When I first saw him, he was lying along a window with his eyes closed, chanting quietly. Sun was striking through, lighting his face and I couldn’t stop looking at him and observing the peace he was naturally surrounded by. Since he seemed to be very engaged in his own world I asked some of his friends if I can take his photograph, I didn’t want to disturb him but also was too shy to photograph him without any permission.
After I took few images, he noticed the shutter clicking and opened his eyes. He starred at me for a moment and then closed his eyes again. It was intimidating and I could tell he wasn’t comfortable about neither my camera nor my presence, so I left him alone for the moment. I sat in a circle with other men from Ni Ghat who invited me in to document their hash making activity.
Later on, Bhisho Nath came to join us; he spoke with his eyes only. He sat close by and smiled at me, I could tell he was curious about the reason of my presence. In few minutes later he sat in a lotus pose and suggested I take his portrait. His gesture changed the dynamic of our interaction and I could tell he no longer felt hesitant about neither my camera nor me being around.
Our entire interaction and any kind of conversation happened without words, thinking back, beside his quiet chanting, I do not recall hearing him speak anything.. His loneliness was striking. No matter by how many people he was constantly surrounded by, he was alone, apart from others, the whole time.
After couple of days being around him, I realized how moved I was by him. I can’t describe what was it exactly that caught so much of my attention but I felt there is something very pure and clean about Bhisho Nath that felt very comforting to be around.
When I was leaving Ni Ghat, he smiled and waved at me, then put his hands in prayer and nodded his head to gesture “Namaste.” To hug a holy man seemed a bit inappropriate, so I smiled back at him and walked down the stairs of Dharmasala.
