Category: Photo Essay

By Aadya Baoni

The backwaters of Kerala, coupled with a frothing cup of filter coffee greeting you with its pungent yet comforting aroma lulled the broken heart into sleeping well. A heavy curtain of humidity hangs over the city threatening to drench an individual without any discrimination. The streets are flooded with intellectuals armed with their little red books (Communist Manifesto) and a pleasant smile that permanently seemed to be painted on their faces.

As one treads foot into Fort Kochi and the adjacent streets of Mattancherry, there exists the artists’ fiery palette of ochre and red. Every object that a brush could touch its tip on is covered with bold strokes from walls to tyres of the cars.  This is largely owing to Kochi Muziris Biennale spread over multiple venues. You will be charged a humble fee of Rs 100 that allows you to explore the festival for 3 says. However, a spin wall house acts as the primary collection of the installations and art pieces. One is flooded with all forms of creativity being served to you on a platter to feast your eyes on.  But you must keep a respectful distance from these works of art irrespective of how tempted you may be to touch them. The ideology of Freedom of expression is seen to be personified by various artistic practices displayed.

After three hours of religiously consuming art I found myself strolling through the streets of Kochi, responding to my gastric juices begging for food. I stumbled into ‘Kashi Art Cafe’ which too had a collaboration with the Biennale and had massive displays of art. Going into the depths of the cafe I found myself cocooned in a welcoming environment with nooks and crannies.  The food does justice to the amount of money charged for it.

The venues of the Biennale enhanced the art installations and art works to create a holistic experience. This extended through the streets of Mattancherry.

The rustic streets interspersed with huge wooden structures displaying the students’ art biennale. Multiple hues of color remained a constant treat for the eye. Antiquities and Kerala Folk Art was sold generously throughout.   The Paradesi Synagogue and its stained glass windows simply adds to the experience.

I walked away from my art excursion with a sense of fulfilment.

A sense of brotherhood resides in the crevices of Kochi. ‘Chetta’ or brother and ‘Chechi’ or sister is all one could possibly need to win over and communicate in Malayalam effectively.

I am Abhishek Singh, a photographer from New Delhi, capital of India. Driven by curiosity and wonder, my photography focuses on ordinary interaction of people, their life, struggle, survival and their urban/rural environment. Exploring and documenting the human condition – one moment at a time. In my images, I try to blend out the noise of today’s increasingly fast-moving world and extract the beautiful moments of everyday life that often go unnoticed.

In my street photography project, I attempted to chronicle life cycles with a universal approach: noticing all parts of life working together as time passes us by. I started looking at the bigger picture in an even bigger way: I began to look at human life and activities.

At first, my perspective absorbed daily routine of people living in old Delhi and various parts of NCR. Those who are involved in waste management, street hawking, roadside food vendors, hustle and bustle and bustle of rush hours. From this I began to see the sheer contrast in the design of Old Delhi and other parts of NCR itself.

Never before had I noticed such a beautiful homogenizing of kids, youth and aged as well as animals on the city streets , side-by-side going about  their various daily routine without so much as a second glance. What seemed most intriguing was the vast similarity of the facial expressions of all of these people as well as animal kind could be. Nearly identical  in instances of joy, sorrow, curiosity, anger and pain could be seen on the faces of these people that I had never even seen before, people I would likely never see ever again and understand their purpose behind their various expressions.

The most interesting part of my project was that I was able to come to life from seeing the different beings in the crowd for those short moments. I stopped when everyone moved around. I moved when everyone stopped. Through my lens, I could find hidden meanings of so many little things that we disregard each day. It was the significance of recovering our composure in our busy lives. In order to keep ourselves conscious of changes, we should be conscious of our surroundings first. This is the new definition of the city life that I could derive from my photography project.

Sometimes, we get lost in the flurry of life. Things are born, things happen in between, and then things are gone .But how often is this all thought about as a whole? People either dwell on the past, enjoy the present, or plan relentlessly for the future.

The Unakoti Tirtha is a unique place 178 km from Agartala (in North East India) which cannot be compared to any other place in the country in terms of absolute grandeur and artistry. Unakoti is deservedly reputed for its 7th – 9th AD stone and rock cut images, deep in the forests near Kailashahar. Unakoti literally means one less than a crore, i.e. 99,99,999. The place obviously does not have those many sculptures, but the hundreds of massive rock-cut sculptures and those made out of sandstone, besides scattered ruins of ancient temples make Unakoti a unique place.

Legends say, according to Hindu mythology, when Lord Shiva was going to Kashi passing this place along with one crore other Gods and Goddesses, He had retired for the evening here. That night, He had asked His co-travelers to wake up before sunrise so they could proceed for Kashi on time. But, unfortunately nobody woke up except Lord Siva himself. Hence, He cursed them to become stone images. That is why we have one less than a crore stone structures there.

Another story associated with the site is a quite a different one. It goes like this. Once a renowned sculptor Kalukumar saw Lord Shiva in his dream. He was asked by the Lord to carve out one crore images of Gods and Goddesses in a single night to make the site as sacred as Varanasi. The sculptor, along with his associates worked all night and were able to almost complete the creation of one crore sculptures. However, when Kalukumar was just short of one sculpture, the idea dawned on him to carve out his own figure as well in order to attain immortality. But before he could complete his work, day broke out and the massive task of one crore sculptures and figures remained incomplete.

The central Shiva head known as Unakotiswara Kal Bhairava is about 30 feet high including an embroidered head-dress which itself is 10 feet high. On each side of the head-dress of the central Shiva, there are two full size female figures – one of Durga standing on a lion and another female figure on the other side. In addition three enormous images of Nandi Bull are found half buried in the ground.

A massive Ganesh figure is also carved in the complex while there is a Chaturmukha Shivlinga nearby. Among other rock-cut and stone images are those of Vishnu, Nandi, Narasimha, Ravana, Hanuman, and several unidentified deities.

The consensus among archeologists is that although the predominant influence of the Shiva cult is obvious, the sculptures were also influenced by several other cults like Tantric, Shakti, and Hatha yogis. It is also inferred that the site dates back to the period between the 12th and 16th centuries, and that the sculptures belong to two different periods of art.

Unakoti is a must for every traveler to the Indian North East. The road to Unakoti is as beautiful as the place. The Dhalai hills is the greenest forest I have ever seen. The bamboo and bananas almost touch the sky. You will cross the most beautiful villages all the way. It takes 5 hours in a private vehicle (about 200 kms from Agaratala) and you can come back at night to Agartala, as staying there may not be possible. But carry some thing for the mosquitoes.

Every year a big fair popularly known as Ashokastami Mela is held in the month of April which is visited by thousands of pilgrims. Another smaller festival takes place in January.

The site has suffered centuries of neglect causing degradation and loss of considerable scale to the rock art. Since its adoption by the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) as a heritage site, the situation has slightly improved, though a lot of work including substantial excavation remains to be undertaken.The government of India has approached the UNESCO to declare it as a world heritage site. The Centre has recently granted Rs 12 crore to the state for developing the area, 178 km from here, as a major tourist destination.