Saving (Finding actually) Private Bahadur

Circa July 2007



This is Men (Meen) Bahadur, a 10-year old Nepali kid at the Government Boys Home (Located close to both KIDWAI memorial hospital and NIMHANS) in Bangalore. Sitting behind him in the long corridor of the Boys home and crying, is a mentally disturbed inmate. I asked the officials why that kid was crying. They told me that it had become a routine for that boy to cry and wail without any provocation. His condition was due to his disturbed state of mind. I said to myself, that if there was anyone with a real reason to cry then it had to be Men Bahadur. But, Men wasn't crying.

Circa October 2007 (Four months later)

I had a casual chat with one of our reporters regarding the stories I've worked so far with. The story about Men Bahadur came up during this conversation. The reporter told me that she had recently visited the Government Boys Home, and had found out that Men was still an inmate there. We may need a miracle to send Men Bahadur to where he belonged to. And the place he belongs to, may not really be his homeland, Nepal. It could be a place in India; a place where his brother, Kishan Bahadur happens to posted as an Army personnel.

People who might know his brother may call him as Kishan, Bahadur, sepoy, Colonel, Captain, Lance Naik or maybe 'Private Bahadur'. Let's try to find and locate Kishan Bahadur and then send Men back to him. After all, 'little Men' left Nepal and fled to Bangalore in India on his own, because he was in search of his brother.

The story of Men Bahadur: Please read..

Men has been living in Bangalore for the past six years, which roughly means that he ran away from Nepal when he was around 4 years old. Besides the fact that he stayed near a mountain and a lake in Nepal, he doesn't remember anything. And the bad news is that as days pass by, it would be difficult for anyone to help him since there is a risk that he would forget even the little he remembers now.

According to Men, his real parents died when he was very young. After that he was taken care of by foster parents. He says that his foster father used to beat him up a lot and that prompted him to run away from home frequently. Unhappy with his foster family, Men longed to be with his elder brother Kishan who had left Nepal to join the Defence services in India (Probably the Ghorka regiment). Only information about his elder brother which the little kid had with him was that Kishan was undergoing some training in a place called Bangalore. Then one day little Men decided to go in search of his brother. Then what followed is quite unclear as Men says that he boarded a bus from Nepal to Bangalore. Thousands of kilometers apart it is unlikely that there is a bus service between Nepal and Bangalore. His exact journey from Nepal to Bangalore is unknown but what is clear is that somehow a four year old child from Nepal found himself lost in the streets of the city which is often referred to as the silicon valley of India

One day, the police officials luckily found Men on the streets. They admitted him at Makkala Ashraya Kendra (MAK) . However, he used to often run away from there. Men says that he was very happy at MAK, but when on being questioned why he used to run away from that place, his reply was that he was searching for his brother.

MAK was fed up of his vagabond ways and didn't wan't him. Hence he is currently at the Government Boys Home. They are trying hard to put him back in Makkala Ashraya Kendra. But ultimately that's not what Men wants. His real home would be with his brother.

His search is still on. Men has to find his brother. Do you want to help Men find his brother?
It is going to be a tough man-hunt. The only clues we have are his name (Kishan Bahadur), his country of origin(Nepal), his job (works for Indian Army), once upon time he was in Bangalore for some training, and he has little brother(Men Bahadur :-) ) who has gone missing from home since many years .

I request you to pass on the link to this post ( www.unconventionallife.blogspot.com/2007/10/saving-finding-actually-private-bahadur.html ) to your friends who are in the army or are from Nepal, or maybe to friends who might know anyone in the army or Nepalese living in India. I sincerely hope that this will be worth the effort and someday Men reunites with his brother.

