behind the lens | sandip debnath

a winter afternoon on move

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 21:44:00 +0000

how about enjoying a winter afternoon on the move ? sounds difficult or weird ? well, i was traveling longest journey in india … and the 2nd afternoon came though west bengal … this topography is well known to me … this rural west bengal was very much known to me… those fishermen were searching for fish from almost dried pond next to the railway track… and the fog at the horizon tells me that, evening is in the backdrop … just about to come…

i made this photograph with the camera phone n85 while the train was moving … i certainly missed the sharp focus … i mean when you yourself are moving it become difficult to get any sharp photograph from a camera … ( only SLR does justice ).. so a camera phone is beyond consideration.. but however, for me, key is not the focus in this image but the mood …

this photograph predominantly tells me a sunny winter afternoon… which i always wanted to enjoy… a lot … mostly in this kind rural area, where you don’t get the bright sunshine through out the season… one sunny afternoon is something people would be waiting for …

i was having my afternoon coffee with my wife and enjoying this eternal scene through the window of our compartment…

howrah-kharagpur local at 13:35

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:46:00 +0000

this scene was not new to me … i have been traveling in local train for a long time when i was studying at kolkata … it was 16 years back… i was staying at belgharia and coming to dumdum everyday to reach at my college … if you are a daily commuter in local train at office hours, you must know how difficult it is to get in and going to your work place … but yet we did, everyday we did the same exercise … local trains are always overcrowded… we try hard to just get in and then submit ourselves to the crowd … and then it is like a flow in every station to get down and get in … once you are there in the queue , you don’t have to worry about getting in and getting down… crowd will push yourself to your destination…

though it is risky but for us it was kind of enjoy and fun… we used to travel in a group … group of students … and most of the time without ticket … we code named as WT … and when the destination comes we used to hide ourselves from TTEs ..

it become a part of our lives …

just yesterday , i saw in a bengali channel in TV, a group of commuter did some damage in a local train at howrah… because the train was stopped for a long at tikia para station just before entering howrah station… there was no power inside the train … kolkata mercury reached at 43 degree Celsius temperature for sometime now… if you are a commuter you can imagine how difficult it is to stay in this crowd, … without having fan moving inside in this hot and humid season… i certainly condemn the damage what happened, but i also can imagine their condition…

mumbai junta knows how the local train become a life line for them… i don’t have to explain at all …

while on move this time i came across this scene which reminded me my old college days … this compartment was less crowded as it was afternoon and a down train…

now i must say, this nokia n85 was very helpful for me as i could capture the scene effectively … thanks to the camera … oops , the phone !!!

ipod and a boring day

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:05:00 +0000

and all the day, he was sitting just like that in front of his window and listening music ... i wonder how many songs he have in his ipod ... after seeing this photo, one of my friend told he knew him... he might be a friend of him... i was sitting diagonally opposite to him... watching him... what he was looking at ... running behind landscapes ? seing girls waving their hands from an unknown village ? looking at some small village which does not appear in any map of india .. not even google map ? or just simply seeing the clouds in the open clear and blue sky ?

who knows ? i was watching him ... reading his thought for sometime ... i remembered my days when i used to travel alone ... no one to talk to ... reading novels from magazines ... and looking at outside ... there was no ipod culture that time ... no cellphones ... a good novel or a magazine would be best companion those days ...

what he might be thinking in his mind ? he might be going to his home after a long time ... he must be seeing his girlfriend after a long time ... he must be giving excuses to his girl friend for not coming so frequently ... may be this is his first visit after getting a job in these southern states ... may be he is carrying lot of gifts for his family in him tiny little bag ... and may be something very special and tiny for his girl friend ... he is trying hard to keep it a secret ... he may be waiting to have food from his mother's hand ... may be he was so bored having southern food for quite a time ...

or may be he is a student and studing engineering somewhere ... having a lot of dreams inhis eyes ...

i imagined... i wanted to relate me with him... i was thinking about my days ...

i didn't not talk to him anytime in this journey ... i wanted the secret to be secret, i wanted my imagination not to break ... i wanted my thought to fly in the air ...

