40 Degrees

Every time I go to India I take pictures of homeless people. From the point of view of a ‘westerner’, seeing scores of people sleeping on the streets and begging is an unusual and a pretty overwhelming sight. As a photographer, you immediately want to capture things you don’t normally see. It’s also very, very easy to take pictures of the street people in India; they rarely protest or question why you’re photographing them. If you try to do the same in London with a homeless person, you’re asking for trouble. In fact, as bold as I am, I don’t think I’ve ever shot a homeless person or beggar in the UK without either asking for permission (like with Stuart), or without them knowing.  In India, homeless people are so common and consist of families with young children so there’s no real fear factor. People generally also love to be photographed. This is one of the very few images of street people I took this time (granted they are unaware of it!):

This being my 6th or 7th visit to India, I had virtually no desire to take pictures of people in such situations. In fact, I found myself walking past them, barely noticing them. I guess I’m no longer an ‘outsider’ or foreigner with a fascination for these people, although their tenacity and smiles still amaze me. So, instead of lots of cliché’d images depicting poverty, here is a selection of images instead depicting the beauty of Mumbai, because there’s a lot of it : )

40 Degrees: Mumbai, India
April 2010

It’s hot – around 40C, and humid. Seriously hot. So hot, that walking around during the day with a camera is draining. I used my film camera a fair bit – mainly because it’s so much lighter to carry around.

Nikon F3 50mm f1.8 – Kodak Colour 200 (purchased in India!)

Driving a taxi around all day in this heat cannot be fun, especially if you know anything about Mumbai traffic.

This road, near the Haji Ali Durgah, is a nightmare to cross.  It took about 10 minutes to cross half of it, by which time this policeman pointed out there was a subway.  Having been here about 6 times, I felt a bit stupid.

Flowers being sold just outside the Haji Ali:

If you follow my blog, this place will be really familiar to you.  I visit it every time I’m in Mumbai – it’s definitely one of my favourite areas.  It’s on an island of its own, surrounded by sea, which makes it a really peaceful and serene place. Of course, it has religious significance to Muslims, although people of all faiths visit it.

The tide eventually rises and cuts off the path to the area, so it’s only accessible at certain times of the day.

This lady helped me when I slipped on some rocks:

I was attempting to converse in Hindi with her when she answered me in perfect English.

Some digital pics:

I put my iPod on shuffle prior to taking the above, and John Butler Trio’s “Under a Indian Sky” came on.  Perfect.

As the sun was setting on one side, the moon was rising on the other.

He was singing traditional Qawwali (or Sufi) music:

I don’t remember the last time I saw a sky like this in the UK.  I wonder if Indians take this sunset for granted..

I guess not otherwise they wouldn’t be taking pictures of it like me to look back at ; )

It does make me wonder though.  Here in the UK, such a sight is quite novel as you’d need a cloudless sky at sunset, and even in summer that isn’t as common as you’d think.  Yet in India, every evening around 6:30pm, this sight is basically guaranteed (with the exception of the monsoon season I guess).

Indian pizza!

The Haji Ali Juice centre has the best Indian pizza, hands down. Note the dollop of ketchup.. I never usually have ketchup with pizza but was told it has to be done!

No tripod means blurry night shots.

Li:

Me:

The Hare Krishna Temple in Juhu:

Not the best picture – photos weren’t allowed so that’s all I managed to get.  We were stopped by a Hare Krishna guy called Darko, wanting us to fill out a questionnaire to determine our ‘Spiritual IQ’.  There were questions like:

Why do you think people are suffering in the world today?

1) It’s down to luck/chance

2) Because of what they did in their past life

I don’t remember the other options but you get the idea.  I believe in karma, but that relates to what you do in THIS life, not a ‘past life’.  I knew the ‘correct’ answer would be 2) and when we went through the answers, we had a pretty heated discussion about why we disagreed with this.

I told Darko that it’s ridiculous to say someone is suffering today because they did something ‘bad’ in a previous life.  People like him are trying to justify why there’s so much suffering in the world, and it makes them feel less guilty to attribute it to something terrible they did in a past life.  That way they can make themselves feel better by thinking those people deserve the state they live in.  It’s a load of BS, to put it mildly. He also claimed planes existed 5000 years ago.

The whole debate was quite amusing, and Darko tried hard to justify the Hare Krishna mentality, but ultimately, he didn’t get very far!  He said he didn’t expect us to debate so much with him.  That’s what you get for picking on the wrong people, mate! We don’t all follow faiths blindly and believing any drivel that’s preached to us.  Friendly guy, but on a slightly different planet as far as I’m concerned.

Costa Coffee in Mumbai is apparently where the ‘high society’ hangs out.  It’s funny because here in the UK it’s just a regular coffee shop for the general public, not ‘posh’ people.  When you walk into Costa in Mumbai, everyone turns and stares to see who has walked in, and with who.  Amusing stuff.  This picture, taken in Costa, won’t make much sense to anyone, but I wanted to post it anyway:

Priyanshu:

Ashish, or Asheesh(a) should I say – my attempt at being funny:

Awesome t-shirt:

Watching the final of the IPL:

It was a massive deal – Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Kings. Mumbai lost :|

A packed Juhu Beach:

Next blog – more from Mumbai, and Nashik..

