Drought of rain or humaneness!

Dirty wet small by lanes, full of green cattle refuse mixed with rain water sloshing the main entry points of every village I visit, rural India makes me question, who is actually progressing? People laughing and smiling at the camera with torn shirts, eating one meal a day, living off daily labor, employed for two to three weeks a year. The state of drought ridden Bundelkhand is shameful. At the same time in Mumbai our progressive metropolis, huge posters of the next upcoming television series "Jhansi Ki Rani". The famous girl/queen who hails from Jhansi (Bundelkhand), and who led the 1857 mutiny against the British is displayed. While Bundelkhand suffers in 2009, people on their television sets are glued to the soap opera of a young actress enacting the "Queen" who gave her life up for the freedom we enjoy.
I am no journalist my statistics are hearsay not confirmed, but what I surmise the root cause of the poverty and helplessness there is a combination of fraudulent government 65% and the nature driven drought 15% and the caste system 20%. Some snippets of my experience there I will try and put in words. Or let the pictures speak for themselves. Pics are still embargoed...let me begin with Mumbai...

"A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction." - Oscar Wilde.

A competition on magnum blog triggered me to think of some photographs which I have shot of my friends and on assignments, I realize I have a very unfair balance of men over women. To illustrate Mr Wilde's point I picked two from my archives.

Delhi 6

9 am, I check the weather it says 40 degrees, and I moan. I am here in Delhi. Last Saturday on the way from the airport I was greeted by a man in a velvet jacket peeing on the pavement. I realized no amount of concrete roads can change us. It rained for twenty minutes which has effectively stalled my evaporation. As always this country amazes me. Put the camera out of a moving vehicle and you are greeted with life at every turn. Heat, sweat, rains nothing deters us. It is the law of the jungle again. The survival of the fittest. The unrelenting nature is a safer destination than the disparity caused by man to man. Yet this is my country and we are changing daily, progressing into a more material existence, I love it every moment of it.... Enjoyed shooting these...

Worlds Roof Top has Internet

A sudden phone call out of the blue landed me up on an life altering trip to Leh, considered the Worlds rooftop. The view is literally breathtaking, in the sense there is seriously less oxygen up there, so listen to your guides before hand. The Ladhakhi culture, simplicity of the people and the harmony with nature is amazing. Complimented by snow draped beauties looking over your shoulders all the time. The true balance of nature and a major source of clear drinking water to sustain civilization itself, the Himalayas is pristine beauty redefined.

The disturbing fact is I am destroying this beauty day be day by leaving a carbon footmarks in almost every activity I do. The only escape to mankind when the earth will collapse under the pressure to sustain mankind are these mountains. I couldn't help but snap when the moment came by.

Half Year Review...

Mumbai was attacked by 10 mongrels in the name of religion and invisible lines we call boundaries, everyone was apprehensive about safety. Stock markets crashed and people lost funds by the buckets, inflation pinched us even more. Then came the looming uncertainty of the Nuclear deal, a no confidence and then elections itself. Then the turnover happened, the government went stable, the markets revived and we think we all are again on a growth path. Monsoons were delayed and only with 50% predictability. The year 2009 seems to be a lot of ifs and buts.

Not to mention the International news, end of the tyrannical Bush and emergence of over-hyped Obama. China doing funny things as always. North Korea launching a few missiles. A few Pakistani launching grenades at a cricket team. Srilanka flaunting Prabhakarans body. Newspapers and magazines shutting down in the US. Racial violence in Australia.

Is it me who is this negative or is it the media that thrives on negativity all the time... I wonder.

As they say, " the darkest hour is just before the dawn".

Cute Childhood

The eruption of consciousness and awareness of this dangerous and merciless world is cushioned by nature in the form of two responsible experienced adults. Who smooth a child's way to adulthood. The rules of the mad world are taught to you for free,unconsciously your path is shown to you. Your words and actions are molded in their images. We are effectively a mixed bust of our parents and mentors.

And yet we want to be individuals, not affected and not cast in their shadows. A nightmarish statement for a teenage girl is "you look like your mom", guys may dread the fact that the father is balding. And yet in search of ones own identity we see them as old fashioned and old school we seldom realize they see us as that toddler who needed their hands to learn to balance his/her first steps.

