69/ 100 Fire Family Dog
A Scene that Transcends Time
This photograph is perhaps my favourite of all the images I made on my most recent trip to India. It’s not a pretty photograph, and the details will no doubt be lost if you view it on a mobile phone, but it visually encompasses perfectly the interactions I observed between street dogs and people in India, and no doubt many other countries around the world.
We were up very early one morning in Varanasi because our friend and host Sonu was taking us on a sunrise boat trip. The sun never did rise (well, it did, we just couldn’t see it) but the dark mist swirling around that chilly morning made for some challenging but fascinating photography opportunities.
Our guesthouse was along a very narrow path which, in turn, joined a very slightly wider one that meandered in complete darkness (there are no street lights) along the almost medieval streets for quite some distance. We carefully navigated the fresh cow dung piles and broken pavement that could twist your ankle if you were careless, grateful for the harsh florescent light spilling out from the few shops that were already open, selling the kinds of things an Indian person might need before daybreak.
Sonu led us briskly past people still sleeping under old blankets in street corners whilst we marvelled at the fact that there were large slumbering cattle barely visible in the deep shadows along the path edges. How could a person walk past close enough to touch a creature so big almost without seeing it? We arrived at the market square that was not square at all; it is actually the shape of a bent spoon, pouring its continually flowing human contents into the nearby river Ganges.
Dotted throughout the dark space, just visible through the thick fog, were numerous campfires. The smoke added to the impenetrability of the fog whilst distant bells rang from within unseen temples and boatmen down on the riverbank called to attract their next customers; all creating an even more mysterious atmosphere.
Around each fire there was the same scene. There would be a small family with members of every generation. I don’t know who they were or why they were there but I think it is likely that they are pilgrims, coming to the river for their religious bathing but without the means to pay for a room for the night. As must have surely happened ever since humans first discovered the warmth of a fire on a cold night, the yellow flames from burning scraps of collected wood attracted cattle and, of course, dogs.
From what I have seen on my many trips to India I am very confident that none of the animals in the photograph above belong to those people. It is more likely that they are all simply existing in small symbiotic group. The cattle enjoy the heat of the fire and in return perhaps offer even more heat to the people. The dogs most likely offer some degree of protection. I can imagine the people, living in a country that isn’t anywhere near as unaccustomed to living with animals as we are, might also take some pleasure from the fact that they can provide heat not only for themselves, but also for their fellow creatures.
Let’s face it. Isn’t it nice to just be kind to other creatures? I don’t think I am alone in finding primal pleasure from simply spending time amongst all the other wild souls that exist in this world.
[I’ve added a collection of other photographs made this same morning. You can read post 74 here https://www.trevorwilsonphotography.com/wavy-blanket-dogs/]