[ this documentary was supported by Nokia and all the photos are shoot with a Nokia N85 Camera phone ]

52 hours of insomnia and N85

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:26:00 +0000

train journey always fascinates me ... be it in India or else where ... sitting next to the window and looking at outside shows me the real world like a bio scope... this time it happened to be longest journey amongst all... starting from Bangalore and traveling through the entire east coast enriched me with full of experiences .. different states, different people, different food, different language ... it is kind of a harmony and celebration of life ...
it is like a collage of a life ...

I was provided a Nokia N85 from Nokia to test the camera feature of it ... I took this journey as my project ... i wanted to document this piece of life ... this collage ... i was really happy with the performance of that camera phone ... i am going to write in detail about that in coming posts with lots more photographs ...
it was kind of insomnia ... but it was a different perspective ... altogether ...

rise of a telephoto lens

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:08:00 +0000

i always wanted to shoot with an wide angle lens … i was never impressed with a telephoto lens … i read somewhere once Sebastian Salgado told that the more you are close to your subject, lesser becomes yous lens size …i really endorse the statement… you need a telephoto only if you are not too close with your subject … you don’t connect with your subject at all…

so whatever i did, i always wanted to document with a wide angle lens… in my kit, you will always find the big one, 17-40mm L , which would be mounted onto my 350D body… second lens is a 50mm and that’s it … i never got any urge to have a telephoto lens ( something like 70-300mm or so ) in my kit …

i initially thought telephoto is for those people who shoots wildlife and bird … very true .. i never encouraged to shoot street life with a telephoto lens… i felt , i wont get the environment with a telephoto lens .. i always thought telephoto shoot for a street life is something where you shoot like a paparazzi…

i would not say i was right … but i would say that was my belief …

for sometime now, i slowly changed my mind … slowly i was inclined to have a telephoto lens … i saw photographs for dance festival… i saw photographs mostly on ‘time’ which were shoot with a telephoto lens … i was turning at my back … i thought i should give a second thought on it …

one telephoto 70-300 or 70-200 would be ok for me … now which one to buy … i was confused.. is it really worth of buying ?? … will i use it so much that i should ‘invest’ on a telephoto ??

the questions were scratching my head for sometime … though i was not fully convinced...

copyright : Reuters
yesterday i saw this photograph in one of the website … i was stunned … the composition, use of focus light and use of lens made me fully convinced …

whats your say ?

run maadi, run

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:34:00 +0000

Brian Conley was cheering them up ... a huge in number, senior citizens, but all are so young at their heart... it reminded me the famous words, "run forrest run"... one of the best oscar winning movies starring Tom Hanks ...

It was really a spectacular event in the morning hours of Bangalore when it was about to create a history with one of its kind World 10K run... it was a call for cause, call for good health and fitness ... and Bangalore did it so well, that it was evident from its participation...

It was a very busy sunday morning , bangalore has observed at the Kanteerava Stadium ...the traffic was diverted already... i had to keep my bike somewhere else, and then we, me and arindam, reach there by walking ... At 6:30 am, we could reach at the stadium, and after that it was all abot excitement ... Nikhil was at the commentry box, giving us the update minute by minute... people were ready, everything was set ,cheerleaders and dancers were warming up along with the Vyas brothers, Sandeep (singer) and DJ Sanjeev who kept the ground colorful and entertained....

Giant screen inside the stadium was for the people who wanted to see the photofinish for the World 10K for Elite Men 10k run ...and it never failed to treat us ...

anchored by Dino Morea the best part was the majja run ... where thousands of participants took part ... Batman ran, Ravana ran, nightangle ran , tipu sultan ran, saint ran, bharat mata ran and who not ... it was sea of mankind, vast humanity for the bangalorean ...

if the bangalorean were set for the majja run, the most inspiration was something came out from the senior citizens... one could cherish about the participation and enthusiam with the senior citizens... if they can run for a cause why not anybody else ... more than 700 senior citizens, an yellow battalian to suport Tina Ambani's NGO was the clear cut statement of the day ...