Lacklustre Bangalore IT.in 2007

Bangalore IT.in 2007 being held at BIEC(Bangalore International Exhibition Centre) has received a lukewarm response from the IT crowded Bangalore city. Here is an image of the 'May I help You' Help-desk which was of no help to the sparse crowd that had gathered courage to drive down to BIEC, located at 10th mile Tumkur road (far away from the city.... 35 kilometers from my home) to see what was in store this year. The desk was unattended during peak hours of activity on day 2 of the fest. The distance from the city seems to be a prime reason for the low response received this year.

A year spent behind the lens

October 12th, 2007

October 13th 2006, that's one Friday which I'll never forget in my life. A year later, I see that today happens to be a small milestone for me. I will be completing one year of my life as a 'photojournalist'. Last year on that fateful Friday I bid farewell to the Corporate world and IT industry. And on the very next day I began my tryst with serious photojournalism. As the days progressed, my bank balance began to recede, my patience swung like a pendulum (my dad's patience... don't even ask about it!). There were nights I couldn't sleep. On the positive side, my confidence increased slowly as time went by.

My experiments with camera taught me something new every time when I had to shell out money in getting negatives developed, scanned and printed. Oh, I forgot to tell you something! I never had a DSLR camera then(Even today I don't really own one. My company has given a beauty for me to use). I had borrowed my friend's(Srikar) Film SLR to practice the craft. I swapped his Canon SLR with my Fuji digital camera for few days, which finally stretched to few months. Then, for a while I got Obi's(another friend ) Canon 350D to do some minor assignments.

Those days, I spent my time on the streets of Bangalore shooting life around it. I am grateful to the narrow lanes and alleys of Shivajinagar,Avenue road, and the timeless Russel market, and not to forget my hometown Kaup, which have let me indulge completely in the art of photography. Three hundred and sixty five days later, after shooting for NGOs, online magazines, in-flight magazines and few portraits, I have come to be part of a newspaper ( Bangalore Mirror). I have been a press photographer for last eight months.

When I look back I see that I have travelled quite a distance in a short while. Last month, I got to cover my first major Cricket assignment. I actually covered the India - Australia ODI (One Day International) match held at Bangalore:-) [Can you believe it?]. Next day , I saw my photographs in the lead sports page of our newspaper. Oh boy, what a feeling it was to be watching a cricket match(for free!) from the boundary lines, capturing the action in camera and then tirelessly editing pictures, captioning them and mailing them back to the desk on a laptop with WiFi Internet access. You had to be there to know exactly what it felt like. Next day, I got a pat on my back from many people for the pictures I had made during the match(I'll blog them shortly). I am looking forward for more of sports assignments. How many of you gave me a chance that I'd be handling such an assignment with in a year of having started my life from scratch? To be frank, I myself had no clue that I'd reach this milestone in a short time.

Today, as I woke up early, I was wondering how would I celebrate tomorrow. But, as unpredictable a day in the life of a photojournalist can get, I had something wonderful in store for me. I had to visit Bannerghatta Biological Park's Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre(WRRC) on an assignment. The story was to cover the WRRC's first attempt to breed a Tigres with a wild tiger to bring in its wild genes to give birth to healthy offspring. This was a successful attempt. Today, Manasa the tigress has three healthy cubs. It was a beauty to photograph the Tiger cubs. And, finally came the moment when I decided to hold one of the cubs. I picked this little one (too heavy to be called little one) and it felt like carrying a two year old kid. I never thought I'd kiss a Tiger's forehead. But, Yippee! it was too cute for me not to do it. Here, I share one of the photographs which I clicked on this shoot along with a picture of me carrying the cub(thank Niranjan for photographing me). I love my job. I feel I have the best job in this world (apart from the Zoo keepers at WRRC who are doing some great work)

I thank everyone who has been part of this journey of mine as a photographer. I thank my family and all the old friends who have stood by me and have supported me as I went about doing what I liked the most. Many thanks to all the photographers who I've met along the way and who have not hesitated to share with me a lot of valuable information and experience. And finally, I thank all the people in the field of journalism, whom I got to meet at some point of the time or the other; they have made my life really exciting, either by contributing to my growth as a photojournalist or by just having been part my life. I've made few friends, I've lost few, went bankrupt for a while, faced tough times but I've come through. And, I dream of going the long way. I've made a promise to myself long back. I shall live up to it.
Good night.

