Recently I had gone to the Sinhagadh fort in Pune to find this moment. We reached there early in the morning, well before daybreak and watched nature unfold its beautiful colors in front of us. It was truly a moment of peace which I enjoyed every moment.

Sinhagad or Sinhgad (The Lion’s Fort), is a fortress located roughly 30 kilometres southwest of the city of Pune, India. It is situated on a hill rising 800 metres above the surrounding countryside. Previously called Kondana, the fort has been the site of many important battles, most notably the battle of Sinhagad in 1670.

Layers of Perfection

Purple Magic

Morning Tutorials

Meditate

You shoot I shoot

The hit so far has been the ‘Light Painting Workshop’ and I am really glad that the participants like it. Their feedback after the workshops has been very positive and it motivates me more. I think that the best part about workshops is the fact that you get to share knowledge with people. This feeling is so satisfying that nothing can be compared to it. It is also knowing that the person you are teaching could end up being better than you in the art you are teaching. But I think that is more of an honor to the teacher than a threat.

Hand Patterns

I have been observing the participants and the creativity that they showcase is absolutely wonderful. Every workshop ends up in something out of the box. With more and more ideas floating around, I am able to guide the participants to a larger extent to execute their ideas. This has resulted in their works improving drastically and also the possibility of thinking beyond.

This not only gives us some really wow pictures, but also inspires me as a photographer to increase the efforts in each workshop.

Memories

The best way to travel in New York is to take the trains and the subways. The design of the stations are interesting and the long hallways make an interesting perspective.  Also walking around the city is lovely. Unfortunately I did not get to do that much, as it was raining. So I took some special interest in the interiors, and found that it in indeed a sight to behold.

Inside the Penn

The subway is the lifeline of the city. I was told that this was one of the oldest in the country, and is still a marvel in terms of its infrastructure and the precision with which the time table is followed. The tracks, the wooden and metal pillars, the old platforms, the strangers on the platform, the unique smell, all makes it an interesting subject to study. One could spend hours at these stations, and just observe people’s actions and behaviors.

The Wait

The trains are packed during rush hours and finding a seat is difficult, if not impossible. The people you meet on the trains and subways are interesting too, though I was a bit uncomfortable in striking a conversation with people around. A lot of the people did not sport a smile and that was something that did strike me.

Have a Seat

One of the things I have seen in numerous Hollywood movies is the Central Station. Standing there I had a smile on my face. It was a moment that I would cherish for a long time. Being there for a a short while, I notice how there is a continuous flow of people from inside to outside to inside. Everyone seemed to be a hurry. The huge American Flag that hung above, and the fast moving public below was a perfect signifier of the fast paced life-style of the people in US metros.

Central Station

A trip to New York cannot be complete without visiting the Financial District. A place that controls a lot of the world’s economy. A place on whose progress depends the markets of numerous other countries of the world. I think that in the times of the recession, this has become more clear now.

Wall Street

And if Wall Street and the entire financial district, is something one cannot miss, one really misses the buildings of the World Trade Centers. A friend has her office in the right side building that you see here. I am eagerly awaiting the day when the Freedom Tower comes up at the location of the World Trade Center.

Remembering Twin Towers

One of the things that surprised me in my stay in the US was the religious fervor amongst the people. It was very contradicting to the pre-conceived notions about the religious sentiments of the country that I had. It was hence good to see the church very centrally located there near the Financial Disctrict. It was another of those re-affirming in the presence of the almighty, moment.

Divine Presence

A lot would agree that in order to see the beauty of the New York, one has to take a ride to one of the islands that are nearby the main boroughs. That is also when you get to see the famous New York Skyline. Though now, the skyline looks incomplete without the presence of the twin towers. And hence I have to give it to Chicago, for having the best skyline in the US. Going away from the mainland, I notice a sail powered yatch, going where the winds taketh it. Somewhere deep within me, I make a wish of doing that someday.

Sail Away

And as one enters back to the mainland, the Brooklyn Bridge in all its might, catches one’s attention. This again has been a set and backdrop for numerous movies all around the world, and it was a pleasure just to see it in reality, right there in front of my eyes.

Mighty Brooklyn

And how can one forget the Statue of Liberty, when visiting New York. Although I was little disappointed by the cloudy day and the lack of time, the sheer joy on seeing something which I had seen in a sticker when I was small, made the experience memorable. Never had I thought when I was a kid that I would be seeing it right there in front of me.

Showing the way always

I saw only a glimpse of the wonderful city that is New York. There were interesting people, interesting means of transport, a melting pot for almost all cultures of the world, the city screaming in all its might due to the July 4th celebrations. I am dead sure that there a zillion other things to explore.

