Inder Gopal Photography

Nostalgic Trip

2011-11-27T09:30:00.001-08:00

Nostalgic trip for a re-union in Mussoorie with ex-students of Shishu Niketan with an idea floated by Ajit Jatania during his short visit to Delhi from Nairobi, Kenya. Messages were exchanged to pull in as many students as possible through Emails and phone calls. Plans started taking a firm shape as many made their desire to join with confirmations. Thus the trip was planned well ahead with train reservations taken of care by Jaspal. Once train tickets got confirmed guys traveling from abroad booked their flights to New Delhi. Hotel reservations were also made accordingly for them. There was massive excitement with exchange of Emails and phone calls on daily basis.

To top it all one our friends Maan Singh who retired as brigadier from the army and had joined as DIG Central Reserve Police Force training academy in Gurgaon. So he was instrumental in getting an official permission to visit the premises that housed our school before ITBP set up their academy. I am sure his position with the police training college made all the difference.

There is always a spoil sport when we are at a very height of excitement in our life. Massive rains in some parts of Thailand threatened the very livelihood of Bangkok and its adjoining areas. We had a large Thai group to join on this trip but the massive nasty floods swept away their confirmed program to join the group and a dream re-union after so many decades. They had to back out since their factories, homes, commercial premises were in deep waters and were expecting the situation to get much worse than what they were living through as the D-day approached. They had no option but to cancel their reservations. Their situation was understandable. But we did decide to go ahead instead of cancelling since we needed to make a start of the re-union movement, which none before us had made any efforts to do so.

It became quite doubtful for me as well after my taking a tumble down the staircase along with my grand children. The stars were great that we got away with no major injuries to any one of us. The Karva Chauth celebrations were on, alarming every one present in the house. My near two years little angels did get a big shock. My grandson is pretty active and fun loving. I brought both of them from my son's room. He had a toy in his arms as I carried both in my arms. Not the very first time I did carry them down the staircase. Well when things have to happen they happen.

My grandson after a short time started playing and jumping around as he always does so, so this confirmed us that he was fine. My grand daughter was more shocked and kept crying. I think she got a massive jerk as I held her so that she did not fall hard on the floor but more on my body lest she got severely hurt. It was her birthday eve as well, she would be completing her two years. We had a cake to be cut after 12 midnight, but she was uncontrollably crying. We rushed her to get a check up done by a doctor, who gave some medicine to make her comfortable and some points of observations we had to keep in mind to check if she suffered more or was just the shock. Kids of this age can hardly express themselves, but she always complained of back pain. Perhaps the grip must have caused the pain.

Next day we had invited people to celebrate her 2nd year of birth. I did get some nasty hit on my left side hip bone, left elbow and right hand wrist plus a muscle pull in my left leg. This muscle pull was very uncomfortable. Till the hurt was fresh I could move around a bit and more so I was more concerned about my grand children, but slowly my movements got restricted. getting up from the bed was real tough. Once I sat down I felt comfortable, so I did spend my time lying down for a short time and sit as much as possible for comfort I got from sitting. Walking around was quite tough. The tickets for the trip were booked and I was really doubtful if I could ever make the trip. Fortunately things got better with time as I restrained myself from over doing any thing. Stiffness was there when I left for Mussoorie, used lots of pain killing spray that numbed the pain, took a few pills to subside the pain.

The drama started as the D-day neared, the so many from Delhi & India started backing out for one reason or the other at the very last moment that is just a few days before our departure. There were last moment joiners who after the tickets were booked backed out requesting for cancellations. JERKS!! It was quite a headache for Jaspal who had undertaken on our behalf to book train tickets. We all know it is not an easy task making reservations and cancelling is a bigger headache. He had tried to keep the flock in the same compartment, but these cancellations did not help.

I did not want to be a part of the cancellation party. There was discomfort but the trip was so important that I could mentally muster enough courage to control the pain and tried to walk as normal as possible. After all I would be meeting some after 1963 or so, that is quite a long long time.

The much awaited day, 17th November arrived and we met at the New Delhi Railway Station to board Dehradun Shatabdi with its departure at 6:50 in the morning. So all in all we were 9 people. One from UK, one from Nairobi, two from Thailand and rest of us from Delhi/NCR. Since we were all in the senior citizen category, Executive sitting class seats were booked.

Jagmohan and Jaspal (window side seat)

Fortunately we got the middle of the bogie seats where there is a table with seats facing each other. Three guys were in another bogie, lucky we could get them in the same bogie. The trip to Dehradun was all hyper as we were exchanging notes, recollecting incidents, other students, etc. I am sure many people are aware of what goes on in such a situation. There were some amusing co-passenger faces as we chatted.

Tarjeet Singh & Maan Singh on his left

Pritipal & Jaspal to his left

SK Lall and Satpal Singh

Ajit & myself with specs

There was a light lull after a nice breakfast since all of us had to get pretty early to catch the train, and perhaps some may have not slept well since they traveled soon after landing in Delhi. This was after we had a 20 minutes break in Saharanpur Railway platform where the engine changes end to change tracks for Dehradun. It did then and does it now.

Stretching out at the platform: (left to right) Dr. SK Lall, Jagmohan, Tarjeet Singh, Maan Singh & Ajit Jatania

Stretching out at the platform: (left to right) Dr. SK Lall, Jagmohan, Tarjeet Singh, Maan Singh, Pritipal Singh & Ajit Jatania

Maan Singh enjoying a nap

Another view of Maan Singh enjoying a nap

Tarjeet Singh - Camouflaged nap

Tarjeet Singh - working on some numbers while taking a nap?

Jagmohan & Satpal kept vigil with a smile while others enjoyed a nap

In Dehradun our very warm large hearted Vinod from Mussoorie came to receive us. He is based in Mussoorie as he owns a hotel - Raj Deluxe at Masonic Lodge taxi stand over viewing straight down the Doon Valley. The view is totally fabulous with no obstructions. He had brought along his personal vehicle and 2 taxis. Taxis we had requested so that we could be collected, move around in Mussoorie and back to Dehradun to catch the return journey of 20th.

First leg of our journey completed on reaching Dehradun. Well, is Ajit attempting a strip tease in public?

Waiting to go out with our luggage

We opted t have lunch in Dehradun it self since it would get too late on reaching Mussoorie. The biggest worry was that on reaching we would have taken the rooms, and would get relaxing and the organising of lunch would fall on Vinod and his wife. This we did not want to happen. The cafe "Salt & Cravings" is where we had our lunch. This is two shops near to President Hotel in Astley Estate. The preparations were lovely. This outlet is about 6 months old. So few nice chilled beer and white wine to celebrate before the main meals. We did want to have a glass more beer but they ran out of light beers. Please no wrong impressions here that we finished their stock. I think strong beer is more popular in these parts. Dehradun has become quite crowded, over built and that peaceful Dehradun is no more there. The road to Mussoorie that used to be totally inhabited beyond Rajpur Road is nearly lined up with shops, malls, hotels till nearly Mussoorie. Massive change has taken place after this city became the capital of of Uttrakhund. But these issues were of not much concern as we never had the time to give any notice except our catching with the past and the missing years.

In the basement of salt & Cravings cafe. Vinod Kumar our lion hearted friend

In the basement of salt & Cravings cafe.

In the basement of salt & Cravings cafe. Freezing moments for everlasting memory & to share

In the basement of salt & Cravings cafe. There was so much of chat of the past, the steward seems quite confused while taking the order.

November is generally cold in Mussoorie, but fortunately there it was a pleasant weather. A few days before our arrival it had been cold. Even the evenings had pleasant temperatures except on the 19th when it did get a little cold in the evening only. But we had our woolens on lest we catch a cold. This precaution is mandatory in the mountains where it can suddenly get cold.

Exploring Mussoorie's Mall - trying out Lovely Omelette outlet

'Lovely Omelettes' the name of the outlet. Says he is listed in Lonely Planets and has a page in FaceBook

The hill across did not have that many buildings, quite an expansion

The first evening we walked all the way to Library catching up the spots and their memories attached. Looking at old shops we frequented, of course new shops have opened up. We met some of the children who were now running the shops. We mentioned our visits during the school time, what we bought and affectionate were their parents to us. They found it quite amusing as we talked of what we did, etc.

Me and Jaspal on one of the benches, Library, Mussoorie

I have visited Mussoorie on a couple of times in the past but there was a big difference being in a group that had spent time together so many decades back. This experience was totally different. The great company made all the difference. We returned to the hotel after the long walk. We all sat down to enjoy the wonderful scotch whiskey brought by Satpal and Tarjeet on way from Thailand. Lots of snacks, dry fruits courtesy Jagmohan and just talks talks of the past recollecting students, incidents, etc. But every time we missed the guys from Thailand who had to cancel their trips due to the nasty floods.

The first evening we went out for dinner but the place we chose did not really have good food. It was a disappointment, but these things happen. We all had a glass or milk after dinner. None can point out we just drank and drank and never cared for our health. Surely we had drinks but in a very decent limit. Jaspal had his off days from drinks except on the last eve of stay in Mussoorie, when he joined us.

This is a new outlet for Hot milk. Our daily routine during the stay to have a glass/kulardh of hot milk after dinner.

Nice hot milk with jwara and malai

Great thing about Maan Singh he interacted with young people.

Assuring freshness of milk being served to us???

Next day we had planned to visit Kempty Fall side, Company Bagh, etc. As we moved on nearing Kempty Falls, the view down was really pathetic. We knew of this place as total virgin with no house, no settlements just jungle and jungle. We used to go to Kempty Fall on foot, had a beautiful spot where there was a pool and we used to enjoy taking our dip. There were hardly any people seen around. I felt it was better we moved beyond as we had never gone further than the fall. The taxi company owner, Mr. Man Mohan Singh, was a real guide. We stopped at a beautiful fall named Rota Fall (Crying Fall) as hardly any one came to see it, though a very short distance from Kempty Fall settlement. It was nice tasting the water - real mineral water.

Our first group photo in the morning at Vinod's hotel.

Rota Falls (Crying Falls) just a short distance further from Kempty Falls

View of the Rota Falls (Crying Falls) just a short distance further from Kempty Falls

natural mineral water direct from the source

Ready to move on to explore unseen places of Mussoorie

We asked what was further down the road, so he stopped at the flour mills powered by water flow and the last stop was Jamuna Bridge. It is a lovely place and very good for picnic at the banks of the river. We stopped to have tea before returning.

We stopped to see flour mill powered by water.

