Musk
By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Okay I admit I staged this. This leaf, like many others in the environs, was lying in the garden next to this small pier in Dal Lake in Kashmir, India. I just placed it appropriately on the wooden pier, and viola!
Rainy Blue
Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Siddharth Singh 2009.
Northern Ireland
By Siddharth Singh (c) 2011
Paris et Genève
(c) Siddharth Singh 2011
1. Grayscale in Genève
2. Not a Scooter Pie
3. The Quay, Genève
4. The Flag of Nations
5. Ducks
6. The Maple Leaf
7. Yellow Submarine
8. Pensive
9. Lake Geneva
10. Space Invader!
To The Thar
By Siddharth Singh (c) 2010
Shot from the train. The dirty windows gave this a rustic look.
Lomography Series (17): Camaraderie
Lomography Series (16): Women at Work
Lomography Series (15): Two Generations Cross
Lomography Series (14): Hard Work
Lomography Series (13): Colour
Lomography Series (12): Beauty in Death
Lomography Series (11): Rural-Urban
Lomography Series (10): White Knight
Lomography Series (9): White Knight
Lomography Series (8): Pink!
Lomography Series (7): Almost Real
Lomography Series (6): Tents in the Desert
Black Beauty
Lomogrpahy Series (5): Morris Stanley
Lomography Series (4): Vintage Morris
Lomography Series (3): A Place We Call Home
Lomography Series (2): Vintage Chevrolet
Vintage One
Lomography Series (1) : Tents
Okay okay I don’t really own a Lomography camera. But I have modified my photos enough to make it look that way.
Sunset Hues
Shadows and Sunshine
By Siddharth (c) 2009
This is inside a house in a village in Rajasthan, one of the poorest state of India. The sunlight is striped because a part of the ceiling is made of metal rods. The containers seen are called “ghadas” and they keep water clean and cool.
Golden Sunset
By Siddharth (c) 2009
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When The Future Is Bright
By Siddharth (c) 2009
The girl above (and the two old women) are members of the so-called “untouchable” community of India. ‘Dalits’ is now the politically correct term. Generations of dalits have been raped, killed, burnt and discriminated against because of the ugly caste system. Of course, caste discrimination is illegal by the law books of India, and over the years, progress has been made. We have had a dalit President (although I might add that in India, the post is only ceremonial), a dalit Chief Justice, a dalit Speaker of the House, and several dalit public figures, including Ambedkar, the Father of the Indian Constitution.
This doesn’t mean that dalits are no longer discriminated against; not by a long shot. But in this case, that of the girl above, the future is bright. She goes to school and is in the 9th grade and manages to score a very good 75% in her exams. She will get to work, being the only child to her liberal parents. She is well informed of the happenings of India and the world even, given she reads newspapers everyday (on the other hand, her parents are illiterate). She also claims that untouchability is something she has never had to face in her life.
The Life and Times of The Highway Observer
By Siddharth (c) 2009
I passed this road several times across a few days in rural Rajasthan in India. This man was always here, observing people and animals go by, catching a nap in between, and at times playing cards with his pals.
Old Barn
By Siddharth (c) 2009
Flying Spaghetti Monster – Proof!
By Siddharth (c) 2009
The Flying Spaghetti Monster! Blessed am I to experience His Noodly Appendage.
Holy Monkey!
By Siddharth (c) 2009
A man dressed as Hanuman, a Hindu “Monkey God” takes a break from street performances to catch up on the latest happenings around the region.
By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
A house in a village in one of the poorest states of India – Rajasthan. Guess what the walls are made of? I’ll buy you a beer if you can guess correctly.
Tip: There’s another reason Hindus don’t eat beef.
Amrit – II
By Siddharth SIngh (c) 2009
Water, which is scarce in this part of India (in Rajasthan) is stored in large clay containers (called ghadas) to keep the water fresh and cool.
I saw this in a market in a village. This one is public. It is sustained by a few shop-keepers for all to have.
Notice the swastikas on the supports of the slab? It is a vedic symbol and has nothing to do with the Nazis.
Amrit – I
Water, which is scarce in this part of India (in Rajasthan) is stored in large clay containers (called ghadas) to keep the water fresh and cool.
Seen here is a kitchen behind a textured wall where the ghadas lie on a slab.
Doors
By Siddharth Singh
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Doors and passageways in rural Rajasthan, India, are very artsy and almost stuck in time. Such anachronistic work can be seen even in modern buildings.
Lifeless
When I took this photo, I didn’t realize there is something wrong with the cow. I have been used to watching cows all the time in rural Rajasthan, in Western India. Rajasthan is a very dry state and is the location of the Thar desert, which is India’s largest. When I put it up on Facebook, an American friend of mine commented, “sad!”. It was only then that it struck me that this cow is impoverished! It is lifeless due to the lack of water and green grass. I was so very used to looking at such cows since I was very young, that somewhere subconsciously such a sight got registered as being normal.
Play!