Intimacy

It was a short visit to the city, and I would have loved to stay more in order to get a better feel of the city. However due to time constraints, I was unable to do so. After more than a year, when I see the pictures again, I feel like going back again. Memories of the city make me Nostalgic. I know for a fact that I would definitely be going back there someday. I have the Fashion Capital, the China Towns amongst the other things to explore.

Till then, I will do with these photographs and a smile at having been there in one of the most amazing place in the world.

Jeene Do

At the very basic of thoughts, one would say why have someone bother about the way others live their lives. Very well said. Isn’t is everyone for themselves. So do not bother about me. Let me live my life. I am fine the way I am. The problems are mine. The successes are mine. I am the center and I am circumference of my world. It starts with me, it ends with me. ‘It’s my life’ said a famous singer.

Live and Let Live

Just when you were thinking that being selfish and being satisfied for oneself was the only way a person lived their life, someone comes along and says, well, it has to be a two way process. It cannot be a just that you live. You have to ensure that other’s live too. Thus one expands their thinking. It’s not only you, but also who is around you. You become sensitive to things. You see things differently and they make a whole lot of sense.

Pardesi

I am then stopped by the words Awaz Do (Blow Horn) and Dipper flashing straight at me. Yes I am in India. Its perfectly alright to blow the horn of the vehicle when you are overtaking or have a point to make. What is sad that often people honk for no reason at all. In spite of all this, India is a place that I missed so much. Something below the Dipper catches my attention. A truck in front of me was labeling me a foreigner. Or was it a mere co-incidence that I had just returned from the US after two years. Was that a long period to term me a foreigner? I wonder … I wonder.

Equality in Religion

One of the reasons I love India is the rich cultural mix that it possesses. The very fact that almost all of the world’s major religions thrive harmoniously in India is a miracle. And what surprises me the most is that when I speak to the common man, the people on the streets, the people in the small towns, have a common understanding. They all love their faith, but at the same time respect the other too. The trucks go one step further. It caught my attention that there was a religious symbol of the Muslims (the 786) and the Hindus (the Jay Ma Sherawali) on the same truck. It made me question, as to whose religious identity was the truck portraying? Was is the owner, or the order, or simply a hidden message in the text that God is one and we are all the part of the same cosmos.

Bridal Affair

The fascination for decoration never goes unnoticed. Brands lose their identities often. Logos are modified just to make a “better” appearance. Almost every truck vehicle would have a face painted on it. And the moment you have a face, the idea is to make it as beautiful as possible. And what can be more beautiful than painting it like a bride.

Dulhan hi Dahej Hai

With the thoughts of a bridal makeup still lingering in my mind, I walk around and here is a message for all of us in the society to follow. Hate to admit, but this still exists in the country widely. But if one was to understand it carefully, it makes so much sense.

Population Control

And if you thought that the truck graphics ended their messages with just the wedding, you are wrong. There is a clearly written message that could serve as a solution for India’s growing population. Families should have only two kids. Else what happens? Well, there is a population explosion and there will not be enough place for all of us on the planet. How neat!

Family Business

And if you cannot find a job elsewhere, why not take up your family business. This was a dhaba that was mostly used by truck drivers to take meals. We had stopped here for taking tea. We were surprised to see that there was three generations of the same family working in the restaurant.

Chak De Phatte

I guess the idea is in being good at what you do. Chak De Phatte, or Just Do It, as the Nike people would call it. I think that in order to know the success or a failure of any idea, one has to just experience it first hand. That is the best possible way. Being involved in setting up numerous startups presently, I see this as a valuable advise.

Parishram Ke Alawaa

And how to you succeed in them? Well you keep working hard diligently. There is no other way than the hard way. I think this is a well known fact, but often people end up trying to taking the short cut route. That is wrong. For me, I know that the harder I get, the luckier I get.

Jai Hind

I think that the most emotionally and soul satisfying experience comes from the fact that I am in India, viewing these things, that inspire me so much. It is with all pride that I flaunt my nationality, and am glad that I get to explore the things that I am passionate about!

I had left my village some 24 years ago for education. I was surprised to see that not many things had changed since then. Life style remained more or less the same, except that there was a larger penetration of technology in the form of televisions, radios, mobile phones.

One of things that refuses to go from the memories is the uncountable number of nights that were spent with the lantern. Electricity would often not be heard for months, and we would end up sleeping early in order to save up on the kerosene (which again was hard to get). Metaphorically speaking I think even though the village has limited electricity today, one still needs a lot of progressing to happen for the village to come out of its actual darkness.

Three parts of the home

The home is divided into three different parts. The one on the left that you see is the pakka one, which was built later on after the one on which it was built collapsed in an earthquake. The central portion is the aangan or the courtyard, which holds a really special place in my heart, as some of the fondest of my memories of my childhood are about playing in this aangan. The one on the right functions as the storage areas now, but used to be bedrooms when it was in use.

