I
I started my photography from Rajasthan.
I kept on going there again and again.The first time was in 2005.
With each trip ,new images came in and the old ones were left out. And slowly with every trip the bundle of images kept growing.Like the snake i shed my old skin for the new. It has been a sort of personal journey . This inquisitiveness to go there again has not died. A kind of peace surrounds me when i head there. The sight searches for it , longs for the market scenes and wants to roam endlessly disappearing in the streets.
II
A place as cliched as Rajasthan is far more challenging. What is there to see , what is new in it, everyone has seen enough of castles and wandered amongst the culture. Its India that everyone has seen enough.
Personally its also a lot riskier, to continue working on a project that doesn't fall in any category. And a subject that can be as broad as the land itself.
But then again everyone still likes to go there. Get involved, and observe the life around. Certainly, it has been a new experience overtime.
Can they, the images, make you transport in the land amongst the people where the desire to live is far greater stronger than the extreme of weather.Can the pictures make you feel the heat ?
III
It takes a lot of time to understand the place. The nuances, the habits and its weather that rules it. The terrifying heat that toughens the land ,makes the men carry a turban ,the colorful attires that women wear in stark background of desert those brilliant flares of yellow ,green and red ,a custom of the land that flows along with music . Go there, discover, rearrange, go deeper, dissolve earlier judgements, and rearrange.
Still there's a lot to understand for me.
i question my images again and again, till I got bored of seeing them . Is it foolhardy of me to suggest this through these images. ? Do they tell me something ?
All i know is , i still would like to go there. With every passing trip do i understand about the place a bit more. I made a few friends on these trips. And they keep telling me stories .
Doing a long term project is a privileged in this world of modern era where the patience does n't stay still. Whenever I have been offered a chance I made my way to Rajasthan. And tried to photograph with honesty,making notes and soaking in the facts. I am satisfied but hungry for more.That is all
Rajasthan is a land of desert, of sunbathed naked land and chivalry only heard of, that stuff of romance where the stage is set at turn of every street, and a setting that can only be dreamed by cinema directors. The desert region of Jaisalmer to the Shekawati region of Northern Rajasthan; the Mewar region of Udaipur and Haldigathi to the lush green region of Kotah has always charmed one and all. These are images from the region.
