Guess who's back?

Dear blog, long time no see...

You will be happy to know that much travelling has happened during that time. You and the world wide web were not missed, not remembered. Don't fret, though. I am back from the land of the dawn-lit mountains and I have stories to tell, stories to show and a strong urge to leave you again for those very mountains.

Don't hyper-ventilate, I didn't miss you but I did miss the small things in life like returning from work and retiring in my own bed with my familiar pillow and a book. Boo, the graceful pariah dog, the pair of bulbuls that visit my balcony every morning and demand banana bits. The list is long. I am rearing to go gallavanting again, but not just yet.

Such is my duality, that I did miss all these things, sorely. But I am eager to travel again. Meet new places, visit new people. Do the work I do best and do it well. In my last post, I wondered where I would travel next and it turned out to be of all places, the magical, mysterious, Arunachal Pradesh.

Dare I wonder where I'm going next?

Anticipating a weekend

Last night, delirious with sleep and exhausted after a week of research, I collapsed on my bed. As the warm red cushion blurred, I had an aakashwaani of sorts, some very wise travel philosophy. Unfortunately for me, almost immediately I also passed into a deep slumber, woke up late today, burnt some toast and barely reached work on time. Of course in all that fracas, the loss of those beautiful lines was felt this evening as I anticipated a weekend of laid-back breakfasts.

What a way to be jerked back into reality!
I wonder where I am going next?

Konachi wadi? (whose wadi?)

Poster for my film

Accidental wrong turns on the streets of Mumbai often lead to surprises. A few very specific turns in Girgaon, the old heart of Mumbai elicit a gasp from even the toughest critics of the city. For, just beyond these turns lies Khotachiwadi; a quaint urban village. A cacophony of curving-winding lanes, colourful Burma-teak houses with verandas, chawls and Art-deco buildings all inhabited by generation upon generation of the same family. This Mumbai-unique village is one of many. These villages are a testimony to the layers of history that this city is steeped in. Each of its unique features a remnant from every era lived through. If only these spaces could speak. 

Konachi wadi? is a film that tries to give a voice to Khotachiwadi. It explores the definitions of what can be defined as a wadi. Is a wadi just a tumble of gallies and buildings or does it have something more to it? The call of a fisherwoman, the couple that fell in love across balconies, the chapel with its neon cross and the house next to it where someone strums a guitar while the beer warms with droplets of condensation and dusk becomes night.

This 35-minute documentary film and supporting research was my Diploma project. This project was funded by the NID-Ford Foundation Scholarship and was completed in September 2010.

Watch this space for more on Khotachiwadi!

Ahmedabad on Uttarayan

All businesses closed

Goats on streets, almost no people

New clothes, jewellery

Everyone was on terraces

Till dusk.

These photos were clicked on Uttarayan, 2009.

Pre-NID photography portfolio

When I had appeared for the NID written test (early 2007), I had one thing going for me. Complete faith in the fact that I was not going to get admission there. I think that was what made me write that test with full abandon and no fear.

I clearly remember the day I checked the short-listed candidates for studio tests. My name was among 30 others. I had not expected that and I walked out of the IT room of my under-grad college (Ramnarian Ruia College at Matunga) in silence. I told noone. I was happy, ofcourse, but worried as well. What was I going to show in the interview? Surely, a portfolio would be expected. All the way home, I fretted in the train. After consolidating my position, these were the photographs that I mounted and presented.

My neighbour Ravin. He is all grown up now!

Bhutta

Giant wheel

A hair-clip vendor on the local train in Mumbai

A common house lizard

Reflection

A street in Pune at 2.00 am

Susie Q. She still lives in the yard of my parents' home

Sasan Gir

I did too

My room in Sinh Sadan, the Forest Dept. guest house

Sometimes there was a dog on the roof

Other times there were two!

There were crocodiles for neighbours. Very smiley ones at that!

A lane behind the crocodile breeding farm looked took us to the river

While another one took us to Gir

The river flowed through the reserve

On which was the Kamleshwar Dam

A small bridge led into the reservoir of the dam. A watch-tower with an excellent view stood further down with our jeep park in front of it.

