Reflections

Where Gods are made - Kumartuli

2012-01-17T08:44:00.000-08:00

Feeling light with the success I had in shooting the flower bazaar, I was looking forward to spending time in College Street and Park Street Cemetery. I was at Calcutta Rowing Club in the morning for breakfast and was introduced to one Dr Saha. I was inquiring with him about the places I was planning to visit that day. He suggested I visit Kumartuli. He explained what that place is all about and I could only form a crude mental picture. Thank God I went with his suggestion. Dr Saha gave me the directions, gave me his mobile number and even guided me when I was lost trying to find that place. Thanks very much Dr Saha.

First I made my way to College Street. I visited this place 14 years ago and it has become slightly modern. College Street, apart from the number the colleges it locates, is a paradise for book lovers. While bulk of them sell academic material, you can find good old ones after spending little time. College Street, even though quite narrow, is a tram way and a two way street. With hand carts, motor vehicles and trams, not to mention pedestrians spilling on to the road, it explodes with chaos. I spent some time walking up and down the street. For some I have been experimenting with low shutter speed photography to capture motion and this street was perfect. Got two very nice photos and you will see them below.

For some reason, I was not feeling comfortable shooting in that place. People stare and not many like when you pull the camera to your eyes. I lounged for some time in India Coffee House, a place with great interior and ambience. None of the waiters even gave half a look and I also did bother to draw their attention. Feelling done, I started my way to Kumartuli with very little idea how to reach that place.

I kept walking and shooting as I went by. There is no dearth for fine buildings in Kolkata. Except that most of them have rotted away. Came across so many buildings with fine portico and intricately done wrought iron fixtures. After an hour's walk, I found myself in front of Howrah Bridge. With my smatering hindi not taking me anywhere, I called Dr Saha. On his advice, I jumped into some bus, which fortunately was going to where I wanted to go. I was unceremoniously dropped off at Shova Bazaar and I slowly made my way to Kumartuli. I was not prepared for what was in store there.

Kumartuli is the heart of idol making industry in Kolkata. When Bengali's celebrate, they celerate with freat fervor.I could only imagine how Kolkata would be during Durga puja. Kumartuli was warming up for Saraswati Poja and I landed up there. I made my way through three streets, where thousands of clay statutes were in various stages of production. I walked into many of these small workshops, watched divine faces hand crafted with utter patience and mastery. Skeletons made of bamboo and straw, building the body with clay, fixing the face, painting and finally infusing life into the statutes. Truly, they were making Gods there.

My rowing friend mentioned that Naga swamis are camping near Baba Ghat and suggested I should visit this place. I jumped into Kolkata Metro and made my way to that place. The Naga Sadhus were beginning to assemble to partcipate in the Ganga Sagar Mela. There were dozen street photographers like me and I had some fun shooting the photographers.

One of these days, I will visit Kolkata for a week. In two days, I could only scratch the surface of The City of Joy.

All photos here were shot with Canon XSi (450D) paired to Canon EF 15-85 lens. Click on any of the photo to see them in full size.

Shot with a shutter speed of 1/10 Sec, this was third of a series of 3 photos I took. This came out perfectly (College Street)

Another one of 1/10 shutter speed photo. I love the right frame moving to the center (College Street)

India Coffee House and its stately hall. Pity, none of the waiters gave me even half a look.

Came across these weirdly mis-shaped pipes. Waited for a passerby to shoot.

Very intricately done wrought iron work. I came across many such buildings. If these buildings were ever pulled down, I would not mind paying a fancy price to buy these grills.

Click on this photo to check out his academic qualifications. Oh.. he was also voted as International Man of the Year.

Saraswathi statutes in the making. Since they have a very short life span, they are left to dry in the sun and not baked in a oven. The straw dolls in the background, are the skeletons.

Each clay statue is hand made. An artisan working on the body.

Each face is intricately done by hand. Notice the garland of skulls at the back.

This is one photo I keep visiting in my album. I was standing outside a workshop and this lady asked me to take a photo of the child. I took one and showed the photo on the 3 inch monitor. She was very happy and the child, ecstatic. I then asked to stand next to the child and took another photo. She thanked me and left. There was so much dignity on her face and the simple pleasure of her child being photographed.