Hand of rex

This is Rex, all decked up in jewels and an eye catching Blue Saree, waiting for the events of the evening which were summed up as 'Breaking the Silence' to start.

Who is Rex? Rex is a cross-dresser and part of the group 'Sangama', an organization fighting for rights of the sexual minorities.
The events of the day(4th August, 2007) were to mark the launching of LesBIT, a new helpline for lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders in Bangalore city.

LesBit helpline number is 080-23439124

Note: More photographs connected to this story will shortly be published. So please drop in again

Love doesn't speak any language: Neither Spanish nor Gujarati

Amiruddin in a playful mood with his grandpa.
Amiruddin speaks only Spanish where as his grandpa, Mr Mohammad Yousuf speaks Gujarati at home. But it ain't no barrier when it comes to the bond they share. Perhaps 'Nanapaaji' is the only Indian word Amiruddin and his younger brother Ahmed knew when i met them..... 'Naanapaaji' is what they call their grandpa as.

Am I cold, numb and heartless

That's a question, which at times is thrown at me by the silent face of onlookers when I am in middle of my work.....

Life of a photojournalist is an interesting and a privileged one. You get to visit certain places, meet people and frame them in a photograph which you otherwise would never have got the opportunity to do so. But, it ain't a bed of roses all the way.

The truth is, that at the end of the day you need a photograph which is to be seen in the papers the next morning. And the process in getting it requires that you go through a roller coaster ride of emotions. You get to experience the life of people around you, be part of few moments of their lives, share their happiness and grief, and then let the world experience it through the story which your photograph is able to communicate to viewers. It is a tough job mate!

The post mortem section at Victoria hospital is a busy place. The increasing crime rate in the silicon city ensures that it always remains so, with the activity and crowded with grieving loved ones, the police, doctors and the news hungry media. Doctors who perform the autopsy, day in and day out and yet retain sanity in their minds, I hold them in high esteem.

As a news photographer one of the difficult jobs is to get the images of relatives of victims of homicide and suicide. And it gets more difficult when you are covering the story of gang wars and the person in front of you is the wailing wife of the victim, with whom she was riding back home from a temple four hours prior to you being there. In four hours her life has completely changed. She is traumatized while you intrude into her private emotion.

The lady here is a widow of a slain small time gangster. He was killed in a revenge attack which was part of the ugly 'Arrack wars' of Bangalore city. The arrack or illicit liquor is an illegal business with huge money involved in it. A month prior to this attack, a man from the rival camp was murdered in a similar brutal fashion in front of Urvashi Theatre.

She was in a room at the post mortem section where the cops were filing a report. I along with a reporter from our newspaper walked in. There were few close associates of her late husband who were consoling her. We began to ask questions regarding the incident and she tried her best in answering them as our reporter jotted down her answers in a notepad. Just as I switched on my camera and started clicking her photographs a window was forced open and one of her relatives was standing there and calling out to her. This sent her in a hysteria and she lost control and began wailing. With goosebumps all over me I framed this shot at that moment.

Have I become cold, numb and heartless? Has it become easy for me to shoot these images in presence of people who keep judging me? The fact is that even if there is no one there to judge me I would still be judging myself.

I respect the people who have permitted me to be there in middle of their personal tragedies with an intrusive device like a still camera( the love of my life) . It amazes me that even in their hard times they were able to understand what my duty is and let me perform my work. I truly empathise with them. I also understand the sentiments of the people who are not that welcome to the idea of me breaching their privacy.

Crime photography at the end of the day leaves you emotionally drained. But the impact your photograph can have in pressurizing the law enforcement agencies to take actions to make the city a tad bit safer than what it was yesterday is rewarding.

