At the StairsMany hindu widows are traditionally encouraged or forced to live for the rest of their lives in Banaras to seek Moksha---liberation from the cycle of life and death. For dying in Banaras promises Moksha. This belief continues to conquer the destinies of thousands of widows even today.These discarded widows continue to wait for their death. "At the stairs" captures lonely moments and lifeless lives of three aged widows who have been waiting for decades to die in Banaras. Ironically, they live at a paradoxical venue, Manikarnika, the busiest cremation ground, where cremations never stop. More then 100 departed souls are cremated here everyday. This film glimpses through the silence of these lonely souls living amidst the deafening sound of death rituals.The dying whispers of these widows are silenced by the incessant funeral pyres, the eternal wood hammering and "Ram Naam Satya Hai" (funeral recitation). "At the stairs" weaves a visual narrative which juxtaposes life and death, body and soul, confinement and liberation.
