Small town niceties;
Little things, really-
An hour or two
chatting up friends
And watching the world go by...
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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 100ISO
2005, Pushkar, Rajasthan, India
People, Pink and Blue
Small town niceties;
Little things, really-
An hour or two
chatting up friends
And watching the world go by...
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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 100ISO
2005, Pushkar, Rajasthan, India
Tea-time Triptych
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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 100ISO
2005, Ahmedabad-Udaipur Highway, Rajasthan, India.
Shiva and the Technicolour T-Shirt
So you think only the likes of Nike and Reebok know about merchandise, eh? Well, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present to you Brand India. Or, if you're the finicky type who likes his/ her infobytes to be contexed 'just so', to be more precise Religion conveniently packaged onto a T-shirt...
Forget the outsized tick-mark with the tagline proclaiming loudly Just Do It. For Rs.50 (or just over a dollar, if you prefer to deal in foreign exchange) you could buy yourself a shot of multi-coloured moksha in the form of a beatifically smiling Shiva adorning your T-shirt front...
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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 200ISO
2005, Pushkar, Rajasthan, India.
Elephants can't fly... So they hang (?)
Bel-Totas. That's what they're called. Bel, meaning vine or creeper and Tota, meaning parrot. Roughly translated that would be- a parrot-vine. I know, I know these are elephants. White, at that. Not even remotely green. And no they don't have red trunks either. I can see that as well as you. Humour me please...
The villages around Pushkar have a thriving handicraft cottage industry. Today, that is. Wasn't always so. Was a time when the village women made parrot-vines in their free time. Yes, miniature, stuffed, cloth parrots hung on meters and meters of braided cloth. Decorated them with tassels and tinsels and sequins and bunched them up together to use as screens. To divide the living space inside the house, you know. Why parrots? I don't know. I'm not quite sure they know either or they would have told me. Yes, we asked.
At some point in time someone figured there might be people living in cities who'd want to use bel-tota screens too (don't ask me why, I don't know). And sure enough there were! And a thriving cottage industry was born. Eventually, I'm sure, some of these city dwellers got fed up with all the parrots hanging around their house (who wouldn't?). Couldn't we have something different, they asked. Like other birds, for example. Or better still- not birds. Camels or tigers or what-have-yous. No?
Obviously, the villagers complied. They probably figured they needed the money and I don't blame them. The long and short of it? This fascinating specimen- a vine of hanging elephants. White, at that I know...
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Nikon F75, 70-300mm, 1:4 Macro at 300mm
Fuji 400ISO
2005, Pushkar, Rajasthan, India.
Of facades
The town of Pushkar, situated around 15kms from the city of Ajmer in Rajasthan, is built around the Pushkar Lake. It is a holy town, of around 12000 inhabitants, and home to several temples- notable among them being the temple of Brahma (one of the Hindu Trinity). A city of temples, naturally, attracts wandering sadhus (Hindu holy men) from all over the country who come here to spend a few days in the company of God.
The sadhus have a very strict code of life. They remain celibate and give up all the worldly pleasures in search of the greater truth. They live off the charity of townsfolk and their determination to live a life of penance and eternal seeking.
Pushkar, unfortunately, also attracts a lot of foreign tourists. Ostensibly in search of the same greater truth but quite incapable of giving up the wordly treasures. The hotel industry caters to their every whim and fancy- drugs, booze, sex- the works. To me, during my stay there, Pushkar smacked of commercialism and all the entrapments that come with it.
This moment, though, seemed too good to miss. Bleached white houses. Deserted street. And a lone sadhu walking towards the bathing ghats in the mid-afternoon heat. Pity, the garment shops lining the street betray what Pushkar has really become. Oh well, nothing's perfect...
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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 200ISO
2005, Pushkar, Rajasthan, India.
Of the human mind
The human mind is a strange thing. Consider this- a grainy, monochrome, macro image of a marigold. Look at it carefully. Let every detail seep in (or as much detail as a grainy, monochrome will allow). Take your time.