Protest in a different hue

One man's art is another man's porn; We've heard this statement quite often and there definitely is lot of truth in it. In the state of Gujarat, which has witnessed enormous violation of fundamental constitutional rights where people's freedom of expression has been denied, an artist being arrested for displaying his art is definitely not a surprise. But what came as surprise to the 'moral police' and conservatives in Gujarat is the nationwide protest it spurred up demanding the release of Chandramohan, the student of Fine Arts in question.

Chandramohan was arrested on the charges of alleged obscene display of Hindu deities at an exhibition at Maharaja Sayyaji Rao University in Vadodra. He was finally released on bail. But the events leading to his release consisted of demonstrations at every major city or town which nurtures art-form of some kind. This meant that photojournalists across the nation had to go cover another protest in a nation where every other day one gets to see group of people walking down the street carrying banners and shouting slogans.

Monday the 14th May, time to visit MG(Mahatma Gandhi) statue located at beginning of MG road. MG statue has become the symbol of protest marches and dharna in Bangalore. When I was on trial for reportage I had to ride down to this place everyday to cover a protest. But now the publication I work for has turned into a tabloid and hence protests somehow are considered to be a routine event which only broadsheets are to cover. It meant that the sight of footpath opposite MG statue had turned into a rarity for me. So this was revisiting the place where it all began.

There I was, standing amidst sea of cameras consisting of both still and video. It seemed like this group of artists in Bangalore were destined to get a lot of footage for the outcry. Reporters and TV models (oops, I mean the pretty little things who are hired to be TV journalists ;-) , Just kidding) were busy getting interviews with the 'Arty' crowd of the city. Quite a few people whose faces were regularly seen in page 3 supplements were surprisingly there holding banners. It looks like some people were keen on attempting a jump from Page 3 to Page 1. God bless them in their endeavors.

Too many cameras, and visual repetition of images of people holding banners. What satisfaction does it give to make a similar image? Pretty mundane, I must admit. At this point let me confess something, every assignment I am sent to (however absurd the story maybe) I seriously look for the angle and perspective which has eluded every other lens. And I am sure lot of other photographers hunt for it. So there is this treasure hunt or a silent battle of finding that frame which has deceived every one's sight. Not everyday I end up successful in this attempt but I sure give it my best shot.

Banners, banners, banners! I am so bored of it. I was desperately experimenting to get something different out of this. Neither were there expressive faces to get some compelling portraits nor any power-packed clash between authorities and the protesters. I moved to one corner of the protest and viewed through the lens to see how the line of protesters look like from there. There was nothing impressive except for the angle. Wait a minute, what do we see here. These chaps were wearing black arm bands. Well, something was cooking in my head. Few minutes later I had my frame with the focus being on the black arm bands rather than banners and faces of people.

The picture told me a story and I hoped it could tell the world a story. That is what I, a photojournalist looks for at the end of the day. But, question at that moment in my mind was: Will such experiments with new ideas work in Indian print media? Will they accept this picture or will they ask me for a photograph with "More people! Famous people!Page 3 Celebs! And banners! And action shot of people trying to scream!". It wasn't a logistical problem as I had framed these conventional shots too. But, the fact is that it hurts a lot when your substandard works are given the limelight when your hard-thought favorite works are forgotten. Your approach and your way of thinking is never known to the world. Your identity is relegated to a newspaper byline like 'Photo by xyz', and that's all.

Back in the office, I gave prints and location of the digital images to the news-editors and hoped for the best. Next day morning when I came back to office I was thrilled not only to see this photograph being selected from the lot I had given, but also at the fact that it made it to the front page. It may not be an excellent work but surely it feels good to have your hard work rewarded with something called as 'job satisfaction'.

When the sound lets you see the truth.

Vaseem, a 22 year old aspiring journalist who is also visually impaired, uses JAWS(a software which aids the visually imapaired by translating text to sound) for his studies and browsing on the computer. Vaseem along with many of his visualy impaired friends stay in Samarthanam, an NGO dedicated to improving lives of the disabled.