A typical Chulha in a village home

As far as I can remember, this is exactly the same location of the chulha (earthern stove) in the aangan of my home in the village. Memories of meals cooked on big utensils, with the smoke filling the entire space, come rushing back the moment I see these. My favorite used to be the makki ka rotis, served with spinach, or the freshly caught fish from the nearby pond, deep fried in mustard oil and masala.

Tulsi Plant

A common site across most village homes is the presence of the Tulsi Plant in the aangan and mine was no different. It is worshiped, and the tulsi leaves also has tremenduous medicinal properties. The Tulsi plant at this location, has been around for at least 25 years that I know. Maybe more. I wonder whether its the same plant, or another one just grew at the same place.

Lend them an ear

One of the things that I always face when I visit the village home is when the neighbors come and sit around me. News of my arrival travels to almost every corner of the village faster than forest fire. There are faces that i recognize, some tell me who they are and then I try to make the connection with how they look today and how they looked some 20 years ago, the time when I left the villages. They are surprised to see me, and so am I.  There are some who according to neighbors will be my nephews or nieces. They all have a hope in their eyes. A hope of me doing something good for the village, for their children, for them.

Some tell their stories, some shed a tear or two at their misfortunes. Some tell of their lost children. Children who have left them at their miseries, and moved on to greener pastures. I listen to them aghast. I am loss of words. I do not know what to say. I make up my mind of doing something for the village. I decide that the next school that I am going to work on through my child education project is the school in my native village. The building is there. Unfortunately it’s a cowshed presently.

Verandah

Once upon a time, the village home used to be one of the very few pakka makaans in the village. With time, parents and my uncles moved out of the village. At present only my grandma lives here. And she does not want to leave the place and come to the town to live with her sons, no matter how uncomfortable it is to live in the village home. I make it a point to go to the village every-time I go home.

Grandma in her room

Most of my childhood was spent at my grandparents house, as my parents were in college. From the stories of my childhood that I hear, I constantly traveled between my maternal and paternal grandparents. I have been literally been brought up by them, till I understood things. And the year i started to do so, I went to a boarding school. This is my father’s mother, who does not want to leave the village home and come and settle with her sons in the town.

After I went to boarding school, my stay at home in the town, where my parents live, was very limited. I used to go there only during holidays, which was never much. So whenever I went home, my grandma used to come from the village to meet me. She never came empty handed. It could be either fresh corn, sugarcane from the fields, or home made fish curry, or rotis made of rice flour, or guavas and papayas from the garden in the village home.

Now owing to her age and health, her visit to the town is very limited. But mine to the village is not. I make it a point to go to the village every time I go home. And I do not go empty hand either.

Daadi Maa

My grandma’s diet comprises mostly of chapatis, due to her illness. She has limitations in the things she is allowed to eat. However the cravings for the things she likes is always there. This time, I spent a lot of time with her and talking about such things. Things that she misses. She mentions how in her heydays she used to thrive on milk, milk products, a non vegetarian diet, fresh food from the fields and gardens and an avid sweets eater. Of all the the things she misses eating the most is rice. She has been diabetic for over ten years now and is constantly on medicines.

Size

I am always amazed at the size of her fingers, her hand, her feet and the slippers that she wears. And these are the ones she is the most comfortable in. So where ever she goes, it is always these kind of slippers. One wears out, the other similar one comes in.

Source of Exercise

One of the things that has always had me awed, is the life expectancy of the people in the villages. Though my grandfather passed away in his sixties, there are others in the village who have gone on to be well beyond 80. While there are obviously a lot of factors, like less pollution, greener fields to walk to, purer air, I think there are other factors within the home too. for example this spice grinder. The females in the house grind the spices on this, everyday. By virtue of working out on this by grinding it, in a sitting posture, exercises the whole body. This definitely is another of those factors in the longer lives of people.

Running Around

Things being kept in different rooms, also results in people moving from one to the other very frequently. So there is always someone walking around. This almost inspires you to move around at all times!

Store and Puja room

One of the other common features in village homes are the multi utilization of a room. This room served as a store room and a puja room. The puja room often called the Gosain Ghar contained the idols that used to be particular to specific households. Often one would see plain stones, that served at idols too. The structure on which you see the pumpkin (which again was home grown) contains the crops from the season. My grandfather was a farmer, and the structure was always full of either rice or wheat.

One of them

I have always tried to make a visit to the village in my trips back home and I will continue to do so. I will never be able to get over the fact that I was one of them a few years ago and played the same games, wore the same kinda clothes, gathered around in aangans, and thrived on biscuits that were purchased for as low as 5 paise.