Flock of birds. Group of people. Bunch of grapes. Herd of cows. How to term this?

Working patiently on a small doll.

For some reason, similar expression.

So much grace and nearly alive.

All in a day's work. Playing cards during lunch break.

Work goes on unmindful of a photographer clicking away.

A face being dried. I was thankful my camera had monitor view. Else I would have had to lie on the ground to this photo.

Finishing touches.

Photographing the photographers. A Naga Sadhu willingly posing.

May be I was an object of curiosity for them.

His eyes were piercing even through the smoke.

Making a philosophical point.

Blessing and posing willingly.

As I was walking along, came across this Sadhu who running with excitement. He was calling the Chai wala for a cup of tea. He thanked God with genuine happiness.

Princep Ghat and the its stately building.

Flower bazaar of the East - Mullick Ghat

2012-01-16T07:05:00.000-08:00

I was in Kolkata last week to attend the ARAE Regatta. My last visit was in June and I could not do much of street photography. While I did post on the Ambassador Cars of Kolkata, it did not do justice to that city. Kolkata is a street photographers paradise. This time around, I took some help to identify places to visit and shoot. I came across Debarshi Duttagupta and his portfolio on the web (http://ushwaia.dphoto.com/). Together with him, I localized on Armenian Ghat, College Street, Part Street Cemetry and Maidan as the places to cover in the two days at my disposal.

I started with Armenian Ghat on the banks of Hoogly River and close to Howrah Bridge. This ghat is named after Manvel Hazaar Maliyan, a prominent armenian in 18th century. The old warehouses on Strand Road, built during British period, are formidable buildings. Some of them still sport swing cranes on their outer wall to haul goods inside. Sadly, the bustling Strand Road, offers no place for such activities. Armenian Ghat, like other Ghats along the river, are identifiable by princely building in a state total dispair. Though stained and chipped away, their tall pillars with filagree work, fluted pilasters and fine enamled tiles, provide a glimpse of how this place must have been, years ago.

Go past Armenian Ghat and you come to the Flower Market of Kolkata. Located in Mullick Ghat, this bazaar is a must see place. The hustle and bustle of flower trade, the colors and fragrance of tonnes of flowers, shouts and screams of vendors, you can spend hours in the market. The adjoining ghat provide, with its temple, mendicants and worshipers, a different view of Howrah bridge.

Best part is, people ignore you after some time. That made the whole exercise so much fun.

All photos taken with Canon XSi (450D) paired to Canon EF 15-85mm lens.

This princely building, though in a state of decay, is exemplified by its massive pillars. Note the fine work on top the pillar.

Armenian Ghat building. Now used as a derelict shelter with bathing space beyond.

Part of the flower bazaar right under the Howrah bridge. Two vendors trying to strike a deal.

On the road from Flower Bazaar to Jagannath Ghat, came across this vendor quietly preparing for the day.

Life is tough. While I liked this photo technically (lighting and expression), it shows the tougher side of surviving.

I liked this photo for the lighting. It took me two attempts to get it right. Much of the cargo is handled by hard labor.

Vendors with heaps of flowers (tied in strand) and waiting for business.

My photo of the day. Shot in very low light (and low shutter speed), I managed to capture the face and the expression.

The magnificent Howrah Bridge.

He looked so lonely with just a garland in his hand.

After walking for hours, I sat in a Chai shop. The red colors and the yellow flowers were nicely juxtaposed.

Many of these ghats are home to mendicants. Having a smoke after respectfully leaving his chappals outside.

Standing from Howrah Bridge, I had a birds eye view of the flower bazaar. Using 1/5 shutter speed, I managed to capture the motion.

Flower strands, worn like a tunic. Two dealers completing an exchange.

Mullick Ghat, with its temples, is place to take bath and worship for the street dwellers. You can feel the presence of God in their humble prayers.

A broker carrying flowers.

On hearing a rather stiff bargain, the vendor was full of animation to show his annoyance.

It is said Bengali are quite knowledgeable. Immersed in reading the paper unmindful of the trade around him.

Mullick Ghat building with its fine pillars and enameled tiles. A sign of decay and vitality at the same time.