স্বপ্নাদেশ

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:46:00 +0000

এক একটা সময় স্বপ্ন মনে হয় য়েন
এক একটা সময় ছুটে যাই গ্রহ নক্ষত্র পেরিয়ে
আর একটা জগতে, এক একটা সময় কিছু মহাজাগতিক রশ্মি
আমার পিছু নেয়,আমি তাদের আলতো করে ছুঁইয়ে দিয়ে ভেসে যাই
অপ্রতিহত একটা ভেসে যাওয়া, আর ডুবে যাওয়া,
ভেসে যাওয়া ঘন কুয়াশা আর শীতের মধ্যে

এক একটা সময় দেখা হয়ে যায়
আমার পরিচিত শিউলি ফুলেদের সাথে
একটা তীব্র অনুভুতি আমাদের ছুঁয়ে যায় আদিগন্ত, শরতই হবে
ণয়তো এরকম পাগলকরা বাতাস কেন ভুলিয়ে দেয় বৈশাখ

আজ রাতে বৃষ্টি হয়েছে ঝরঝর
আজ রাতে আমার টবের গাছগুলি হেসেছে অফুরান
ঠান্ডার চাদর গায়ে দিয়ে দুজনে কথা বলেছে সারারাত
আমি কান পেতে শুনেছি ওদের বলাবলি, চুপিসারে দেখেছি নতুন পাতার উঁকি দেওয়া
আজ রাতে বৃষ্টি হয়েছে ঝিরঝির
আজ রাতে ভিজিয়ে গেছে আমার শত বছরের ভেজা

স্বপ্নই হবে হয়ত, স্বপ্নই মনে হয়
এক একটা সময় স্বপ্নাদেশ পাই আমি আর ভুলে যাই স্থান কাল পাত্র
এক একটা সময় ওই সাদা দাড়ি বুড়ো আমায় ভুলিয়ে দেয় সব
তাড়িয়ে বেড়ায় একটা লেখার তাগিদে
এক একটা সময় ঘুম ভেঙ্গে উঠে দেখি কেউ কোথাও নেই,
হতভম্ব আমি লিখে একা যাই

তুচ্ছ কিছু সুখ দুঃখ, বৃষ্টি, নতুন পাতারা আর শিউলি
ঠিক করি লিখব না আজ, তাঁর জন্য সব তোলা থাক
ঘুম ভেঙ্গে উঠে আমি জানি প্রতীক্ষিত বাতাস
ঘুম ভেঙ্গে উঠে আজ পঁচিশে বৈশাখ…

hyderabad blues ...

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:51:00 +0000

<yes, and after a long time i went to hyderabad … it is the place where i started my career … it is the place where i got my first hard earned money … it was the first time i came out of my state, first time i heard somebody speaking the same language which i heard only on sunday afternoon regional movies in our good old dooradarsan days …
somebody said me earlier, sounth indian languages are like omegas and north indian languages are like pie … i saw them for the first time written in buses, in cinema posters and in walls… that was the year 2000… very very dull IT market, world trade centre just collapsed after we started our career … however, we used to enjoy a lot … we used to book ticket in sangeet for night shows … i remember, it was nuvve kaavaali , the first telugu cinema i saw at one of the rtc cross road cinema halls …
those are the days … we used to spend time at neckless road… we used to have midnight icecream over there … new year bashes.. so full of life … later on i shifted to bangalore … its been 4 years now, i am here in bangalore … and since then, i could not revisited the place …
and suddenly i got a chance to go back … hyderabad is no longer the same … there are lots of flyovers now… lots of shopping malls , housing etc … i can not even imagine how kondapur has been grown up … it was really surprising to see a new face of the city …
but when i went back to charminar , i saw the real crowd … the life over here is just the same as i saw it last time … so vibrant, so lively …nothing really changed … people are still so friendly … so co-oprative … i wish, every one would be like this forever…

mystic journey and horror hunt ...

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:14:00 +0000

so finally we are back for searching a movie named “Howrah Bridge pe latakti huyi laash” in google … suggested by Rohini first while playing dumbshalarts at night after having the dinner … we were at m g resorts … oops at winter green … nobody told us that m g resort was renamed as winter green long long back until we were totally lost while searching the resort at the outskirt of Chikmagalur …

… so finally we organized trip at Chikmagalur on 29-30 march 2008…

though we got things wrong at the beginning , it was a team effort to make it a success… We were supposed to start at 1 AM night, and we were almost ready to start, but we found the bus which was booked had less seats than wanted … first wrong this for us … by the time we called up the travel desk person and arranged for the right bus, our guys had one innings of cricket match played in front of the cognizant office at BTP … imagine, it was night 2 AM and drizzling all over …

and all set hereafter, we thought… when it was morning and we woke up at Kemmangundi hill station, we expected a guest house to be available for all of us at the top of the hill… and believe me it was planned that way … but sometime, when you are sure about something, you actually welcome something unexpected… something else … however, we did manage to get a pwd bunglow for 2 hours for 21 people along with Poha as a breakfast …