I see me

In the pillars that bear testimony to the time that has passed.
The steps that it has born, without a word being said.
Of the hopping from one pillar to the other,
The uncountable number of rounds and rounds around it.
I see me.

In the next generation kids, who stop by to see a stranger,
A stranger to his own home, his motherland,
Little knowing that where he stands,
Stood that very stranger who just appears larger.
And I see me.

In his eyes, in the shorts, in the slipper-less feet,
In the desires, the dreams and the ambitions.
In his inability to go to a school in the village,
And a life that resembles after effect of a carnage.
I see me.

I now wait eagerly to get back to my village again.

The trams

A photographer’s paradise… One place where one can never get tired of shooting! Its a wonder as to how long will these trams remain in function! They are very much in function and is jam packed at times! Even though its slow, one wonders what makes it the preferred mode of transport for the hundreds of people daily..

The Hand Pulled Rickshaws

These hand pulled rickshaws have been the face of Kolkata for long… the very sight of this reminds one of the novel City of Joy… Of late the government has issued an order to ban these hand pulled rickshaws. There are a group of people who are against this mainly for the reason that it will cause mass unemployment… currently there are around 10 thousand such rickshaw pullers there… Some also feel that this is actually a good thing in the crowded city of Kolkata and a welcome thing from the pollution that has been a characteristic of the city.

The street children

There are so many children like these on the streets of Kolkata… they are indeed nice as subjects to shoot and perhaps the most easily available.. but after a while they start to haunt you.. the poverty.. the conditions in which they live… they things they do .. like begging.. looking for food.. not knowing when their next meals would come from.. or perhaps just sleep on the pavements.. hoping for a better tomorrow…

The footpath dwellers

The number of families stranded on the footpaths of Kolkata is just uncountable… There are always so many of them on the streets.. and it appears that their drawing , study, bed room are all on the footpath. The number of such families keep increasing due to people flocking to the city from nearby towns, villages and states.

The earners of the footpath

On the footpath, its their office. They sit there whole day.. wait for customers.. eye each person passing by .. and then leave for the day.. to come back the next day….

The Yellow Taxis

This is one thing that you can never miss in Kolkata. They are everywhere…! The Ambassadors taxis! One of the most comfortable vehicles to travel by! And with the FM radio on full swing, no ride across the city seems to be boring!

The Tea with the daily News

When was the last time you actually saw the newspapers on the walls for a community… when was the last time you actually sat with friends at a chai stall reading and discussing about the latest news… politics.. cricket.. unions..

The Howrah Bridge

The symbol of Old Kolkata…and perhaps Kolkata’s most photographed monument.

The Street side Chowmein and Roll stalls

Its a wonder as to how the stomach never gets spoilt! These stalls are there at almost all areas of the city! Oh BTW the rolls and Chowmeins and the chicken chillies here are very tasty and cheap too!

The Victoria Memorial

In houses one of the largest painting exhibitions of the Indian History with artifacts from the historical India. The architecture is indeed marvelous and amazing!

And above all.. Cricket!

Where else but in Kolkata! The Cricket fever is always at a high here! No matter how the country’s team performs… the streets have always been and will be a playground to millions!

Well.. This is one place where I could go on and on shooting.. and run out of films/ memory but never out of subjects! An ancient city with a touch of modernity! Though one may not see the glimpse of the modernity in these photographs. One other trip will cover that aspect of the city. I just love the place anyway!

I have lied in the arms of mother nature and spent time being mesmerized in her beauty for hours.

Heaven is here

I have climbed a glacier, trekked in different mountain ranges, jumped from a plane, met the tribes, touched the shores of various waters, experienced different religions from the long list of interesting thing!

This space is meant to share some of those experiences.

The Taste Of India

India’s vibrancy is a treat to photographers like me who thrive on telling stories. We love to make each shot a part of a larger story. Avoiding words to tell stories has been the motto with which I live. The general public is not shy or too scared of you taking a picture of them. However one has to be more conscious of not hurting someone’s feelings. One cannot expect the same level of comfort in different parts of the world.

The best part of traveling across India is that the expressions of the people you shoot are genuine. The stories that you encounter on the streets and at various places allows you to reflect on your life in a way that you would not do elsewhere. It allows you to be thankful for your situation that you are in.

The cheap travel and food options make you want to go out and click at all times, though the weather and the scorching heat is perhaps the biggest obstacle. If one does manage to go out, one question that people frequently will ask is whether their picture are going to be used in magazines or newspapers. You feel amazed at their questions and are often stumped due to loss of words to answer them.

Hygiene is definitely on the low side, but I am always amazed at their survival instincts. One needs to learn a lot from them I feel.