The Problem of Plenty

Historically, we as Indians had everything we need to exist, rivers, rains, we formed the greatest way of society and life... we were called the "Aryavansh", "Bharathvansh", and many proud and famous names. The country practically flowed with milk and honey. Natural protection of the Himalayas kept the cold winds of the north away. We remained isolated for centuries forming a thought process that is way ahead of even today's society we live in. We had place for everyone in our hearts. We were by far the most " Developed" society ever.

Then came the looting invaders from the north and diluted us, and came the religious crusaders and converted us, and those of them who stayed converted us even more. The people following the original way of life were branded as Hindu's and the younger religious groups converted us with the promise of redemption. Once an holy man said "There are only two religions in India, Hindus and converted Hindus." We were ruled we were changed,and today we are looking ahead at a different world.

We are redeveloping in the cast of an acceptable society by the people who ruled us. We are remaking ourselves in the identity of others. Many I speak to here are distressed, not too happy with the unnecessary competition we are forced into. The laid back way of life which we practiced is preferable to many. Worship of nature and the practice of self perfection so ingrained in our culture is forgotten in the daily traffic jams and salary raises.

My boss recently pointed out one small fact to me, he said "we are sitting in a cafe like an Englishman, drinking Earls Grey tea and talking in English wearing a shirt and a pant and we are comfortable about it. This is cultural invasion." I wonder what would be to redevelop in our own cultural way, to rethink and customize old traditions in the modern era... I wish I had the power to influence and walk back to the mature society my super ancestors actually enjoyed.

In this context please see this video of Nandan Nilenkeni very thought provoking...

http://www.ted.com/talks/nandan_nilekani_s_ideas_for_india_s_future.html

SAMASTHA LOKA SUKIHNAW BHAVANTHU!!!

Means To an End

I have realized now, one can be taught to sing very well, but what he chooses to sing is his choice generally. There is no easy path to self actualization, the only way I think is to listen to yourself.

Now making these heavy statements is easy, but the real inspiration is from the king of kings himself, Sebastian Slagado. An one hour talk can change the fundamentals of my thinking it self. One may consider me gullible but to the contrary I am too adamant in my views about social justice.

A lot has changed on this earth since Salgado, Steve, James, Bresson, walked the streets of unknown countries trying to make the first world realize social and economic crisis and their implications on their lives. Making me think "Photojournalism touches the social responsibility of the rich." I remember my friend saying, I photographed one laborer and went to give him his artistic print where there was smoke, fire everywhere and his sweaty back can be seen. Extremely good photograph, but the man in that quarry looks at it and says... " I can't see my face'.

The reason these few 100 photographers all over the world have stood out among a million others who had technically the same skill and content is their approach. They had a burning passion to tell something they used photography as a medium, a means to an end.

I realize today it is "cool" to be known as a documentary photojournalist. It is "cool" to be carrying two 1ds mark3 and go to a third world countries and shoot prostitutes and social stories. There are a million individual photographer websites not to mention at least a few hundred photo agencies all over the world trying to represent the best talent. Everyone almost speaking the same story, everyone almost singing the same song. To an extent that being different is one of the motives of photojournalism. The "technique" and the "look and feel" of a photograph has taken center stage rather than the "content" these masters wanted to talk about.

The ends of photography is something that was clear to me when i started out, but reaching where I have reached now I realize I have make an assessment does a photograph has power to move an audience in today's times. Does photography actually have the strength in it for the video game, wolverine generation?

Is photography still a means to the end of voicing the truth, and talking about the have not or tell an unsaid story or to document time. Is anyone listening out there to the cacophony of all of us photojournalists and documentary photographers or is it time for me to move on and find a stronger medium to speak out ...

Saying all this, I must share this brilliant video of our dear Salgado. I never met the man but his work speaks for him...

Flying...

The task at hand is mighty,
the winds of change blowing hard,
the sands conspiring to form a storm,
I stand alone, indecisive and confused,
making up scenarios and scaring myself,
I look back for support and see the world sleeping,
I look up to see an ever darkening sky

A single bird flies high above, oblivious of the storm way below,
I realize what I need is a teacher to teach me fly...

