Losing Fixed Identities, Gaining Power
Losing Fixed Identities, Gaining Power
Pushkar, India, 2015
Early mornings in Pushkar are a beautiful, quiet delight. The shops are still closed, cows sit in the middle of the streets, soaking in the rising sun. Chaiwallahs haven’t yet arrived at their stalls, but the lake is already bustling. According to ancient scriptures, Pushkar is considered the adi-tīrtha, or the first sacred place from where one’s spiritual pilgrimage around the country begins. Women bare themselves to take a dip in the sacred waters of Pushkar Lake, a sight that exhibits the country’s paradoxical nature. In a country where women are looked down upon for showing even a bare shoulder, female pilgrims are not ever ogled at. In fact, local men prevented me from going down to the ghat (stairs leading to the lake) with my camera, saying that women were bathing there.
Losing Fixed Identities, Gaining Power
Pushkar, India, 2015
Early mornings in Pushkar are a beautiful, quiet delight. The shops are still closed, cows sit in the middle of the streets, soaking in the rising sun. Chaiwallahs haven’t yet arrived at their stalls, but the lake is already bustling. According to ancient scriptures, Pushkar is considered the adi-tīrtha, or the first sacred place from where one’s spiritual pilgrimage around the country begins. Women bare themselves to take a dip in the sacred waters of Pushkar Lake, a sight that exhibits the country’s paradoxical nature. In a country where women are looked down upon for showing even a bare shoulder, female pilgrims are not ever ogled at. In fact, local men prevented me from going down to the ghat (stairs leading to the lake) with my camera, saying that women were bathing there.
Losing Fixed Identities, Gaining Power
Pushkar, India, 2015
Early mornings in Pushkar are a beautiful, quiet delight. The shops are still closed, cows sit in the middle of the streets, soaking in the rising sun. Chaiwallahs haven’t yet arrived at their stalls, but the lake is already bustling. According to ancient scriptures, Pushkar is considered the adi-tīrtha, or the first sacred place from where one’s spiritual pilgrimage around the country begins. Women bare themselves to take a dip in the sacred waters of Pushkar Lake, a sight that exhibits the country’s paradoxical nature. In a country where women are looked down upon for showing even a bare shoulder, female pilgrims are not ever ogled at. In fact, local men prevented me from going down to the ghat (stairs leading to the lake) with my camera, saying that women were bathing there.