It was a great moment for me when Vaseem sent me an email while I was making this photograph. The first thing I did when I got back to my office, was I replied to him. We have now decided to be friends.
VTPhoto: Nishant Ratnakar

No Indians allowed. Only foreigners

I and couple of my friends undertook a trip to Pondicherry to spend our Ugadi weekend in this coastal holiday destination. It was a road trip which was decided on the spur of the moment with the intention to break free from the rush of the stressful life we lead in Bangalore city. Hence, our accommodation at 'Pondi' (the slang used by the young city crowd to refer to this holiday destination which was a former French colony) was not reserved in advance. After a long road trip and a frustrating, futile search for a suitable sea facing hotel in the main town of Pondi we decided to take our chance and find a beach cottage or shack along the East Coast Road (ECR) which connects Pondicherry to Mahabalipuram.

After twenty minutes on ECR we reached a stretch of highway running adjacent to the sea shore lined with shacks and cottages. We stopped our car and walked down to sandy beach to book our stay at the popular Aurovile Waves resort. Also, it had been nine long hours since our last meal and we were very hungry. We were told that the cottages at the Waves were fully occupied and maybe we could try our luck at Muthu's resort which was adjacent to it. With hungry stomachs, we prodded our way under the afternoon sun towards Muthu's in the direction given to us by the lady who was at the Waves.

In front of us was a stretch of beach filled mainly with foreigners. And there was a rope running from the road towards the waters separating that part of the beach from the stretch of the coast opposite the Aurovile Waves. It seemed like some sort of demarcation and there was a board with a message written in Tamil. None of us knew Tamil and we walked towards the other side of the rope. At that moment we heard whistles from a nearby shack. There were two men in Security uniform and a hefty man who resembled like some of the bouncers in Bangalore Pubs. All the three men were Indians. They made signs which indicated us to keep away from this stretch of Beach. Confused, we decided to walk up to them and find out what was the issue.

"What is the problem?"

"You can't come to this part of the beach"

"Why?(Still confused)"

"No Indians allowed here. Only Foreigners".

"What!(Shocked)." "But we want to look for accommodation here."

"No accommodation."

"(Still recovering from the shock)Okay. But we are very hungry and have traveled a long way from Bangalore. We will have lunch here."

"No lunch served here. Only Snack Bar."

"Okay, fine. We will have snacks then."

"Don't enter from here. Come from the back entrance facing towards the road."

"Why? we'll enter from here"

"No, you can't! Enter from the other side."

At this point, we felt humiliated and walked out of that place. It was shocking to receive such a treatment in India for the simple reason of being an Indian. It is high time we stopped pointing fingers at the West for racial discrimination we are subjected to in foreign countries. We ourselves are discriminating our own people based on race.

This definitely was the worst, but not the first time I had experienced racial discrimination. In the past, I had faced a similar issue in Goa, which coincidentally is also another beach holiday destination drawing lot of foreign tourists and is also a former European colony. And incidents of such racial discrimination are experienced by other Indian domestic travelers too. Ryan Lobo, a documentary photographer writes in his blog( http://www.ryanlobo.blogspot.com/ ) about such a local racial discrimination he was subjected to in his place of birth, Goa. In a restaurant, when he questioned the waiter for overpricing a meal, the waiter shot back at his taxi driver telling him not to bring Indians as they only want to serve foreigners.

It is hurting to know that such incidents are happening in some of the most famous holiday destinations of our country. It is understandable that foreign tourists constitute a Major income for the people involved in hospitality business in these places. But should that translate to contempt for your countrymen?

I only hope that the sign board with a message written in Tamil on that sandy beach off the ECR did not translate to "Indians and dogs not allowed". Such a sign are memories from the pre-Indian independence era and let it remain so. Touch wood!

