To live for sunshine, freedom and a little flower….

When I was writing this post, it was all meant to be a food for thought kind of experience regarding simple people that I come across pretty often and wind up with interesting experiences to share. But then something happened on the 13th of July 2011 and suddenly my thoughts about happiness, violence, wars over barren lands, nuclear weapons and murders to cover the truth; developed a meaning much deeper than human mind can decipher. Why do we do it ?how did we reach here ? what drives us to kill ? are we still more of animals than human beings ? are we sure that someday we would not die of our own mis-deeds ? While all it takes to be happy are simple and still, free pleasures of life….

Not to mention the havoc human race can raise over ego clashes among leaders, fight for religious supremacy, hunger to govern the masses… sounds like a race to value anything else more than human life itself. Amidst all this despair, anger and frustration are we the common people even counted..or becoming the baddest beast of the jungle only ensures a life less hassled.

P.S.  a quote I had read just struck me : “Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.”

                                                                                                – Margaret Young

Thanks for dropping by, would love to hear from you..!!

A very happy World Environment Day !!! (belated)

A (belated) very happy World Environment Day !!!

So, Did ya party Today ??

Birthdays come and birthdays go, anniversaries, parties, festivals and celebrations keep us busy for a good part of the year. but, sadly many of us simply forget to celebrate the mother of all that exists around us and mother nature is not liking it one bit. Not anymore. No awards for guessing this one, today is the World Environment Day. And guess what the parties come home this time. India plays host country to all things Green this year. We have been named Global Host of World Environment Day 2011. I hope we all lived up to it…did ya ?

Every year, the efforts around the world to become environment friendly are channelized by coming up with a theme. This year the theme is ‘Forests: Nature at your Service’. The theme surprises me greatly. What surprises me is that when I was in primary school, in human history, we were taught about how the early man would ‘Worship’ the elements of nature viz ‘Fire’ , ‘Air’ , ‘Water’, ‘Earth” and ‘Trees’. But as we have progressed by leaps and bounds (have we, really ? ) we have beat the shit out of our ecosystem which actually keeps us living. Have it not been for the flexible and kind and tolerant behavior of the environment, we would dead before we count our last breaths. So much for returning a favor of amazing sights and sounds, magnificent landscapes, mind-boggling creatures, the air, water, life itself that we, as the most intelligent beings on earth were entrusted responsibility of. At times I even wonder do we even belong here ? A good part of Earth is water. There are many more creatures under the sea that we know. Also the land is shared by so many of other animals. If you look at it this way, we come in fact down the list somewhere, and haven’t realized it yet..!! I would think twice before calling myself belonging to the ‘most intelligent species’ on the planet looking at the pollution (made by us) jamming all our five senses. It should rather be the ‘most spoilt brat species’ on the planet.

Fortunately, as they say, it is never too late to do the right thing, we have finally woken up from the slumber and counting how much have we lost. How much do we owe it to the environment and how much of stink have created in our backyard. One such way is to unite and take part in various activities to reverse the damage. We can also spread awareness amongst others to do the least. Also, interestingly, there are more activities that I came to know about, from friends and the net, happening in the smaller towns and villages than in the major metros. I may be wrong, but that’s what I saw.

That’s about it. I hope some of these words ring in your head the next time you are throwing that plastic wrapper out the car window or when you run out of fresh air on your jog by the beach next time.

Some interesting links:

http://www.unep.org/wed/

http://www.unep.org/wed/hostcountry/

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

Hazar bar dekho !

I am looking at my watch, and curse the teacher for waiting the whole day to start the most important topic of the day now! It is six thirty and the sounds of the evening, the golden light falling on my eyes is calling me. Its six thirty five, i cant hold it any longer. I have to rush. Unannounced, i stand up and rush out of the class run on roads, fiddling my gear, wishing if i could fly i would, or may be, ask of lift or hijack a car…after another 10 mins i make it to my damsel, yet another spectacular event , more so in the city of dreams, the Sunset at Bandra-Worli sea link, Mumbai. My sunset photographed in my home city.

It is intriguing the way the magic of the dawn and dusk never ever fails to capture a photographers imagination. I wonder how come, such an every day phenomenon  we have seen a million times since our birth still captivates us to such a great extent. Though i had been into visual arts since childhood years, it was only a year back that i got my first Dslr. Capturing the dawn and dusk becomes the first thing anyone, including me was exited about. I was really fascinated with the various controls my gear would provide me with in my pursuit to immortalize an everyday event.  Ut after one year and so many dawns and dusks in my album..i wonder if it is turning out to be a love affair rather than a simple urge to create art. Time after time, day after day, in the school, the bus, the train, the library, the car, the golden hour never fails to stir my creative juices. It has become a never ending chase, something like hunting down the holy grail, or recreating the Monalisa. I hope the chase never ends..

happy happy holi everyone..!!

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

(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.