Simple Joys of Life

This morning I got up to a sunny sultry morning, and looked around to break the heat, when I found my neighborhood cook aunt has sent me breakfast, hot Poha with Chai. The smell made me close my eyes for a few moments, arch my back and sink in the moment.

I have hardly found that feeling in the greatest successes I have had in my short life....

Channel V vs Natures V vs V as humans

A street that led to nowhere was shrouded by dust back lit by the rising sun, unseen yet penetrating it gave way to unknown destinations. The moment I am picturing housed four characters availing the streets services, all on foot walking to their destinations. A lad with a spring in his step walked towards his new found job while a labourer was marking red flags to dig into the tarmac. A child with his mountainous burden on his back walked towards an impending imposition, while the fourth personality, a photographer looking around for a pretty scene..
I tipped my head and looked skyward only to be numbed, as cranes and storks were flying in V formation making their late descent into the backwaters of the Arabian sea. The scene exhilarating and the moment divine. I looked down again and my characters had moved on now there were more characters and more interactions more scenarios and I looked up again and there was magic again. Where do I actually belong, in the skies or in my mind or on the street.

And what were the birds thinking, "wow look at them, so busy and unpredictable whilst we do the same things over and over again... "

I plan to go back to the street tomorrow and I am sure I will meet all my characters there engaged in the same tasks, lost in their own worlds. And me lost in theirs...

Nature so beautiful and man its epitome of creation yet is lost so much in himself that he fails to see how disorganized he has gotten trying to outdo his fellow man... while incessantly nature proves and reproves to us that she is right and way more prettier...

whilst I know 50 years down the line the only V my child's children will know would be channel V...

Me...History....Conspiracies... and Obama

Nothing to tell...

As I was wondering what to write in my blog I felt there was nothing to write as I am overwhelmed. I feel like a speck in this ocean who really does not affect anyone or anything. What happens happens irrespective of my decision making/irrespective of my will. Then why exercise choice? why exist ? why go through the karmic cycle? why the emotional trauma? why the mental blocks? why laugh? why cry? If you don't affect the world the world never affects you. If it is equal and opposite then why instigate the cycle further. Is nomadic life answer to all the problems of todays 'society' that we have fragmented over generations. We entertain ourselves with luxury, leisure and war and then crib what have we done, why cry when you can live on trees and be as happy if not happier. My belief in society is at its lowest after seeing some conspiracy theory videos.... One for my readers to explain my gloom...

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=9IjYY0YrO6Q

If that was staged and history controlled, I hate the sleazy thought process that led to it... At least the heroes and villains of yore were straightforward they put their own head at stake.

How much can Barak Obama actually change history is for generations further to witness but like all Hollywood and Bollywood flicks too much hype seldom does good...

Loved this pic from the most photographed event in history...

Obama a personal moment

A snowman in summery winter

The sky is as blue as summer in winter, the wet humid wind brings little relief to my streaming brow, the monotony of watching over a shopping mall appalls me in this hot winter,
held responsible for anything less than a terror attack in these tensed times post 26/11 he stands facing the heat with a branded umbrella from the store he guards,
my concern is for the cotton over stuffed snow man who cannot melt even if he wishes to....

Terror Terror all the way not a second to think....

Hi all,

I was wondering to make an first person record of the past weeks in Mumbai...and was collecting my thoughts when my sweet cousin sis of 13 yrs sent me something she wrote for her school article... I wound up grey cells and decided she has really voiced something that I wouldn't express in those many words. Here are her thoughts...

MUMBAI MERI JAAN- A WEDNESDAY IN MUMBAI…

Horns, buses, cars… people with hi-fi gadgets and hip-hop branded clothes… sound of waves lashing on rocks, a cool breeze… yep! It is Nariman Point in Mumbai, and this is what I could see all around me!

Next, we (mother, brother, Shanky baba- my uncle and I) were headed for a taxi ride around Nariman Point. I was overwhelmed with joy! I was seeing the city which mesmerized 7 years of my life and holds me spellbound even now- The city that never sleeps! I was reliving 7 years of my life after 6 years… my people, here I come!!!