By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
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The Power Of The Wind
By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
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These were taken in Rajasthan, India. Do excuse the frame and alignment of the photographs: they were taken from a moving car. These rocks have been shaped by the winds over the past millions of years (while I cannot say for certain that it was the wind, no other explanation fits. Water movement creates very different patters, and besides, this region was not underwater even when Deccan India was separate form the rest of Asia.)
Vintage
By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
This is the photo of a statue of an old tribes-man from Rajasthan, in Western India. It’s made of clay by Mr. Prajapati.
Interesting Fact: Mr. Prajapati made an exactly similar clay bust in front of Bill Clinton (yes, the former POTUS) in ten minutes flat and gifted it to him. It happened on his official trip to India when he was still president.
The Flying Spur
(c) Siddharth Singh, 2009.
Graffiti on Delhi’s facade are now becoming more common as underground artists take to the streets. This one is on a wall on the back alleys of Khan Market in New Delhi, India. Khan Market is named after Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, also known as Frontier Gandhi, and the market is the costliest in India (in terms of land rent). It was originally inhabited by refugees who left Pakistan to come to India at the time of The Partition.
Heaven On Earth
I was there. As the famous saying goes, “If there is a heaven on Earth, it is this, it is this, it is this.” Dal Lake, Sringar, India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Serendipity
Dal Lake, Kashmir, India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Inflated Ego
A city bus in Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal, India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Lone Ranger
By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Civil Police
Civil Police Volunteer. Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal, India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Aura
Natural light. Yup. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
The Bangladeshi SkyRoof
Dhaka, Bahgladesh. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
A Moory Fable
Dal Lake, Srinagar, Kashmir, India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
The Only Form Of Life at 14000 Feet
I found some fungus growing out between a coulple of rocks at a peak off Gulmarg, Kashmir, India. That was the only form of life (I found) there, apart from the occasional Homo Tourisimus. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
City Bus
Sringar, Kashmir, India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Flight Twilight
By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
The Runway
If it wasn’t as cold as it was, I’d have ran down and taken a good plunge! It was so tempting!
Dal Lake, Kashmir, India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Lad of the Lakes
Dal Lake, Srinagar, Kashmir, India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
The Himalayan Trinity
Srinagar, Kashmir, India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
The Lake Police
Patroling the Dal Lake, Srinagar, Kashmir, India. While many might not like the tilt and frame in which the boat presents itself, I personally love it. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Metrosexual
The helmet, people! Loved it! In Kolkata (Calcutta), India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Twilight in The Dal
Dal Lake, Srinagar, India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Crickey!
Golden lizard of some sort, in Gulmarg, Kashmir, India. It was quite a challenge getting this photo correct. The little devil wouldn’t stay put for even a second. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Cold Mountain
Kashmir, India. A photo I did not want to put up (because I don’t like it). It’s too late now. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Speed Racer
In the Dal Lake, Kashmir, India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Early Morning Rose
By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
More Kashmir
Kashmir, India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Pari Mahal
Pari Mahal, Srinagar, Kashmir, India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
At 14,000 Feet
Gulmarg, Kashmir, India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Red!
Humayan Ka Makbara, New Delhi, India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
This was one situation where I most missed having a DSLR. You can literally see the defects in this one.
Golden Black
Humayan Ka Makbara, New Delhi, India. By Siddharth Singh (c) 2009
Humayun Ka Makbara in Nizamuddin, New Delhi, is the most beautiful undiscovered-to-Indians Mughal monument in India. And I would go to the extent to say it is beautiful because it is not frequented by us Indians. Littered sidewalks, names etched on the walls of monuments, etc are unheard of here. The surroundings are clean and uncrowded. But mentions in international travel books makes it a hotspot for foreign tourists.
Another very well maintained and relatively undiscovered monument is the Akbar Ka Makbara in Agra. It has beautiful gardens with deer, peacocks and other animals. A delight to those looking for a peaceful evening around a majestic historical monument.
Fatehpur Sikri, which everyone headed for the Taj Mahal in Agra almost certainly visits, on the other hand, is ill maintained. Foul odors, garbage, filth and grime are the order rather than the exception there. Very very avoidable.
If only we respected our history by respecting the relics of the past. Keeping the environs clean surely isn’t that hard an ask.
Lonely
Eerie Brown
Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Siddharth Singh 2009.
Calcutta, now Kolkata, is a city lost in time. British era buildings dot the ‘skyline’, rickety buses and trams battle for space on the narrow roads, general strikes are called at the drop of the metaphorical hats; chaos reigns everywhere. But there is a pattern in this chaos. A pattern that many Indophile romanticists find enchanting. I suppose this chaos acts as a muse to the rich culture that Bengalis, in spite of hundreds of years of British rule, managed to preserve and enrich.
However, I reckon the proletariat of this Marxist stronghold does aspire for better urban infrastructure and amenities, particularly of mass transport. Without getting into the politics and economics of it, I assure you this is possible without diversion of funds from rural projects. This is not a demand of the Indian crony capitalist system, but of those sections who cannot afford to enjoy the luxuries of air-conditioned travel in cars that absorb the bumps of potholed roads.
