24-17-12

 

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“Any active sportsman has to be very focused; you’ve got to be in the right frame of mind.
If your energy is diverted in various directions, you do not achieve the results.
I need to know when to switch on and switch off: and the rest of the things happen around that. Cricket is in the foreground, the rest is in the background.
(Sachin Tendulkar – Indian cricketer widely acknowledged as the greatest living batsman, b.1973)

On Sundays Delhiites gather at India Gate cricket Ground in New Delhi where girls, Boys or mixed teams, all dressed in white, are meeting for friendly matches.
You may bring your kit if you have and join a team, some cricketers may also share their bat, ball and wickets with you and you might even be asked to be the umpire.
Of course if you have a French background like mine all this probably won’t make much sense however it will still be a great show and a treat for your camera…

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Omnia Vanitas (All is Vanity)

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“Vanity is so secure in the heart of man that everyone wants to be admired: even I who write this, and you who read this.”
(Blaise Pascal – French Mathematician, Philosopher and Physicist, 1623-1662)

This image was shot at Scindia Ghat along river Ganga in Varanasi (Benaras).
This young man was striking several poses in order to catch my attention so I could take a few snaps of him but I was pretending not to see him as I am mostly working on natural poses.
It was a Sunday afternoon before sunset and he came there to wash his laundry, his attitude was amazing, full of narcissism, each of his gesture was carrying vanity and pride…
After a while I couldn’t help laughing and I took a few pictures, in fact he knew that I was leaving the akhara nearby where I often take pictures of the pehlwani (wrestlers).

The pillar on the left belongs to the remains of a massive palace which used to stand on Scindhia ghat.
The entire structure has sunk several feet into the earth since its erection and is still gradually and slowly sinking.
Sometimes in the winter when the holy waters of the Ganges come very low it is possible to see it otherwise most of the time it stays underwater.

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The Colour of Soul

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“Light is meaningful only in relation to darkness, and truth presupposes error.
It is these mingled opposites which people our life, which make it pungent, intoxicating.
We only exist in terms of this conflict, in the zone where black and white clash.”
(Louis Aragon – French poet and novelist, 1897-1982)

This is funny that this was my first real black and white picture to be uploaded in my photostream as it is an image about colour.
Maybe unconsciously the fact that there is no colour here allows to feel its presence in a better way…

This image was shot in In the workshop where we give our color range for the yarn dyeing process.
It is always an happy moment as it is the beginning of the collection and we all feel hungry…of colors and new shades, as colors start our work.

Those young men are working manually, like their father and grandfathers did, and it might have been like this since the beginning of times.
They carry on this long tradition, they belong to the same family and their workshop is in a muslim area of Varanasi (Benaras) where anyone’s soul would travel through ages and places…

There is some “jaaduu” (which means “magic” in Hindi) in this place, we are mixing so many influences, Indian tradition with European taste, all together we try to figure out what will be the perfect shade, we speak Hindi, Urdu, English and French in order to define a colour, to find the right word which would mean something to all of us.

In this little workshop stands a real Indo-western fusion while we are trying to find the colour of Soul.

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Seizing the Instant

 

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“Of all forms of expression, photography is the only one which seizes the instant in its flight.”
(Henri Cartier-Bresson – French photographe, 1908–2004)

Those young men formed a human pyramid in the holy waters of the Ganges in Varanasi (benaras).
It was at Panchaganga ghat which is one of the water-front sacred sites of the Eternel city.
As the name indicates this place is supposed to be the confluence of five rivers such as the Ganges, the Yamuna, the Saraswati, the Kirana and the Dhupapapa.
During summers (May-June) people come there early in the morning in order to find a kind of freshness.

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Pour la Peine

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“…On veut des rêves, Qui nous soulèvent,
On veut des fleurs, A nos douleurs…”

Louis Delort surrounded by a part of the theatre company during the opening of “1789 : Les Amants de la Bastille”.
Louis Delort became popular in France after performing in “The Voice”, the multinational singing competition TV series.

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On The Right Track

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“When you find yourself beginning to feel a bond between yourself and the people you photograph, when you laugh and cry with their laughter and tears, you will know you are on the right track.”
(Weegee (Arthur Fellig) – American photographer,1899–1968)

This is a portrait of Kapil Dhaundiyal who is a dancer at Kingdom of Dreams.
I took this picture as he was going on stage in order to perform in “Zangoora, the Gypsy Prince”.
During the film shoot we used to leave all our gear on his make-up table and I have to admit that we were invading his space but he never complained about it.
On the contrary he was always smiling with a contagious happiness.
He is a great entertainer who is taking the stage with an amazing energy.
This young man is an inspiration and he doesn’t know that he gives a lesson of life to anyone who crosses his path…

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Bollywood Beats

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“Cinema in India is like brushing your teeth in the morning.
You can’t escape it.”
(Shahrukh Khan – Indian actor, often referred as “The King of Bollywood”. b.1965)

Every evening those dancers, actors and musicians are making a family on stage in order to perform a Bollywood story and to make the audience dream and escape their problems.
This was shot during a performance of Bharati.

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Encouraging

 

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“Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.”
(Swami Vivekananda – Indian Spiritual leader of the Hindu religion (Vedanta), 1863-1902)

Anil is standing inside his house while his father enjoys the rays of the winter sun.
I met Anil many years ago when he was a young boy, it is nice to see him changing season after season, becoming a young man, having “his own ideas”…
His house is facing the Ganges close to the place where Chai Baba, his uncle, makes his famous tea in Varanasi (Benaras).
After school Anil comes nearby to sell postcards, sacred threads and jewels made of glass beads.
He is learning French, in order to be able to speak with some friends of mine who are encouraging him since a long time.
This picture is dedicated to them and especially to Erik Truffaz who once titled a track of his album “Anil” for him.

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In The Silver Singing River

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“There’s beauty in the silver singing river,
There’s beauty in the sunrise in the sky,
But none of these and nothing else can match the beauty,
That I remember in my true love’s eyes”
(Bob Dylan – American folksinger, b.1941)

This child was bathing in the holy waters at sunrise when the Ganges sings a lullaby and kisses with silver drops…

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Floating dreams

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“Guria’s floating school on the Mansarovar Ghat in Varanasi is popular among children at the ghats.
The school—a 250-square-foot- boat—has been rented for 06,000 a month.
It has 70 students on the rolls, mostly children from the boatmen community.
Singh hopes the school is successful in minimising the vulnerability of these hapless children to abuses.
The school runs for two hours from 5 p.m.
It has a computer, a television, a DVD player and a small library.
A solar panel ensures smooth supply of electricity.

“Earlier these children would not study and loiter with firangis (foreign tourists). Some of them begged, shaming our city. Thanks to this school, they utilise their time in studying now,” says Shanker Manjhi, the owner of the boat.

The students are given snacks after school—an incentive to ensure the children are regular.
“Every day I wait for evening to come here. Unlike other schools, the teacher does not beat you nor do they get angry if I ask questions many times. Once the classes are over, I wait for my candy, ” says young Vaishali.

Pawan Kumar Yadav, who teaches at the school, says, “We give them non-formal primary schooling here, so they can read and write. But our long-term aim is to make them on par with students in mainstream schools.”

(The Week – December 18, 2012)
week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/th…
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This is a new school made by Guria on a boat along the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras), it welcomes children from the ghats and allows them to have a good school level in order to maintain their schooling and to avoid ending up begging or being involved with prostitution and childlabor.