Prologue:
It was a nice Friday morning. I felt a cool breeze as I got down from the taxi in the airport. Still in a half asleep state, I reached for the Kingfisher counter and collected my boarding pass. As I proceeded towards the security check I was amazed as well as sad looking at the scene. There were almost 60 people standing helplessly in a queue waiting for their turn to get inside the cordoned area. After standing for around 40 minutes I finally completed my ground formalities and boarded the plane. No sooner had I buckled my seat I fell asleep and was finally awaken by the captain's announcement who informed us that there is traffic congestion over Delhi's airspace and that our flight is at the 12th position in the order of landing. Slowly getting into my senses I looked at my watch. It was already 10:15 and I had to meet Mr.Raghu Rai at 10:30. We touched ground, finally, at around 10:45. As I came out of the airport, my eyes fell on the board that had my name in bold. Wasting no time, I approached the person and we reached for the car. It was a Toyota Innova. We reached the hotel by around 11:30 and I started again from the hotel in another 20 minutes. Now the next challenge in hand was to find the address that was conveyed to me as neither the driver nor the hotel staff seems to identify the location. After asking a whole bunch of people, involving an idly waiting Police van, I reached my destination by around 12pm, an impeccable display of Indian Stretchable time (IST).
109, Lower ground Floor, was actually in the basement. From outside it looked like a medieval setting, especially the door. I pressed the bell and a lady answered. Upon telling her my purpose of visit, she let me in and asked me to sit down for sometime as Mr. Raghu Rai was attending to a meeting. It was a not a very impressive office, a litt le cramped up with files and computers stacked on the same table, but I guess more than enough in a posh Delhi locality to carry out business. It was not long that I was summoned inside.
Chapter 1:
As I walked into the room, I could hear an odd kind of music. There were three guys sitting inside, two on one side of the table towards the door and an other on the other side. It was the latter who extended his hand as a gesture of welcome and it was then that I figured out the one I had come to meet.Mr.Raghu Rai, one of the best Indian documentary photogr aphers, was sitting in front of me and talking to me. It was hard to believe. I apologized for the delay but he dismissed it casually saying that taking into consideration the state of Indian Flights he was not at all expecting me on time. He introduced me, as the Indian who has won a global photography award, to the other two guys. Rather then feeling proud while shaking hands w ith them, I was feeling kind of embarrassed to be crowned as a photographer in front of such a great personality.
After the general introduction and a little bit of chit cha t, he asked me for some time as he wanted to wrap up the discussion he was having and gave me a beautiful picture to look at. I wish I could have brought an image of it. It was one of the best photographs I have seen till date. It was the close up of the hands of an old fellow holding the hands of an infant. It was Black and White but still one can make out the roughness of the old hand and the smoothness of the infants hand just by looking at the photo.
Soon the two guys left and he turned towards me. He asked me about my profession, from when I am doing photography, about my native place etc. I asked him about the scope of abstract photography, in which I am interested in. He told me t hat abstract photography is not commercially so viable. Except a few art and photography magazines, nobody publishes abstract photos. So if I want to pursue it as just a hobby then its fine. We chatted up for some time during which he gave me some tips about shutter speeds and exposure values and all. It was getting late in he afternoon and I was hungry. I don’t know if it showed on my face but it was right then that he asked me if I am vegetarian or Non-Vegetarian.
Chapter 2:
Within 10 minutes there were two plates with something wrapped up in aluminum foil on each plate, and a few containers of a tiffin case on the table. He told me that there are two Chicken-Kathi rolls and the rest I have to share his daily tiffin brought from home. I thought, what can be better then home food.After the lunch, I was getting curious to know if we will be going to a photo shoot. So I told him that I would really want to see him shoot. He told me that h e had planned for that as well. He told me that Doordarshan is making a documentary on him and other prominent Indian artists and they wanted to film him while he is on a shoot. So now , with me around, I can see him shoot while the Doordarshan guys do their work.
Chapter 3:
A soon as we started towards Jama Masjid, Raghu Rai took out his Nikon 200. All through the journey, he took snaps of common people on the roads. Whenever he would try to focus the camera I would look towards that side and will find something interesting which perhaps I wouldn’t have been able to catch sight of otherwise. To quote a few …. There was Lady who was crossing her kids, three of them and all clean shaven. There was the “Rickshaw Wallah” who was smoking away to glory thinking of solutions to perhaps the most complex problems of the world. There was a gal with an innocent angelic face that had an evident tinge of confusion all over.
As the Scorpion took the final turn towards the main gate of Jama Masjid, all I could see was hordes of people and dirt all around. I never expected the largest mosque in Asia to be in such a state. But indeed it was interesting. There were watches being sold at Rs.35 /piece which are showcased underwater to prove their claim on water resistance. There were shirts and frocks of, literally, all colors. There were also shops that claimed to have cassettes of all Sufi or Pakistani singers as well as old Hindi films.
It was there that I saw him shoot. It’s so spontaneous. He would just look around and anything that catches his eyes, he will capture immediately. He captured one beggar and soon many beggars started flocking around. Some of them even posed for him while he happily obliged to their enthusiasm. He captured a bunch of small children in tattered clothes, standing together with their hands on their ears. He captured the old man with a huge leather pouch for holding water who would make people quench their thirst for some nominal price. Seeing the great man’s photo shoot I also got inspired a bit and took the following snaps of the Masjid in different color tones
Then we roamed around for a while and had a glass of tea. As we were on our way out, Raghu Rai‘s eyes fell on a Sufi saint who was sitting with bare chest partially covered by the black dress he was wearing. Looking at Raghu Rai taking focus, he sprang into action and started cursing the media, the politicians etc. He used very abusive words but whatever he said every bit of it was true. Raghu Rai listened to him patiently and finally shakes hands with him. That was some character.
It was around 6:15pm, when we started back from Jama Masjid. As the day was coming to an end, I asked for a snap with him to which he politely obliged. He also gave me an autographed copy of a compilation of his photographs.
It was when I was about to leave when something strike me. I could recognize the music that was being played as the same one that had reached my ears when I first entered and somehow I seem to like it now. Out of curiosity, I asked if there is any specialty of this music as it’s been playing the whole day. He told me that it was gift from a French friend of his and he really likes it. When he asked if I needed a copy of the same, I didn’t deny. I bid goodbye to him at around 7pm.
It was a great day with a great man. It was a dream come true and I will cherish it forever.
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