... and then the real fun began… Nishant arranged 3 roller-coaster zeeps to drive us to the hebbe falls … approx 14 km one way to go and then 2 Km walk inside the jungle… there was no proper road, Kumar, our zeep driver, was taking us through the stone roads and river beds… it was really a roller –coaster drive for all of us… but we forgot all these while treated by the scenic beauty of the place … it was like heaven for us …fortunately he knew hindi and we were not able to shout him at all L … we all seven sitting in the zeep would agree that, if Michel Schumacher also would had come and seen this road, he would have not agreed to ride … kumar won the race with out any competitor for him … even though the roads were not good, but the scenic beauty of the place was awesome…

Walking was not so horrible as the ride … but as it was within the dense jungle we were afraid of leaches .

There were small rivers we had to cross on the way … under passing current on the river and the slippery stones made it very difficult for us … taking shoes in one hand we were trying to keep the balance while crossing the rivers … and then kept on going… suddenly we heard the roar of water … just after taking a turn, we found the falls … hebbe falls … it was beautiful … the trekking was worth of… free falling water from a high of 170 mtrs…

we were looking so small infront of that falls… everybody jumped in and started playing with water… some of us even went ahead for fishing … we were so much engaged in doing all the activities that, we even forgot everything else… it was lunch time and we were starving … so then again restourant hunting began in the jungle … nothing except tea stalls were available on the top of kemmangundi … so it was the time to come down to chikmagalur …

i won't forget the town canteen in r g road for several reasons… it was first time the tiffin centre owner gave me 100 bucks extra in return… it was the first time i had to have butter masala dosa in lunch, and also it was first time to get so much of butter in a butter masala dosa …:)

searching m g reasort was a real mess as i said you earlier; it was renamed a long back and none of us had the information… it was already evening and finally when we found the resort ,
there was nothing you could see within… we were led by the resort people to take us in the huts… it was looking like a no-mans land initially … no water, no light and no airtel signal …next day morning the resort turned to be nice one… full of greenary , two hanging brigdes etc etc… lots of tamarind and amla tree ( girls enjoyed those a lot.. you know why !!! )… the place was really good and as good as the charges !!! Zeera rice, Dal, rasam, Roti and Aloo Zeera for 175 bucks …

no worries, we were there to enjoy anyway … and so we did … and we named Rohini as Don, as she was the only girl who knew that there was a movie named "Howrah Bridge pe latakti huyi laash"…

day 2 started with a plan … 8:30 morning we were supposed to start off the resort for Mulayangiri … we had a plan that around 9:00 -9:45 we will have breakfast and then we will climb up … but we failed to execute the plan… plans are made to be failed it seems… guys were playing cricket at the resort till 8:45 morning … and then breakfast happened at the same "town canteen" once again …

…and then we headed off for Mulayangiri … as soon as we approached the ghat roads, the rain started heavily… we knew, we were game whatever it might come…

i forgot who started dancing first, but certainly it was Brajesh who nourished it to the core with kaajra re … Deepa, Rohini , Shewta ,Deepanjan and Niwratti were amongst others who actually made it a big sucess i must say … the bus was climbing slowly to the top and we were waiting for the destination to reach… it was a real fun altough … and when we reached to the peak we were spell bound … we were at the top of karnataka… it was heavenly … whereever we looked at ,it was the western ghat…some peaks were entirely surrounded by clouds, somewhere we saw the sunlight … like a hide and seek game for the nature … and we were barely the visitor of this terrestial phenomenon…

we climbed up to the top and finally achieved it… and suddenly it started raining again… and this time it was so heavy… along with the rain, small pieces of freezed water droplets were falling from the sky… Nishanth and Pushkar removed their shirts and got wet fully … i hided inside a small temple and kept their belonging … it reminded me a song by colonial cousins … rain…

sunddenly i got a phone call … wow, i thought, airtel network was still here at the top of the peak … it was my wife on the phone … i was not able to describe the situation … for the first time, i thought i must get drenched !!!

