Ganges River
As promised to Karla, I finally have gotten to blog about my
experiences with the Ganges. So many
people suggested watching Robert Gardner’s Forest of Bliss, but I’m glad I
waited until after I shot to see the film. Much of our footage reminds me of shots in that film. I suppose all
filmmakers shooting the Ganges gravitate toward the same visuals!
Our last trip was great- but not without some problems. I’m glad that there was someone else from the project there to help. (Up until this trip my production team had consisted of my husband doing sound, my little cousin being my translator, and my uncles being production assistants) So you could understand how happy I was to have a professional on set! When Karla and I got to Varanasi, we were preparing to do some site seeing but then got stranded in the hotel for the majority of the afternoon. Apparently a militant group had bombed the courthouses in 3 cities around India, Varanasi being one of them. After we assessed the situation, we made a trip to the Ganges for sunset. Because of the bombing, the Dev-Deepavali festival that we going to shoot the next day was toned down. If I hadn’t seen this festival once before, I wouldn’t have known what we were missing. Still the Ganges is such an amazing place, especially in Varanasi, the holiest city in India.
We were able to interview the same guide that I had on my previous trip in July, so we were able to follow up in completing the story. In July, we got access to the crematoriums, and I interviewed two different workers, whose families had worked there for generations. So that will make for some nice supplementary interviews.
Before Karla got to India, I spent time with my family in Kolkata. I was able to shoot another festival that was massive. It was the Chatt Puja, where people from the Bihar region of India worship the Sun god. I’ve included a photo from that festival below. Looking forward to seeing other rivers!
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