More to come.

Ayyanar - Guardian Deity in rural Tamilnadu

2012-01-10T03:19:00.000-08:00

The last two weeks were quite exciting and I have quite a few posts lined up.

In the last week of December, I, as part of a larger group, did a spiritual walk in the hinderlands of Kancheepuram Dist. We walked more than 100 kms, over a period of 4 days, to a village close to Thiruvanamalai. Our walk took us past towns like Uthiramerur, Vandavasi, Chetupet and Kilpennathur.

When we did the recce for this trip, two things caught my attention. One, existence of many Jain temples and two, Ayyanar temples in many of the small hamlets.

Jains have been a part of Tamil history for more than 1000 years. At a certain time, many centuries ago, Jainism had significant influence over the social, cultural and political landscape of Tamilnadu. This is the reason for so many old Jain temples in the remote areas. So much was the influence, I am unable to relate the current Jain community with the one which was part of the Dravidian fabric ages ago. In my opiniun, the present Jain community is more identifiable with Rajasthan than with the Tamil culture.

Jains have contributed bulk of the ancient Tamil literature. In fact, it has been observed, if you remove their contributions, very little will be left in ancient Tamil literature.

I wanted to visit and photograph these ancient Jain temples during the walk. Cyclone 'Thane' put an effective end to this idea. There was so much rain during that period, we did not have the time to visit any of the temples.

However, I came across many Ayyanar temples during the walk. Called Ayyanar or Muneeswaran or Madurai Veeran, these are Guardian Dieties of villages. I could be wrong, but I think these dieties are apart from the Boundary Dieties of these villages. The Boundary Dieties typically mark the begining and end of the villages. While, the Ayyanars are more influencing the daily life of these villagers. You can Google on this to find wealth of details.

As we walked, I could see changes in the way temples have evolved in many of the villages. While Ayyanars represent the basic and non-vedic form of worship, many of the improvised villages sport temples of dieties representing both vedic form of worship and of organized form of worship. I could only associate this to intrusion of urbanization in these remote areas. Another reason could be to counter the growing conversion to Christianity as I came across many Churches in places, I least expected.

Anyway, this post is not meant to be any analysis of religious practices. I was more interested to see the various forms and representations given to a Guardian Diety. Done mostly in terracota, Ayyanar Temples are just few statutes placed in open or under a tree. Ayyanar is usually flanked by a Horse and sometimes by a Dog too. I came across his consort in few places.

Here are some photos.

(A processsion in Uthiramerur)

(Modern Ayyanar statue - done in concrete)

An Iyengar temple in the middle of nowhere. This boy was inviting all passerby to visit the temple (not in picture)

(A Kali temple as Guardian Deity)

(A Kali temple - unusually it was covered)

(I was quite intrigued by this Ayyanar statue. Form and appearance quite primordial)

(Ayyanar with his consorts. Also are the typical terracota horses)

(Another Ayyanar temple with usual horses and dogs. Unusual are the statues of policemen)

(Another statue in a form different from typical Ayyanar statues)

(I found this Ayyanar statue inside a temple. Must have been relocated)

(Ayyanar with his horses and warriors)

Another primordial Ayyanar with his horse (not in picture) and dogs.

Typical Ayyanar statue with his horses

I came across this boy while walking. He helped me with directions while waiting for his bus to come.

The world revolves around agriculture in this part of the world. They were wondering about the approaching Cyclone 'Thane'.

Came across this unusual group of Rajasthanis forging and selling agricultural implements. Implements were made on the spot and sold.

Bargaining on price

(Tilling tool being forged)

This girl was very pretty and was lost in her thoughts.

Entire family works on the trade.

Life by the waterside - Alleppey - 4

2011-12-12T00:38:00.000-08:00

Nothing like portraits when it comes to Street Photography. I am still trying to get over the inhibition of shooting people on the street. Faces... they speak.

(A carpenter working on refitting house boats)

(Helper working on a ferry)

(Co-passenger in a canal boat)

(House boat driver)

(Two senior citizens in an animated conversation)

(Helper relaxing at the back of a house boat)

(Canal boat oarsman)

(Kid outside his shack)

(Brokers waiting for customers for their house boat)

(Two faces - one arrested and one free)

All images shot with Canon XSi body and Canon EF-S 15-85 lens.