mamallapuram morning

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:20:00 +0000

Mangalore growing up

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:08:00 +0000

i had been to mangalore on 1st week of january ... nothing official but a personal trip after a long time ... i wanted to see a different karnataka altogether, thats what my local friends told me before i went ... but i had something else going on my mind ... i remembered reading the short essay in time... i wanted to see something different .. but here in the glow signs' neon lighting and shopping malls' public extravaganzas at night i was able to relate more like the time's story than conventional dakshin Kannada culture ... this guy caught my attention at a local coffee shop at mangalore ...

mangalore is becoming a truly cosmopolitan city and growing faster ...

Chilling Bangalore

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:50:00 +0000

it was cold in bangalore for last few days ... it was colder ever since i came to bangalore ... mercury dipped at 12 degree celcius one day ... above all there was rain ... it was drizzling for the whole day ... a foul weather for office goer and an excellent weather for the people who like to read novel and sit at the window for the whole day ...

as a bengali , i would like to have khichuri and maach bhaja that day ...

Need Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:05:00 +0000

i did a story about Samarthanam sometimes ago.Now it is published in Need. Click on the image to see a bigger picture.

Jog Falls

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 08:27:00 +0000

i generally do not see any junk mails coming to my 'inbox', but recently one of the mails has caught my attention...

i was planning to go to somewhere since last 3 months , but because of official schedule i just could not go out of my home and spend a day or two... i was feeling so tired doing official works all the days and month that i needed a break very badly ... i discussed the things with some of my colleagues and friends...

office things are taking too much energy everyday ... all what i need is a break from the normal work... a day without a cellphone, a day without any more follow up calls from Manager...a day without any tele-marketing calls for credit cards ... a day without having a watch, a day without keeping any time limit for anything...
i still dream of a rainy day outside of all concrete jungles ... a day in a small village, a day within lush green nature...

and suddenly this mail caught my attention... it was about a news... yes it was a news because just a day before i got the mail in my 'inbox', i saw it in Deccan Herald ... "Jog Falls is overflowing after 12 years "... i could relate this excellent picture in my mail...

i set my mind ... i got it .. i knew where i should go now ... Jog falls is just a 'plan' away now... i need to work out now, i need to get the logistic done, i need to know the road map now... i would be going there very soon.. this falls is calling me ...

City Market, Bangalore | Vibrancy and Life

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 14:22:00 +0000

Now public front Page

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 17:16:00 +0000

My story is in the front page of Nowpublic Click on the picture for a bigger view.

Early Morning, Mamallapuram

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Fri, 18 May 2007 17:49:00 +0000

Night life at Madiwala

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Sun, 06 May 2007 17:25:00 +0000

… night life seems amazing and challenging… high ISO, high noise, blurry world, pallet of colors,neon lights,darkness… i think those are everything what you would love to add in a photograph… well these are all about the elements in a composition but the important part is the action, emotion and body language … i personally feel , you get much more variety in a night shoot than any day light shoot …well there may be debate on this issue.. but this is entirely my personal opinion… i always like to observe the night happening and document it…

madiwala comes on the way to my office… everyday when i go to office , eventually i need to pass madiwala and think i must come sometime here… it is a place off the hosur road … there is a big market in the surrounding area which remains busy during the early hours of a day… but at night the area becomes entirely a different sight… less people, less crowd and different activities… i planned to observe that sometime and document it …i would add this in my series ‘urban cityscape-stroll at night’…

Y weekend Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Sat, 05 May 2007 06:55:00 +0000

Published on May 4, 2007 on Y weekend Magazine.

Debate Session at Sera Mey Monastery

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 15:59:00 +0000

Again at Bylakuppe. This is second time for me and absolutely a personal tour.. No photography intentions were made.I went with my family for a holiday there. But I must say this is not the right time to go there. The climate is too hot. You won't find any green landscapes there.It was so hot and dry, my family members were scolding me for taking them there. I was really sad by seeing such a dry character of this place.

Casually and as a part of my itinerary I went to Sera Mey Monastery in the afternoon, and came to know that there would be a debate session at 6:30 PM in front of the Monastery. I looked at my watch and found it was only 3:30PM. My wife insisted me to stay back so that we can see the very different debate session. I roamed around a bit and came back at 6PM at the same place.