Maan Singh stands on the roof of the flour mill

Inside of the flour mill

It was a nice warm day. Mr. Man Mohan Singh in the front who owns a taxi & travel agency

Jaspal was busy shooting with his mobile phone, in envy his camera attempted suicide by falling down in the stream, immediate pull out saved the day.

On the Jamuna Bridge

A small Dhaba next to the Jamuna Bridge

Company Bagh

Satpal's grand daughter was studying in Waverly Convent of Jesus & Mary School, it was decided to meet her with so many grand uncles in tow. BTW Weverly school was our center was Senior Cambridge Board Exams. Surprisingly how much we had to climb to reach the center that too well in time. Those were the days. So his little sweet grand daughter was in a way responsible for us to visit the school. We could not very well place the hall where the exams took place. The principal was new and so as the new staff. It was a very nice outing for us all.

Waverly Convent of Jesus & Mary School

With the Principal of Waverly Convent of Jesus & Mary School

With the Principal of Waverly Convent of Jesus & Mary School and Satpal's grand daughter

At Waverly Convent of Jesus & Mary School

On our return from the trip we were invited by Vinod and his wife Suman for tea at their place. Snacks kept on coming non stop. We were really full with all the tasty stuff served along with the tea.

It was a little cold, also we had quite a lot of walking during the day. We sat down to enjoy the beautiful Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whiskey instead of going for a walk and then the drinks. After the drinks we decided walk to the Library hoping to digest the evening snacks. There was not much of an enthusiasm for dinner, still thought to have a light soup or so. This time around we opted for Chinese food and chose Rice Bowl. The food was superb despite us all being pretty full we did finish dishes ordered by Ajit. It was a slight case of over eating. What ever the situation as a ritual we stopped for Kadhai Milk.

Rice Bowl Restaurant that served a great food

Next day was pretty important and we had been keenly looking forward to it. This was the day our appointment to visit the premises - Caineville Estate - that housed our school was scheduled. It was a 10 AM appointment, that we did reach in time. As we reached there was an officer who came to receive us and later the Commandant also joined us.

In front of the new Admin Building with Mr. Priyanjan Sharma of ITBP

Many years back I had gone there in the company of Jaspal Singh Jolly accompanied by our wives, but we could only stand in the main court yard of the school and return. This time it was so different, so beautiful since we were being escorted. That excitement, that kiddish behavior unlike our current age would not have been there at all if we had not been in a group.

On the left first floor we had bathrooms, on right ground floor senior dorm

There was senior dorm, Headmaster's office, accounts office and passage that led to the carpentry class room and toilets

They showed us around the building and we were acting like kids. Memories kept on flowing about each room, each hall, each turn and each space there.

The brass plate with Caineville Estate history

Going through the text, I have it in the later part of this Blog entry

This was our Library Hall with inset cupboards that stocked material from Caineville House School

Beautifully furnished

Ceiling remains original except for the nice finishing

Exceptionally elegant

Backside of Mr. Deb's residence, one room for senior students and a class room

Staircase leading to another small plain area where we build an open air theater by carrying rocks from 3rd Ground

Part of the senior dorm. The hall has been divided into two

Staircase leading to children dorm, except for the white paint it remains the same

Varandah outside entry of children dorm. There was a class room , its entry is now from outside

Varandah outside entry of children dorm.

Children's dorm now a conference hall

We had a great presentation by Mr. Deepak

Group photo for the memory

After the wonderful presentation a group photo for the memory

A must photograph of the stairs

This new stairs has replaced the old iron circular stairs

An over view, this is where our copies lost pages as we made paper planes and got wonderful flying planes

Lady teacher's rooms, junior dorm and nursing/sick room

Balcony leading to lady teacher's rooms, junior dorm and nursing/sick room

These three images have special memories as a room was carved out of a passage for me and Suresh Nanda, and we spent a few months living in here. This passage led to balcony to teacher's and principal's rooms. They used another way to their rooms. This passage was adjacent to the music room. The best part was the false ceiling was a length of jute carpet covering the tin sheets and on the walls. On the floor it was used as it should be used. There was not much saving from the cold. The beds were in line leaving not much of moving space. The front portion we used for keeping our trunks and other personal effects. The room is in original condition minus the jute carpets. We had a long way to go to the toilets. It was here I had my first half bottle of beer, that took me 3 days to finish. We used to have flying foxes as visitors. These are some memories one can not easily forget that is for sure.

Outside the passage living room with my cousin Dr. SK Lall

These passages led to the playing grounds. These have been cemented now.

Stairs leading to the main building

Stairs leading to the main building upstairs

These were open corridors, now covered for practical use

This is just for the tree its profile remains as I saw it in 1956

I do remember taking a photo of this tree in 1956 and preceding years

This is the courtyard of many activities like Volley Ball, gymnastics, PT, march past, torch light drill, flag hoisting, etc. This area so as most other areas were never cemented, except the basket ball field where now the admin building stands

This passage lead to the main road. The green area in this pics has been reduced. It was much wider we (Suresh, Amrik, Jaspal and myself) cleaned up to make a personal Badminton court.

All that suspense of what had changed during ITBP is over, there is a complete satisfaction after the visit. I am personally sure I do not require another visit. It was nostalgic visit in a group. I am sure if any one of us had gone alone, this experience would not have been there.

Big thanks to the Commandant Satyendra Kumar for the time he gave us from his busy schedule and Mr. Priyanjan Sharma who was there with us till we bid adieu to the Caineville House Estate that housed our school.

With Commandant Satyendra Kumar

A group photograph with Commandant Satyendra Kumar

A group photograph with Commandant Satyendra Kumar and Mr. Priyanjan Sharma

How and why we developed such an attachment to the 3rd Ground of the school? We could hardly play any games. We did not go regularly to this place as we went to other grounds to play as part of the schedule nearer to the school building. One thing we all had in our mind was to visit the 3rd Ground during this visit. This ground was totally raw with uneven place, except that no tree stood in the main open area. Rocks, just rocks that is what was there.

Why that crazy attraction for this place? Was it because we ran down from here for fun and bath in the stream/water fall? Was it that this place gave us some breathing space from the routine tight schedule of the school? Was it because it was always talked about that this ground will be developed for games? It never happened in those many years. We did lighten its weight off some rocks enough to construct an open air theater in an open area above the children's ground. to carry the stones the whole strength of the school built a human chain to carry the rocks of various sizes and weights. still with those rocks gone, it still remained raw and uneven not good enough for any kind of games or sports. Lots of questions with no clear answers. The development effected by ITBP should have taken place long long time back, of course minus the cement flooring. This would have been a great cricket field, a kind of a stadium. This could have been the venue of hosting inter school sports and games. We always had to track long distances to schools like St. Georges, Woodstock, Oak Grove, Wynn-Berg Allen or Survey Ground to participate in inter school competitions.

What ever the reasons of our attraction, but one thing for sure the memories were so strong that on seeing side drum and base drum, Jaspal and Ajit gave a sample of their drumming powers of the past. The rythme and the beat came to them as if they just played it yesterday only. Well forty-five years plus years gap is not small and to do it, it was out of the world experience for us. Unfortunately we were a few days early as the instruments of the ITBP band were supposed to reach in couple of days. The bagpipers and buglers were all there but the instruments were not there, otherwise a demonstration by them would have astounded the present ITBP personals/recruits.

A very fruitful and satisfying visit to the 3rd ground ended with a group photograph. It was lunch time, our BP had settled down after the great tour of Caineville Estate. We enjoyed the ambiance of a well done up hall once upon a time it was our school library as we waited for the lunch to be served..

Some of us nursed a desire to spend at least a night in the building, but there is no residential area in the main building. What is newly built would not give us that feeling we nurture to relive. The lunch was served in once upon a time Class 9. The connecting door to this room from Library hall has been opened. The room again is very well done up. The food was great. It was simple with homely taste and that is what one always desires.

We enjoyed our lunch thoroughly and it was very satisfying. It was time to say adieu after a well spent day. It could not never be better than this on any given day. The last group photograph before we proceeded to our vehicles.

Apologies here for the impulsive trigger happy finger of a photographer. I really could not help taking some more parting shots of the Caineville Estate as I walked towards the waiting car.

A little bit of history and tit bits from the past

The Shishu Niketan School was started by founder of Cambridge School, Daryaganj, Delhi Mr. A.C Deb in 1950 with batch of 51 students. It was surprising he did not have that typical Bengali accent in English. We were strictly to speak, interact in English and English only and were aptly punished even if we spoke a word in another language. Lucky he did not have any access to our dreams/thoughts except what we uttered for any one to hear.

When we lived during the school time, it was real tough and one of the worst times of our life, I am sure it is always so any where during the schools. But to be honest as we look at it today we got one of the best over all development in our formative years. We went through so many activities, am sure not many schools ever had them for their students. We had morning PT to start with, but before we got ready for it we had to wash ourselves get into the PT dress. The matron, Miss Murdoch, she inspected each student behind the ears and neck for dirt, finger nails, socks, properly polished shoes, etc. Another inspection took place as we lined up according to the houses. There was besides exercises for loosening, we did marching practice. We had a proper school band formed in 1952 it had bugles, back-pipes, flutes, cymbals, base drum and side drums. None of the schools had a band and we had the privilege to lead various functions held in Mussoorie where schools participated.

After PT we had to finish making our beds, changing into the school uniform with in a certain time. There was a period of study where home work/other preparations we had to do before going in for the assembly. Rabindra Sangeet was liked by Mr. Deb, so we had a coir and had to sit on the stage to sing quite a few numbers, before going for the breakfast. Immediately after the Breakfast our school started with a lunch break, mid afternoon nap, then sports period, study period followed by assembly, Rabindra Sangeet, dinner and again a study period before we went to our dorms. In the dorm we had to polish our shoes, keep our socks in the right pair, PT and school dress. Any broken buttons we had to stitch. It was really making us independent.

In games and sports we had Volley Ball, Basket Ball, Hockey, Table Tennis, Cricket, Badminton, Horse Riding, long jump, high jump, dashes, races, gymnastics, etc. We always had ex-army guys for PT. The training we got was like NCC minus handling of arms. We explored many caves. Since the strength of the school never crossed 215 (that was maximum) all age groups made up the teams. So there was hardly any senior or junior stuff in games and sports. Torch light drill and fancy dance with torch lights was another unique activity in our school. Even we had to pass through a ring and on special occasions we passed through just like it happens in a circus with fire burning. There were many things we were involved to do correctly. Besides these we had dramatic, reading of poetry, debates, dances and sessions of parliament and court. There was instrumental music with Sitar, Jal tarang, Sarod, Flutes, Piano etc. There were massive activities besides studies that kept us busy through out the school session of about 9 months. One can keep writing and writing about those times. We had regular non-veg served as per menu. Bread pudding prepared by our main cook Fateh Lal was one of the best.

