Editor’s Note: The digital tools that can be used artistically to express and manipulate moods are used in this photostory to give the viewers a window to look beyond the images and the words. The editing was done with the consent of the photographer. It is a unique piece where one photograph is used multiples times in different ways to carry the story ahead.
It was January 15, 2017. It may have been a Sunday—an off day for me for some reason. I was out on the streets alone, walking like a nomad, my camera in hand but no particular plan in mind. I wandered through the city, capturing moments here and there, the day unfolding in front of me like an unplanned journey. By late afternoon, I was tired from a day of aimless walking, from capturing fragments of life, but I wasn’t done yet. As I made my way back along the Hooghly River, from KumaTuli Ghat toward Howrah Bridge, I noticed the sun dipping lower in the sky.
There is something about sunsets and sunrises that captivates me, something for which I could walk miles just to witness. And so, despite my weariness, I decided to stop and watch the sun set over the bridge.
The place where I stood was unusual. It was near a burning ghat—adjacent to it, in fact. The spot was isolated, frequented only by those involved in rituals of passing or by people discarding refuse. No one else came here, it seemed. But I stood there, alone with my thoughts and the weight of the moment.
Framing the Scene
The sun was slowly descending behind the mighty Howrah Bridge, casting long shadows and bathing the river in its golden glow. The bridge, solid and immovable, stood in stark contrast to the fluidity of the river below and the fleeting passage of the sun. As I stood there, camera in hand, I knew I had to capture the frame, not because it was aesthetically perfect but because of the rawness of the moment.
I composed the image with the bridge spanning diagonally across the frame, dividing the scene between the burning light of the sun and the growing shadows of dusk. In the foreground, the riverbank—rough, unkempt, and scattered with debris—felt like an honest representation of life itself. There was no need to crop or edit it out. That debris was part of the narrative—of what’s left behind in the cycle of life and death, and the ever-present undercurrent of reality that flows through our lives, whether we acknowledge it or not.
The Moment and Its Emotions
As I stood there, watching the sun melt into the horizon, a strange mix of emotions came over me. I could hear the faint sounds of people crying, mourning the loss of their loved ones, preparing for their last rites at the nearby burning ghat. And just above them, on the bridge, life moved at its usual pace—cars, buses, people rushing forward as if time had no limits. It was this stark contrast that hit me deeply.
There, on that empty riverbank, I felt both the weight of sorrow and the lightness of life moving forward. It was as if the bridge, the river, and the sun were all playing out a grand metaphor for life itself. The bridge connected two worlds—one of endings, where families mourned and performed final rites, and one of continuation, where people hurried along their paths, unaware of what lay below.
I pressed the shutter not just to capture a beautiful scene but to freeze that fleeting moment in which I felt the full weight of time passing. I wanted to hold on to the stillness and the motion, the grief and the life. The moment was layered with complexity, and no single frame could do justice to what I felt, but this image became my way of making sense of it.
The Reflection
Even now, years later, when I look at this image, I am brought back to that moment with startling clarity. The same emotion wells up in me—a reminder of how fragile life is, how brief each moment can be, and how easily we pass through it without realizing its weight.
This photograph serves as more than a record of a sunset. It reminds me to stay grounded, to be mindful of the time I have, and to appreciate the transience of life. It is easy to get swept away by the rush of daily life, much like the people on that bridge, but moments like this remind me to pause, to feel the world around me, and to acknowledge the quieter, often unnoticed cycles of life that play out in the background.
The Connection to Life
We all cross bridges in life, literal and metaphorical. Sometimes, we are so focused on reaching the other side that we forget to acknowledge what lies beneath. The bridge in this image represents that tension—the space between life’s ordinary rush and its inevitable end. The sun sets every day, but we rarely stop to watch it, to feel its warmth fade into the coolness of night, much like we rarely stop to reflect on how quickly life itself moves.
This photograph reminds me of the delicate balance between presence and passage. The sun will set, the bridge will remain standing, and life will continue. But every now and then, it's important to stop and acknowledge the moment we're in—to appreciate its fleeting beauty and to remind ourselves to be grateful for every day, no matter how ordinary it may seem.
The Way I see this image
I see both the weight and lightness of life. It grounds me, reminding me that every moment counts, and that even amidst the rush, we can find stillness and reflection.
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