Now close your eyes. Try to remember every single marigold you've ever seen. As a child. As a grown up. At home or in the fields. If you've grown up in India it shouldn't be difficult at all. Marigold torans are ubiquitous during weddings, on festival days and in some of the more orthodox households, even on ordinary days like today.
Go back to those moments. Let your mind drift. And watch the colour creep back in. The rich yellows and the deep goldens. Feel the details fill themselves out. The crepe-like petals encircling a heart of miniature towers- fortress like. The marigold in all its splendour- only in your mind's eye.
Truly, the human mind is a strange thing.
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Nikon F75, 70-300mm, 1:2 Macro at 300mm
Illford 400ISO
2005, My workshop at Khatraj, Some 25kms from Ahmedabad.
Check out the do, dude!
The small town of Pushkar, in eastern Rajasthan, completely transforms itself in early November to a spectacular fair that attracts tourists from the world over. The tourism revenue generated during the fair sustains the local population and takes them through the entire year. The Pushkar Fair is, essentially, two events coming together- the annual exhibition and sale of prize camels (Pushkar's a desert town and camels are much in demand throughout the region) and of course the marriage fair where the camel herder community's decked out in their finest and matches are sought for all their eligible young men and women.
There's colour and festivity all around. And, of course, camels- as decked up as the young brides and grooms to be. There's painted camels, dressed up camels, tatooed camels. Camels of all shapes and sizes and various forms and degrees of adornment.
But this one, I thought, took the cake. It's one thing, you know to do a David Beckham to your hair or shave your Premier League team's name on to your pate. It's another thing altogether when you try the stunt on your hairy deriere (assuming, of course, you've got hair enough back there). This guy seemed pretty happy, though, chewing cud and showing off his rump to the world at large!
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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 100ISO
2005, The Camel Fair in Pushkar, Rajasthan, India.
Isn't he a beaut..?!
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Kodak Easyshare DX7590
2005, My workshop outside Ahmedabad, India.
Some died. Some lived- to see this...
The monsoons this year were especially unkind. Ahmedabad, and the places around, saw torrential rains beginning late June and continuing well into September. Heavy damage to life and property. The world around things were no different. Katrina, Wilma and all that sort of thing.
But out of every bad thing comes some good. A few days after the last of the heavy rains I came across this flooded brick-kiln on my way back from work. It was a few minutes before sunset and though the sky was blue everything around was tinted a vivid golden. A picture perfect moment, if not a perfect picture.
As I said, out of every bad comes good.
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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 100ISO
2005, Ahmedabad, India
Oiled and ready for battle
Like the oliphaunts of Tolkien's fantastical imagination. An army of fearful size and mammoth proportion.
Reality check- Actually only about 45mm high, carved out of solid teak wood and fresh-sprayed with a coat of melamine finish. Left out to dry before being shipped in bubble wrap. Not that intimidating, really...
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Kodak Easyshare DX7590
Shot in macro mode
2005, My workshop outside Ahmedabad, India.
Hair Art
A mirror. The usual paraphernalia- shaving kit, scissors and combs. The ubiquitous good luck charms. A quiet corner on a busy thoroughfare. And a bright red board announcing an artist at work. After all what does an artist really need but a discerning patron?!
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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 400ISO
2005, Ahmedabad, India
Kids will be kids...
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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 400 ISO
2005, Bombay-Pune Expressway, India
Dancing in the streets
Due apologies for being out of the circuit for so long. Work's a bitch, what can I say...
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Right there in the middle of a fairly, if not altogether very, busy thoroughfare and staring me straight in the face so I couldn't ignore it if I tried stood this tacky Plaster of Paris drummer woman thingie in bright red and green. Right there on the little divider that separates the UP lane from the DOWN lane...
Apparently it belongs to no one in the neighbourhood. No one remembers who put it there. It just happened to be there one morning, or so I've been told, and remained there ever since.
Dance anyone...?
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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 400ISO
2005, Ahmedabad, India
