Whispering Shadow

Starving for space, I was sitting towards the edge of the seat of the auto rickshaw we were in. From my position, I had clear view of the streets of Jodhpur city, which I was visiting for the purpose of travel. Jodhpur seemed to be a small town in contrast to the cities I have spent my life in, but nonetheless, it was lively and rich in its heritage. In an attempt to avoid a long detour, the rickshaw driver drove down in a direction opposite to the normal traffic flow. With all his attention focussed at the traffic coming from his left hand side, he did not notice that a father was trying to cross the road with his infantile daughter. Sensing the opportunity to get to the U-turn, he accelerated. The father, who was not expecting traffic from the opposite direction, stepped forward to make the crossing. In moment, all I saw was the face of the child come real close to the body of the vehicle. Impulsively, I pushed the father away with my hand, causing him to loose balance and fall away ...

This is a blog post for the online fund raising campaign Twestival being conducted for NGOs across five cities. I am writing for the NGO Aashayein in Hyderabad working to create better education opportunities for children. NGOs in India are trying to bring about a change at the grass root level. Many among them (like Aashayein) aim at connecting the growing professional population of the country with the segments of the society that are struggling to break through the barriers of poverty, illiteracy and unemployment. The educated middle class has opened up to the idea of giving a part of their earnings to these NGOs for various social causes. As noble as the gesture is, NGOs today need more than just funds to make a lasting impact. Monetary and material donations are important. However, their effectiveness is only determined by the ability of the NGO to leverage these contributions to serve better the cause it is working for. This ability is indirectly dependent on the available vol...

On the insistence of Vishy, I have decided to pen down the recipe for a photography technique I just learnt - light painting. For a layman, light painting is essentially capturing shapes drawn in the air using a light source. Though there are incredible works in light painting available online, I will only explain the most basic technique used when you want to combine photography with fun and friends. The most basic ingredients for light painting are a camera with manually adjustable shutter speed, high ISO (800 and above gives decent results), a tripod and a light source (LED torches are the best option but practically any intense tiny light source would do, like cell phone torches). Besides equipment, you will need people willing to draw/pose as subjects for you. Follow these seven steps to produce results as seen in the photographs (though we were not meticulous with them) above. Decide upon the light shape to be painted and the position of subjects of the photograph. Set the camera...

A journey is not defined by: where you come from where you go A journey is defined by: how you get through your time how much fun you have how you manage crisis who joins you on the way who walks away from you midway who seeks your help who you seek help from who promises to call you back once it is over who calls back once its over where you take breaks where you run out of your supplies when you almost quit what you take back home what you forgo why you took the journey in the first place