And I was totally stunned by seeing the gathering and the debate session. within one hour I finished my memory card by shooting continuously and after that I felt, a photograph can not do justice to show this debate session. It needs to be observed by self and realize this culture.My day was a success.I was so happy at the end of the day.

Stroll by the sea

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 08:55:00 +0000

It was shoot just before the sunset. I was little disappointed by denial of the gatekeeper of the shore temple at the evening when I tried to enter. It was the closing time for them. I took another route to go to beach and was happy to find lot of activities there. The light was just fantastic . The whole beach was looking like a daily fair- ice cream seller, souvenir shops, fruit seller, horse owners and lot of local tourists and lot of happenings. I was lucky to be there at that time.
This photo was shoot on ISO200, 1/4 sec , f/4 and 17 mm.

Mamallapuram | A journey towards history

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 14:16:00 +0000

If you are annoyed with the behavior pattern of the Bangalore autorickshaw drivers, then I must say, there is nothing to be worried about Bangaloreans, once you have experienced them at Chennai. No auto drivers can go worser than Chennai auto drivers. My Tamil friends warned me before, but I had not faced them earlier !

27 feb, almost 5:30 Am in the morning : just reached at Chennai Koyambedu bus stand; next destination was at Mamallapuram. I have read somewhere that this small city was called Mahabalipuram earlier. It is one of the recent name-change-event in India that took place and the place has been renamed as Mamallapuram after the name of king Mamalla.

At 5:30 AM, Koyambedu bus stand was really sleeping; people were sleeping on the platform, no one was there on 'May I help U' booth, nothing is written in english even. I asked one on-duty Police person about the platform number from where I could get a bus for Mamallapuram. The correct platform number was 6 and the bus numbers were 118,119 etc. My friend Anand told me that most of the buses for Pondicherry going via East Coast Road (ECR ) would touch Mamallapuram. And I know ECR is one of the few toll roads in India which has an excellent scenic beach way. I thought I should catch the bus which goes via ECR. I asked the bus conductor whether the bus was going to Mamallapuram or not. On a confirmation, I got into it heading towards Mamallapuram. Bus was running early in the morning, the weather was fantastic, little chilly, a gentle breeze passing all over us, somebody had just started looking into the local tamil newspaper; the mood was just perfect. We passed 2 KM from the bus stand and suddenly this mood turned into a heart-broken reality. When I offered the bus fare to the conductor, he gently refused it by saying that the bus was not heading towards Mamallapuram but towards Villpuram.
The day started with something really bad, we got into a wrong bus ! I decided to come back to Koyambedu bus stand again to catch another bus and then I met that horrendous auto driver. I was totally pissed off.

And this time I made sure that I caught the right bus. They still call the city as Mahabalipuram ( Ma-gaa-bali-poo-ram as Tamil people pronounce it).

ECR is supposed to be a scenic beachway , they told. Recent boom in the real estate industry has spoiled this natural beauty almost to death. You wil get the real beach sight only after you cross Covalang. Still some debris of the aftermath of Tsunami 2004, some relief villages, and the hoarding of the sponsors like World Vision can be seen on the beach way. It gave me a mixed feeling while going through the ECR , I must admit. My expectations were more, I imagined the road something and it turned out something else.

Jaykumar, our guesthouse Manager was a humble and real helping person. He came to the bus stand for picking me up. Mamallapuram is such a small place that you actually could cover all the historical place except five Rathas by walking. There is no need of taking any autorickshaw or taxi, Jaykumar suggested. The beach is next to the Shore Temple, and the straight road towards Shore temple heads to it from the bus stand. Next to the bus stand is the Perumal temple and behind the temple is Arjuna's Penance. A big and great bas-relief of ancient India can be seen here.
After we boarded at the guest house, we decided to go to the beach and take bath first. But I was hungry too. So before going to the beach, I had to search a tiffin centre for something to eat. Masala Dosa would have been the right choice, but as it was already 10 o'clock we had only plain dosa to eat.