There, I set my eyes on the Taj hotel for the first time in the 13 years of my life, hoping that I would one day stay here in one of its rooms! There was a huge crowd outside the Taj…why? India’s heartthrob (mine too!) and our cricket captain was staying there and was going for the IPL finals at Nerul… Dhoni! I was eager to catch a glimpse of him due to reasons mention above…

In the midst of this ecstatic (not to mention *blushy*) atmosphere, hardly did I know that the next time I would see it would be on the 27^th of November, 2008 (on T.V.), exactly 180 days later. I had absolutely no idea that I would see it ablaze with people swarming all around it. I also did not know that the same media which had come for Dhoni would then be there for a completely horrendous reason, which troubles me every second now… I didn’t guess that the feeling of joy would be emptied when I see the Taj on the 27^th of November, 2008 and instead be filled with the feeling of dread, fear and repulse cutting through me as my mother cuts veggies, or terrorists cut humans. Terrorists cutting humans… that shows how easily this feeling was killing me!

Two luxury hotels, a restaurant, a railway station and at least one hospital… hostages, deaths… Where I would have heard laughter and good wishes now rang with the sounds of gunshots and bomb shells.

More than 100 of my siblings now lay dead in the beautiful hotels and the hospital with a beautiful infrastructure. The hands meant for hugging their family after a long sickness, the hands meant for playing, the hands meant for writing love-letters…all stained with blood! The eyes now reflect what they cannot see! The taxi which would have got my siblings (known and unknown) nearer to their loved ones at times of anxiety and happiness now lies outside an airport, blasted into pieces… The sunlight which would have illuminated a perfectly busy city, a city with life, now illuminated a city ablaze… with people as well as fire, the element that cooked food was now cooking people!

What is the cause of this atrocious incident? Terrorism! A familiar everyday word isn’t it? But ask the terrorists and the victims; they will tell you about its dreadful and disgusting past, infuriating present and hopefully a future of nothingness… you will know terrorism back-to-back even without watching NDTV or BBC.

I know not the cause or solution to this… I only feel that the seeds of this horrible thought are sown by the misinterpretation of religion and well-watered by the people who misinterpret religion and feed it to innocent faultless minds, souls… My heart is overflowing with fear…

I just know and feel one thing at present- religion is humanity, and condemning other religion will not take you anywhere near God, it will only pull you away from the Lord.

The crime of criminal must be killed, not the criminal himself. Then only will this intolerably horrid incident never disturb minds as it does now…

Then only will people look at the Taj and rest assured, they will know that the next time they look at it, it won’t be on fire!

-Aishwariya Sunder

Short Sighted

The markets are spiralling downwards... investors standing like a goat in front of a hungry tigress, the world is tumbling for many, and the dollar is dipping away. What do I say in such a scenario, whom do you ask where is one going? Tensions are high in the market, job cuts round the corner, clients chasing down wealth manager, 30% growth expectation resulting in capital erosion. Among all this there is nothing much happening in the real world, orders are still coming, people are still working, value is still being generated, and the sun is still shining round the corner.



I realized one thing, people have become very shortsighted, no one is looking at long term, the charts on the TV shows are increasingly becoming hourly, the analysis daily. Whoever generated value everyday, how can one generate profits everyday, and how can it ever reflect in the stock market everyday. I think this game has become a legalized gambling industry... nothing more.

PRAYER

The ventilator beeped on, the monitor displaying troughs and peaks rhythmically, a labored breath hissing its way down his throat acknowledged my arrival into the room, the room swathed in a greenish tinge as if the surgeon has left his aura behind, as I peeped in I froze, drinking in the scene, speechless thoughtless. An emotional shiver waved through my body for a second, rendering me light headed.

I was in the ICU of the Neurology Surgical ward of the Sri Sathya Sai Super Specialty Hospital in Bangalore. The hospital is a free hospital that believes in catering to all, and the message of Sathya Sai preaches adherence to once own religion and the respect and belief of all religions. In the age and times where Hindus and Christians and Muslims insecure about their future are converting and killing each other. Here I stood witness to a phenomena way surpassing religion or any ideal. The phenomena of a mother in prayer.

