I have stolen more faces than I have names
I was driving home when I came across a Durga Puja immersion taking place in the fading light. I stopped, took out my camera, and watched. There was the collective effort of carrying the idol into the water, a man standing alone at its edge, and finally, the goddess floating among the ripples. Three moments... Continue Reading →
A Durga Puja pandal is a place of worship, but it is also a place to gather, look, eat, meet people and take photographs. Over two visits, I found myself drawn less to the spectacle of the goddess than to the activity around her. Families posed before painted faces. Friends arranged themselves for selfies. Visitors... Continue Reading →
Rakhi is usually spoken about as a festival between brothers and sisters. But when I walked through the Rakhi stalls, what I kept seeing was something slightly different. Women. Women choosing.Women looking.Women comparing colors and designs.Women standing behind curtains of thread and beads, moving through the crowded stalls with children, family and strangers around them.... Continue Reading →
I spent a day at the feast of St. Mary's Basilica in Bangalore, not as a participant but as a visitor. I walked the streets around the church, stood in the crowds, and watched the festival happen around me — families arriving packed into trucks, women in matching saris waiting for hours, vendors doing business... Continue Reading →