History of Caineville Estate
One things great we found was that ITBP had a brass plate where history of Caineville Estate till their taking over the Estate is engraved. I had requested for a print out, which was provided and it is being quoted here under:

This is being quoted from the write up embossed on the brass plate above their book for remarks out side erst while Library. The reference seems to be from the stationery and other printed material stocked in the cupboards in the Library. Perhaps we were too young to have understood the value of the material though often we broke into the cupboards.

Caineville Estate

In 1820s Bristish Officers of Sirmur Battalion stationed at cantonment west of Dehradun began exploring the nearby hills for sports, recreations and splendid climate. Mussoorie was soon to become favorite summer abode of British Army Officers. In 1830, Mr. Boble of Meerut came to Mussoorie and opened a Brewery at the site properly known as Old Brewery. The site later was known as Caineville Estate. But the Brewery was closed in 1832. In 1834, indefatigable John Mackinon arrived at Mussoorie and purchased the site and opened the Mussoorie's first school called Mussoorie Seminary. In 1849, Mackinnon closed the school and reopened his brewery. On 1st July 1854, Mr. Mackinnon sold the estate to Col. Henry Sleeman of East India company in Bengal Establishment for Rs. 12,000 where in 1854, Wood Stock School was opened, but it was shifted to Wood Stock Estate in 1855.

In 1864, after the death of Sir william Henry Sleeman and his widow Amilie Josphine Sleeman sold the estate to Venerable John Henry Pratt, Archbishop of Calcutta for Rs. 17000. In 1855, John Henry Pratt transferred the estate to the Rev. Bishop of Calcutta and a Girls school was opened at the site. In 1929, the school and the entire Caineville Estate was transferred to Lucknow Diocesan Trust Association. This school functioned till Independence and there after a residential school called Shishu Niketan was opened for boys, which was later shifted to Dehradun and rechristened as Raja Ram Mohan Roy School.

In 1976, specialist Training Centre, Nauguan (MP) and in 1978, Combat Training Centre, Shivpuri were shifted to this location and amalgamated to form HADS Academy. The Academy was later renamed as ITBP Academy. It has developed into a premier training institution for police officers in India. At present Administrative wing and Intelligence School are located at Caineville Estate.

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This mention is being missed in the above history by ITBP.

It was called Caineville House school.
In 1950 Mr. AC Deb started Shishu Niketan with a batch of 51 odd students. He has established day school in Delhi - Cambridge School in Daryaganj, before starting Shishu Niketan in Mussoorie.
Just to mention Mr. Deb's daughter Kalyani (Dr. (Mrs.) Roy) had studied in caineville House School for 1 year in 1943.

The life moves on, so we headed for exploring more of Mussoorie. Some wanted to go to Top Tibba (Gun Hill), Ajit stuck to Landour Bazaar side and he got his way. This again happened to be a great outing. As I and most others remember not having gone further than Survey Ground or tracks that took us to some schools on this side. Landour is actually the old city of Mussoorie. We went to Char Dukan (Four Shops) as there were only four shops in this area, beyond the Landour Bazaar. This place is also known as Sisters' Bazaar. The image of display board about description of the place, for easy reading it has keyed in after the picture.

WELCOME TO LANDOUR

If Mussoorie is "Queen of the Hills" then Landour must be the fairer princess, even though it contains some of the oldest settlements.

British forces occupied this region of the Garwal following the Ghurka wars in the second decade of the 19th century. Colonel Frederick Young, an Irish officer in the East India Company army constructed the first permanent dwelling at Mullingar in 1825. Landour takes its name from Llanddowror a small town in Wales.

In 1827, it became a convalescent depot for British troops suffering from malaria and other tropical diseases. Those who did not survive are buried in the cemetery on the north side of the hill.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, a British Military Hospital was established and remained open until 1947. The hospital buildings currently house the defense Ministry's Institute of Technology Management.

Sisters' Bazaar acquired its name from the nursing sisters who lived nearby the hospital. Some of the other early buildings include St. Paul's church, built in 1840, and the original Landour Cantonment Post Office at Char Dukan. An old bridle trail, which circles the three summits of Landour ridge, is known as the chukkar and became motorable in the late 1950s.

Situated at an altitude of 7,500 feet (2,286 meters) above sea level, the top of Landour ridge is the highest point in Mussoorie. This also remains the most secluded and beautiful area of the town, with spectacular views of the snow clad Great Himalayas, dense deodar forests and peaceful slopes.

Please help keep Landour clean by respecting the natural beauty of these mountains and not throwing litter and garbage on the hillside.

Char Dukan though this tea stall is a recent addition.

St. Peter's church

It was pretty foggy, so the Himalayan snow clad mountains are not visible

Fatal attractions: Bikes and Females

One cannot keep away from being photographed in the company of a beautiful damsel or a bike. Jaspal enjoying a ride on a stationary bike. An all part of the fun.

Dev sahib's son studied in Woodstock, that we all knew, that he owned a cottage we never knew. This is the reason we never saw him in town since Hackmann and Savoy were the top of the line hotels where Bollywood stars stayed when in Mussoorie

On a good clear day the view of this rare Deodar tree would have been great. The estate where it stands majestically is known as Deodar Estate.

Closer view of the Deodar tree

A group photo under Deodar tree

Closer view of the Deodar tree

AIR tower viewed from Deodar Estate

Closer view of the Deodar tree

The 19th evening was our last in Mussoorie. Such a get together when next it will take place, there is no idea though efforts are on to make it an ongoing affair or say a ritual in the coming years. Who carries on from the younger lot, well again a big question mark? It was again a great sit down for drinks and snacks. It was never an over dose or we were not great over indulgent followers of Bacchus. The memories were more intoxicating than the very adorable Glenfiddich or Glenmorangie Scotch Whiskey.

Having been in a pure boarding school, we naturally learnt to respect the moderate parts of all religious beliefs. Being in Dehradun paying respects to Shri Paonta Sahib Gurdwara was but natural to give a nice finale to our trip where every moment we spent was in perfect order. Nothing went amiss in our plans except of course our friends from Thailand who could not come. We had a great Durshan and Langar at the Gurdwara Sahib.

We were not sure if we could make it to Raja Ram Mohan Roy Academy in Clement Town, Dehradun. Mr. Deb shifted major part of Shishu Niketan to this premises, which is fully owned by him/the trust. It was called Shishu Niketan but rechristened as Raja Ram Mohan Roy Academy. Jagmohan and Ajit were part of the school students who came on foot and went back on foot from Mussoorie to lay the Foundation Stone of the school. So it was put in the schedule as our last stop before boarding our train back for Delhi subject to reaching in time from Paonta Sahib Gurdwara. Maan Singh had already spoken with the Principal of our visiting the school but could not communicate the exact time of our visit. He was gracious enough to assure us that he was available all the time for us.

We walked into the inner court yard of the school. One of the staff was from Mussoorie who knew Jagmohan and Ajit from that time. We were inquiring about old teachers or staff of erst while Shishu Niketan Mussoorie. Our great chef Fateh Lal who created great cuisine, confectionery and jam for the school had been there in Dehradun, but had died a few years back. While we chatted the Principal arrived, since it was a Sunday, in his casuals. We were feeling bad barging ourselves on a Sunday, but for us there was no option and no choice for guys had to take their flights back home.

It was a great pleasure meeting this warm and wonderful gentleman. He had no airs of being the head of an institution. A person with whom one can easily interact. He took us to his residence strategically located in the premises of the school. No words can describe warmth showered by him and his family. A quick tea with snacks came before us as we introduced ourselves. He has been in the job since last 6 to 8 months only.

A question popped up, why the school management has not allowed some one to head the school for longer periods like a decade or so.

The list of head masters/principals since 1950 to when the school shifted base:

(1950) Mr. AC Deb (Founder),

Mrs. Dutta, Mr. Earnest, Mr. TN Bhatt, Mr. RP Singh, Mr. Bhagowalia, Mr. BB Mathur, Mr.

Bhattacharya, Mr. MP Singh (till 1966), Mr. ML Bright (1967, I met him when I went to collect my

certificates, etc.) and Mr. SP Sharma (not in correct order).

Would it not have done wonders if any headmaster / principal had continued for a longer tenure of 10 plus years?

A grab shot of the campus as we waited for the Principal.

A group photograph with Principal Mr. Alok Virmani.

Sad state of affairs before the bungalow of Mr. A.C. Deb

We reached well in time since it was a Sunday. The center seats and the coach were again the same. Some help from co-passengers in accommodating us to be seated in the same coach.

Reaching Delhi brought to an end our dream trip to Mussoorie with friends of whom I met after 1963 or so. Something to nurture as a very sweet time for many many years to come.

Well till next time we meet with same warmth and enthusiasm, but now always in the company of our spouses who have respected and shared our sentiments of co-brotherhood of a boarding school life.

In the worst of times

2011-09-10T06:10:00.000-07:00

My Pilgrimage

Kangra Devi - Gautam Buddha - Anandpur Sahib Darbar

This blog is more of a photographic essay . Some words do come to me but I am not sure about the quality as per me.

I am going through one of my worst phases of my life, with problems galore more or less after shifting from Khan Market flat. All my hopes of a good quality life have been shattered.

I have never been an atheist but also not a fanatic. I have been very moderate in my beliefs and I believe in philosophies of all religions. There was a beautiful book by Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan our second President of India. He was a great scholar philosopher writer, a statesman and a man of knowledge. In his book he mentions that we all are trying to reach the same peak but have taken different routes to reach it. Each religion preaches brotherhood and peace. He wrote about the various religions and their practices.

Our Kul Devi - Kangra Devi or Vajreshwari Devi

Surely in times of distress we all move closely to our faith, seek divine intervention by visiting places of worship, hope and miracles. I too went out in seeking positive influences to Himachal Pradesh where their are so many ancient temples. One of my cousins was told that we have a Kul Devi (family deity) - Vajreshwari Devi or Devi of Kangra and he should seek her divine blessings by visiting the temple. So many from our large family visited the temple in Kangra and I also thought that I should make a trip along with my wife. So on this last Sunday, the 15th. we started in the morning at 6:24 am from Noida. Fortunately we had a nice Sikh driver Amarjeet who drove very safely and was nice to talk as well. He owned the car and I believe the difference in attitude.