Life by the waterside - Alleppey - 3

2011-12-08T20:49:00.000-08:00

One of the interesting option is to take the ferries and go around. Of course, no beer will be served and you only have a bench to sit on. But, you get to feel the life and the people. Ferries leave at fixed time from Alleppey jetty for many of the nearby towns. You can buy the ticket and jump off at any of the stopping points and take a return boat. Anyway they stop every five minutes to onboard and offload passengers.

Why are the ferries so key to their life. In many places, people live by the lake side and road transportation is quite a distance away or not an option at all. From school kids, to farmers coming back from market, to housewifes returning after shopping, ferries carry a motley crowd of interesting faces.

I took a boat to Changanacherry, two hours away by boat ride. Fare was next to nothing Rs.16 (0.40 cents) and rode for an hour. Then jumped off to take a return boat for Rs.10 (0.25 cents). Two hours of soaking in the way of life and for paid next to nothing. It was interesting to see the way they work. While house boats follow traffic lane, ferries cut cross to stop at jetties.

In places where the water canal is narrow, boats are turned around using long bamboo poles. Using the pole to pivot, they make 180 degree turn in a tight space.

(A Christian missionary boat with a music troupe onboard - they moor near jetties and keep singing)

Its fascinating to watch them operate the boat. While the ferry captain sits either on top or in the front (depending the boat), helpers hangout by the side. When it approaches a jetty, it is maneuvered close and helpers jump out with ropes to hold the boat in place. When it ready to leave, helpers push the boat away from the jetty and jump onto the ferry. On one of the trip, I was in a fairly new boat. In this one, Captain only navigates and controls the cruising power. When it comes close the jetty, operator at the back manouveres using reverse / forward thrust. But the helpers continue to jump out to hold the boat in place and to push it back.

(A helper just about to jump on the raft to hold the boat)

(A helper hanging on after pushing the boat away from the raft)

It took me many attempts to shoot these photo as I wanted the motion to be captured - Shot using 1/4 Shutter Speed)

Its one thing to take the ferry to reach places or cross the lake, what do you do if you want to cross the canal? In many places, you will find a small wooden boat with oars tied to the bank. Most likely, you will find someone to take you across. Just leave a tip and nothing more expected.

(Personal boat and ferrying foodstuff)

(Using long bamboo poles to push and steer the boat across banks)

(You can ferry anything light weight)

(Shot at 06:30 AM most boatmen are up and running quite early)

(Large ferry boat the back carrying office goers. Kerela has the highest literacy rate in India)

(Old couple ferrying fodder grass)

(To be continued)

Life by the waterside - Alleppey - 2

2011-12-06T21:40:00.000-08:00

Alleppey is known for its house boats. From small one bedroom to large 6 bed room floating mansions. Alleppey has more than 1600 such boats apart the countless small tourist boats and ferries. The tourists and the boat industry add spice to living along side the water.

Done entirely with wood except some of the load bearing structure, these house boats are made the traditional way. I saw only two boats made entirely of steel and both of them owned by large resort. Roofs are made with bamboo and palm underlined with plastic sheet for waterproofing. A boat house costs upward of Rs.20 lakhs ($45,000) and goes all the way to the sky. Price depends on the number of decks, number of bedrooms, luxurious fittings, air conditioning, external power generators and size of the engine. Most parts of the boat is handbuilt with genorous reflection of traditional style.

Boat Houses are typically available for hire by the hour or for a day or for a night. Rental hits the peak between Nov-Jan and can be as high as Rs.25,000 for a night. All houses come with a bedroom(s), lounge space and staff for cooking and serving food. These boats also stop by lake side restaurants which serve fresh sea food. Most boats are air-conditioned but they are switched on only when moored and never when they are on the move. These house boats are a great way to relax and explore the lakes.

A big world revolves around the boat houses. Go pass the boat house jetty and continue to walk on the narrow footpath. Walk for the next few kilometers and negotiate your way through the various workshops. You will see the back office world of supply replenishment, repairs to the boat house, refitting and rebuilding. Not to mention, the crew getting ready for the day.

