The Benares of James Prinsep

We stayed at Rama’s house. The first two floors were his book store, the basement was the office for his publishing company. The third through fifth floors were where he lived and where we stayed in the city of Benares on the banks of the holy Ganges River. Pam and I were careful to shut and lock our room’s windows to keep the monkeys out. The air conditioner helped but leaked a puddle on the floor.

We were shooting the ancient city and interviewing the intellectuals to find out what James Prinsep found with such fascination when he first came in 1820.

Prinsep was without a doubt one of the most unrecognized people in the history of India. He was English and worked for the colonial East India Company, actually running the mint in Varanasi.

Available on DVD via Amazon. 74 minutes, 2012.