The Digital Divide – Looking outside the bubble.

So, English is your first language..impressive, you know your wines and cheese, have a multi digit audience on twitter and facebook. You flash the latest in mobile telecommunication technology. Have an ‘app’ for tying your shoe laces to pacifying the kids..! And enjoy nothing less than High Def in your home theater. You are the technocrati of today…!!

Now close your eyes and wake up to a new day. A day without the daily e-mails, without the digital noise around you, without the internet, the social networks, the latest cellphone and ringtones, the eye popping T.V. screen and yeah, even loose the digital alarm clock. How does it feel ? Lost ?. It sounds almost medieval to begin with. But this reality is not far from you. If you live anywhere in India then not more than an hour’s drive out of the city will take you to such a place. This stark difference between the haves and the have-nots of the digital technology is what is called the Digital Divide.

Most of us reading this today have been born into a world where we put air, water, fire, food, shelter, pollution, internet, junk food, violence and entertainment overload in the same scheme of things. We inherited them. We take them for granted. But is that actually a thin bubble that we all are living in. I used to hear stories of old age communication, of the first television set, of the first phone call my dad ever made, of the first vehicles seen on roads from my grand parents. Sadly, in many parts of the country the story still remains the same. On the other hand we are fed with tons of news reclaiming India’s status as the’ next super power’. We have IT dollars and IT parks and High-Tech cities. But sadly, a lot that I have seen as a traveler, photographer ,health professional, we are living under the shadows of our own laurels.

To cite some startling facts. Only near 5% of the world has gained access to World Wide Web. Also this digital divide is in parallel with the economic divide of any country. As the divide between the rich and poor increases (which is actually happening at a feverish pace in our country) so does the economic instability and the unrest among the people. it wont be long when we would be standing on the brink of a major citizen revolution.I havent even started talking about the economic contrast of rich getting rich, and the poor poorer. I am just dealing with a not-so-basic facility of computers and internet.

Would like to know more,do checkout the following links :

http://web.mit.edu/people/kken/PAPERS/Intro_Sage.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Telecommunication_Day

Thanks a lot for reading.

P.S. about the picture : This was clicked while travelling to a village in Mahrashtra, India. The fellow was pretty excited to see what I was doing beneath a cargo train in the middle of the day. I was excited to see he had no clues about all the state of the art gadgetry that keeps us glued.

17th of May happens to be the World Telecom Day, intended to bridge this divide.

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“The innocent and the beautiful Have no enemy but time”

Japaloupe equestrian games 2011.

On the 12th of Feb. 2011 the Japloupe equestrian centre. celebrated its annual games for this year. It was a three day event involving beginner, amateur and professional riders alike. The place is situated in talegaon, near pune, maharashtra, india

click here for the whole photo story….

(Yawnnn) The same old incredible-india-award-winning-photo…Zzz

Anybody with dim eyes and a dimmer wit would identify this picture. Are you wondering still ? its incredible India folks..!! The land of the Taj mahal, the dabbawalas, the biggest slum in Asia, the slumdog millionares and salam bombays….the setting which paradoxically makes millions in the west film and entertainment industry. The whole idea behind writing this article was a simple observation that since times I couldn’t walk, talk, read or write till this date, what has been the most famous face of India abroad has been its poverty, its crime, the complex relations between unemployment, corruption, population explosion and beurocracy proudly guarding the days of the Raj. Yes, for any artist it is a vast subject to be explored and portrayed in unimaginable and creative ways. But what happened to the ‘India shining’ part of the script ? we will soon be the nation that has the ,most number of poor people and the richest man in the world in the same country. Then why such ignorance towards the brighter side of the coin ? every nation has its own set of domestic troubles, but when they are represented to the international audience it is never their underlying malignancies that are highlighted, unlike us.

It hurts me as a photographer and a traveler when I see people, especially of the tourist kind happily clicking the poor and the stricken to go home and upload the pitiful face of incredible India. And it never stops. Yes, we are incredible and in more ways than one. I need not speak here about the progress we have made in past few decades, but I would be glad to see the perspective of outsiders towards India change as much and as rapidly as India actually is changing. Wake up people, we are not a nation of beggars and lepers and snake charmers anymore. How about documenting the rich culture, the educated and hard working urban India, the new young and polished face of India. Its success stories, its development, its passion for life in the face if adversities, its lightheartedness and humor ohh and yes, the next time someone wants to film a slum, better drop India from the list.

Waiting for the ride. (monochrome)

I clicked this photo when i was strolling around with a friend near talegaon station. my expedition had came to an almost end and it was a little tiring but very exiting morning for both of us. thats when i happened to spot him lost deep in his thoughts, waiting for a train ride, or may be already riding his last journey in his mind. The idea was to get as candid snap as possible but not without his permission. hence i called him and just as he turned, before his mind could put up a plastic face, i captured the shot.

The most challenging thought that came to my mind when shooting this portrait was the absence of eyes in the photograph.

a portrait lives by its eyes. thats what most of the time makes or breaks a portrait photo. hence, here i have tried to do full justice to the remaining features of the gentleman to keep the intrestingness alive.

i hope it turns out to better than my previous attempts.

And then its all serene…

Its an amazing feeling. The rush of achievement. The pride of beng on the top, beating the odds…Its a strange sense of serenity within you.!!