Ibaadat India

Ibaadat is devotion. Devotion is not mere piety. It is belief in something outside oneself and also a deep bonding with the Self.

Seeing it in places of worship is only one aspect. The most ordinary things in life are often imbued with a subsuming of oneself into another – be it Nature, be it work, be it fellow human beings, be it an idea.

And you feel this most strongly as you traverse through various parts of other people’s lives and peel the layers.

I do not call myself a tourist, but a traveller. And I know that my true medium is words. This time I thought of sharing some pictures taken during my sojourn through some parts of India. I cannot desist from the ‘posing near a haveli’ or ‘letting the wind tousle my hair on a mountain range’ shots. But there have been times I have tried to capture the candid. Some are clichés, but they are so irresistible.

I decided to take a specific subject and seek pictorial answers for this gallery. Each photograph has a larger story that shall remain unsaid. For, a journey does not have a beginning or an end.

It is also devotion – an ongoing process where those travelling will still look back to where they belong and say, “Hum bulbuley hai iski, yeh gulsitaan hamara….”

Kaisa desh hai mera? Take a look…

1. The old man and the sea: At Rishikesh. This sadhu seems to have emerged from the water and is yet drip-dry, while the young couple on the left is wondering whether to wet their feet.

2. Stepping stone: This is the quickie nirvana stereotype of the foreigner at the banks of the Ganga with what appears to be a tourist guide by his side. I believe that for those few minutes or hours, he would have found some connection with something.

3. Splash: In Benares city, these children were braving the rains to reach their schools. I deliberately took this out-of-focus blurred look to convey the atmosphere. (Okay…the camera shook! I was in a rickety cycle rickshaw.)

4. The log tiara: This one will never wear a Miss India crown nor spout sound-bytes about her role models. Despite carrying the heavy burden, she remains a child, a survivor who despite the weight on her head did not get shaky in the leg.

5. Spider woman: The woman with child is weaving looms she may never afford but for her work and her womanhood are things to be worshipped. This was in a Khasi village in Meghalaya, North East India.

6. Green, green grass of home: An ordinary picture, but for me being in Ooty in a garden where a rose is named after the CM, Jayalalitha, and to see a woman worker go about her job oblivious to her environs showed tremendous amount of belief in her routine, rather than seeing it as drudgery.

7. Pride and the broom: Again, a deceptively simple picture. You see hundreds of such women. The important thing is that this photograph was taken at the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Gujarat. I found it brave that without the safety of a jeep, she was still cleaning up a mud track.

8. Million dollar babies: Dalit students at a school in Delhi. Children are the true vision of devotion – innocence, curiosity, and gay abandon.

9. Wisdom tree: There was an almost artificial quality to this tree in a small temple near Madurai, Tamil Nadu. It was deserted and there was just this one priest around. He did not need devotees.

10. Formula racing: To experience the boat racing that happens once a year in Allepey, Kerala, is a most amazing experience. These snake boats ‘race’ at their own pace and the only excitement for the spectators is to watch the antics of the locals who in their drunken stupor call out to their favourite team, which keeps changing as the humidity and arrack take their toll.

11. Being…: This Kathakali dancer prepares for the evening performance at the Cochin Cultural Centre. The day we visited, there were only three people in the audience, and one was the manager. Yet, without thinking of who will be watching, these artistes take at least two hours over their make-up and recreate mythology daily.

12. …And becoming: The transformed artist on the left. The movements are deliberately stagey and the way they are dressed and made up adds to this larger-than-life image. Incidentally, men till date enact women’s parts.

13. Drums: One of those impromptu celebrations in Gujarat for no particular reason at all. Is this not devotion to the everydayness of life?

14. Bare necessities: In a village off Bhuj in Kutch (where ‘Lagaan’ was shot). These mud houses have rounded roofs to deflect the harsh sunlight and act as incubators on wintry nights. The drawings on the outer walls are usually of animals and birds and made with rice powder. Every home has some sort of embellishment.

15. The shadow of god: I liked both the colour and the faith contrast. A drab man had painted his little hut with the bright hues of a god he believed in. Did that god believe in him?

16. Trunk call: Yes, we do have elephants. This scene of mother-child bonding was taken off the beaten path near the Nagarhole Wildlife Sanctuary, Karnataka.

17. Oasis: They say paani pilaana sawaab ka kaam hai. In the desert sands of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, a thirst is quenched.

18. Stumped: This is in the middle of the Periyar Bird Sanctuary, but could be anywhere. To see the bare remains of a tree in the middle of the sea when there is foliage in the background is a rather humbling experience. Shorn of its identity, its faith in where it belongs remains intact. It also symbolises the common citizen who stands out despite having nothing.

“Tum besahara ho toh

Kisika sahara bano

Tumko apne-aap hi

Sahara mil jaaye

Kashti koi doobtee

Pohuncha do kinaare pe

Tumko apne-aap hi

Kinara mil jaaye…”

The old man and the sea Stepping stone Splash Log tiara Spider woman Green green grass of home Pride and broom Million dollar babies Wisdom tree Formula racing Being… Becoming… Drums Bare necessities Shadow of god Trunk call Oasis Stumped

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