Wanderlust...

Photos: My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

susmita — Tue, 8 Nov 2011 05:44:00 GMT

I love how lines lead us to someone, somewhere, something. Lines in nature, lines in wood, lines in hands and faces - they take us somewhere. These are some of the lines I found in Bangladesh. These lines shared with me a country with so much history and laughter. For me, photography is an extension of understanding a way of life. I have been taking photos since I was 12, and have used it as a way to understand the world a little bit better, and hopefully draw in other people to be a bit more curious about the world. It's one of the reasons why I am currently pursuing my Master's in Development Practice - in exploring the world through a lens, I want to contribute to working on some of the world's most challenging problems. I think photography and international development work is a natural partnership; one explains what the other is trying to resolve.

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

susmita — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 02:57:00 GMT

On January 20, 2009 I was fortunate to travel to Washington DC to be amongst a crowd of my closest 1.8 million friends, witnessing the inauguration of President Barack Obama. It was a terribly cold start at 4am, but nearly 7 hours later, when the ceremony began, the excitement was palpable. These five images tell the story of awe, excitement, unity, and of course, hope. About me: I am a graduate student at the School of International Public Affairs at Columbia University in New York City. I have been an amateur photographer since I was 12 years old and a travel addict since before I could talk. I first fell in love with Bhutan when I was 16 after watching a documentary on its unique criteria for success: Gross National Happiness. Earlier this fall I had the opportunity to see the Prime Minister of Bhutan speak at Columbia; it was incredible to see a politician speak so earnestly about cultivating a society that is so environment, community, and family-centric. It would be such an incredible privilege to visit Bhutan with World Nomads and attempt to capture Bhutan's unique way of life and culture.

Dalai Lama..and chocolate crosissants

susmita — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 21:05:00 GMT

I don't know where to begin...its been an incredible journey. Last I posted I was in Dharamsa. We were finally able to register to attend the Dalai Lama's teachings. It was actually quite an amazing thing..waiting in line, with scores of monks dramed in crimson red robes. It was raining quite heavily, but that morning, it was clear. When the Dalai Lama entered the area, it was so awe-inspiring...and I didn't expect to feel that way. Everyone just knealed down as he walked by, and he chuckled when he saw a cute small boy in the audience. His teachings were in Tibet, but there were radio transmitors that translated into various languages..but ofcourse the one I had, couldn't tune to the English station. So I didn't end up staying long, but it was incredibly peaceful, and wonderful to sit there..and hear him say something, and then laugh at his own joke...he's got a great laugh. That day there was also a Free Tibet poster...things are heating up now in the movement as the 2010 Olympics are being held in China, even though they have human rights violations against the Tibetan people. It was an amazing feeling, being there at the Dalai lama's teachings...even for one who is not Budhist.

We stayed in Dharamsala for about 3 days, and met lots of tourists and Westerners. There's a HUGE Israeli commuinty of travellers there, which I found very interesting. Met this Brit who's a journalist for the BBC, and his current project is getting people to write something on a poster paper, of something someone once told them, and he's compiling all these photos on a website, and eventually a book. Its an interesting concept..and a bunch of us participated in it - it was quite amusing. Oh, and if you're ever in Dharamsala, go to the French Croissant tree...soooo comfy, and they have the best chocolate croissants and grilled cheese and tomato sandwhiches.

Okay..I have so much more to write...its been such an incredibly past few days, but I have to run off to go to the India-Pakistan border. right now I'm in Amritsar...I have so much to say about the Golden Temple...and words and pictures cannot do it justice.

Will write soon.

Sari's, public buses and Little Tibet

susmita — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 18:26:00 GMT

Ahh...so today I write you from cold and damp Dharamsala. From Shimla - the hiltop city, we took jeeps top the town of Mandi as a rest stop. That journey was quite a queasy one - I was not looking pretty thanks to a good bout to motion sickness, and really, I just didn't want to look at the windy uneven bumpy roads. A sports bra is recommeneded for the roads here. Mandi was a quick stop - its a Sikh town, and started to see some more varieties of Indians including those of Nepali and Tibetan decent. It was a great spot to go sari hunting, and I did end up buying a beautiful sari for about 25USD from this funny Sikh gentleman and his beautiful wife. I'm sure we (two Aussies and myself) were quite entertaining to them as we tried to haggle the price down. My strategy was to ask the prices for many saris, and then the discounted price he was offering, and then go back to the on I really wanted, to see if he forgot what he originally quoted me. Didn't really work. In one store, the guy told me it was fixed price - because all had price tags on them..well nothing is fixed price in India, so I asked to see the price tag, and he showed me. It was a serial number. He said, yes, its a serial number and price - take the first 3 digits off, and the last two digits, and you have the price. Right.