Boulevard of broken dreams

Boulevard of broken dreams
Originally uploaded by travelling writer.

The man, machine and a boulevard which is history...
VTPhoto: Nishant Ratnakar

Surprised that we just walk on.
May be helpless, but we just walk on.
We walk on the disappearing boulevard,
As the city, they say has to move forward

When the monks came marching

Forty eight years ago, on the10th of March in the year1959, Tibetans rose up to protest against Chinese occupation of Tibet and to re-assert their demand for complete independence. Millions of Tibetans since then have lost their lives in this struggle, and also thousands of them lose their lives every year as they attempt to cross borders to enter India and Nepal to escape from the Human rights abuses they are being subjected to by the army. Events that unfolded after that 10th of March led to His Holiness Dalai Lama leaving Tibet and coming to India with large number of Tibetan refugees. Since then the Tibetans have found a home in India and other countries. But their quest to return to their homeland and feel safe still remains unfulfilled.

Every year, 10th of March is observed as the Tibetan National Uprising Day. This year it was the 48th anniversary of this day. In Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka state in India, mass public demonstrations and rallies were planned on March 9th and 10th to observe this day. The photographs in this story document the events and happenings which occurred during these two days. As a prelude to this, around 150 monks who were mainly from the monasteries of Bylakuppe (located in Karnataka state) staged a week long 'Peace march' which began on 3rd of March at Mysore and culminated on 9th of March in Bangalore city.

Day 1: 9th march, 2007

The monks arrived in large numbers to the city. After a brief break, they began a rally from Chicklalbagh to Mahatama Gandhi statue.


They came from differents parts of India, where they have found a home to stay as long as their struggle lasts.


They marched on telling the people of the city about what they had been doing for a week: Walking on searching for peace.


The principle of 'ahimsa' or Non-violence is the core of their movement. This was evident for a stranger to their struggle, as it could be seen by the posters which depict the two apostles for peace from this sub-continent region.



The Tibetan flags were all over the place: flying high, on the shoulders, people draped in them.


All the while they recited 'Janchup Semchok', a Tibetan prayer for peace where they request the people who have no kindness in their hearts to fill it with kindness and for people who have it, to spread it all over the world.


And as they sang, they dreamed of the day they could return to their homeland.


The women leaders came out and read out the intentions of this march undertaken by these monks, their demands and the sufferings of their countrymen, to the people of Bangalore city


They continued to read repeatedly and tirelessly the message of the monks in English and Kannada languages.


Also, their message to the world was clear. It is high time United Nations intervened seriously to resolve the issue.


The Tibetan leaders in the city later honored the monks who undertook the week long march, by presenting them white shawls.


The Tibetan youth who came to show their support for the monks joined them in their prayer for peace.




Day 2: 10th March, 2007

They came from all walks of life.


The message was loud and clear as they marched shouting slogans with painted faces,flags and banners


A Passionate Moment. Emotions were running high.


Even the mothers were out on the streets to remind the world of a fateful day in history.


Everyone had a message to send across... The young....



...And the old. Some of then as old as the movement.. and some, even older.


With blessings of His Holiness behind them, they marched on.


Some decided to spread the message through the 'sounds of silence'...


The youth were kept motivated by their leaders. Some of them relied on words..


Some, by just their very presence: Lhakpa Tsering La, youth leader who attempted self-immolation in the year 2006 when the Chinese premier visited India.


Even the bruises echoed their message.


Moment of silence as a mark of respect for all those who have sacrificed their lives for the movement.


They sang the national anthems of both their mother land and as well of their adopted home,India....


They listened to what the leaders had to say.


With utmost seriousness


Once again, another March 10th passed by. Another walk, Another petition, Another protest, another year.... When will the issue be resolved? 'Rangzen' (independence) is what he wants. But the 'holiness' asks for true autonomy. But, will he get any of those?

