Raja Ghat

Yesterday  we wound through another part of Benares to a beautiful building by Raja Ghat. The little lanes were not as busy as the main road, on our way there. When we arrived... I didn't want to move an inch. The place holds a stillness until one sees what about it is moving. It will be the first time we perform in a real courtyard, which sits in the center of the building, a soft, sunny sanctuary. --have to stay in the shade most of the time, though, so as not to get dehydrated. My favorite part was standing on the roof before rehearsal. The stone is old and the walls are painted pink. We could see a lot. The Ganga looks big and grey, even at this lowest of its waterlines. We saw men doing laundry, women chatting on the ghat, folding a green sari. One pilgrim in a pink sari was standing and looking at the river. There were lots of, I don't know, pilgrims and other travelers on both sides of the river. And since we were so high up, we saw roofs and walls and windows and advertisements and all the other sources of color and line and shape stretching off on both sides. A garden to the left and construction workers moving maroon bricks around a blue yard on the right. Everyone just doing their thing. Even though I don't understand or remember everything I see (who ever does?), this is some of what I like best :  standing in the breeze and looking.
Fiona Carey