Punjabi Gasti: Photo

It was the summer of 1998 in a small village called Fatehpur in Punjab, and the air smelled of wet earth and diesel fumes. I remember because I was seven, sitting on the cool cement floor of our veranda, when my grandfather, Bauji, pulled out a large, brown envelope from the steel trunk that never left his side. The envelope was brittle, its corners softened by decades of humidity.

“We lit a second lantern,” Bauji continued. “And there, sitting on a broken headstone, was a girl in a blood-red duppatta . No older than you. Her feet were bare, and she wasn’t walking—she was floating a few inches above the ground. Gurdev started reciting the Japji Sahib . I just gripped my lathi so hard my knuckles turned white.” punjabi gasti photo

[Insert images of Punjabi Gasti Photos]