My India

 Nowadays many people hold the furthering of knowledge between various contemporary cultures to be their deepest commitment; I would also like to be considered as one of those people. I feel that of retracing the path that links the experience of the past to the uncertainties and prospects of present day humanity. In a search for a temporary and spatial continuity whose objective is to discern the basic patterns common to the lives of all men and women.

Some people do it with words, others commit their message to music or to complex gestures and movements. As for myself I firmly believe in the overwhelming and evocative power of images, so strong that they overcome language itself.

As images, in this case photographs, manifest themselves in the mind of the viewer and the meanings associated to them can be entirely different and detached from the original intentions of the author, to the point where the viewer turns into an 'interpreter' and offers a completely different reading of the image. Hence, the viewer/interpreter may even narrate a completely different story misinterpreting or re-interpreting what he or she is looking at. The visitor of this virtual collection – where the stories, the destinies of people with completely different backgrounds meet – is free to create and follow a completely different, altogether personal itinerary and this process frees the inexhaustible and evocative power of the images.
This small collection wants to pay homage to the force and the dignity of the human spirit. The greater part of the photographs represent individuals in their daily struggle to maintain their own cultural diversity and traditions in a country in which their human rights are threatened every day.
I conclude with the reflections of a photographer whom I admire profoundly and who roams the roads that I'd like to roam one day.

"Anyone can take a picture of poverty; it's easy to focus on the dirt and hurt of the poor. It's much harder - and much more needful - to pry under that dirt and reveal the beauty and dignity of people that, but for their birth into a place and circumstance different from our own, are just like ourselves. I want my images to tell the story of those people and to move us beyond pity to justice and mercy." (David duChemin)

Photo Essay from 2007

In the heart of the Himalayas, the Leh-Manali Road took us through 485 km of high altitude mountains - crossing several passes above 4000 and 5000 meters and the highest of all is the Taglang La pass, 5328 meters high. I'll never forget this ride! The road is often a rough mountain trail. The landscape is unique and you can feel, breathe and touch this remote world of high altitude and wilderness.

The only humans I met during my two-days-long trip is a couple of shepards in search of some grass in the middle of that glorious nothing.
...
Taken with a Canon Eos 1000 on Ilford fp4

At three years
she has seen enough
to live in dread.
Hands give and often take away.
There is no pattern to it.
The food is there and sometimes
disappears. Her mother’s hand
are often kind and suddenly rough,
knowing that the scraps she brings
will never be enough.

(from Adam’s Daughter)
Imtiaz Dharker

-
Dharamsala, India, 2001