Cotton Candy

Shot with X100F, portrait of a cotton candy seller over market streets of my home town, Ajmer (Rajasthan).

Posted from Flickr https://flic.kr/p/RpeFR5

Rajasthan (Dec 18)

Shot with X100F.

Posted from Flickr https://flic.kr/p/RmTiff

Blackboard for Sale

Shot with X100f, somewhere in Bangalore.

Posted from Flickr https://flic.kr/p/2cZiUTt

Linguistic

Sigma dp2m.

Posted from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/TXwiQ5

Tender

Portrait of a Mother with her Son at IISc during Diwali (I guess). Shot on 35mm Kentmere 100 Film with Canon QL17.

Posted from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/SgGnUK

Man of Commons

Portrait of a man standing across a street. Shot at my hometown, Ajmer, Rajasthan.

Posted from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/Re3YPT

That's where he shines!

Portrait of a hawker sitting across his shop. Shot at my hometown, Ajmer, Rajasthan. If you have ever been to vegetable market (subzi-mandi) near St. Anselm's school, you must have seen him as he owns a considerable area with almost all seasonal vegetables for sale.

Posted from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/QpEGwA

A filled vessel - Mind

Portrait of a street hawker shot at my home town, Ajmer, Rajasthan.

Posted from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/QkASmg

Patience

Shot with DP2 Merrill. ISO1000, f/2.8.

Posted from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/M7bs88

Laxmi

Portrait of a young girl with a beautiful face! Shot with Sigma DP2 Merrill. [JPG straight out of camera. I forgot to turn on RAW saving option.]

Posted from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/KKqQBq

On the Stairs

Shot with Sigma DP2 Merrill at high ISO and a flash in zone focusing style, this noisy image has a unique film like look. It was raining and I was crossing by a street where I saw this woman sitting on a staircase waiting for rain to stop.

from Flickr http://flic.kr/p/HsHABG

Faces of Art: Karnataka Chitra Santhe 2016

A set of seven portraits taken at "Karnataka Chitra Santhe 2016" organised by Chitra Kala Parishad, Bangalore on 3rd of Jan, 2016. Shot with Nikon D5100 + Nikkor 40mm/2.8. RAW processed images. Copyright protected Images. Don't copy/use/embed without permissions.

"Experienced"


"Percipience"


"Lenient"


"Divine"


"Mystic"


"Oriented"



"Shine"

Street Market at Night - A collection of 6 Photographs

Egg Seller and the Ghost!  

Photograph of a street hawker with his cart, who sells eggs and omelettes on street. I did not realized the presence of another man, standing next to him, peeking at the camera till I came home started processing the image.

Counting 

A street flower seller, sitting on the footpath busy counting the earnings. She did not even noticed this bright flash of light after I took the shot!

Lo Cotton Candy ! 

People waiting for getting their cotton-candy and looking inside the candy preparation container with surprise.

Shoes or Cola !? 

A women seller on street having a shoes store-front and a contrasting coca-cola refrigerator at the back side.

Fruit Seller 

A fruit seller holding a Sapodilla (Cheeku fruit), negotiating with a customer. Note his glittering face and eyes by the colourful battery powered light.

Negotiation 

A shoe seller, negotiating with one customer while the other one is staring somewhere else probably lost in his own dangling thoughts.

"In the name of God!" - Conversation with an Autowala

This is a blog post of a funny incident that happened with me in Bangalore, the city of nasty autowalas (auto-drivers)! Here, incidents like meter tempering, excess fares, faulty meters, abusive language is very common. However some autowalas are good too, no doubt. In my past 3-4 years of stay, I share a kind of love-hate relationship with these as I've met both kind of autowalas. In my case most of the time I engage in an argument if they ask to go without meter or charge 10-20 Rs. extra on meter fare value. It is hard to convince them to follow meter against their numerous reasons for not following it! Sometimes, I try to warn them by telling about police or I simply look for another auto. Nevertheless I simply fail in most cases. I have so many memorable incidences to tell. However this one is little different -- God came in between us. Or rather, I brought him in!! :D

It was evening 6:00 pm and I was looking for autos in K.R. Market area. Since it was office-off time, none of the autos were free and also the buses were all jam packed. I started walking towards K.G. road, thinking that I may find an auto on my way. But I couldn't! I got one auto and he asked me 150 Rs., more than double the meter rate and I refused hire him after gently asking him to go by meter. After walking around 4km., I saw a vacant auto in a traffic signal. At that time I was near Majestic Bus Stand. From Majestic, roughly 55 Rs. fare is normal.

"Malleshwaram Jaate?", I asked. (Will you be going to Malleshwaram?)

He replied, "Malleshwaram me kahan?" (Where in Malleshwaram?)

I said near 18th cross. He asked for Rs. 90. without meter.

"Meter se chalogae?", I asked again. (Can you go by Meter Fare?)

"Meter slow hai, islye to bina meter ke jaa raha!", he replied. (My meter is slow, that's why I am going without meter.)

I smiled since I had no option and it was getting late. I told him Rs. 60 is the max I could offer. He came down to Rs. 75.

"18th cross, Temple Maramma tak jana hai", I said and sat inside. (18th cross, Maramma Temple is where I want to go.) That is where our campus' entrance gate is located. And then came the funny part.

"Aap log 100-100 rupaye coffee peeney mein kharch kartey aur abhi apko problem hai", he taunted. (You guys spend 100 bucks on Coffee and here you have problem)

"Wo log proper bill bhi detey bhaiya! Apka to meter hi slow hai", was my quick reply. (They provide us proper bill. Here your meter itself is slow.)

Then after a momentary pause I said, "Kya bhaiya, aap sandhya ke samay zada paisay maangtey, pata hai uper se bhagwan cross hotey iss samay!" (You are asking for extra money at the time of dusk. You know God travel around during that time.) During my childhood, my grandmother used to give me this reason to wake me up if I was asleep in evening.

"Arrey aap 5-10 Rs. ke liye bhagwan ko beech mein le aaye!", he said. (You are bringing God just for 5-10 bucks)

I replied, "Mandir mein to itna hi daaltey naa aap, to bhagwan to beech mein aa hi saktey!" and laughed. After then he did not uttered a single word. My stop came in some time and it was a temple! (If in temple you can donate this much, then God can also mind for this much!)

To pay him, I took my wallet out followed by a 50 Rs. note and two 10 Rs. note. I was searching for 5 Rs. change and then he said, "Chalo 60 Rupaye hi dae do, kya aap bhagwan ko beech mein le aaye!" (Just pay me 60 Rs., You bought God in between!)

He took 60 Rs. from me and left.

I smiled an moved on!



PS: The auto-driver in photograph is not the same one as in the post. I took that photo long time back when I was learning panning-photography.

Deep into thoughts

Portrait of a woman, a fruit seller as you can see, sitting next to her cart, roadside

Deep into thoughts she was disconnected against momentary lapse of reality around her

Passing by the same roadside I took this picture

And she remained sitting - calm and gently - deep into thoughts

Disconnected against momentary lapse of reality 

And I moved on...

Gamna...

Gamna, a raddiwallah (scrap dealer) that I met at Bopal village, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

I shot his picture around 7 in the evening. Excited as he was, he asked, "Meri photu akhbaar mein chapegi?" (Will my picture appear in the newspapers?)

As his eyes sparkled in anticipation, the contrast struck me: how important a newspaper could be, for somebody who could not even read it. All that newspapers meant for him was waste. Waste, that would earn him his living.

This post also appears in PagalGuy.com news channels: http://www.pagalguy.com/news/gamna-a-17291407/