A mother in all her purness praying next to her hissing boy breathing through tubes in his throat who could only hold up his hand to acknowledge that he exists. The beeps and the lights matching the rythm of her shallow chant, she was reciting the quoran to her child. The child operated by man and supported by machines awaits his body to recover from the ordeal of an operation. A tumour removed from the brain of a rank holder who dreams to enter graduation this year. His hopes and his dreams are now hers, her life is meanigless at that moment wothout him she is non-existant. She clings on to the faith her religion stands for, she looses herself in selfless prayer. Her religion forming a gateway to her wishes. She sniffles and cries when she sees the doctor accompanying me. She draws a deep breath and continues her prayer.

And in the same breath elsewhere the fanatics of religions today render so many mothers childless...

MY GOLDEN SUNSET

The sounds of the universe surround me, the auto rickshaws twitter by, the trucks rumble on, the crows caw and my grandpa mumbles in his sleep besides me. Sitting next to him for the past so many days is a test to my patience, I am the watch and he is recovering from a heart attack at the age of 91. So in a way this relationship is funny. A room surrounded with the city sounds full of hectic activity and here are two souls trapped in two bodies, one starting out with life, restless and full of activity, while the other is exhausted, and wants to rest. Makes me wonder after 65 odd years this is what I am heading for? This thought makes all my petty desires, wants, likes and dislikes, friends and ego issues fly away through the open window. I deepen my breath and pull up my socks and start to rethink everything I was and I want to be.

The golden sunset smuggles into the room filtering through the drapes caressing my grandpa in the eve of his life as I await the dawn to get on with life and discover my path in search of my golden sunset...

Almost Pickpocketed...

Prodded by a friend and inspired by the talk of Raghu Rai I decided that today I shall be trying to capture moments from the energetic, enthralling, drunk, procession of Ganesha enthusiasts, celebrating this 100 odd year old festival.

So me and Dhiraj set out, after a lot of "should we go or no need to go" talk. Obstacles galore, we were swathed by lashing rains, and my desire to shoot died down so I stood at a random shop window next to a mannequin, two men came by and stood there as if like mannequins. I wondered is this the way we Indians are, always waiting for the rains to pass by. Taking the thought further, are we waiting on the world to change. I would never wait if it is raining, I have headed out to the cost of twice my camera getting repaired due to moisture. People can call me careless, but I can't help it, that is just plain me. So I headed out immediately, I could not imagine how I would have looked, a pot bellied mannequin. lol.

So I walked ahead came across a very energetic young crowd dancing for their Ganesha and I was enjoying shooting the energy they had, till I reached the spot where the epicenter of all the energy was, the LalBaugh cha Raja. ( to know more about this idol pls google) I was below in the throngs, and I looked around for my co-patriot photographers and I saw Ritesh Uttamchandani on the bridge. So excited I put my hand in my pocket to fish out my phone to give him a call and guess what! I find another hand there receding, I gripped the hand like a leech and swung around and luckily my elbow caught his chin and out fell my phone from his hand. If Gandhiji was alive today he would have found his reflection in me in terms of physically hurting someone, I can never get myself around to hit someone so I was glad it happened automatically. But I was so angry that I shouted my guts out and local people around me hit him a bit. In all the pandemonium I never shot one image of the guy, that would have been a cool shot to have. Anyway there were cops and they took him away. So I decided I would just leave from there, as there were a million people around and someone else can pick my pocket too and guess what I feel another hand in my pocket on my way out, this time I literally pulled him by his collar and marched him down to the cop without one word, and the cop put him in a standing van. As I was leaving from there I noticed a good 8 to 9 stalwarts sitting inside..well a sense of false security came over me, I am not the only one being robbed I guess. I felt safe again....lol.