Me, my solitude and Raju's 350D - Part 2

Its been nearly two weeks of probation period at VT. Me and Raju's camera (canon 350 D) did get to see some amount of life in Bangalore which was previously unknown to us. From Page 1 to Page 3 we have got to see a great deal of Bangalore. Sometimes boring stories and sometimes stories which reaffirms faith in the work I have set about doing, they all seem to be part of the game.

The two days I spent about covering the Tibetan Uprising day events have enhanced my confidence a great deal. I was surrounded by photographers who were working for agencies like Reuters,AP,PTI and AFP. It felt great to know that I was trying to capture in frames the story which they were interested too. I knew the event had a worldwide significance. For the first time I was given an opportunity to compare my work with the agencies worldwide. Well, its a different issue that the equipments they had at their disposal were technically far more superior than my buddy, the canon 350D. But hey! who cares? Me and 350D accepted the challenge gracefully. It was natural that I went back home and compared my work with theirs which was updated on the agencies' websites. And I am being frank, I was impressed with my work on the Tibetan story which was done on 350D. This was a boost for me. Someday I'll definitely make it to one of the agencies.

But as the story goes, only one image made it to print from those 2 days:-(. Now, for the first time I got an insight into the business of newspapers. There were local issues and advertisements which needed space. Tibetan struggle somehow didn't fit the scheme of Bangalore centric newspaper.I had to kiss this fact. I had shot some page3 kinda pictures on the same day. They made it in large numbers. Something new about professional modern day journalism I had learned.

Life goes on; So I moved on from Rakshita's Mehendi ceremony payasam to buffets at Star hotels of Bangalore while covering events and press meets. A trip to IIMB and freezing the future corporate czars of India, listening to a Tibetan hero who one day I know shall be the leader of modern independent Tibet(if Tibet's destiny has independence in it), meeting visionaries of Karnataka state and then attempting an undercover operation in Bangalore subways where prostitution was rampant; it surely has been a great ride so far. I have come to know my limitations as well as my buddy 350D's. But we have to learn to live with our limitations and make the most of it. And yeah, my probation at VT has nearly come to an end and I am waiting to hear from the Resident Editor on my future here. I have a feeling that I have done well. I hope they tell me soon. I have to return Raju's 350D and buy mine soon.

Retrospecting through the last few months, I have come to realise that I am walking with huge weight on my shoulders. No, its not Raju's camera bag:-). The weight I am referring to is of the expectations and dreams. I have realized that I am not just in a process of trying to realize my dreams. I am in fact trying to realize a million dreams. I was not alone, there are a large number of people who were and still are caught in a life they are not really keen on leading. But they do not want to risk an adventure to change things. I decided to break free and yeah I know, my decision had shocked many people. I can hear the words "Your son needs counselling I guess" still ringing in my ears. People who could draw similarities between their lives and mine have regularly been in touch with me. They are hoping I succeed in whatever I have set about doing. They are trying to realize their dreams of breaking free and reaching the pinnacle through me. And my friend, that is a huge pressure situation here. But I seem to love it.

I know that if all shall go well,
I'll be a legend walking with applause.
And if fate shall have its way,
I'll still be a martyr of my own cause.
-Nishant Ratnakar

Evil Smoke

Evil Smoke
Originally uploaded by travelling writer.

Helmets can save you only from the road accidents. It can't save you from cancer. For such evils, its only your will power which can fight it out.

Some facts

• Half the male tuberculosis deaths in India are caused by smoking, and three quarters of the smokers who become ill with tuberculosis (TB) would not have done so if they had not smoked

• The current study predicted that the number of men dying from smoking-related illnesses in India could double to more than a million a year by 2025

• In India, lung cancer is fast replacing oral cancer as the most common malignancy in men. Smoking is the predominant cause of lung cancer.

• Eight percent of women in developing countries and about 15% in industrialized countries currently smoke cigarettes.

• Study Finds Children in India are Smoking More Tobacco at a Younger Age.

Say no to smoking.

