I stop at the main entrance of the Pushkar Lake. The visual spectacle of colored people (hundreds) entering and leaving the sacred gate has something cinematic about it.
I have back pain. I see a place to sit by the door of a small trade of flowers (yellow and sacred), between two sahdus. Both have a metal can for their donations hoping the can is also sacred. I sit down for a while, feeling tired.
I see from the corner of my eye that they both look at me. More recovered, I decide to take the camera and photograph them. I start shooting the one at my right. He has a sign of Shiva god on his forehead. I take the picture and show him the image. He smiled and then asked for money. I say I don´t have money. In fact, I do not have due to the bad idealized replacement of old notes by new ones, by the Indian government. Anyway, paying for photos is something unpleasent for me…
I decide to offer him an mini Instax print. I put the printer in front of him and connect the camera. When the paper is ejected by the mini printer, I pick it up and start to blow it ( a magic blow 🙂 as the image slowly appears on white paper. He looks puzzled. I give him the print. He stares at it for a long time. With a few hand gestures, he asks me if the print is for him. I say yes. Suddenly, he stands up. He looks at me and asks again if hands gesture if the print is for him. I confirm. He looks back at the picture and says “Namaste” and disappears. Before leaving, I see a glance of a smile in his face.