Bazaar travels to Benaras with acclaimed author Aatish Taseer, whose new book looks at how this ancient city deals with the repercussions of modern India
A line from Pretty Woman comes to mind as I reflect upon Benaras: “That’s just geography”. Why else would the cosmopolises of New York and London seem more familiar than Benaras, an hour-long flight away from Delhi? The sense of dissonance here isn’t jet lag—it’s as if time, somehow, has paused. You come across a keen awareness of ancestry and lineage, dating back generations; you hear Sanskrit spoken effortlessly and casually; you see death and decay so closely it becomes an enduring motif of the ghats, as natural as the water in the Ganges. It’s telling that it is the only city exempt from Bazaar’s style guide—Bombay is Mumbai and Pondicherry is Puducherry, but Benaras is never Varanasi.
It is this idea that Aatish Taseer explores in his thoughtful new book The Twice-Born: Life and Death in the Ganges (HarperCollins). “I was interested in the idea of distance that wasn’t physical. This was a lateral journey, to try to understand the distance between people who are very near to each other. I was interested in the experience of travelling back over centuries. That distance is not benign. People who find themselves on the other side find that their world is changing in profound, even violent ways,” he says.
Esta historia es de la edición December 2018 de Harper's Bazaar India.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición December 2018 de Harper's Bazaar India.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Filler Fatigue
With worries about facial distortion and a shift towards the natural, is it time to sav goodbye to these corrective tweaks?
Mind-Skin Connection
Is il possible for your skincare to communicate with your brain:
Tailored for the Game
Fashion meets sports as U.S. Polo Assn. names Sawai Padmanabh Singh of ol Jaipur’ s royal family its global ambassador.
Reimagined Classic
Louis Vuitton launches the Neverfull Inside Out bag, transforming the icon into a fully reversible tote.
Italian Muse
Guecr's new high jew ellery collection isa stroll through the country’s picturesque gardens.
Co Gs Art Post, Gas Art Pas New CELSIOR Net Lay the show Neking ble e dh PATRON An TH Fotal 24 ANAR Romantics
Romcoms might not have prepared me for modern dating, but they offered a timeless sartorial guide to falling in love.
Making a Case for India's Ingenuity
William Dalrymple says The Golden Road is an extraordinary story but also the most challenging book he has written in the last two decades.
On My Playlist
Playback singer turned indie-pop artiste Dhee talks about music, identity, and empowering a new generation.
Explicitly Bold
The latest lipstick range by Nars is designed to empower wearers with colour and confidence.
Art in a Bottle
The Perfume Library founder Jahnvi Lakhota Nandan believes fragrances are meant to be liberated.