Indian Temples, Indian People
Join Joost Bastmeijer on his trip to India.
The Taj! At 5am
During the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, I visited India. Though there are more Hindu people living there, I encountered many Muslims, who during the ninth month are fasting for Ramadan.
A house in Delhi’s Hauz Khan area
A temple under construction
I spent a number of evenings on the terrace floors of several ‘Jama Masjids’, the often ancient ‘Friday Mosques’ that can be found in almost every big city in India. In between the Ramadan prayers, I ate with Delhi families .
One of Jaipur’s lesser-known temple complexes
People wash before praying at Delhi’s Friday Mosque
One day, on top of Jaipur’s Wind Palace, I saw over 30,000 Muslims praying on the last Friday of Ramadan.
Ramadan prayers in the streets of Jaipur
Although the old mosques, temples, and (of course) the Taj Mahal were quite impressive, it was the people of India that make me want to go back again. I have met a lot of young photographers through Instagram and talked to a lot of people I have met along the way.
The Taj Mahal: guard for scale
Often, people would ask me if they could take a picture with me or of me; some of them even hugged me passionately as if we had been friends for years. In fact, an older woman and her twelve family members all wanted an individual picture with me.
After taking turns for pictures with me, I photographed this lady in the Fatehpur Sikri complex
When they had all taken a turn, to take a picture with me, I asked if it would be okay for me to take a picture of her as well. It was a pretty weird thing, we both took photographs of each other because we thought the other was exotic.
The Taj Mahal as seen from Agra’s fort
Story by Joost Bastmeijer, a freelance travel writer and photojournalist from The Netherlands, currently traveling through Africa. Check out my photos on Instagram at instagram.com/joostbastmeijer or on my website: joostbastmeijer.com!