Ganga Aarti

The famous Ganga-Aarti of Rishikesh

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all have a great year ahead and not judge your entire year on the basis of just the first day. :)

The photos above were taken during my trip to Rishikesh, right in front of the Huge Shivji statue. I have been to loads of religious places (trust my mom to make sure of that) but nothing comes close to the Ganga-Aarti I witnessed at Rishikesh. It was very different from a normal puja as all the rituals were carried out by the kids pictured above. No adult pundit was allowed to be involved in the ceremony. There were kids right from the age of 4 or 5, I guess. After the end of the ceremony though, I found out that these kids were those that had been orphaned after the Gujrat earthquake and had no place to go to. The kids are now residents of the temple at Rishikesh and the temple committee looks after them.
It was really touching to see them all decked in saffron, so happy and vibrant, some sleeping, some dreaming, some singing, and some laughing. Hope they too have a great 2006!


Markdown yes yes, HTML no no.

  • *italic*, **bold**
  • > Quote
  • [link](http://prateekrungta.com "Rungta's")

† E-mail is required for summoning your gravatar image.

Varenya said.. Reply

Nice pics...I have been there...is a beautiful site..the kids definitely look cute and its gud that the temple community is doing a gud thing for a change rather than fighting with ppl of other religions, and Ya I don't wanna judge the year based on the first day..lol

Rashmi said.. Reply

Happy New Year to u too! :) This is really nice, never knew children so young were included and also conduct pujas.. and esp since the temple helps the orphans this way is really nice to see... its truly a rare thing. And your portrayal of these children is really cool.

Bavani Sam said.. Reply

Good one again!!!

And yes im feeling happy for the kids too, after such a terror...in their life...they now shud be gettin over it...and having a calm situation their...

Hope the best for them too.

Cheers,
Bav

Shiv said.. Reply

It has come out very nice. i had seen individually ,but this collage is great!!!!!!! keep it up!!!

Suji said.. Reply

Really vibrant pictures and vibrant kids. Hope they have a great year and a great life ahead. Happy New Year.

Prateek said.. Reply

Thanks a lot for all your lovely comments and wish you all a Happy New Year once again!