Thread by @ARanganathan72

I stared at this photo, of the Army Chief bowing & touching the feet of a war-widow, and realised some Indian traditions can be so beautiful

Two recent photos made me look at our Police force in a different light. Beneath their hard exterior beats a kind, warm, accepting heart.

Whenever I am sad and depressed at the largely ungovernable, mostly unliveable, and generally impossible state of our great country, I return to this photo, of a four month-old Faizan Khan looking at his rescuer SHO Sanjay Kumar. It helps.

Strolling about a Himachali village, the photographer @daminijosh saw a woman worshipping, but not an idol, not any form, not even the Sun. “Who do you worship?” she asked

“I worship the path,” smiled the woman

Can India be described better? Where does so much depth come from?

Rotten, spiteful, brutal, is what comes to mind when we think of our Police.

But this child? He will think differently when he grows up. For he has seen the side we refuse to. He has tasted the milk of human kindness.

India is so beautiful because her people are so beautiful.

As I watch these determined, unflinching Assamese kids use pots to cross the river to reach their school, I recoil in horror but, oddly, end up being inspired.

And it is then that one realises, that India is the beautiful face you see after the unimaginable pain of child-birth.

This is not a devotee offering Chhath in snowed down Montreal. This is Yamuna.

Beyond the horror, lies something else.

The world melts, and everything, even your health, becomes irrelevant, when you see God. If only Earth was like Faith - indestructible. (pic @NewIndianXpress)