Bengaluru:

The Ganga never ceases to evoke awe despite all the clamour about its cleanliness or lack of it. Veeral Parekh, a photographer from Bengaluru, visited Varanasi to capture the vignettes of life and death which blend seamlessly on the river’s 100-odd ghats. Life on the Ghats is an exhibition of Parekh’s photographs, frames captured from a faraway land. A former student of Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, he is known to aesthetically capture quotidian existence in his works which primarily revolve around travel. “I visited Varanasi in 2013. I was there for two days and moved around the 100-odd ghats from morning to evening, capturing the lives of middle-class people there. It was a touching experience,” he recalls.

Parekh was taken in by the uniqueness of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. “As you walk in the city, you will see that buildings and streets over 100 years old throbbing with life. It’s exciting to see and experience something like this. The city has more than 100 ghats (a series of steps leading down to a water body). They are used to perform ceremonies, and a lot of them are also used as cremation sites. People take bath in the holy river; it’s an amazing feeling to witness life and death in this incredible city, especially when you share the experience with others and not keep the moments to yourself.” Parekh’s photographic ensemble of Varanasi comes in colour as well as black and white. From flower sellers to people burning bodies on the ghats or throwing them into the river, to elderly people regurgitating memories in solitude, the photographs reflect the essence of Varanasi’s way of life. What: Life on the Ghats, an exhibition of Veeral Parekh’s photographs Place: Shades of Art Gallery, Koramangala Timing: 11 am to 6.30pm (till April 20)

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bengaluru / by G S Kumar, TNN / April 02nd, 2015