Issued in public interest by Nishant Ratnakar

Do they really mean it..

The Karnataka flag is seen hoisted at the entrance of one of the popular wholesale malls of Bangalore during the recent protests over the judgement given by the Tribunal for Cauvery river water sharing issue.

This was a common site in front of big commercial complexes, supermarkets, malls,multiplexes IT and BPO company office buildings in Bangalore during the recent days.

I wonder what exactly does it signify.

1.>Does this mean that they love karnataka? If so, why don't they display the flag through out the year? And why hoist it only at the gates and entrances of the buildings, and not at a dignified flag post set up exclusively for it?

2.>Or does it mean that these big guns care for local issues and are actualy showing their support for the cause?

3.>Or does it mean that this is an act of appeasing the protestors and mobs by the upper middle class( and above) which is least bothered about the issues concerning the localities?

4.>Talking about doing it out of fear: Does it mean we the citizens of a famous cosmopolitan city are nothing but vandals and rioters who love destroying public property in the name of burning issues? And people are forced to act according to our whims and fancies to avoid facing our wrath?

Something is terribly wrong here.

Whatever the industry it maybe, but when it sets up its operations in Bangalore it must invest on two important things for its security apart from hiring security professionals. That is they have to buy the Karnataka flag and Rajkumar posters. Every time a protest breaks out in the city these are the only two things which can save a building from getting ransacked by mobs.

Note: Actually, looking at recent turn of events in the city there seems to be emerging another security device apart from these two vital symbols. It is a new poster: A poster of Saddam Hussein!

Irfan

Irfan
Originally uploaded by travelling writer.

Date: November 4th,2006.
Place:Russel Market, Bangalore

I thought child labour was banned in my country. But poverty I guess forces children to work.

Irfan, works along with his friend and another lady who runs this service of cleaning prawns for customers after they have struck a deal with one of the sellers in Russel market.

Initially, Irfan ran away when I tried to photograph him. Somebody played a joke on him be telling him that I would give his photograph to the police and that scared him. Later, he walked up to me and asked me why am I giving his pictures to the cops?Upon hearing the truth from me he realised he was a victim of a practical joke. After a hearty laugh he went back to business as usual.

Bunking college

Bunking college
Originally uploaded by travelling writer.

This was one of my published photographs in Bangalore Vijay Times. The story was on bunking classes in College.

I was already on an assignment to a popular women's college in the city when I was told to make a photograph for this feature story. I was actually there to make a photo-essay on a charity run being organised by them. Then a passing glance at a corridor and the urge in my mind to experiment and get a non-cliche image of bunking classes made me visualize this frame as I saw those legs and the college bag rested in the lap. Till that I do not know whose legs are those.

Open to critiques

Janapada Jathre 2007: A Festival of folk dance

Saturday evening and a free concert at a hillock; what a combo it was for connoisseurs of folk music and dance! This was the atmosphere I was treated to when I arrived at Lal Bagh.

This year's Janapada Jathre, the festival of folk music and dance was held at the base of the Lal Bagh rock on February 10th. The theme for this year revolved around the contribution of women to Performing folk arts. Hence this year's event was called as "Mahila Janapada Jathre" and it was no surprise that most of the participants were women.

It was delightful to see such a big turn out of city dwelling audience to a folk festival. A large number of foreign tourists too were present and were seen swaying to the sounds of this land.

The festival kicked off by a performance by artists from Coorg. They performed a dance which they traditionally do as a ritual in worshipping river Cauvery. This was followed by numerous performances ranging from Kolaata to acrobatic performances by a group of Eunuch artists from North Karnataka. The ever popular "Moodal Kunigal kere" was performed by group of school children. It was nice to see the involvement of the audience. Their constant cheering, singing in chorus, and synchronous clapping to the beats of the music gave encouragement to these artists who usually do not get this exposure.

Below are some moments from the evening which have been captured in images by me. Click on each image to view it in larger size.