Taken on my last trip

I had gone to Dharamshala 9 to 10 years back with a group of NIFT students in a bus. Buses travel late evenings and so I really do not remember the hours it took reach Upper Dharamshala. Road widening and fly overs to miss the congestions have been built in recent past. Quite a comfort of traveling by road.

We had planned to visit all popular temples en-route. We reached Chintpurni Devi temple around 4 or 5 PM. The place was full of pilgrims seeing a long queue with our turn coming around late evening, we moved on to reach Kangra Devi temple another 50 odd kilometers from there.

Dal Lake McLeod Ganj
taken during my last visit

We had our reservation through the net so were not sure about the location of the hotel - Dal Lake Resort. During the day I did remember having visited the Dal Lake in my last visit with the students. There was no trace of any water, some redevelopment taking place, hopefully they make it a tourist attraction with new landscaping with refilled water.

We were in the main Kangra Devi temple by 7 PM and did have our dharsan but we wanted to come back again the next day.

The family boy taking care of his elders and helping
them in fulfillment of a pilgrimage

The route we took to reach the temple was very steep down hill with car, thought there might be a way out but it was a dead end. With difficulty the car could be reversed. We had stayed back for the temple. With so many monkeys we had to be very careful as they can be ferocious. We all know how they can be dangerous as they snatch things from the hands. It was a tough climb with every step we had to watch our selves from the monkeys with not people around except a few residents.

The shops on both side did help in reducing
the stress of a steep climb

The next day evening we came back for the revisit took the correct route from inside the town and surely this was the right entry. The car could be easily parked and our climb to the temple was very comfortable, though the climb was steep but with low steps it did make all the difference. There were shops lined on both sides, I am sure it also makes all the difference.

I did love to capture a few more frames
but keeping the comforts of the other pilgrims
grabbed a few shots

We had very nice dharsan and Pundit ji conducted the special Puja beautifully, gave a lot of satisfaction to our disturbed mind. All these temples of faith have lots of positive energy. It was so very nice that the Pundit ji permitted me take a few photographs of the deity, so I had to be quick not to disturb the other devotees.

Gautam Buddha

During the day on Monday we visited the McLeod Ganj Monastery. The open areas have modern covers, looks good.

This receives a lots of faithfuls from many religions from around the world. The town is full of many foreigners who come meditation. It will not be a surprise if many connected to the Hollywood are found to be having a peaceful quality time in McLeod Ganj.

The prayers by the disciples in the prayer hall. There are drum beats in between the hymns are very reassuring and soothing.

One of the faithfuls

One of the disciples doing the ritual prayer exercise in the hall. It was very soothing to have spent some time sitting on the floor taking some pictures of people wal\
king in.

The prayer exercise to keep the body fit

They have outside the hall platforms where the believers perform the ritual exercises. Watching it, one can understand these are kind of exercises to keep fit. In extreme cold conditions they are used to living some exercise is too required to keep the body in shape. Each religion has its way of keeping their faithfuls in good health.

In the hall of the monastery

On our way out we stopped for Lemon-Ginger-Honey drink. I did drink lots of it on my last visit. It is very freshing as a matter of fact. Perhaps it as more Lemon-Honey drink than with Ginger. This brew had lots of long thin strips of Ginger. (how silly not to have taken a photo of the served beverage) Ginger juice may have made it very strong in taste. I did like it any way. After this we had gone to the Kangra Devi Temple.

The McLeod Ganj Chowk

On our way back from the temple we really did not find any decent appealing place to stop for late Lunch. So I opted for a Tibetan lunch in McLeod Ganj as it has more visitors and so the food is always good and fresh. We sat to have our meals in Tibet Kitchen at the Chowk. The town is small with lots of footfall.

There is so much of car movement, so they have tried to regulate through one way st]\\reet, but at the Chowk there is always a waiting as one road leads to Bahgsu Temple / water fall.

I wanted to go to the fall but my memory played truant and took the wrong road. Perhaps our tea was written at this small shop that catered to the area with a variety of products of regular needs of the people living there. The guy works with Foreign Affairs ministry with his posting in his village and has a side business to keep himself busy.

This was Tuesday and there was rain and storm brewing up. We reached back to the Chowk. First we took shelter in the small bus stop under the McOllo restaurant. I did want to shoot some photos of the activity at the Chowk; decided to walk up the stairs of the restaurant, but the wind was too strong blowing in rain where we stood.

We had to take shelter in the restaurant. This restaurant is one of the busiest outlets. It was full of crowd who had come to see the IPL match in Dharamshala. The RCB team was staying in McLeod Ganj.

Destination Ladhak

2011-09-10T05:59:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
At last I made my Ladhak trip though not by road but by air. Took a direct Kingfisher Flight both ways. In air it was for one hour, that is not bad at all.

I landed in Leh on 24th August, 2011 and landed back in Delhi on 6th September 2011. The return flight was one hour late.

I had been trying to get some company of photographers, finding none I opted to travel alone. The group only helps in savings as the costs get divided and shared. In hind sight I feel it was good that I was alone as I could decide on spur of the moment my plans of travel, stay or stopping for meals. Besides there are greater chances of ending up with quite similar images like when I went with Babul Bhatt to Agra when his daughter commented that her father too had similar photos. There are merits and demerits of having a company or being alone.

Nazir the taxi owner cum driver was very good. I felt very safe in his Xylo by his driving. I had told him that I was in Ladhak specially for photography and was unlike any other tourist who try to make it destinations and back. So he was always alert to my requesting him to stop, that he did with out any complaints. He would also stop finding some thing interesting. He took me to shepherd areas. He also talked a guest house owner to accompany me to Turtuk village, as he knew the area and the people. He was in the Intelligence Corp, Pune during the 1971 war with Pakistan. This helped him in interaction with the people there. Later he joined the Forest Department that too helped him in developing contacts and also gave him an in depth knowledge about Ladhak's forest cover. I appreciate his presence in Turtuk village with me as I never felt I was intruding in to the privacy of the village people. This village being Muslim dominated, there were quite a few who did not want to be photographed, but still had many who had themselves photographed.

There were many children in the village. I had stopped on the way to buy some sweets (toffees). I bought a jar of coconut sweets that came in very handy. He and Nazir took the task of distributing the sweets in advance making many agreeable to get photographed. This also helped me to be free and shoot as no one realised my presence giving me ample opportunity to shoot.

The children had balloons that they were trying to blow air into them. I never realised these were given by some people already in the village. As we entered the village, I noticed there were 3 more photographers, one of them was a foreigner.

We did say a hello but never got to know each other as they too were busy distributing balloons and shooting. They were mostly crowded by the children who wanted more balloons all the time. I think they carried some other gifts as well.

The armed forces have established many schools within commutable distances between villages to bring education to all the sections of Ladhak. We all know Ladhak is very sparsely populated, where population is spread out in small clusters.

The tough terrains, very loose bonding of mountain soil, low Oxygen levels, very strong sun, extreme UV exposure for skin and with sparse vegetation in many regions of Ladhak our armed forces, various agencies developing and maintaining the roads for good travel, I like to say a special thanks to them

All these forces have people from various parts of the country who are roughing out there by giving their today for our present comforts, a secured today and for a better tomorrow. I have taken more pictures, which I shall be adding in the later posting. This is a small dedication to all of them.

I will be adding more impressions and images as I build up my Ladhak trip blog.

The artistic nude shoot

2011-07-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

The back

This particular shoot I did was in a very tiny studio of a friend who had the space built up to take passport photo head shots. I was using Fuji 4900 Zoom while my friend had a Nikon D100 DSLR (if I am not mistaken) but it was some 100 and a prime camera in those days. So I had a chance to shoot with it. I could not afford one of those, but to be honest I was very happy with my Fuji 4900 results. I still have it.

The space constraint was quite mind boggling as it was difficult to place lights for creative light and shadow play. We generally get used to the space we usually work in and with the time we know how to manipulate or modulate the light accordingly. It was also the very first shoot for the model but she was mentally ready and prepared for art nude shoot. She was gem of a person.

I was looking at some creative tasteful shots, while my friend was more inclined to pop in every now and then to make suggestions that were more away from my taste of photography. Me and the model had over a time through chat sessions discussed the kind will be shots I will like to shoot, that is more on the sober and decent side of art nudes. We were both not prepared for those kinds of poses as suggested by my friend. After my friend used to go out of the tine studio, I used to tell her that she need not follow the directions of my friend instead she could say that she was uncomfortable with the poses and expressions. Each time he popped in to make suggestions I would remind her that she not take poses she did not want.To honor his offering use of space, I felt obliged not to say anything in a harsh way. I know we were both uncomfortable from his pop ins, I did give some hints to my friend but I he ignored the same. But the perils of using some one's studio I for the first time lived through with not so good an experience. There should not be any interference by the owner of the studio or any of his assistant / staff. This should be the way.

The negative version

This being a mutual talent barter system of understanding, I had promised some normal shoots for her after the shoot for me. The ward robe she brought was more or less over used. And most importantly I could not take any long shot. Later after the shoot I dropped her off to her area of residence, she came on line or was it on phone she showed her displeasure. I agree she would have been offended as I too was feeling guilty from the behavior of my friend. That was the last we shot together. We could do few shots and some how some I feel, after the feedback from various forums, we (me and model) got some good shots.

This one was liked by many people on different forums where I had posted.

Perhaps things could have been different if I had used the space once or twice before. I would have also known my friend's mindset. I am some how more comfortable with my own space and my own equipment (is it a handicap?) I know where what is lying and can retrieve the moment I feel I need to use.

I had to vacate the room that I used as a studio in my flat as my eldest son was getting married. The room was any way a multi-purpose room for me for so many years. The equipment used to brought out for the shoot and packed and kept way after the shoot. I had to develop portfolio for an outstation model, I did not have the space, so with a heavy heart I had to use another friend's studio. It was bigger space than mine that I had used all those past years. Here the assistant was quite hesitant to bring out lights or accessories. Since his employer used a certain light set up, he too wanted to make me use the same way. He was quite stubborn, and such an attitude does water down the whole mind set for a good shoot. On top of it the model was finicky kind. Always asking if there were no hidden cameras, though the shoot was all normal. She did say during those many months of chat interaction that she would not mind going in for some implied nudes. I did not even dare suggest as there was no privacy with the assistant around. She brought up the same issue of hidden camera every now and then since it was not my place. It was nothing short of nagging. Well after these incidents I have never been very keen on utilizing studios of friends or even those available on hire. I am very comfortable carrying my own lighting equipment and shoot on location.

The back BW version

This was shot with lights bounced off the white back ground wall of the studio

This was shot with a single light bounced off the white wall.