I read about this bas relief earlier. It is hard to believe that this magnificent relief was carved in the mid-seventh century, probably the oldest one , I had ever seen. A story of obtaining Lord Shiva's weapon by Arjuna from Mahabharata or the descent of Gangas or probably the both depicted in itself. Furthermore, both stories were interpreted in a manner flattering to the Pallavas; the heroic Arjuna as a symbol of the rulers, and the Ganges as a symbol of their purifying power. I forgot to mention that , Pallava dynasty was the ruler of that time of Ancient southern India. And most of these sculpture works were done by them.

We headed to the beach next. It was only 10 AM in the morning and the sunlight was too harsh! Not a good light condition for any kind of photo shoot. The horse owners were waiting for the tourists to hire his horse for a ride. For the obvious reason they did not like me and when I asked for a photo he asked me money in return ! what the heck ! I avoided them though.

Rather I was interested in bathing in the beach. The beach is not so deeper, we can walk far towards the sea. People were enjoying their bath too. And if you are a fish lover, then you could check some sea fish food stall on the way to beach to satisfy your taste buds. The fishes are available to choose from and once you are done with the selection, immediately they will fry it with red color spices ( I don't know whats that, but I am sure that can not be red chillis ). Meals were also available at those small stalls, if you wish to have. Fish fry and Dal-Rice would be an excellent choice for a lunch.

So we had our lunch at Mamalla Bhavan,with a typical South Indian Thali while so many foreigners were trying to eat with fingers and having a Coke bottle next to their lunch plate! And we started for the site seeing after that. As I told earlier, Mamallapuram is such a small place that one can actually travel by walking; we decided to walk too. Those ancient monuments, Rathas, Caves and Relief were standing out as a bare evidence of the history. You should be proud to see such a rich and cultured heritage of India. People were here humble and co operative too. After crossing the gate next to Arjuna's Penance you will see a comprehensive tourist map of Mamallapuram, I thought of having a look there. One of the guides was explaining about it to a french couple. I was stunned by seeing the guide speaking fluently in french and later on I found something more interesting too. Most of the foreigners were french at Mamallapuram. The street buskers were talking in french, the hawkers were talking in french, the guides were talking in french, souvenir sellers were talking in french; it looked like, you may not get a response in hindi but you will definitely get response if you speak in french.

Krishna's butter ball is a huge single granite round shaped stone hanging for years just next to Ganesh Rath near Arjuna's penance. It is more of a tourist attraction. The stone is so huge that people can even take rest sitting/lying on the shadow of this stone. I found school children were playing nearby. Before going back to home after the last school bell , they used to come here for a play. I was enjoying their presence around me. They were so vibrant and full of energy, it reminded me of my school days.

I met Marimutthu and Aayaappa on the way to five Rathas. Marimutthu is a sculpture worker. He carves and makes fantastic sculptures out of those granite stones. I saw while working with the grinding machine, it generates lots of dust out of stones, which may in turn cause eye irritation and permanent eye problem. People need to take precautions for this kind of work ; at least they should wear a glass. It was very difficult for me to get close to them as it was too dusty but somehow I could manage it.
Marimutthu told me, it would take 7 days to make a finished medium size sculpture and the cost of that in a market would come around Rs 5000/-. I don't know the exact figure, but I assume there are more than 250 stalls in Mamallapuram who earns money from this art work. They make the idols within the shops, sell them out from there. There is a chance for you to get in touch directly with the sculpture artists.

Read next part here ...
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H A P P Y H O L I

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 14:19:00 +0000

HOLI is a festival of color in India.We shared a light mood amongst us, a close circle of our friends. I wish a Happy Holi to all my friends.

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:24:00 +0000

I was little disappointed by seeing the entry fee chart at Five Rathas compound. The entry ticket for an Indian citizen costs Rs 10 and for a foreigner Rs 250. I strongly feel that there should not be any difference between the entry fees. I went to European countries and found no difference in any kind of fees in any of their tourist places. It made me uncomfortable to see those tourists however purchasing the tickets with a higher fee because they came to India to see our historical and cultural richness !

Pancha Rathas (means five chariots) were carved during the rule of King Mamalla (Narasimhavarman I, A.D 630 - 670) in 7th century. These Rathas were individually named after Draupadi, Arjuna, Bheema, Dharmaraja and Nakul-Sahadev from the Mahabharata. One archeology site says "the site gives the delightful impression of a city of life-size model buildings, whose variety of roofs, floor plans, and columniation defines a veritable source-book of South Indian temple forms" about these five Rathas. Early evening light was just perfect, I regretted for light earlier, this time I was so happy. And was so happy taking photographs that I almost forgot that I did not see Shore Temple yet.

