Listening

The past few months have been a tremendous journey of hope, hell and heaven all rolled in a warm blanket called life. Its been months of meditative conversations with people who either mattered the most or matter a lot now. As the winds dries up some sour trinkling memories I realise it has been months of listening.

Listening to some very amazing people who have not known me too well but more importantly are non judgemental, accepting and fighting their battles with grace. They smile genuinely, laugh with all their heart, and life to them is a lovely mosaic of experiences.

The universe much like the seas constantly makes you cleanse yourself, off the influence that corrodes you. Forces you to be ‘you’. You just need to give in to being you.

Listening has made me more ‘me’, helped me get rid of a whole lot of expectations that weigh high upon my head causing migranes. It feels great to be the firefly again and fighting the hardest battle of ‘being ‘you’ and staying that way.

100 Hours 100 Pictures #100

100 hours of moments that never leave me. This is my favourite shot taken while traveling to Khardungla. It being the highest motorable pass. High on spirits and tough to survive, khardungla is an experience truly out of this world For years this shot has inspired me when I think of the extreme climatic conditions in which people tend to work there. Nature will never cease to challenge, surprise and inspire.

Thanks for sharing the passion, each one of u! I hope to continue this journey and take you along through my frames.

100 Hours 100 Pictures #97

Happy traveller, Ladakh

Raw, rough and ripe in culture, Ladakh has to offer every traveller an introspective journey into oneself. Its best to travel with not more than 2 people, enjoy the silence and enjoy the sun soaked sand palaces. You would be a happy traveller if you were open to simplicity, solitude and serenity. Nothing too complicated has ever been satisfying and so does Ladakh teach you to do uncomplicate.

100 Hours 100 Pictures #48

Harbour, Cochin

Sometimes when you travel with childhood friends for the first time, you really dont know what to expect. But knowing a friend really well or for very long has nothing to do with traveling with her. This is a completely different ball game. Traveling can bring out the best and the worst in a person and you might not have seen that side of them unless you were traveling with them. Our first day was a great as we admired the Harbour sitting in our window, having a glass of wine or two in the evening and enjoying the breakfast at a rather late hour. But then started the drama. No! it was not the drama that either of us put up. We had a rather intrusive fellow on the table next to us, who happen to start a conversation with me and self invited himself to our table. This completely ruined the serene calm moments between two friends. Towards the end of breakfast, my friend almost threw her napkin and excused herself away, while I had to say I was expecting an important call and run away. This was hillarious and annoying at the same time. So I had an annoying stranger and a rather furious friend to deal with by lunch time. This picture was taken in the evening when I had almost settled things with my friend by staying silent all day and not smiling at anyone but I was still dreading the intrusion of a rather annoying stranger the next day. That account of the next day I will leave for another day for now enjoy the sun through the fishing nets!

100 Hours 100 Pictures #46

Mansi’s favourite shot of the earring, From a Friend’s wedding

We all carefully dress for these moments and its only fair that all these little details are captured and kept safely in the frames. This is a picture that has memories of a unique south indian wedding with great shades of gold, pink and green. Loved the no-fuss ceremony and the just right amount of people at the wedding. Weddings are supposed to be about special moments and people and not numbers.

100 Hours 100 Pictures #44

Wedding. Isn’t this the day when we pretty much open our hands to a new life, person and fate. We leave our future open to one more person. It is wonderful how this day is celebrated as it is a day when we take a huge risk. But capturing these moments in a wedding are most special, when a tear contemplates to flow down the cheek or an unsure face is hoping that it is not seen by someone. When too much attention is annoying but cannot be avoided.

100 Hours 100 Pictures #38

My friend Elizabeth at Law Garden, Ahmedabad

My neighbour, friend and gym partner, Elizabeth is more family than a friend. She and I have lovely stories to share and adventures that we do around Ahmedabad. Its amazing how we have some there are few parallels in our lives and relationships and often know that there would be very few people who might understand the gravity of the issue. She is my window to my own city that I would have never opened. Its always wonderful to have someone in your life who manages to discover the city with a completely new perspective. Like, this one day, she managed to spot a shop called ‘Hitler’ and was aghast by the whole idea of there being a store by that name. I found it amusing too, but culturally it was more shocking for her than me. Every single day is a story and experience in itself, whether it is cooking on her hot plate or simply meeting our new neighbours at the gym. This picture is dedicated to my companion and partner in crime.