Same lighting of the white wall on the side.

In the final analysis I feel space and lighting constraints do help think out of the box. The only negative aspect in using some one else's studio the interference that can happen and it mars the whole shoot. Perhaps if my friend did not pop in to give his suggestions of porn like actions / expressions, I do feel we both would have come out with more reasonably good results. The mind would have been free to think positively. And, I am sure I would had more chances of working with the model. I do thank her for the cooperation and tolerated my friend's interference by maintaining her composure through out the studio session. She did erupt in some way, but I do agree with her when she did.

Want to be my Muse as a model on my personal projects??

Muse: One of the nine ancient Greek goddesses who each represented a particular art or science.

Muse is a goddess that inspires a creative artist. The source of an artist's inspiration. A guiding spirit.

There comes a time when a photographer needs before his camera for further explorations, development and advancing his photographic sighting projects with a long term Muse, who has an understanding and passion for creativity.

I am in search of such an attractive female between 20 -30 (to 35) years with a good figure for collaboration on mutual talent exchange basis. A reasonably bold minded person / model would be a better preference. For posing, we would work mainly in some tender and moody portraits, may be some semi nudes/nudes (anynomity will be maintained in such shoots of exposure). There will be Nothing pornographic. If you are Not opposed to that if you want to, but its not really my thing.

The shoots will take place on mutual convenient times and locations. Any long distance travels on such shoots will be taken care of by me. I could share hard prints with the model collaborating on such projects.

Please Email me with a photograph so that we can move on from there.

My Email: indergopal@gmail.com

The Ear Wax Digger

2011-07-09T05:54:00.000-07:00

So many issues keeping me mentally away from a lot of things. At last I did give a try to go out and do some street photography in old Delhi. Last week end I spent time in my old Delhi home, but had not carried my camera. Some times a small camera is a great help than carrying a DSLR that one uses for commercial work. This time I did make it a point to bring along for the week end.

This morning (Saturday, 09.07.2011) Babul Bhatt drove all the way from Gurgaon for the shoot. We did meet up in Chandni Chowk and walked to Khari Baoli. It is still one of the most active place in the morning, though old Delhi is active through out most part of the waking period, be it morning, day or late night.

This time around in this post I will only share some pictures shot of an ear cleaner. During such street photography hanging around by sitting in a place helps break some ice. I sat on the many hand carts that lie on the road or side walk during that early hour. The owners of these hand carts show up later when the shops open. In the early hour it is mostly trading of flowers and flower petals that are brought tied up in fabrics. These are carried on the head by the vendors.

There are many ear cleaners moving around or have marked their spots to be found by their regular clients. I was taking time sitting on the hand carts on various spots I thought would give me some interesting captures. The guy I shot, looked decent with his very proper head gear. He had an interesting face and a good material for a photo shoot. I did a shot while he was looking away.

He broke ice by interacting with me. I showed him the frame, there after I started shooting more with a frontal shot that he liked.

In between came in an old client of his, who mentioned that he never got his ears cleaned from any other in the trade. He gets on with the job.

He shows some thing big that was pulled out of his ear.

Looking in for more wax.

It must be quite uncomfortable when the guy goes around scrapping out the wax from the ear.

I move on further to look for other actions in Khari Baoli. Some how there was not much of hustle bustle that I have seen on earlier days. The morning was not very clear, it looked like it would rain. There was no breeze at all. It was reasonably hot and humid, but not like in the past few weeks. How ever it still drains out quite a lot of energy. We ended our day with some puree- aloo subzi at Shiv Bhandar in Chandni Chowk topped up with 2 jalebees each. By the way he makes the preparations in pure desi ghee. They have added an air conditioned hall as well, quite a relief to have been sitting there to enjoy the breakfast. I do eat a little spicy food so I really felt it was quite blend that what we get in Charkhewalan. Carried about a kilo of jalebees for the family at home. Nice thing is that on request they make them thin, fine and crispy. I was made to remember by the manager that I had some after a very long time. True it was a long time as on my last visit the air conditioned hall was not there. A nice addition in old Delhi market.

Far above the ground level

2011-05-11T08:09:00.000-07:00

Due to some personal problems I have not been able to concentrate much in tying up assignments for last quite a few months. One assignment came my way from a Tyre company in manufacturing Tyres agricultural and earth moving equipments. Oh my those things were really, really big. I had to setup my lights and shot against a white background setup requested to be created in one their huge halls. There were a few tyres that looked like new born babies, but they were just a few. The basic idea was to do cut outs of these products for their product catalog.

Another part was to take pictures of their set up and infrastructure. They had two manufacturing units close by and on another huge industrial plot there was a ware house to stock these till they were sent to their clients / dealers.

During the discussions earlier when the briefing was on through phone calls, where they mentioned of their wish to some how take bird's eye view. I needed the services of Superman to fly me up to shoot angles comfortably. How could a comic character come to my help? Using flying machines like helicopter or small planes was quite a possibility, but as per my information one needs quite a lot of clearances from the various government agencies. I could be wrong here. I did it leave to them to decide. They also broached the easy possibility of arranging a crane to use. What height crane should be used? I have never been up that high, so it was a tough call for me, but felt it should go up at least twice the height of the plant building. They did organise a crane that could go up to 120 feet. They too had a special platform built with railing, to help save the earth from caving in from my weight and the weight of my Canon 5D Mark II if I measured the height and gravity during the fall. Well it was a very new experience for me when the crane came very late in the afternoon as the sun was going down to light up the other part of the globe. The crane was called in on the third day of the shoot. Well the guys kept us all waiting since Noon time that is when I thought should be the right time to start the shoot. It would take time to drive and park the crane and by that time the light would be nice on the buildings.

On the first two days and first half of the third day I expected to finish off most of the industry's machine shoot and the tyres. On the third day post Noon I kept for the bird's eye view, and the final 4th day to wind up covering any areas that were not ready for one reason or the other.

BKT Company's marketing official Mr. Vikash who had been coordinating the shoot specially flying down from Mumbai and came along with me in the vehicle, had to leave early on the second day on a family emergency. It was unfortunate. He was a nice person to interact and I found him to be a really wonderful person.

I was then to coordinate with HR Manager Mr. Zutshi for the rest of the shoot. Coordination by one of the senior company officials is a must otherwise things do not move. He is another wonderful person and a great personality. I loved his tea, coffee and Cinnamon with honey that he served every time I went into his office. He told me he drank a lot of these all through the day. I could see a huge stock of the raw materials. An electric kettle made him independent from getting his beverages from outside his office. Cinnamon and honey helps in reducing weight and is also good for the body. I to have started drinking the same every day. Though my sugar level has some how gone quite a bit north than the normal, I just take it with out any kind of sweetening. Once in a while I just put small spoon of honey in my tea. With so many sweet people around, except for the guys who have taken over my flat and not signing the lease deed and start paying the rent, one can easily give a miss to sugar. So far there is no craving for sugar or any thing sweet. Hopefully my taste buds keep reined and in control.

We had the crane set up in the open yard in the middle of the plant. The light was going down fast, but we needed to check out the view we could be getting. So I just suggested if he would accompany me up on the platform, where he was game. The reason I wanted was that he would be there to help take decision while I showed him the views on the camera screen plus he also will be able to communicate with the head office on what we were getting. What we were getting were the slanting roof of the plant that were gray and not very pleasing in looks. I did some frames for building a panorama image, that through him we shared with the head office. They instructed that we should in any way go ahead with the aerial shots. The crane stayed put where it was, for me to go up again in the morning. Good thing as I got the feel of being taken up and coming down. It was comfortable. During the shoot another employee Mr. Bunty who was attached to me for carting my equipment, organising help, drinking water supply, etc. was a great guy. He was there all through the days of shooting. It was a memorable experience doing this industrial shoot. Though Bhiwadi where the units are based is not far from Delhi but the highway is one of the busiest. On a bad day it could take more than 2 to 3 hours. Doing up and down would have been very strenuous, carrying all the lighting equipment and other accessories every day would have been a nightmare. Missing to pack some piece of equipment also haunts us all. I remember I missed carrying my studio light reflectors to an out station shoot. It gave a miserable feeling, and the pressure builds up. Though one knows it can not be helped, but the feeling haunts and haunts through rest of the shooting time.

Missed a second camera, this one is with my mobile phone

Going up with the crane was a great experience. The platform swung slowly with the wind. One could see the pollution in the area. In the later part of the evening it was not clear for any possible shoot. There was smog that spread making every thing in the same gray scale. Oh yes the crane guys went missing for 2 to 3 hours. When we went to the second unit, they said that they would like to have a lunch break. Now one can not just say no for lunch. We too went in the canteen to have a quick bite. On coming out side we found the crane missing. They were supposed to be there and it was no courtesy but they had been hired at an astronomical amount. Bunty and the driver went around in their search and found them doing some work in another unit. Oh if they had not taken the lunch break, the rest of the shoot was for hardly 45 minutes only or even less. The crane had to be parked at the best possible place for an angle. One could not move around much with it as there were high tension electric cables. There were limitations, so I had to go up and just shoot various possible views or frames for the panoramas. It was hand held as there was hardly any space to to put up my camera on a tripod. The criss cross heavy duty belts left no space at all.

There was a large group of people watching the proceedings. I was wanting to shoot some frames, but avoided fearing running out of space on my memory card. I just have one as of today. While coming down at one site I saw this boy who sat in some industrial waste or some lime waste of wall peelings piled on the side. The side road we were on also had lots of loose black dust. I came down and tried shooting him with his face. But he hid his face but I think it was nice in a way. I had noticed some wild plants surviving through this waste and were popping out. A small yellow flower blossomed. I think all these things happen and get noticed quite quickly when one has been concentrating in finding angles, etc. Given the situation I think it has come out reasonably well. But I surely leave to the viewers to express their opinion about a visual. Every one has one's own interpretation, so why impose mine. I feel it also helps me in growing, maturing when I hear the thoughts of others on my visuals.

To sum up the four days of my shoot was nice. The guest house within the Bhiwadi plant at the entrance was very good. Nice food was cooked in the evening along with a nice breakfast in the morning. Though I did miss my fasts of Navratra, but on a job I am sure it is not possible. The industrial shoots are very demanding on energy, and with a fast I would not have been doing justice to a paid assignment by feeling weak during the day and that too for 4 days continuously. One can manage a day, but surely not 4 days at a go.

These were some musings of my last work.

