Dada (दादा)

My visit to the Andaman islands now nearly a year ago has a special a place in my life and work. After recovering from the spinal surgery that gave me back my left leg it was the first shoot that tested my body’s capacity to go on.

Immediately after a shoot in July last year my disk revolted and put my left leg to sleep for 3 days till the doctors pruned it allowing the nerves to reclaim the limb. Recovery was slow and painful and more so because I had to lie in bed and do nothing.

On the shoot I spent a large amount of time driving around the islands, nearly drowned myself taking photographs, climbed trees, trucks and hills to get the shots I did. It was when I returned from the island in one piece with my leg still willing to walk with me that I had the confidence to go on.

After traveling the waterways in a tiny boat (that had my heart racing till we got off) we reached a village were I took this portrait which remains one of my favorites from the trip.

Canon 100-400

For some time now I have been thinking that the $1600 that I spent on my 100-400 was a waste and yet another of those hasty decisions I took and now ….

I must thank Trevor again for getting me the lens, for some great reason it was cheaper to have the lens mailed to his Florida address from New York (B&H) then picking it up at a local store!

After nearly a year of being stored away in my new steel cupboard I took the lens out with me today. Ah Boy! Was I glad.The Egyptian Vulture is a small vulture that was once very common in our part of the world, but like all other vultures that have vanished in and around Lucknow this species too is extremely rare to find.

So now I don't think buying the lens was a bad decision, well not until I pack it away in the cupboard again!

Bhai

We stopped by a football match while touring northern Andaman to witness the same passion and excitement that I had known as a child. Having socked in the energy of the place we were headed to the next village when these brothers caught my eye. The light was warm and the emotion pure, one shot that's all I took.

Chandani Chowk in Yellow and Orange

Teaching

Disclaimer: These are not my photographs, they are Kritika’s. She is attending an introductory photography course at St. Stephen’s. ( yes I am teaching the course of-course)

My Mom’s a teacher, Dad I am told left the IAS to teach, (and no that's not a joke) so you might think that I wanted to be a teacher since I was a child. I don't think so, on the contrary I think I had a teacher overdose and never ever even considered teaching as a distant possibility.

With time things change and well I guess so have I.

Kritika’s photographs have been taken on a Sony point and shoot camera and that makes me doubly proud of her work.

Nazar na Lage (नज़र न लगे)

At a visit to one of the villages on my recent visit to Bundelkhand. The black Kaajal (काजल) you see on the child’s forehead is a result of our ancient belief that it wards off the evil eye.