Aditya Joshi, Echoes of the Eternal: Ritual, River, and the City (TRAVEL 2025)

“Echoes of the Eternal” is a photographic journey through India’s sacred choreography — capturing the profound human presence and ritual energy of the Kumbh Mela of 2025, the timeless ghats of Kashi, and the enduring pulse of Kolkata city. At its heart, this series is about time — how it folds from the trance of a sadhu lost in fire and breath, to the silent unity of pilgrims being initiated in spiritual practices, to the still, gray morning rituals by the riverbed, every frame captures spiritual endurance and bodily devotion. And then, we step into a quiet moment captured from inside the last surviving tram of Kolkata — a fading relic of colonial-era India still pulsing through the city’s arteries. As the tram glides forward, its open window frames the street beyond: people walking, waiting, living. The image is a study in contrast — between motion and stillness, tradition and modernity, memory and momentum. Through this single frame, the tram becomes a time capsule, observing the city as it observes itself. These photographs do not seek to explain — only to witness. To listen, through the lens, to the way India breathes in its eternal moment.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.