Terrorist Attacks, the Government and We - The Common People

Recently, people have been talking a lot about how much the government is to be blamed for the repeated terrorist attacks.

I am totally against terrorism and surely do not support it. But what are we blaming the government for? WHAT ABOUT US? When 9/11 happened, simple men like fire fighters, teachers, policemen, doctors, nurses, travelled all the way from far away states like Florida or California to help out the wounded and the families of the dead. Can  you tell me how many Indians went all the way from Calcutta, or Mumbai, or Delhi to Orissa when it was devastated by Tsunami; or when did people from all across the country go all the way to Mumbai during any of the blasts to save the wounded? I did not go. Shamefully I did not. But much more shamelessly, I am not sitting in my plush bed room or snazzy office and writing updates in social network sites showing the world, "LOOK HOW MUCH I CARE. SO HANG THEM."

How many people - ordinary people like you and me - cooperate with the police or cost guards to expand the horizon of vigilance because this population is too chaotic, diverse, and huge to control and keep an eye on? HOW MAY HAVE DONE? It is a lot easier to assemble below Gateway of India with candles. That does not do any good. We Indians are very fond of hoypoloi. But hardly any of us talk or do anything constructively. 

People say that just because we are paying a lot of taxes, the government is responsible for every odd thing that happens. NOW WHAT HELL OF TAX ARE WE PAYING CAN SOMEONE PLEASE JUSTIFY? Every other Indian has a tax consultant to somehow evade taxes. Will you pay tax like the French or German pay? Will you let the government extract huge taxes from you, more from a CEO and negligible from a cobbler so that not just your child can get free education and medical treatment throughout life but so does a CEO's son and also the cobbler's child? WILL ANYONE HERE PAY HIGH TAX HONESTLY? I am telling the truth. All those BLOODY SCOUNDRELS who buy the best of the luxury sedans in the market with BLACK/DIRTY MONEY will NOT PAY A SINGLE PENNY of TAX. And we expect our Cost Guard to be world class?

Tell me one thing straight: HOW MANY CARORPATIS WE KNOW WHO HAVE EVEN THOUGHT OF FUNDING FOR STATE OF THE ART EQUIPMENT AND SPECIALIZED TRAINING FOR THE POLICE OR COAST GUARD? If ordinary men cannot do anything, why is not the rich doing? Simply because in this country people think only about themselves. They keep saying to themselves: 'ONLY ME, ME and ME. Why do I need to be bothered if someone dies next door? It is not me or my family. Right?' 

Do you know the salary of a normal coast guard or ordinary police man given the important work that he does? Much more less than the salary that you or I get for doing work that is not even a hundredth as important as his? AND WHAT SERVICE DO WE EXPECT IN EXCHANGE FOR THAT?

For Heaven's Sake, when will people stop the senseless jabbering around me and do at least a little bit of what they are supposed to do?

16th January, 2006

I heard something on this day that made it a day to remember.

It was my graduation days. One day in hostel there was a much talked about exciting issue among us. And the subject was a beautiful fancy case – looking exactly likely a red rose – that was seen on the table of our superintendent. It was a big issue for students as we were in a missionary institution and a rose-like fancy gift on a monk’s desk was the least we ever expected. The case was, no doubt, a gift. And most certainly, it was not from a girl, because, he was a monk. In an hour, the news had spread like hot cake. Some boys started having fun with him about the gift; asking him again and again of the name of the girl who had given it to him. And he kept smiling at our childishness. But there are always some people who take things beyond limits. When he was not in his room, someone had gone in, played fool with the rose, and broke it. We came to know this when he said this in the prayer hall. But what he said after that is something which I would never forget.

After the prayer was over, in his usual low voice he advised us not to go in his room in his absence and touch anything we liked. “There are certain things that you boys must learn,” he said. “One should never go in someone’s room in his absence. I have to tell you something which I had never wanted to tell. But I think I have to, in order to stop you from committing the same blunder again.

“Have all of you read the short story ‘kabuliwallah’ written by Tagore? There is a small girl in the story. Her name is Mini. Isn’t it?

“My brother has a daughter, whose name too is Mini. The day I left home to become a Monk, it was her birthday. I remember her to be a very small girl then. I can still remember her so clearly. She was such a cute, little girl. But I had to go that day. I was determined to be a monk. Many years have passed, about nine years. But I still remember that beautiful day. I do not know how she looks now, how tall she has grown up to, and how well she is. She is surely a big girl by now. It had been a long time. But every year, I make it a point to send her a letter on her birthday. It had been years since I saw her. But I still send her a letter every year, wishing her a happy birthday. And sometimes, she too sends me a letter. This time my brother came to meet me. And he gave me a gift sent by her. She had sent me that rose case. And someone among you had broken it.”

These words had rendered the entire prayer hall silent, and had sent a powerful current of pain running down our hearts.

He seemed to be hardly moved to emotion, though he was surely, as most humans are, deeply moved in his heart. And then he said, “The rose is immaterial. What I wanted to say was that you should not touch anything in my room without my permission. Now you may all disperse. Go and study.”

I do not know whether he had a tear drop or two falling from his eyes or not when he had found the rose-like case to be broken. Had I been in his place, I would probably had pain spikes in my heart. We learnt an important lesson that day. We realized the value of privacy.

What A Splash!

Here is another of my pictures from my trip. I had waited for quite some time to get a picture like this. At last I got a couple who went near the waves to have a taste of the power of the sea. And yes they did get the taste. I took many shots. They tasted a few more similar waves after this. But well as you see, this was hard experiment for them. They soon left the place. But they also left behind a good shot in my camera. :-)

Golden Beach

This rising sun captivated me so much that I stood there mesmerised for some time after taking this shot. It was an extraordinary experience as I had stretched myself to great lengths from walking for hours endlessly along coast lines to going into waist-deep water of the turbulent sea with fishermen to takes snaps of the moments of coastal life. I hope you will like this picture.