 

100 Hours 100 Pictures #29

Beautiful lady at a cafe in Leh, Ladakh

After a little stroll in Leh on day 1 we went for a early dinner at a cafe. Freshly baked bread, pasta cooked with fresh basil and a lovely cup of coffee, I can almost still taste the amazing food. The one good thing about   Leh is the small cafe with a well designed menu. The ambience is the mountains, the orange sky and amazing people. Apart from inhaling the untouched landscapes is the lovely cafes where one can escape into their own worlds.

This beautiful lady was so engrossed in her cup of tea and thoughts. I could completely relate to her as someone could taken similar shots of me as well on a certain afternoon.

100 hours 100 Pictures #28

Conversations at a Market in Leh, ladakh

(dedicated to amazing memories with Nandini and Nisha) The trip to Ladakh were the most introspective days of my life. It taught me to deal with humans, nature and an emotional journey to understand relationships. This picture is from the first day in Leh. We had spent the day simply getting used to the air pressure, temperature and the terrain. While we couldnt resist going and exploring the city we walked down the road to a local market. Functional only at certain times of the year due to climatic conditions these are small markets set up by people who travel from the east to Leh during the tourist seasons. Most of it is bead jewellery, bone and wooden accessories. What has always fascinated me is the nomadic lives of these people, who seem to find home where they lay their head. Childhood for most these kids must be much more exciting than our as we tend to follow routines. I wonder if these kids know how lucky they are to be able to spend their lives in such heavenly locations like Leh. This child was very curious and kept coming back to his mum every now and then to tell her what he had found.

100 Hours 100 Pictures #27

One of my favourite people in this world. Shwetabh ‘Madness” Varma, you have taught me to be a true firefly. It is wonderful to know that there are people who are living their dreams in all this chaos. Thank for being an inspiration, for all the conversations and creativity!

100 Hours 100 Pictures #26

Best Friend’s Wedding

Weddings are special and I am an annoying photographer. Some of my closest friends are pretty angry when I am clicking as if it is a compulsive disorder at brithdays, weddings or just at a house party. Well, they are even more annoyed when the shots are something like what you see above. Well! the story goes that they usually hate the pictures taken by the official photographer and then they think my camera might have captured some faces. So for most my favourite people I am the most annoying, in the face photographer who forgot that there are colors. This is one of the few photos that has color, most other are black and white shots.

100 hours 100 Pictures #25

There is something about hands and taking control of the wheel. There are very few women who know how to romance the wheel and it surely does make a delicious picture. There is great music, rhythm and poetry about hands and driving the vehicle right.

100 hours 100 Pictures #23

Production Shot, Mumbai

It has been my dream to do production shots. I believe there is more story behind the actual story being told. I have always been more interested in making documentaries, production shoots and the making of videos. Thanks to one of my most amazing friends I managed to sneak into a shoot for a certain commercial. I would love to do this for a living and I hope one day it is going to happen, considering I have been dreaming for so long now.

I love the way the shirt has a beautiful rhythm and it pretty much shows how the cinematographer moves his hands on the camera. Absolutely love the rhythm in this picture.

100 Hours 100 Pictures #21

Tower clock at Bhadra Fort, Ahmedabad

About 4 years ago 6 women decided to celebrate ‘women’s day’ documenting the walled city of Ahmedabad. While we walked about a kilometer and took like a thousand photos that afternoon we landed up in jail. Yes! it surely was an interesting day, and if you want to know more here is the link – http://www.cinnmint.org/home/2009/03/indeed-a-womens-day/

100 hours 100 Pictures #5

From my window, Surat

I lived in Surat for about a year before moving back to Ahmedabad last week. My evenings used to be pretty uneventful in the beginning, till I met some really sweet friends but, that too was only in the last few months. Till then almost every evening I used to stare at the moon and watch the clouds pass by. I used to wonder what kind of stories had these clouds picked up on thier way and if the craters on the moon were from enduring a lot that was happening around it. There were several conversations that the moon and I shared on lonely evenings. While I still get to meet mon ami – the moon every evening, for some reason it never seems the same. Probably one thing that I miss the most about the city is this view and my silent time spent capturing the moon.