Designing aspect in blogger.com

2011-05-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

Hi,
While doing my post on "Making of Mats from Water Reeds" I found my mistake in doing my post on the vegetable market a few days back.
I have edited the same once again and it looks better than the earlier post.
Cheers

Making of mats from water reeds

2011-05-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

Finally finished and relaxing with the final roll of the mat

The city is a religious town Garhganga or Garhmukteshwar in Uttar Pradesh India. With the sacred city of Haridwar going to Uttra Khund with the partitioning of a big state for better governance. The Uttar Pradesh government is trying to develop this town. It had been neglected for many many decades.

More details can be got from http://wikimapia.org/6515236/Ganga-Mandir-Garh-Mukteshwar " This very ancient temple situated on top of the hill.It is dedicated to Ganga Maiya and Lord Brahma. Once Ganga used to flow here .There are 101 steps to reach the street level. If you throw stone over them you could hear watery sound. Puranic place now desolate.Garhmukteshwar is very ancient. Description comes in Vedas and Mahabharat. Not to be missed."

The Ganga Mandir was established by my fore fathers about 300 years back. We have another Ganga Mandir in old Delhi dating back to the same year. This temple in old Delhi was a part of the living complex. We have to maintain the temple in old Delhi like our house expense. The temple in Garhganga since it was on the banks of the river received enough donations was to be maintained by the donations. It was left to be managed by the heads of the town. This was never willed to any one. There is a recorded will of my fore fathers Dewan Nand Lal ji who laid the foundation of the temple. He was Dewan of Nawab Jajjar.

Ganga Maiya

The look has changed as the Uttar Pradesh Government spent quite a sum on renovation of the temple by covering up the open area to create a hall. The amount supposed to be spent can not be seen as what was constructed can not be of the amount that is quoted to be spent. Wow here also the corrupt never miss their chance making some money. Very sad it is but is true.

Temple view from the bottom of the hillock with 101 steps that emit a sound of water when walking or if some stone falls on its steps.

The Ganges flowed down the hillock where this temple stands. At that time there were many pilgrims. I am not sure when the river Ganges shifted its route away from this small town. I have been always trying to find out when the river changed its course to the current area called the Brij Ghat, which I believe about 5 to 6 kilometers away. Since it shifted the flow of pilgrims has become a trickle as most flock to the Brij Ghat. I have no idea how it is during the main festival periods, never been there during that time.

I have been going quite regularly along with my parents. After the demise of my parents we do still go there. Ours has been a very large joint family and now many family members make it a point to go there. The temple has some values where wishes of many people get fulfilled. One of the British officers could not get an issue, so some one suggested that he should seek the blessings of Ganga Maiya. His wish was fulfilled and placed a stone with his message of thanks.

Dried up land always gets people to inhabitate. Settlements pop up quite fast. In the dried river Ganges basin after it changed its route to 5 to 6 kilometers, as said a settlement has come up. There are lots families who work with water reeds to weave mats used to create temporary partitions, roof, walls etc. where required. I used to walk down the steps and shoot some frames as I always carried my camera, but that was always slide or negative films. Digital has made it quite easy to share images with people and in various forums like jpgmag.com, Blogger.com, etc.

The boy enjoys lying on the finished portion of the mat while his mother weaves the rest of the portion

A few years back I did a small shoot of a family where each member worked to weave these reeds in to mats. They occupy the side walk or any open space near their house. At that time 10 such mats cost Indian Rupees 400.

The whole of the family puts in the labor to weave mats for sale. They work on the side walk or any open areas as each mat requires some space to spread.

Working space on the side walk

Over the time each family must have demarcated their area work and stocking raw material.

Young girl carrying a bundle of dried reeds to the work space

The young girl is busy weaving. The mehendi on her hands shows either she attended some wedding or she may have had some engagement, etc.

Checking the weave

Each open space as mentioned is used for working. The man works at the main entrance of his home. On the left is a hand pump to provide water to the family. The hearth is out side the main build up area. The smoke stays out.

Each space is fully utilised

One can see the use of the mat on the right side. Though it is now quite worn out, this one of the uses to create a partition. These very much used during plucking seasons of fruits where they create a hut like structure to sort and stock fruits. It gives them a shelter.

The young fashionables

The boys really enjoy themselves. I am sure these must be the children from the weaver's families.

Camaraderie

These children had their food and had come down. They enjoyed being photographed. There is the innocence and care free life seen in each one's face.

We had come here to distribute food. We call it a 'Bhandara'. This is mostly done to celebrate some festival, pay our respects for the departed parents or family members. The food is cooked in large quantity. The cooks get busy since morning. The trend here in Garhganga is to make the people sit and we serve them. There is space and it can be easily done.

This is the hall created by the government by its own selected contractor under the supervision of their engineers

In bigger towns it is difficult to do this way as there is lack of space. So we find road side stalls created. The food is cooked adjacent. The raw material is generally fixed, and what ever gets cooked is distributed. When it is finished, well it is finished.

There has been a stone that keeps building up. Each new growth over the time shows a shape of a religious person / saint, etc. It stays here in the temple. Many have tried to steal it.

The ever evolving sacred stone

From Delhi it is just 80 odd kilometers but it used to take about 2 hours plus drive by road. There was much of construction activity. I do hope quite a lot must have been completed making the drive in hours shorter.

Jai Ganga Maiya, may you bless all.

Design

2011-05-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

While I was posting my last blog I just could not place the images and the text as I had wanted. It looks so jumbled up. I think I am missing some where some thing how to properly place images and text properly. Hope some one reading helps me with some tips.

Vegetable Market, Sector 41, Noida Uttar Pradesh, India

2011-05-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

Fresh Red Chillies

It was quite freshening to find a temporary market setting up every Sunday where I shifted my residence in Noida. In Delhi we do have similar markets but they are there every day of the week.

A view of the market

It is different here as they cover the needs of a cluster of residential sectors on specified days. It is very convenient. There are fresh vegetables, fruits, utensils, clothes, etc. But I concentrated more on the vegetable section of the market while I did my purchases for the week. Also this part of the market is well organised better lit than the other parts of the temporary market.

This balloon vendor is a regular here

How ever I am missing a few pictures in this story how the tables are carted to the area and are left on the sides of the street by a contractor. This starts from early morning though late afternoon the vendors start coming to set up their wares. Many bring their own push carts / tricycle carts as they save on the rental of the tables.

Keeping track of the sales when buyers are not around

There is always more rush at the start of the street from the side of Sector 41. At the end of the street we have a main road and there is the Noida City Center Metro Station. On one side of the road is Noida authority service and maintenance center, then there is some research institute. This side of the road where this tomato vendor is standing there is a Sector 39 Community Center and adjacent to it is a Womens College.

Mobile has become very affordable and keeps people always connected

It is an art to keep vegetables fresh even in the adverse of temperatures and they know it well. Parsley, salads, mint leaves, etc. look so fresh as if just plucked from the farm despite these being on display since mid afternoon.

Pile of fresh Okra / Ladies fingers

The season vegetables occupy major part and are seen to be more on display. There are various varieties of Brinjals. The set up is quite in contrast to what one finds in similar western markets.

Lots of fresh variety of vegetables available.

Vegetables available are season based in India, at least in the central / northern part of India.

Onions and potatoes

I may have already mentioned that in these markets the best thing is that one can select each piece of a vegetable. What is not good is left out and many a times even the vendor discards them from the pile. This quite a luxury from the mall vegetable out lets. There are plastic baskets with each vendor for the purpose.

A tomato vendor with his cart

We are used to living on fresh stuff all round the year and enjoy seasonal vegetables and fruits. So it has become quite a necessity by way of habit to by fresh farm produce. There is always a variety in every season though in some the offering may be quite few. But we prefer vegetables of the season as we find these are healthy.

Making a bargain

The cold storages has helped to get some exotic fruits and vegetables. They look beautiful but they do not have a taste of flavor to the Indian fruits and vegetables.

Dangerous combination???

The generator contractor spreads points along the sides of the street.

What an assortment of fresh vegetables

Such markets are legal as the city administration have given them vending rights for specific days along with identification papers on payment of fees for the whole year. It is all a well organised affair from the city administration side. There are more contractors / suppliers who supply carry bags, tea, snacks, etc.

The biggest convenience is for the people who stay as they have to walk from their homes to the market. In case one misses on their day one can always drive to a nearby similar market in the next cluster of residential housing sectors.

Fresh tomatoes

Very few go in for off season vegetables or fruits released from cold storages unless some thing has to be on the menu.

The ambiance is great perhaps one has to enjoy it in real than through still photographs that do not convey the sounds, the calls of the vendors announcing their rates of the vegetables or the feel of the freshness of the vegetables and fruits.

Final journey from the vendor to the buyers house

This is a small contribution to the forum specially for those who may not have had a chance to have personally enjoyed being in such a place. Such places are photographers delight.

Thanks for taking time to go through my small contribution. Feed back is vry much appreciated.
Cheers

Habits die hard

2010-07-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

Well well ... I have always been mentioning that I need to post on quite a regular basis but habits die hard. I am forgetful, very forgetful to be very honest.

There have been massive changes in my life very recently. These should have taken place a long time back, but things happen when they have to happen how hard we may try.

The biggest change has been shifting my residence from the most prime areas of New Delhi to Noida in a rented accommodation with my family. If one wants to live good with the best of the comforts then we need to be able to live within the elites of power, the real mercenaries after the East India Company later the British crown. When can we have the real independence as of today we are still governed by the colonial laws, the colonial mentality so very well and zealously continued by the politicians and the beaurocrats post so called independence.

It is a growing region but the basic amenities are awfully missing. The water very, very bad. So hard and so dirty. Power outages are there all the time. One needs to have power back-ups, very good support to the industrial houses. Roads are so bad with pot holes/rough areas in colonies. Crime rate has to rise with living costs spiraling up like anything. no place seems to be safe except the most nurtured area of the city. We have the most well oiled and smooth corrupt system in place, I doubt it can be done away in a million years. Those who could not maintain a two wheeler in their pre-political power become crore-pattis within a few years in power. If there is so much of official salary that makes them crore pattis with in a few years in coming to power, why do they crib about being poorly paid? They are the Dhitrastras of today, who was one of the most well versed with Dharmsastra, but greed of power for his son overcame the best of his sensibilities as a king. We see it in routine life we live today.

If an independent body takes the task of finding the 'sweat equities', facilitation shares in contracts and companies there will hardly be any above board. IPL did spill some beans, and surely this would be found in all things like power distributions, toll road contracts, housing, any thing you can imagine.