(Click on any picture to see in large size)

(A house boat with traditional wooden pillars, bamboo roof, bedrooms and top deck)

(Awaiting reconstruction)

(Multi bedroom house boat under construction)

(Lined up and waiting for business)

(Interior of a luxury house boat)

(Refilling cooking gas cylinders before starting ride for the day)

(House boat undergoing refitting of roof)

(Keel of a house boat)

(Figurehead of a boat undergoing reconstruction)

(Artisan working on the front portion)

To be continued....

Life by the waterside - Alleppey

2011-12-05T00:33:00.000-08:00

It has been quite sometime since I posted on my blog. Well... I had nothing to write about and nothing to say. I was in Alleppey 2 weeks ago and this has been churning in me ever since.

I have a lurking suspecion God is a Mallu. And my suspicion grows every time I go to Kerela. I was in Alleppey last week to watch the 32nd National Junior Rowing Championship held in Punnameda which is on the south west corner of the large Vembanadu Lake. Vembanadu Lake is the one of the largest fresh water lake in India and the largest in Kerela. Fed by multiple rivers, this lake is part of an extensive eco system supporting fishing, irrigation, tourism and a way of life through its extensive canal network. This lake joins the Arabian Sea near Kochi. Alleppey is a mini Venice with its myraid canals through the city and its watery connection to other places. A pictureseque small town on the coast, its inland water front is more famous than its beaches.

Alleppey is part of the rice bowl of Kerela, fed by the numerous lakes and serpentine canals. These lakes and canals also facilitate inland water transport. From Alleppey, you can travel to Cochin on North, Changanachery & Kumarakom of the East and all the way down to Quilon. But more than the inter-city travel, for many, the ferry services are their main transport mode to other places. Living along the numerous canals, with large rice fields on the other side, they depend on ferry services for everything... from going to school to making their weekly purchases. To even ferrying construction materials.

(Coming back from school)

(Carrying fuel for home)

(Father and son on a morning walk)

(Canal to the left and walking path to the right)

(House boats and fisherman - Vembanadu Lake - Punnameda Jetty)

(To be continued)

Corruption in India - Anna Hazare

2011-08-25T01:32:00.000-07:00

Suketu Mehta in his book Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found calls India as a country of 'No'. You can walk into any Government office, submit your needs and more likely than not, you will be turned away. No, it cannot be done. No, it cannot be done today. No, you need to get approval from someone else. No, can you get this notarized. No..no..no.

This is a country of governed by petty minds at all levels. You call Mumbai as Bombay, someone will be offended. If you do a Hyde Park talk anywhere, you will be violating Sec.144. Your elected representative has no time for you. Freedom of speech requires police permission. Government procedures have no semblance to workflow. If you want anything to be done, you need to know someone. Everything is favour.

We put up with this. All the time. The ones who vote, don't care why he should be elected. The ones who dont vote, dont care who is elected.

This became the ideal platform for socialism. In the name of equality, Government could rob anyone and not really show whether they paid Paul.

We put up with this. All the time. We are a nation that will eternally wait for things to change.

Government servants demand bribe, we pay. Government contracts are given to ruling party contracts, who do a bad job, we accept. Politics is a way to make money, we accede.

We put up with all of these. All the time.

Government will work in fits and start. When it does not work, we go to the court and not to the government. Judicial activism became the order of the day. Thanks to Justice PN Bhagwati, Public Interest Litigation, helped ordinary citizens to redeem their rights.

This combination has been fueled by two crucial ingredients. One, unmanageable population and two, availability of limited resources.

So you struggle for space on the road to drive. You struggle for admission to a college or university of your choice. You struggle for electricity connection (thankfully telephone has been privatized even though much to the annoyance of the trade unions). You struggle to get your car transferred to another state. In this relentless struggle, you deicde to join rather than fight for your rights. And when someone stands up for a change, it is usually a political party wanting to come to power.

Once in a while, someone genuinely fights specific issues. Medha Patkar, Khairnar, Jayaprakash Narayanan, Swami Nigamananda. I am sure there many more. And then you have Kalmadi, Raja, Sukh Ram and the thousands of faceless beauracrats who are produce of a system which encourages corruption.

