia]

I arrived in Pushkar on 13th of February. This is a day when Lord Shiva is worshipped by thousands of devotees across the country. Fasts are kept by many throughout the day. At the end of the day prayers & rituals are held after which the festival is celebrated in a fervorous manner.   I enjoyed the celebration on the streets of the city, which was full with flowers, screams, music, cars, cameras, locals, tourists & musicians, who were participating in the parade. I found a less crowded corner & that was the moment I took the first portrait of the lady in pink. I liked the way she was looking at me. Her eyes are full with promises & stories. She smiled & she invited me to sit with them at the side of the street. And so I did. They were both ladies really kind, asking me my name & were I was from. The lady in red grabbed my hand & started doing Mehndi. And that happened so fast & of course without asking me. I wanted to try & do Mehndi, so I let her continue, while I was talking to the other one. After a while my left hand started being also painted from the lady in pink. So, they were both working at the same time, doing draws, which were really different style from each other.  They told me about their life & that they were poor gypsies living in tents, somewhere in between the desert. They both were left from their husbands & were staying with their five & six kids respectively. I asked the lady in pink how old was she. She was 22! Same age as me, just with other experiences, other stories, different everyday life.  Who knows if they were lying to me or saying the truth. I got surprised, how good english both were speaking, despite of the fact of their life & education. When they finished with the design, we started bargain for the price & when they got paid they invited to their home for food. But I never went...

[mystoriesfromindia]

This building is the most beautiful one my eyes have seen. Maybe you think that I’m exaggerating, maybe you think that it’s just one more famous sightseeing, but it’s not. When I walked through the east gate & Taj Mahal was exactly opposite of me, that was the moment that my mind was empty. Do you know these kind of moments? When you see something & you are just there staring it & nothing else? That was one of these moments. People were moving fast, running to take a place for a good photo, pushing each other, getting crazy with selfies, everything except of enjoying the beauty of it. White, transparent marble. The sunbeams were touching softly the sides & the top, changing its color every few minutes. From far seems minimalistic, but while I was getting closer I could see the details. The letters, the flowers, the edges. The red flowers on it are also made with a transparent kind of marble. The light can get through & the red transforms into a shiny, bloody stone. Inside I realised how high the building is & the echo is crazy. The whole place, at 6:30 in the morning, it gave me a magic, peaceful feeling. The fog makes it flies. Makes it be more special. For me it’s a small fairytale on earth, which was made for a real & strong love between two people, which wanted to show their love to the whole world... & they did it!

[mystoriesfromindia]

I always wanted to do a wedding crashing & that happened for first time in India! I came back tired, at my hostel in Agra, went to the terrace & loud music was bumping. From up there i could see at the backside of the hostel, a big yard with music, lights & a lot of people. I was so interested to see what is happening. So, after a while, me and two other guys from the hostel, Heejune & Em, went down & into the part of the yard, where the celebration was. People of course were looking at us, but in a warm way. A lot of them said “hello” & others, like the bride, were smiling at us. We staid there for a while, enjoyed the dances & the atmosphere, took some photos & spoke with some children, which were there.