History tells us proudly that the Britishers gave rail, their language, other things but let us not forget these were their own purpose and use. They came to trade. In trading one gets money in lieu of the products traded. They took the goods and the money as well. Their Commonwealth!! How could that hurt be consoled, they created a group of their colonies as "Commonwealth". How zealously are the current masters honoring the memories of those who looted the country through out their occupancy. The Mughals did come but they remained and became a part of this land. They created here and they lived here, but the British rule can not be equated. They were a band of cruel deceiving thieves with no human rights as they like to propagate to day as champions of human rights and fairness. Let us not equate British laws and colonial laws as the same, if they were I am sure they could not get away with all what they did in their colonies.

The same divide and rule policy continues today. The bait of the carrot had worked good to help the East India Company to firmly push in its claws, it is still working strongly. Why would the press people from private ownership companies be given free government accommodation for life? It is fair to provide government accommodation to government employees, but why to those who were never a part of the government but private enterprises?

Well well ... those get exposed who get in the bad books of the powers who have been in power for the longest period after the so called independence.

Photographing the photographer

2010-04-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

I do not know how clumsy or funny looking I am when behind the camera while busy shooting pictures during a commercial shoot or during street photography.

It has always interested me photographing the photographer/s. There were far and few during the analog age, but still one could find quite interesting shoots.

Today with digital age we have all kinds of camera from mobile cameras, to thin credit card types, pro-cameras and so on. Mobile phones today come in almost all models and they have become so very common. Each one has one in one's pocket. I always avoided buying a mobile phone with a camera, but kids bought me one so I also happen to use it quite occasionally taking pics of my grand children. Times have changed and will keep on changing.

Taj Mahal is one monument that receives the maximum foot fall all round the year irrespective of the weather conditions. There is hardly any visitor who is not carrying one or the kind of camera. I had enough of the shoot taking various angles of the monument.

It is such a nice feeling to be sitting on the marble floor, it is real cool and relaxing. Looking around seeing people, I found people standing or sitting in the funniest stances while taking a pics.

Seeing people making various kinds of poses when being photographed. It is also a free for all for photographers as many a times people like try and capture some thing interesting to show case in some place or the other.
I am sure no words of description are required for the few photos posted within this story. I am sure there would be many with better enjoyable photos, but this is a small contribution with a hope to gain more by your comments.

A tough Janaury

2010-02-25T10:17:00.000-08:00

It was a bad start for me within the first few hours of New Year. The accelerator wire got stuck. In process of checking, I nearly fell down fortunately could balance myself with the support of the car body. Only a few days into the New Year, while wiping my feet the small plastic bath stool slipped and I got a big jerk in my back. Was down confined to bed and home for almost whole of January and a week or so of February. Things are now under control, I am moving around but with lots of care.

I had so many plans for going on a trip, all came a cropper.

Working on a new blog with some street photography pictures shot on 26th December, 2009 and some more from earlier shoot in the same area.

Thanks for following.

Planning a trip

2009-12-15T13:10:00.000-08:00

I am toying with the idea of a trip to some place/s in Rajasthan where I have not been so far, at least for photography.

Babul Bhatt has joined a company in NCR very recently and wanted to go out shooting. In case we make it together then I think it may be Neemrana / Alwar side. Less traveling time and more shooting time. The Christmas and New Year eves are in the middle of the week. He has to use the announced holidays. Plan to halt and stay where we find a place in late evenings.

If he can not make it I think driving to Jodhpur side could be a good idea. To halt and stay without tied down to any particular hotel should give more flexibility in traveling.

The trip to Ladhak unfortunately did not materialise due to the fear of swine flu.

Khari Baoli, Old Delhi

2009-12-06T09:31:00.000-08:00

Congested areas of all old cities have their own charm for photographers who do like to photograph people, candid portraitures, the life of an old city and activities. One will always find many, many frames to cature. There is lots in interiors of Old Delhi bylanes to be photographed as the who is who stayed in this area being close to the seat of governance during parts of the Mughal rule- the Red Fort. So many tricycle rickshaw drivers have become guides and churn out what ever gets into their mind. Most times what they churn is no way near reality. Find so many have picked up English, French and other languages and speak in broken language. So many foreigners seem to enjoy the tricycle rickshaw ride as they go through the crowded lanes. Chandni Chowk having been made out of bounds for the rickshaws, the inner lanes and bylanes have got choked like anything. Though despite this ban, Chandni Chowk traffic remains the same. The ban seems to have been imposed by that influential lobby who wanted to drive in with their fat vehicles. The inconvenience they have caused to the residents is unimaginable. Maliwara and Kinari Bazar remain so choked that any sick person in emergency cannot be taken to a hospital. If some one on the other side of Chandni Chowk has to catch a train from Old Delhi Railway Station, well it is not possible to cross over to the side when in a rickshaw. This has been and is the only mode of transportation available to the residents of old Delhi. The strong young males may be able to carry the luggage across to the other side, what happens to the old people, females and those who are in way or the other incapiciated to carry the luggage. Instead of reigning in the number of rickshaws and the mafia that controls it, the local government on the advice of people on the committee who have never ever lived in old Delhi decided to ban. They could have issued licences to rickshaw drivers after their being enlightened about the proper trafiic rules, parking, etc.

It was a Saturday early morning when I decided to Khari Baoli with an intention to pay my respects Shani Maharaj Mandir in Khari Baoli, as since long I wanted to visit the small temple. I was suffering from slight viral fever that day and went ahead with the visit along with my digital camera. [Shani Mandir under a tree]

Some time has passed when I went to the one of the oldest agricultural produce whole sale market in Old Delhi known as Khari Baoli near Chandni Chowk. I intend visiting this place as often as possible. For a street photographer the action starts as early as 4 AM till late, very late evenings and remains chaotic through out this time.

[Very early morning scene of Khari Baoli]

The early morning whole sale market gets over by 10:30 AM, when shops dealing in different products start opening their shutters. Earlier there were dealers of acids, etc. but many years back they had to close shop or switch over to a new trade as these were polluting and dangerous for a very crowded market. Things do change keeping the changed scenario due to population. Untensils, dry fruits, tea leaves, pulses, spices, toileteries, cooking oils, various kinds of grains, etc. can be bought very cheap. Cheaper than other markets as most buy from here to stock and sell from their shops or outlets.

Once I had taken Babul Bhatt a serious hobbyist photographer from Mumbai, after I got irritated by the security guys at the Red Fort on our second visit. On the first visit the weather was uncertain with slight showers and sunshine. We had good shots there thought we might cover up a few with good sunshine. The guy there let my bag go through but refused his bag saying it was too big. So I told him look we already got good pics inside the fort so there was no point going in again, may be after a gap we could revisit. So I said I will make his day with a shoot in old Delhi. This is when I took him to Chandni Chowk and further down to Khari Baoli. If I am not mistaken we went together twice on different days. It is was a nice morning walk with our cameras. Both times we did get some good pics, and he too felt we had taken the right decision as this was more colorful and lively.

{Babul surrounded by keen onlookers}

Since I belong to Old Delhi, I get many oppurtunites to be there but I have developed a very bad habit of not going alone, need a good company. I have still not been able to find an answer to this habit of mine. Is it familiarity of a location since childhood that makes one very casual and lethargic with a camera. For so many years I have been carrying my camera with a mind of shooting, but always came back without shooting a single frame. In the days of analog, I used to load my cameras with slide and BW films. Slides to be able to sell as stock photographs and BW for my personal collection. Slide films some how got used for commercial work but BW just remained in the camera. So many times I used to load and reload the same roll and at the end I lost track of how old the film was and they lay in the cupboard unused. I may be still be having some lying here and there. But I am more free when I go out of Delhi and I am able to use the camera extensively for street photography. I still feel even away from Delhi should have been shooting more if I were in some good company. I know while in Europe I used to hang around all alone in a place to get my pics and never felt bogged down. I could move or approach my subjects without any resrvations but some how it is not the same. I am searching for answers.

Early morning starts with flowers and flower petals. Farmers bring their produce from as far as 70 odd kilometers. I was never aware that rose petals were packed with chunks of ice. Before they weighed the petal these chunks of ice were taken out.

The street slowly gets choked with trucks, tempos, bullock carts, mule carts, cycle rickshaws, etc. There are numerous porters who carry these goods to whole sale merchants and the auctioned produce is carried by may be another porter the successful bidder.

There are people catching up their cup of tea and light snacks as they wait for their turn to sell or buy the produce. One sees so many ear-cleaners taking out ear wax. Scenes of people taking their bath. It is there to be captured. During this time the normal shops remain close except of the whole mechants dealing in the produce reaching at that time. There are spices and other food grains that also reach during this time.

The farmers and traders must be getting up very early in the morning or infact must be loading the goods and traveling most part of the night. It looks strange while quite a few people are found to be sleeping while lots of activity around happening.

Visit to Garhganga (Garhmukteshwar)

2009-10-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

On the 1oth of October went to attend a Bhandara (distribution of food to the poor) organised by a cousin of mine in our ancestral temple 'Gangaji Mandir' built in the year 1754 by our fore-fore-father. This temple was actually built on the banks of River Ganges, but perhaps in the 19th century (need to check when exactly it changed its course) shifted its course to about 3 to 4 kilometers away.

I have been a regular visitor to the temple visiting atleast 3 times in a year. It takes about 3 hours drive, which should get less when the roads and the overhead bridges are completed. The work has been slow as the status of the construction seems to be the same for some past years.

I did take some time off and walked down the 80 odd visible steps of the 101 steps to the base where once river Ganges flowed. Walking on the steps emits a sound of water. It is very unique in a way. People came specially to hear the sound so they threw stones down the steps. The stone steps have got damaged. Hardwar went to Uttrakhund after the Uttar Pradesh was reorganised into two states for better managment for development. The hilly region is now known as Uttrakhund, while the plains area is still known as Uttar Pradesh. After having lost Hardwar, the UP government under Mulayam Singh started developing this town of Garhmukteshwar. Politics is a bad name in India. With the new government the plans have come to a stand still with the main concentration being on building and erecting statues.

There is a settlement of mostly weavers who weave panels with some kind of weeds. In such settlements kids are in abundance and one can get good captures of the moods of the children. I do carry my camera on such trips. Many a times I do not shoot any frames, know not why. For a change I did shoot some pictures of the weavers working and the children. I feel they came out reasonably well to share in my blog.

There is always something beautiful about photographing children. I have always found their eyes sparkle even in the stark reality of under nourishment conditions they tend to survive with a smile on their lips.

There are more photos, maybe I will add them later.