Little Girl and Her Smile

Here is a little girl from a nearby village. I like her expression a lot. I find her restricted smile hiding a life that is too hard for us to comprehend. Her eyes tell a story to me. 

Steps To The Ganges

Among the things that pull me towards Kolkata, one is the ghats. There is a life over there at the break of dawn that makes me feel one with something very beautiful. I do not know what it is. But somewhere inside I feel extremely happy when I see people taking dip in the Ganges, washing clothes, or simply sitting and looking at it. The ghats are not as congested as those at Benaras. But simple and attractive. It feels like I am looking at a culture that has been there not only for hundreds of years, but will be there for ever. Yes. I know it will be there. Mother Ganga will go on pulling us towards it no matter how gigantic a mall comes up. 

Photographing Children

A tiny tot with an ice cream. This is my favourite.

Photographing children is a delight for me. I love children, their straight-forwardness and their brilliant smiles. I have been doing a lot of street photography these days. So I do not get much time to come online and post my pictures. Here are three of my favourite street photographs of children. 

This following one is of a few village children. I made friendship with them at Joydev Mela and managed to get a lively picture. It is very important to become a part of them before you take their pictures. They must be natural in front of the camera. In this picture I like the shyness of the girls. It adds a flavour to the picture.

I shot the following one just three days ago. It was a pleasure to photograph these street children from the pavements of Bidhan Sarani. They ran up to me when they saw me with a camera. And I got a great opportunity. I entertained them a lot by carrying out a photo session of them and their parents. It was a wonderful experience for them as well as for me. I was happy to see their amusement when they saw their pictures on the LCD of my camera. It was something new to them. 

I hope my readers like these pictures. Photography, for that matter any art, is very hard to practise if you want to make it to a laudable position. It is not easy and mere 'eyes' is not enough. It is more than that. It is everything from people management and street smartness to good knowledge of your equipment and its limitations. It is a lot of hard work. Given the kind of time and hard work that it demands, ony those people, whose living depends on it, can practise it to the depth. So it seems that things are pretty bleak for me. 

The Fortunate and The Unfortunate

I took this image with my mobile camera in a local train. Since it was only a VGA camera of poor quality, I was not able to get good picture quality. But while taking the picture, the only thing that seemed important to me was the realisation that there are so many people in this world who lead lives that are hardly secure. When I see this picture, I realise how fortunate I am, and what responsibility I am supposed to keep in my heart and mind and contribute something to the fulfilment of that responsibility. When I see this image, I realise how blessed a childhood I had. And I can not help seeing two contradictory images in my mind: a rich man's rich child with rich toys and a poor man's poor child with a bleak world to look at. I hope you too feel the same.

Small Wonders

This January I had gone out for the kind of street photography that professionals and highly skilled ameatures go out for. But I did with little experience and gadgets. I had chosen Joydev Mela - a huge religious and village fair held at Kenduli - as my assignment. In the midst of lakhs of rural people and pilgrims, I was carrying out my street photography. And believe me, it was a brilliant experience. I realised how hard and enjoying photography is. 

Out of the many pictures that I had taken, here is one of a few village children. I like the different expressions. The shyness of one is an interesting element in this picture where the rest of the children are comfortable with my camera.

Taking pictures of the children was a very enjoyable experience. First you need to have the courage to approach them although their parents are present over there. It is very important to make friendship with them and make them feel comfortable with your presence. Communication, as all intellectuals have said, and as Suvro Sir (whom some of you know and many have turned a deaf ear to) repeatedly says, is the key to success in whatever one does. I had built up a friendship with these children and their parents by giving a great smile to them, by taking many pictures of them, and by showing them their pictures. On seeing their pictures they not only felt happy but allowed me to many more pictures. There was joy in the environment and I was enjoying my work more than ever. It is important that you become sensitive to your subject and laugh and cry with them. You are bound to have good pictures. As all mediums of art, photography too is all about your heart and mind. It is all about the world, its people, and you.

   (click on the image to have the wallpaper version)

Here is another close shot of one of the children. I simply love the glitter in his eyes and the smile on his face. You may click on the image to have a wallpaper for your desktop.

Belief

"Scientists were rated as great heretics by the church, but they were truly religious men because of their faith in the orderliness of the universe." - Albert Einstein

These pictures are from my archive of many pictures that I had taken of the very same church that I had talked about in my previous post. I hope you would like them and feel good. 'Faith', I believe is an important thing that determines most of the things that happen to us. Our beliefs tell a lot about us. 

"This is what I believe:

That I am I.

That my soul is a dark forest.

That my known self will never be more than a little clearing in the forest.

That gods, strange gods, come forth from the forest into the clearing of my known self, and then go back.

That I must have the courage to let them come and go.

That I will never let mankind put anything over me, but that I will try always to recognize and submit to the gods in me and the gods in other men and women.

There is my creed."  - D. H. Lawrence

Prayer and Peace

This picture was shot on Christmas Day at a very famous church. I was captured by this mood. If you are a sensitive person, I believe you can link this picture in many ways to the previous picture. I would like to know from you how you link these two significant and thought-provoking moments from life.  

Unnoticed

I took this picture at night on the streets of Chennai. I was extremely hurt by this scene. I may be a novice in photography. But my request to the reader while looking at this image is not to look at it as a photograph, but as a question on our so-called 'developed' and 'modernised' society. While the busy traffic passes by with it's 'important' engagements, another face of India stays unnoticed and in need of help.

Mesmerised

My sister contemplating.