It had been a sacred day for Harivansh Verma. It was the evening of Ganga Dussehra, the major Hindu celebration and gathering along the banks of the Ganges. He was in the city of Haridwar, the location of Har Ki Pauri ghat, a holy riverbank.
“Haridwar holds a lot of deeply spiritual memories for me and my family,” Verma says. “In Hinduism we believe taking a dip in the Ganges cleanses you of your sins. Devotees travel from across the country and the ritual baths go on continuously from sunrise until late into the night. The atmosphere is magnificent.”
It was early evening when Verma took a stroll along the shore, looking for moments to capture with his smartphone. “When I came across this young man, the balloons made me smile at first, but his expression is what made me stop.”
Verma didn’t know the man, and they exchanged few words, aside from asking permission to take the shot. “There was nothing out of the ordinary about him, but his expression clearly reflected the heavy weight of worry and responsibility he was carrying. The contrast between the exhausted look on his face and the cheerful smiley faces on the balloons felt like two completely different stories existing in one frame.”
Verma hopes people will have a similar experience looking at this image. “Maybe they’ll smile at first, but then spend a little longer looking at him and wondering about his story.”