Please enjoy the pictures below..I tried to catch the action in my images, I am so sad I could not record the sounds for you...well next time for sure.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Andhakaar... Blackness

Enter Bihar and you are thrown viciously back in time, I would not say time stands still, I would rather say time is moving backwards. The state that hosted the enlightened Buddha, groomed princesses like mother Sita and was the center of culture and learning with institutions like Nalanda today boasts of corruption, poverty and ignorance. Electricity which is seen sparingly is a luxury of the rich and the shopkeepers. This flood as the media is projecting is much bigger than what it seems, it is annihilation, a young restless river changing course and all man made efforts failing to stop it. It has swiped away thousands, stranded lakhs, displaced millions and there is no going back on this one, the waters will not recede, the river flows where their children planned and hoped for a future. All the 30 lakh people are refugees in their own land. The story is not about death the story here is not about property loss, the story here is about ignorant, simple, poor people who hardly had anything at all before have nothing today, absolutely nothing, blackness, nothingness. My effort here is to recreate this blackness, this nothingness, and I hope I can achieve that.

With this frame of mind I headed out for the past few days and I thought I was doing a great job till mother nature thought let me rattle this guy up, make him reconsider his allegations, or rethink where he actually stands and she played her trick, she bought in the darkness.

Day 3 and I headed out in the afternoon with my friend Dhiraj for shooting relief camps, medical facilities etc around the rescue area, we reached the spot and there was bad light to shoot, so loitering around we reached where the rescue efforts were going on. The army was here, navy expert divers were here and everything was in full swing. it was around 4:30 pm and generally no one goes out so late as the villages are around two hours ride, but one army boat was heading out and he knew the way. The journey was tumultuos right from the begining, we crashed in to a few trees, a few submerged houses, got stuck in the mud, I got down in the river and pushed once. All this delayed us further and we reached the village in fading light. We were hurrying, and the army were new to the area and they had no clue of the route and the twilight set in. The boat had the capacity of twenty five and there were hundreds lined up walking towards us. We promised them we would be there first thing tomorrow and headed out quickly.

And then the lesson began, it began to get dark, it was a new moon, the light very faint, the boat was misbehaving as always, with so many women and children onboard I was a bit skeptical about our making it safely in some light. One local man was guiding us, he had lost his father and his mother was recovering from injuries, his wife and children were onboard this boat. We were taking right and left till we landed on a road, we heard swift current somewhere nearby, we had no torch to navigate. The cold air, the rumbling of the angry current and the starry darkness leaves you numb, you rethink your whole life, the basest fears resurface and all your priorities take a backseat. You are set in darkness, like everything around, you have nothing. Then the army guys get into rescue mode, the send sos signals, we blare the horn, lights are flashed from the home base, we follow the light home, there are boats sent towards us. After travelling a while we reach the source of the light only to find another boat stranded there equally cluless of where to go. I was so angry with I dont know what!! and then the process repeated, the sos sent again, now we had torches from the other boat, torches were flashed skyward. i learnt a lot of army tricks on this ride and then we decided to take the road through villages as no one was ready to face the current.

As we made our way through a village, let me picture the scene... a boat with rescued families and journalists, pulled by army personell wading in the water, visibility is next to zero. Night sounds of water gushing and forest like noises, swishing of the soldiers feet and ocassional moan of the women chanting...ganga mayya, kosi mayya... and your own thoughts haunting you with the worst probable scearios. I was devastated. The progress was snail pace but we were approaching the light slowly. Then we stuck gold!!!

In between nowhere, miles away in a flooded village there were villagers having dinner. Everyone was shocked, and one of them actually a boatman knew the way back around the bushes. Then we were waiting in the darkness for the next 45 minutes and I was getting impatient, time was around eight in the night around 4 hours in the water already. So I called out and one local guy walked over, so i asked him what was the delay about, he casually replies, oh the guy who knows the route has just sat for dinner, he was eating for 45 minutes. fifty people's life was in that guys hands if he can take us in a safe route where the current is low, and he is having dinner!! I cannot understand some people.

So finally we headed out and now the sirens got louder, the light got bigger, radio contact was established and we finally reached the source of the light, a rescue boat of jawans with a searchlight on board and they navigated us back safely. The point when i saw the light and the boat will be unforgettable, a moment of reckoning, an end and begining of all the wishes and death scenarios my mind had created for me, an assurance of life and dreams of the future, and love for the mere fact that I exist.

Nature in its own way proved there is an end to the darkness and we just need to find the way, help will come from unexpected quarters. (who expected to find a villger there)

I have tried to recreate this experience in photographs....hope I did some justice to the experience.