Posted by: gargi in India
There was a time when a taxi ride was a treat. I have chlidhood memories of travelling by taxi between Churchgate and Colaba. The taxi driver was invariably a Sardar in a white outfit with a great turban. As a child, i was fascinated by the taxi and the fact that it could go anywhere, and the men who drove it were the equivalent of knights in shining armour — you must also remember that in the time I grew up Taxi Drivers, coolies and trade union workers were represented as heroes in films. Today, they may have been marginalised — but in those days, they had an aura. A taxi trip is something that one anticipated and looked forward too. But today, in the suburbs, with a whole bunch of cheap, air-conditioned vehicles for hire, and a car of my own — the prospect of going by taxi is actually minuscule. A a few weeks ago,however, i did catch one from Vashi back home. The driver was an old Sardarji — must have been about 75. Had fascinating eyes - a wonderful voice and a great sense of narrative. He had got year some time after independence and started working here driving his cab. The Bombay that he knew and the Mumbai that it has become — are two different places. He spoke about the demographics of everything - from ‘women of negotiable virtues’ to the ethnographic profile of vegetable vendors and how it changed over the decades. He had a view on practically everything. And I wished that i could make a documentary on him. Somehow — in this crazy rush to produce beautifully packaged fluff — are we forgetting the real stories? The interesting ones?
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January Second, at about 5 a.m. on a cold desert’s winter morning, we drove down from Jaipur to Pushkar. It was my unlce’s 7th death anniversary, and my aunt wanted to offer prayers for his soul. The predominant colours along the journey were earths, a smattering of green and blues. Very few other colours in sight. 
The colours were stark, yet hypnotizingly beautiful. Everything in Pushkar - from the ‘holy’ cow to the sadhu (mendicant), the pujari’s (priests) to the camels, from the street singers to the lanurs - everyone and everything seems to be geared towards the pilgrim tourist. 
one man and his calf - a sadhu begging for alms on the streets of Pushkar - oops , trading blessings for cash. 
The holy cow on the steps of the temple - looking beatifically at the pilgrims who side step her to walk in. 
some great street food in Pushkar. Hot fried stuff on a cold winter’s morning- just what the doctor didn’t order ! Our guide told us that since this was a holy town, there could be no petrol pump here and people had to drive down to Ajmer to fill petrol. And Ajmer is not too far away. 
The car park where cycles, sumos, buses and camels jostle together for space. Pushkar is a visual treat - and if you are spiritual it is a great place to go to find solace. Even those who get after you in other temple towns, tend to leave you alone to your thoughts. I think that i would like to go back one day to Pushkar 
Pushkar Lake -where the bereaved, the penitent and the faithful ask for mukti (or liberation) from the cycle of birth and death.
The pious Pushkar Lake, believed to have been created by the falling of lotus from the hand of Lord Brahma. It is considered to be as old as the creation. The lake is considered as one of the most sacred spots, and believed that one dip in the waters of lake on Kartika Poornima is equivalent to performing yagnas for several hundred years.
A person meditating by the banks of the Pushkar Lake. 
Devotees at the Brahma temple, Pushkar While Rajasthan tourism claims that this is the only Brahma temple in the world, I have been to another in the southern temple town of Kumbakonnam. But the fact does remain that Brahma - the creator - is not really worshipped in the country. 
With a final look at the ghats, we drove off back to Jaipur to catch the Heritage on Wheels train journey. Luxury at its best.
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Posted by: gargi in Diary
My soul is weary. I am off to the hills, to my little home in nagargaon to revive it! 
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Hope to get back on sunday fully recharged.
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Posted by: gargi in Diary
The view 
the verandah 
the location : nagargaon (lonavala) a home of my own - with its own little garden patch and a view that takes the woes away. Suddenly, i feel very tethered - a loan, a home….
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Posted by: gargi in India
There are few days in Mumbai like this, when the skies are blue and cloudless - and the suns shimmers through (as opposed to blazes down) on us. Today was one such day. Great Day and a great full moon 
And this a cloud free moon rise. 
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I photograph a lot while commuting - anything that catches my eye. Here are some from the daily commute
children playing on the street. My car was stuck at the signal and these were like a few feet away. And they seemed to be having a ball.
This was again at the traffic signal - somewhere near andheri subway. There was this guy whose face was lived in and whom the light favoured - so clck.
And then there is this - possibly one of my own personal favourites
On the day of the Mumbai blasts.
My experience with clicking on the street has been positively positive :). No one has objected so far - in fact people end up asking me to take their pictures.
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Posted by: gargi in India
Bovine Bliss - getting scrubbed down at the village pond
I asked my students once, where would you find a village? The answer was - away from the city. And then came qualifiers - mud huts, no vehicles, farms, animals etal.
Well, villages are not so far from the city. At Madh, in Mumbai, there is Erangal village - mostly inhabited by Kolis or fisher folk. Then there is Khar Danda again a fishing village. Erangal is quite close to the Madh bunglows that we use for shoot purposes. But, really speaking we don’t really consider them to be villages - probably because we see them everyday. The exist amidst high rises and bunglows, amidst traffic and vehicles. And really speaking we can’t see the farms and the farm animals that make us coo ‘village’. Nor is there the fresh air that we associate with rural bliss. Finally, the kind of dwellings that the villagers live in are written off as slums, even though the villagers in both cases were here before the rest of us. In Nalla Sopara, where we had gone to check out the Buddhist Stupa, you can still see ‘ruralness’ even though there is development all around. There are fields, and farms and ponds at which animals get washed.
40 minutes from Andheri East is a village - that fits into our perception of what rural India ought to be!
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Posted by: gargi in Diary
I love the rains. Always have. And one of the things that i enjoy the most about the monsoons is the kind of light that filters over Mumbai. This is stuff that i have shot over the last few weeks - experimenting with aperature control and shutter speed 
When sun light filters through the clouds, even Andheri (East) looks enchanting 
And this is over Bandra Flyover. conventional wisdom tells you not to click the sun - but …. 
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Posted by: gargi in India
Monsoons are here. It has been almost 5 days since it began raining. It is lovely to see the sky in so many different hues and shades. Surprisingly the roads have been not as bad as I thought they would be. But, the quality of driving on the road is apalling. Everyone is jamming in - its almost as though the rules of the road have been forgotten. Ricks, cars, cycles and pedestrians - and lets’ not forget the truck tempos are all equally boorish. I feel sorry for the traffic policemen - they have their hands more than full!
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Posted by: gargi in India
And she did too. Lovely little necklaces, corals and keychains - by the shore of Mahaballipuram. She gifted me a necklace for taking her photograph and then proceeded to sell me a whole array of junk that i didn’t need. But, she was such a commanding persoanality and had such excellent selling skills that a whole bunch of friends of mine are going to get corals and shells for presents. 
As SR put it….. what a handsome woman!
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