Baba boom...siva

Morning chillum on the ghats for three saddhus who radiated laughter and kindness...sadly it was too early to accept their offer to join them, but a splendid start to the day...

other news...the rains of yesterday, as ever, moved the sentinent effluence of the alleys onto the steps down to the ghats, a turgid mix of cowshit and unrelated horrors crawling towards the ganges...this morning further rain in the shape and sounds of a thunderstorm...lightning infused percussion and gobstopper droplets of warm rain...and the alleys a piss scented sheet of glass as my blocked nose deserted me in my hour of need...this beautiful shithole indeed...

and the rain brings powercuts, last night skating through the alleys in shadowed gloom, darker shadows allowing doorways to form, offering glimpsed scents of spice cooking, of the daily life which continues regardless of the shadows we transient ones cast, regardless of the fallen century; the eternal city... occasional torches and motorbikes offering direction and warning...moments of light eerily transfiguring the web of the old town...

and a leaving day...tickets booked, off to see some temples and then the return to Delhi...all done. I'm amazed.