​PREVELENT

When I speak of Indian Society, then, I speak of all this. Society is what will unite us collectively and take us into the future yet keep us in close contact with our roots, our history, our tradition, our heritage. Societal culture will let us take a quantum leap and land on the moon bur first, before all that, it must help us take a few small steps towards understanding ourselves better, towards knowing each other better and help us to create harmonious civilisation. Civilisation must once again remind us to be a tolerant and truly secular people.And whose society is it anyway? Yours? Mine? Theirs? There are so many ‘theirs’ in the land of our birth who have nothing but the harsh landscape of surviving from day to day. These dispossessed remain with us after six decades of becoming possessed of a freedom we all fought for. In other words, they all fought for.I have always believed that the real history is made by ordinary people. I constantly come across the reappearance, in various forms, of folklore, ballads, myths and legends, carried by ordinary people across generations. The reason and inspiration for my photography are those people who are ordinary and subjugated, and yet do not accept defeat. For me, the endless source of ingredients for photography is in these amazingly, noble, suffering human beings. Why should I look for my raw material elsewhere, once I have started knowing them? Sometimes it seems to me that my photography is really their doing.This is all about ‘Prevalent.’ My dream. In my life and in my photography.

​GOPITALAV DEMOLITION

The story being narrated in these pictures is the true portrayal of the demolition event that took place in the Gopitalav region of Surat, Gujarat on 23rd May 2013. Gopitalav, a slum area which had been illegally occupied by a large number of people for a long time was demolished on this day and the residents were shifted to a new place by the higher authorities of the state. It was not just any ordinary demolition of houses but a demolition of dreams, culture and footprints of the generations that grew up there to leave everything behind to get shifted to a totally new place. As everything turned into rubbles , the residents stood by to see the spectacle. Some started demolishing their own houses in order to get some stuff which could be reused. Some who hoped for the demolition to be cancelled waited till the last moment for dispersal, while old and helpless waited for help of some kind or the other. A demolition that shook every stone of the area in a day only had the capacity to shake the lives of the residents who could not believe a change so big ever could take place. At the end of the day the whole area was turned into a flat ground of ruins, while the residents were shifted to a new place with promises of a better future, a future whose past has been demolished.

CHINESE FISHING NET

In India, Chinese fishing nets (Cheena vala) are fishing nets that are fixed land installations for fishing. While commonly known as "Chinese fishing nets" in India, the more formal name for such nets is "shore operated lift nets".Huge mechanical contrivances hold out horizontal nets of 20mt or more across. Each structure is at least 10mt high and comprises a cantilever with an outstretched net suspended over the sea and large stones suspended from ropes as counterweights at the other end. Each installation is operated by a team of up to six fishermen. While such nets are used throughout coastal southern China and Indochina, in India they are mostly found in the Indian state of Kerala, where they have become a tourist attraction. The Indian common name arises because they are unusual in India and different from usual fishing nets in India.

PAGE OF MY LIFE

Documentary film on ice transporter community situated in Mumbai. Since last 100 years they are in to these business. In the era of automation they are still using traditional technique to transport ice to their client. This film has one lead character and around it all daily activity of these community woven.