Then comes someone like Anna Hazare. I am not going to go into the each clause of Lokpal to see if they are reasonable or not. Anna and Lokpal represent two phenomenos. Anna Hazare represents a collective disgust of We, the people. Lokpal represents the administrative and penal action we want to see. Period.

Is Anna Hazare approach Gandhian? Is he hijacking the parliamentary process? Can a small group hold the Government to ransom? Can law be made from Ramlila Maidan? These are not my questions. These are questions asked by people like Kapil Sibal, P Chidambaram and Arundhati Roy. Government took a decade to pass Right to Information Act. It is yet to rehabilitate Narmada oustees. Governement is yet to pass Womens Reservation Bill. On Lokpal, it is not just Congress, even other parties do not really support it. It is not convenient for them.They would like to really pass a watered down edition adhering in letter and not in spirit.

Arundhati calls Anna Hazare's demands as ungandhian. I am sure even Britishers were appalled when he demanded freedom. There was nothing Gandhian in his demand. A Government by default will confirm to Newton's First law i.e., Corpus omne perseverare in statu suo quiescendi vel movendi uniformiter in directum, nisi quatenus a viribus impressis cogitur statum illum mutare. I am allowed some excess in expression. Translated: Every body persists in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly straight forward, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by force impressed. Translated even more: Every Government will remain in a state of limbo or move in only one direction unless it is kicked to change its state.

Will Anna Hazare be the change agent. May be. Will Lokpal change wipe corruption off India. Unlikely. Then why Hazare and Lokpal? They have become the voice of the Common Man. We voted or did not vote and deserved the Govt we got. But then, we were voting or not voting because what was in front of us was Hobson's choice. Damned if you did and damned if you did not. All parties singularly lacked in vision, had utter disregard for the common man, singularly bent on playing to an imaginary gallery and absolutely unfit to govern. Nothing different was offered because no one protested on what was being offered. May be, through Anna Hazare, people have found the medium to voice their collective disgust. This may not lead to an overnight change, but few more Anna Hazares and many more protests like this, will definitely see a change in the country. May be then, Arundhati Roy will desist from going diatribe.

Corruption in India - Reply to Arundhati Roy

2011-08-23T22:54:00.000-07:00

When was the last time, someone in public life, offered hope to the hapless Indian public? I was excited when Rajiv Gandhi came to power. He symbolized youth and a refreshing approach to nation building. Within a year or two, as India Today aptly summed it up, it became 'end of honeymoon'. There was excitement when VP Singh took power from him riding the platform to end corruption, on the aftermath of Bofors. In no time, he went down with politicized approach on Mandal Commission.

And after a long time, people see someone they can identify themselves with. Anna Hazare. Ironically, he is old and Gandhian in approach but timeless in appeal.

Can Lokpal end corruption? Can corruption be wiped out from India at all? Has Anna Hazare hijacked the parliamentary process? Is he right in imposing his conditions so rigidly?

I am going to break this into multiple blog posts to reflect my thoughts in an organized manner. Let me begin with an answer to Arundhati Roy's write up in 'The Hindu'. I was surprised to support for this write up and then realized this is coming from, what I would term as 'Facebook Intelligentsias'. When life revolves around posting status updates, critical reading becomes the casualty.

Arundhati Roy's arguement, in her article, comes down to four aspects. If you intent to jump to her defense, read her article again. Her four cannons are:

1. Questioning the character of Anna Hazare

2. Casting aspersions on the characters of Team Anna

3. Why Anna has not fasted in support of myriad issues

4. There is larger conspiracy to Anna's movement

I am quoting her here and my views in italics.

I am quoting her verbatim...

"For completely different reasons, and in completely different ways, you could say that the Maoists and the Jan Lokpal Bill have one thing in common — they both seek the overthrow of the Indian State. One working from the bottom up, by means of an armed struggle, waged by a largely adivasi army, made up of the poorest of the poor. The other, from the top down, by means of a bloodless Gandhian coup, led by a freshly minted saint, and an army of largely urban, and certainly better off people."

Anna Hazare...a freshly minted Gandhian? Supporters to this movement just urban and better off people? Anna as a freshly minted Gandhian? How fresh can you get?