A Maldhari settlement as viewed from the tower

Meanwhile in the 'Gir Interpretation Centre' notices like these waited for us

Besides these notices there were animals as well, which was the real surprise!

Chital

Nilgai

The resin glue lioness

That never moved an inch although a bus-load of humans was parked nearby

PAISA WASOOL!

To read my experiences at Gir, click here.

Lion conspiracy

November 2009
4.00am

Grrrrowlllllll...Uggh Uggh Uggh

Me: Goobledegloop...gurgle...slobber-slobber...snore...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

GRRRROWLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL UGGHA UGGHA UGGHA UGGHA

Me: Silent. Utterly and completely. Extra wide-awake and cowering under my thick blanket on an antique four-poster bed.

M is already awake but much calmer. Being a light sleeper comes in very handy for M. No nasty surprises. No being woken up afraid to death thinking a lion is in your bed! Not much sleep though, ever, if you can hear rats romancing a mile away on a regular basis.

Me: What in the name...WHAT was that?

M: Lions. Early morning territory-marking stroll, I suppose.

Me: It sounded more like a regurgitation of last night's chital.

M: Well...you never know...

The forest Department's guest house in Sasan (Gujarat) was the nicest place to stay for many reasons; smart planning I called it at the time. M and I were keen on taking a safari into Gir Wildlife Sanctuary which was conducted by the Forest Department and it started at the guest house. So, getting out of bed and crossing the street was all the effort that was needed at that unearthly hour. Waking up could be done in the jeep while heading towards the reserve.

Curiously, the call-time for the safari was a half-hour after the lion wake-up call that had me thoroughly awake and all that 'smart' planning only came in handy when we discovered that the guest house was next to a crocodile breeding outfit (cool factor) or when we found out that the only neat food-joints were across the road. Anyways, at this point I began to develop a conspiracy theory and it started with the thought that some of the lions were on a Forest Department retainer solely for morning alarm duty.

But I digress.

We chose one of several routes chalked out for the safari. Ours took us through a Siddi village and culminated at Kamleshwar Dam which is artificially constructed. A long tale of it was narrated to us by the driver but it sounded so fantastic and improbable that we promptly took it with fists of salt and chose to forgot it. In the few hours that we were cruising like kings in the jeep, we must have seen half the species of birds documented by Salim Ali. An ornithologists dream and bird-watcher paradise it was. The lion, we did not see. This fact reaffirmed my fancy of a conspiracy afoot.

The thing that further confirmed the existence of the said conspiracy and the discovery of a curious fact: that lions can be stuck to a surface with a resin-based adhesive, was a visit to Devalia which serves as a 'Gir Interpretation Zone'. It provided us a lot of digested facts about Gir and its inhabitants; a term that I started using for the animals after a round inside the interpretation park. While we waited for that round, LCD televisions flashed a well-made movie on the reserve. At the gift shop, we asked to buy a copy. It wasn't for sale. That particular movie was made for The National Geographic Channel but we were shown other CDs. We mumbled excuses and sidled away from the sales boy.

With much trepidation we boarded a bus full of Gujarati tourists for a 20-minute round in the park. Post the dreamy safari, we weren't expecting much. Two minutes in and we spotted a nilgai. Five minutes in and our bus was parking itself after several faltered attempts, a few feet away from a pair of satisfied lionesses. I was just about done gaping when two things happened. One: the entire Gujarati contents of the bus exclaimed and moved towards the side of the bus that faced the lionesses. Two: I noticed the fence!

Some Gujju man meowed, another barked for the attention of the lioness. The bored cat didn't budge or even move. My theory: Resin glue.  So, this was a glorified zoo where the visitors could walk into the cage. I was about to concede to it being an ingenious idea when the bus started roaring unanimously,
"Paisa Wasool! Paisa Wasool!" (We got our money's worth!)

I did some mental mathematics:
Ticket for a single seat in the interpretation bus- Rs. 75/-
Jeep rental for a safari of a few hours- Rs. 1500/-

I loved the safari, even sans the lion.

For paisa wasool pictures of Gir click here.