Extracts from Vrindavan....

Mustard fields, yellow flowers in a lush green fairy tale, the sandstone canopy, stands amidst this scene as a sentinel guarding the beauty that still abounds. The past reminds it of the village damsel who once danced about singing songs of joy with the rising sun. Her anklets jingled as she passed, the canopy stood there bowing down to her beautiful existence and her youth. It shared her sorrow as well as her laughter.One day with the setting sun, she too walked away…leaving behind whispers of yesterday. A new tomorrow ushered itself repeating the whole cycle with a different feel this time. Here I was standing before the canopy that has stood since time immemorial, it looked right through me and narrated all that was, the damsel, her lover and their life…..Vrindavan.

As the river Yamuna flows with its waters crashing on the walls of the ghats, one can see how dirty and black it has become, but I guess that’s Yamuna, the black one, absorbing within its waters, the sins of us sinners and bearing the brunt of it all.
Across the river, a pair of vultures sit waiting for a feast, a dying cow, a burning corpse, a life becoming full circle....

There I stand in front of the canopy. As the sun sets, the damsel is seen once again. The music of her jingling anklets is heard clearly. Who else is she but the spirit, the essence of Vrindavan. Without her, the lover-Krishna and Vrindavan will elude one and all.

The road leads its way on to a never-ending story. The wide expanse of the fields, the villages all pass by in a flash, with the blink of my eyelids, it all disappears.
Vrindavan is left behind, the dust of the road twists and twirls as the vehicle moves on into the night…the bright orange sun is camouflaged by the smoke of the chimneys in the village. The misty fog, its ice cold fingers and dream like haze engulfs everything that comes its way. The beauty of darkness welcomes us…it’s the beginning of a tunnel, with shimmering lights, of restless nights, unfulfilled dreams, the damsel, her lover, a new saga begins…..