I think my love for colour film photography has returned.

Cheers for looking : )

Mmmbai

Mumbai, India

January 2010

I’ve photographed around Mumbai so many times, and yet there’s always something new to see or experience.  It’s basically impossible to get bored of this city – it continues to amaze and inspire, and every time I return there it seems to have progressed or changed in some way or another.

In India, it’s common for the dead to be paraded/carried through the streets to reach the destination of the funeral.  I’ve seen this once before at night, but this was the first time I’d seen it in daylight.  The procession passed the car I was in, and I discretely took this shot:

The picture has been the subject of much debate amongst friends.  Is it disrespectful to take such an image? Interestingly enough, all the photographers I have asked have said no, it’s fine to take such an image, and all non-photographers have been strictly against it.  For me, I was careful to be discrete and as far as I could see, no one noticed me.  I wouldn’t take a picture knowing I might deeply offend someone.

While it takes London Underground 6 months to fix one escalator (no joke), in Mumbai during this time a skyscraper has been built.  Like a friend of mine said though, as quick as the buildings go up, they also come down!

This sums up the obvious contrasts within Mumbai; poverty and affluence living side by side.

The same view, by night:

Smoking goat?! Looks like it.

A man asked me to take a picture of his kid:

That is one angry baby. I don’t think I’ve ever taken a picture of an angry baby.

Stumbled across these puppies.  As soon as you give them a little bit of attention they start following you around, so I bought them some biscuits.

That made them follow me around even more!

They reminded me of the time I went to Juhu Beach for Holi, and a dog there literally followed me for over an hour.

Kids playing on the streets love to be photographed.  It’s impossible to walk past with a camera without them asking to be snapped, and of course I do.

Look at their enthusiasm – how could I not! I suppose these kind of images are becoming a bit of a cliche but it’s impossible to ignore them and why would I?

I didn’t notice when I took the pic, but they almost knocked that poor man over!

I have never seen a single KitKat piece like this before, and quite frankly, I wouldn’t recommend it.  While India has some of the best food I have ever had, their chocolate isn’t quite so great. You’d think KitKat would taste the same everywhere.

Buying matching bangles for some saris:

Shopping in India is great, although after a while it gets tiresome.  For those who have ever shopping in Mumbai, you’ll know what I mean.  If you think Oxford Street is busy, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

The most bizarre kid’s ride, yet impressive:

Uttapam:

One word – yummy.  It’s a South Indian dish and like a savoury pancake.  I’m drooling thinking about it!

One for the ‘Shooting From The Inside’ series:

I can’t really illustrate the traffic situation in Mumbai through images, but this shows the rickshaw I was in trying to make some kind of ridiculous u-turn against the direction of traffic.  In London, if you tried doing that there’d be road rage but over in Mumbai no one reacts badly.  It really is amazing to see the difference in drivers in these two places.

A crowd gathered outside a celebrity’s house, hoping to catch a glimpse of them:

My favourite place in Mumbai – the Haji Ali, or “floating mosque“.

I’ve written about this place every time I have been to Mumbai I think.  In fact, my first ever blog about India was on the Haji Ali in 2006 – http://www.tanya-n.com/?p=17 – as I said then “These pictures probably don’t fully represent the serenity surrounding the Haji Ali, but it’s one of those places I’d return to whenever I go to Mumbai.”

This time I went on a Sunday, which is the busiest day and very crowded.

This man insisted I get a picture taken by him and thinking about it, I should have just for the fun of it:

I think he had a film camera on him.

Arguably the best place for fresh juice in Mumbai:

These guys dropped their ball outside the gate and asked if I could get it. I picked it up and said ‘nope!’ which they found funny. So they pleaded with me and I took a picture of them.

More street kids loving the camera.

Marine Drive:

The new Bandra Worli Sea Link:

In Mumbai, a sign like the above is needed as there is basically no concept of lanes.

This is a fairly new bridge linking Bandra to Worli and central Mumbai which costs 50 rupees one way (around 70p). It takes around 7 minutes to cross an area that would otherwise take 45/50 minutes, so it’s definitely worth it!

Some funky meaningful graffiti in the Mahim area:

This says “Roti, kapda, makaan aur condom”..

.. meaning “roti, clothes, shelter and condoms”.  I didn’t know what Amitabh’s face had to do with that but was just informed that he has a film called “Roti kapda aur Makaan”!

There’s more of this in on my Flickr page >here<.

Leg wax – Indian style:

Basically that involves rolling up your trousers,  standing up and being watched over by two policewomen. That’s right – they came in and watched, while they waited to get their eyebrows threaded, still on the job  I can’t say I’ve ever experienced that before – a picture had to be taken! The girls in the salon will probably never read this since they don’t know my site or full name, but they were so, so friendly.  I’ll make a point of saying hi when I’m next around.

I’m reading a great book right now – Shantaram, by Gregory D Roberts.  It’s an incredible true story and it describes Mumbai perfectly.  Everyone with even a vague interest in India needs to read it