Back to Routine

2008-03-07T21:45:00.000-08:00

I tend to miss or forget that I have a blog running in here that needs to be kept alive by adding something at least weekly if not daily. So my last post was about a month back. After the Agra trip back to the search for new photography assignments. There have been lots of queries but most times they maintain their status of query only fizzling out after a while, but thats a part of the life of a daily wager professional.

After shifting studio to a new location, have done a few shoots though I still need to add some facilities to the new working place. Major some convenience of a multi background roll hook and pulley system, some kind a working table and some shelves to clear the floor area and also to avoid the items from damage. Well it is quite funny if one thinks of it that a slightly larger area we tend to expand with our gear. The only draw back I find in my new place is that it does not have an extra room or an area where a partition could have helped me create some space for securing my equipment, a makeup area, some changing area for the models and a place of my own where I could interact with my clients in privacy. An area where on non working days, that are quite many by the way, where I could enjoy my cat naps with out being seen.

Second day of the month seems to be repeating itself for me as a photography day. It was Agra in Feb and now in March on the second I went out with a group of very young photographers to Chandni Chowk in Delhi. I had been on Orkut, Facebook and there are a few more networking websites, since I hardly used or use them I tend to forget. My personal website, by the grace of God, is doing well getting into the first ten in the Google Search and I get a lot of queries. See I mentioned earlier about the queries all generated through my website. I never looked beyond my website and its responses. Again after meeting Babul I started using Facebook and Flickr and populated them with content and created group as well.

People seem to be pretty active in these networking sites atleast the photography section I can talk about as I am not very much keen on the other groups. I may be wrong in my perception of things other than photography, but I find members of lots of other groups faking things like their identities. Atleast in photography people may be using different online IDs but they are real people when interacting. So a few comments left on some pictures, some comments received on some pictures started a new interaction. And one of the commentators invited me to join an outing to Chandni Chowk with a Facebook group DFC on Sunday, March 2nd. It was a healthy strength of about 30 odd young photographers both male and female. I stood out to be an odd guy out with heavy weight of silver decorating the top most of my body. It was a very good experience once again being amonst the very young crowd of creative minds. Fortunately having been sharing my experience of photography with the students of National Institute of Fashion Technology in Delhi since many years I did not feel myself being in the wrong age group. I do not know how the younger members of the group felt with my presence amongst them, but am sure having a person with photography knowledge was also wanted by some members otherwise with my picture showing up on profile they would not have invited. It was a great time and they have come out with very good meaningful images.

I feel the Digital Camera has helped a lot in making photography popular all over the world. I can co-relate it with the coming on the roads of Maruti car. Earlier we had Ambassador car that was big and bulky with a very heavy stearing and in the lighter versions of vehicles there was this Padmani Fiat and Gazal. The Ambassadors were generally driven by hired drivers while both the light cars were owner self driven. After Maruti one of lightest vehicle came on the roads, each person felt that they could drive. Maruti really helped choke the roads as the government could not catch up to widen the roads to accommodate this surge of cars on the roads. It is pretty similar here with photography. It was mind boggling for lots of people as they never received from the labs results of their shoot except lots of dissapointments. The quick view and delete feature that the digital offers has helped a lot in people taking up photography.

In my interactions with so many young photographers I can say they really shoot good frames, despite their not knowing anything about apertures or shutters or their creative aspects. The camera does for them except that they see well. I can only say there had been people who could see really well (photographically) but they did not have the inclination of learning the technology to give shape to what they saw as a good picture. The digital has helped them in fulfilling their aspirations. The internet is today full of so many good pictures by very young to very old people from all over the world. It is a really a good achievement. Those who keep moving into the deeper side of the knowledge is again not a very big crowd, I think the general public at large just wants to record memories that they missed when only film was there to be used.

At the end of the day we just enjoy good frames of visuals, isn't it true.

While I try add something sensible in here, (readers are the best judge if these additions are sensible enough or not), I feel I may have missed adding due to a query I received for a calendar and posters from an international organisation. The theme: refined, decent and creative female in nudes/semi/implied nudes. I am so very keen and want to take up this project as it is very challenging different from the routine work. So I got myself activated to search for models who could agree to be a part of this project, as I feel getting the models could clinch the deal for me. I know it is tough getting the right models or let me put it in right perpective - the models or the females who may not be modeling. I know for sure as I often get queries from females, husbands for their wives/fiances that they are interested in getting photographed, but like to keep their anonimity. Here the situation is different where use of face is a possibility. Different social mores is making the task tough. Living with a hope I can say that much at this point of time. Maybe some young ones, and not legal minors, reading this blog may help to bail me out and help me in clinching this deal.

Hope to be back soon with some more blogging........

Back from Agra

2008-02-04T09:59:00.000-08:00

View of Taj Mahal from across the river

February 2, 2008 at 6:31 AM

Wow.... that was it at last.

Babul reached late night with one of the Jet flights landing around 10:30 pm. The taxi hired went directly to pick him up from the airport, came to my place where we left immediately after a quick change from his office clothing. The taxi driver Mr. Radhey Shyam was a non stop chatterer, and with his chatter all through the drive, we did not know how we covered the distance from Delhi to Agra. It was 4 AM when we checked in at Hotel Apollo, a walking distance from the Taj Mahal. We had already sounded the driver about our intentions of going well before sunrise to the river bank across the Taj monument.

The excitement was at its peak. There was no physical or mental tiredness after both of us having worked the whole day, Babul with an extra effort flying out to Delhi immediately after a whole day's office work.

We left for the river bank around 5 AM, reaching there in a quick time. One thing was good to have had Radhey Shyam as he knew Agra and its lane very well. And at that time of the night/morning there is hardly any soul to help one in getting to the right place in time. There was one cab with a foreigner couple whom we found to be driving around to get to the same place, and I think he followed us to reach the spot.

We could experience the high security set up for Taj Mahal. He drove us right to the bank, missing out the signage prohibiting entry of vehicles after a certain point. We apologized to the police post and he backed his vehicle after dropping us there. Radhey Shyam spent the time with the police personal around the bonfire while we stood in the cold waiting for the sunrise. They told him they were ready to shoot if he had not stopped the vehicle. He was wearing clothes matching commando uniform that too brought them to high alert. One or two police personals had already taken their position with the weapons ready to fire. In the darkness it is difficult to correctly identify. Not long ago another picket was attacked in the wee hours. So they were very much on the right side. They had been instructed to shoot in case of doubt with out fear. It was pretty shocking for him and all of us. Lucky we all parted in big smiles and bye byes.

February 2, 2008 7:00 AM

In the biting cold we set up the camera and started shooting in the very faint morning light. It was real great to have been there as slowly the intensity of light started increasing. We kept on moving towards the water and as the light was enough for us to shoot hand held, it was maddening trying to get to the various viewpoints. There was great fog all through, teasing us by wrapping the Taj in its cover. As the fog played we shot each and every move it made. It was quite a fruitful outing away from the 'Patel Shots', Babul said this term was used in the UK for postcard type photography. Well it was quite an amusing new term for me.

February 2, 2008 7:34 AM (0696)

We did not sleep till late evening. At least I had a nice nap late in the evening on our return from Fatehpur Sikri. Babul did not sleep and he worked on a few images and uploaded a few on his web gallery. I had not carried my laptop more to shed extra weight.

On 3rd Feb we got up slightly late, any way we could not enter the Taj Mahal complex even if we had got up early. It drizzled slightly, but for a very short spell. There after it was sunny all through with pretty strong winds. We spent many hours shooting pictures from various viewpoints and also enjoyed the happenings around. It is a lot fun looking at people trying to get their pictures shot by a battery of licensed photographers. They know their spots well and each of them make the people do things and in enthusiasms they do it but would laugh at themselves if they saw the pictures. Did a lot of people photography. We shot lots of amusing action taking place there. It was a great pass time. It was lots of fun. We spent our day there, if Babul did not have his flights booked for Mumbai leaving Delhi late night, perhaps we may have been the last people to walk out of the Taj Complex.

We left Taj Complex walking through a side busy road to take a quick lunch at Quality Restaurant. It was a second visit to this food outlet after we had our breakfast on our first in Agra. This time a young artisan danced to the tune of a local instrument played by his elder. Not much time to sit down to enjoy their music as we had to reach Delhi on time. We had a nice good meal of fish curry and tandoori roti, unfortunately tandoori chicken that we ordered was very dry and hard. By the way the food we had at Shere Punjab on way back from Fatehpur Sikri was real good.

Two intensive days of enjoyable photography seemed to be less even the traffic out of the city seemed to be in agreement. The roads were choked. Radhey Shyam being well versed with the city tried to take alternative routes and all these routes through side lanes were so choked that even the two wheelers could not pass through. The patience seemed to be tested of all the vehicle drivers. It was a nice feeling to be in the back seat in such a scenario.

Thats Babul Bhatt.

Anyway we reached Delhi in time for Babul to catch the flight on time. A few aches here and there with tired limbs will take a few days to get back to normal. Over all an enjoyable trip.

I will be posting some images in here but most images will be posted in my website http://www.indergopal.com/ in the stock section. The link is not being mentioned as new web pages will be dedicated for this Agra trip.

I do trust folks following my Blog would look up the images. Give me something to smile by adding a few comments here in my Blog and if possible in my guestbook.

Traveling to Agra

2008-02-01T08:57:00.000-08:00

It has been a very long time to have gone on a planned visit for a personal photo shoot. Unfortunately a drab routine had set in my life, the keeness for personal shoots had been quite lost. Met up with Babul Bhatt an IT professional, who is a keen photographer as well.

In an hour or so we would be leaving forAgra. He is specially flying from Mumbai for this trip. It is a relook of the Taj, some viewpoints hitherto not explored on earlier occasions as past trips were more family trips. Hopefully we find some good weather and something interesting to showcase.

There had been quite an happening at Khan Market. The Heritage Motoring Club of India (hope I got the name right) held their Vintage Car Rally from here. The beauties of yesteryears were lined up in the market campus. I was more interested in the small details as the cars were very closely so it was no fun shooting the vehicles. I will be posting the images on return from this current trip to Agra.

Me

2008-01-31T00:59:00.000-08:00

I am an advertising and fashion photographer based in New Delhi, India.

To be honest not much experience with blogging and when the new window opens with a frame for posting, at least I have been taken a back to immediately enter some sensible text. So to get myself together I can say that I will be adding more info about me, my work and my projects along with my wish list of personal photography projects.

I do hope I am able to add some thing that makes sense at the end.

Looking forward to your book marking me for future visits and would love your inputs by way of comments and suggestions - in short would love your participation in my blogs.
Cheers