Entry ticket what you get from Five Rathas will be accepted at the shore Temple and vice-versa. But when I reached at the Shore Temple, the clock was pointing at 5:55 PM.Gate keeper gently asked me to come tomorrow as it was the closing time.I was refused to enter. For the time being I was so disappointed that I decided not to shoot anything. My wife suggested me to go to the beach instead. Thanks to her, I got so much of action in the beach to be captured. The weather was not so hot that evening, rather a cool breeze from the sea side passing by us. Lot of people were enjoying this fantastic evening by the sea. Fruit seller, ice cream vendor, souvenir seller, those horse owners every were in good mood. I could get some good photographs too. I was happy. As the sun was setting down in the west horizon, we could see the light house's light was falling on entire Mamallapuram. I took a risky job. I went behind the Shore Temple alone and stood over those granite rocks for sometime. It was an amazing sight to be observed. The changing color of the sky as a backdrop and the Shore Temple in a silhouette was a photographers dream.

Next day I woke up early in the morning. Everybody in the guesthouse were sleeping, I came outside silently and headed towards the beach. On the other side of the Shore Temple there is a fishermen village. I decided to shoot actions of those fishermen early in the morning.
The great light stays for very less time and so it was. I talked to this little girl , she was so full for energy and adorable that I could not resist myself to take some portraits of her.

I planned to start from Mamallapuram to Chennai at 11:00 AM, but before that, I thought, I would visit Shore temple and come back. Yesterday's ticket was expired, so I had to buy new tickets again. Not many tourists were there inside of the temple in the morning. the Shore Temple was built during the reign of the Pallava King Rajasimha (A.D. 700 - 728). It is the earliest important structural temple in Southern India.Mamallapuram was a port city during the reign of Pallavas. Its pyramidal structure had undergone a considerable amount of wear and tear by the wind and water from the sea from time to time. It was learned that there were total seven pagodas earlier, six of them were immersed in sea a long before.

I was feeling something really out of the world. It was just like riding into a time machine and going back to those historical days. Inside the shore temple, the small alleys would give you the feeling of ancientness.

Overall , Mamallapuram is a city of history, culture and heritage in itself. History comes and stands still at Mamallapuram.

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Location: Mamallupuram is 60 KM from Chennai . Mamallapuram is connected to Pondicherry via Bus. It is on the east coast of India by Bay of Bengal.
How to go: Nearest airport is Chennai. From Chennai Mufossil Bus stand, Keyambedu there are plenty of buses. Taxi or cab can be hired, but compared to Bus fare Taxi fare is huge.Bus fare is Rs 22/- and Taxi may cost you upto Rs 500. Going by Bus may give an opportunity to mix with locale people and school children who travel by bus.
Best time to go : October to March. Take an umbrella wherever you go. All other times Mamallapuram is really hot. Your skin may turn into black !
What to see : Shore Temple, Arjuna's Penance, krishna's butter ball, Mahisamardini cave,Five Rathas. You can go to Kanchipuram from there if you base at Mamallapuram.Kanchipuram was the capital of Pallava reign.

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Color Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Sandip Debnath) — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:24:00 +0000

When I talk about color photography these pictures always comes in my mind first. One of them has been shot with my Canon 350D with a 17-40mm f/4L lens and another one was shot with a small tiny Nikon 3700; a 3.2 MP point and shoot camera.
I must admit here that, 17-40mm f/4 L lens is an excellent piece of glass, which not only reproduces super sharpness but also an excellent color. I strongly feel that the color in the first photograph came so well because of this lens.
The second photograph was a little tricky one. With a small tiny point and shoot camera nothing much you can do while shooting. I wanted to give it a feel of something different. I have set the camera shooting mode in "dusk" , which means it changes the white balance in the camera settings. It was early in the morning, probably at 5:30 AM, not much sunlight though, Chennai Express was about to go off the platform. It was a last minute check up with the reservation list pasted on the train compartment by a fellow passenger, while some others were boarding the train. Due to a slow shutter , it gave me a ghostly image. Enjoy.