travels through india - karnataka - part one

For the last one month, I have been trying to make the weekends count. Away from telemarketers, bills, clients, artworks and the sickness of city life. And when you are presented moments like these, it all becomes so worth it.

This is the gateway of the ancient Belur Temple. On the way to Kemmanagundi. A few hours out of Bangalore.

my blueberry nights

The kodachrome handler waits. For you to drift off in the middle of the action. And as you try to remember the little details of an evening, now lost, he presses the shutter. In homage to a friend left behind at an intersection. Many turns ago.

Mia takes a moment.

peek - journey through uttarakhand, page 4

The morning sun felt good. The shivering had subsided and had paled into an ocassional whimpering twitch. A warm cup of tea later, one felt the need to explore the environs a little. The curtains were pulled back. The cigarette was lit. The stubborn latch dispensed with, the windows were thrown back. Deep breath.

Scene from window at Ranikhet Guest House.

shiver - journey through uttarakhand chapter one

I wasn't prepared for the cold. Nor did I remember how demanding rail journeys can be. How bad the nightmares can get. Or just how agonizing it is to travel on a full stomach. After multiple, pathetic attemps to sleep (read: lie quiet and wait for death) I fished out the lens. And when the train slowly chugged in at a sleepy Haldwani, this is what I saw first.

5.03 am at Haldwani Railway Station. When the train slept.

coup de foudre - the first time

From the archives. A couple of months back. Just back from Jaipur. The Bombay chapter of the shoot begins. It's 40 degrees in the shade. I take refuge in the cold, trailer van. That's when I see her.

My camera liked her just as much as I did.

Kalki photographed by Phish, Bombay 2007.