Portrait: Siddhu

We used to trek together, long back. He was always the quiet reliable happy mate. Always ready to help.

He fought back to life after a devastating motorbike accident.

Siddhu is a fighter.

Camera: Sony A7R III
Lens: Voigtländer Nokton 50mm F 1
Light: a tall Ikea paper lamp


Portraits of the Soul

Bhuleshwar Temple (भुलेश्वर मंदिर)

After a lightening visit to Bhigwan at our friend Sandip Nagre's Agnipankh Flamingo Point we were heading back home. We decided to stop over at the Bhuleshwar temple. It was my first time. I had heard of this place a few times. Even Jo had visited it when she was staying at Urli.

It's a beautiful place. Perfectly period. These are strewn all over our land. They are testament of a time gone by. A time of much glory. It's peaceful. I just wish we would take better care of our history. The hill on which the temple resides is barren. It could be very beautifully wooded.

Light

“The most precious light is the one that visits you in your darkest hour!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

The owlets of Pench

These owlets were screaming their guts out at sunset.

Sometimes you meet some new folks and are taken aback by their warmth. They easily welcome you into their fold and share their lives. The positive impact this leaves shows how intertwined we all are. The human experience is essential to happiness.

Shirish Katikar and family are such people. Last year in November I got a chance to head down to Nagpur to visit their small farmstead near the Pench forest. We stayed in a tent, cooked some food and took walks in the surrounding jungle.

Random brickbat

Dried moss as seen through a kids microscope.

Sometimes life does throw a brickbat. Amit met with a bike accident. He barely made it to the ICU. I had never been to Cooper hospital and it was an eye opening experience.

The night we took him to the casualty was a regular rush night. 3-4 patients per bed. They saw his condition and started working immediately. But there was only one stretcher and only 2 nurses. All rushing around. He was then admitted to the Trauma ICU. The first 48 odd hours were hell for all of us - total mental and physical exhaustion.

He was in the Trauma ICU for 11 days. Then another 6 in a ward. Thankfully his legs and hands were not broken. Only about 5 ribs and the collar bone. The real risk were the numerous internal injuries and the head injury.

We got him back home after a miraculous come back from the brink. The tireless efforts of the doctors and his instinct to live pulled him back. He now has a long slow recovery ahead of him.

Government hospitals are an experience you will not easily forget. They cater to terrific loads with minimal staff. The poorest of the poor are not turned away here. I routinely saw doctors doing 24hr duty. These are the ones learning in the attached collage. Nowhere else can you get this kind of experience. Despite the multitudes of dogs, cats and heans staying on the premisis, despite every corner being used as a spitting zone, despite the mosquitoes and the dirt, despite the stinking and overflowing toilets - despite all this people do get cured. People who otherwise would have nowhere else to go.

As a society we must rethink the importance of these institutions and how much effort we need to put into them for all our sakes...

The Masses

“The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim. An individual in a crowd is a grain of sand amid other grains of sand, which the wind stirs up at will.”

— Gustave Le Bon

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The photo is of a small new plant which has taken root in te moss on an old tree. We were at the MTDC Mahabaleshwar and it is full of really old moss laden trees. Clicked with the Voigtlander Nokton 35/1.2 lens at F 1.2.

Gadda Jatra - Solapur's Annual Fair

Pointy nosed mice and the giant wheels

As far back as I remember I have heard about the annual 'Gadda Fair' (गड्ड्याची जत्रा). My mother comes from Solapur and she used to tell stories of her father buying her the biggest dolls in the entire fair. I have seen old family photographs with fancy backdrops taken by the travelling studios.

I never had the opportunity to visit as we had school in January. The fair still continues — albeit differently now, I suppose. It is hard to imagine a fair surviving the age of intagram and smart phones. But it does and I finally had the opportunity to visit it this Jan.

Geometric life

The man on the phone

Hot seeng and chana

MH13 coooog-gadi

A chat with the friendly dragon

Wheel of life

Life goes on. All around.

One man's enjoyment is another's food.

Trapped transporter

Lights and shadows

My partner in the explorations

Serious Observations of a Funny World

Oh melancholy!

“Melancholy is the happiness of being sad.”

— Victor Hugo

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The photo is of a old man who is watching the priest do his stuff in a small temple on the outskirts of Solapur. He is lost in thought. The wire mesh adds a whimsy of him being trapped in this life, perhaps.

Shot with the Voigtlander Nokton 50/1 at F1.

Around Nalsarovar

We travelled 750km to the Nalsarovar only to find that some local political upheavel has caused it to be shut temporarily. The boatmen were no longer allowed into the lake. Our host, Ramzanbhai, was apologetic. He had hoped, I am sure, that things would be normalized quickly.

As we were already there, we roamed the region around the sarovar. Saw some birds.

Castor farms

The Anil

Balabhai and Santosh

The salt encrusted shores

Serious Observations of a Funny World

The fisherman of Nalsarovar

Boats after Sunset

We left at 5 am from Goregaon as planned. Nalsarovar in Gujarat was our destination. It was the first halt of our road trip. From Nal, we were to head to the Little Rann of Kutch and then on to the Jawai Bandh to experience the post-monsoon scenery of that beautiful landscape we had visited in May.

At the Nal, we were to meet up with Ramzan bhai, our guide and host. Anil mama and Balabhai knew him well and had stayed with him earlier.

The journey was long and arduous - about 750km. The road up to the Gujarat border was in terrible condition with patchy work in progress in random spots in a disorganised manner. We lunched near Surat at about half past 1. From Bharooch we get on to the new Mumbai-Delhi expressway and the traffic clears up.

We reached the Vekariya village next to the sarovar after sunset. Ramzan bhai had made sleeping arrangements in the verandah of an empty neighbouring house. Four khatt (frame cots with rope supports) were set up. He had arranged for the thick blankets as it was wintertime.

We had home cooked dinner of bajra rotlas and mixed veg sabzi all washed down with excellent chaas. They served us with the famous Indian hospitality and love.

It got cold in the night and we were thankful for the thick blankets.

The bad news was that some political disturbance had caused the sarovar to be shut to the public. So in the early morning, we decided to roam the nearby areas in search of the birdies. The Namaqua migratory pigeon from Africa was the star along with the red Munia. In the evening we went to see some Saras cranes.

Just after sunset we decided to go see the sarovar from an irregular route, unseen from the guards. We saw some boats and a boatman. The Nalsarovar is very shallow but covers a vast area. These fishermen with their flatboats have their livelihoods tied to this water.

For dinner, we had a special treat of local fish curry and fried fish. All with chullha roasted bajra rotlas.

Next morning we got up early and left for the Little Rann of Kutch. We had lived two nights with a fisherman from the Nalsarovar.

the boatman

good food

bed time! this is where we stayed

early morning birding

our guide

good food

switchboard

writing on the wall

cotton

transporter

new developments

faith and customs