Mandi also had a nice Kali temple, that was surrounded by mean monkeys (one lady had her glasses ripped off her face from a monkey). The Kali temple was nice, and the inside was adorned with solid gold. It was at the top of hill, so we had good views of the Himalayas. Its kinda neat to have these extaordinary mountains as a backdrop amongst busy city life.

So the next day...what a day. We took public busses to Dharamsala. We arrived at the bus station, and it turned out that the bust to Dharamsala was not going today. Why not? Just because. So we caught another bus to another city, and then caught the bus to Dharamsala. Let me tell you...public bus in India is like no other. It was kinda neat climbing up to the top of the bus to strap our bags to the roof - there's a technique - interlinking all the backpacks together, and then to the railings on the bus. The bus itself, is jam packed. I mean jampacked. I got a little taste the true meaning of jam packed when I rode the Delhi metro (which, by the way, is AMAZING! So clean and efficient). But I thought we packed more people on the train then I had ever seen on a rush hour train in London, Toronto, Chicago or NYC. Anyways, back to the bus. It was five hours of utterly squashed bodies squeezing in more bodies. Luckily, it wasn't hot..I can't imagine what it would be like in the heat.

Anyways - the journey was long and a learning experience, but I really enjoyed it. The views outside the dirty bus windows was goregous...its a different India for me. By the way, most of the buses have vomit trails outside of it from so many people getting sick. But its an interesting journey for me. Typically whenever I go to India, I have an initial culture shock because I'm not a minority when I walk down the street. Yes, I still stick out, but on the surface, I look the same more or less. And so Kolkatta is really the only India I knew. The landscape also from what I remember of my parents towns are also the only India I know. Delhi didn't really shock me, but as I travel north, its a different venture for me. Lots of amazing green hills, mountains, plains of tea leaves growing in the distance. Men wearing pagris, nepali hats, muslim hats...it changes with the landscape. And so I get to see different faces of India in the people, and its a neat experience to see.

And so arriving in Dharamsala...it was like a massive culture shock to me. I feel like I'm in a different country. It really is a little Tibet here...we came into town greeted by a moonsoon wave of monks leaving one of the Dalai Lama's teachings. It was quite a site to see. Oh, and there are so many westerners here. Some are passing by. Some are teaching and living here - some even are monks. Some are the typical dread-wearing, ganja smoking, ï'm here to find myself", kinda folks, but its interesting to see. That's the other thing, I'm no longer the only tourist walking around, so its kinda nice to not get so many stares and solicitations.

Anyways..a couple of things about my group - its a good group - everyóne's is good about doing there own thing. There are two young british lads - we call them Stripey1 and Stripey2. They are fresh out of uni, and this is there first real trip outside of the UK and the wanted real culture shock..and they're getting it. There's Ishbel who's from Vancouver - is an English teacher and is really a fascinating woman to talk to...she's considering moving to India to teach, so this trip is her exploratory trip. Nari is an Aussie who used to be an Intrepid tour guide in China, and currently works for Intrepid in Marketing. There's a wonderful couple - Paul and Dorothy who are really sweet and joke about being to old to hang with us, but really, they're great. Actually, on the train, some guy stole her bag, and jumped off the train as we were leaving the station, and Paul heroicly jumped off the train and chaseed after him. It was quite dramatic and the train stopped, and everyone jumped out...the bag was recovered, but not her camera. Let's see, there's Emma, a wonderfuly quick witted Brit who says lovely things like..ugh, Latte's..they're the adulterous spawn of coffee. No really, tell us how you really feel. There's also Aidan, another Brit, who's been wandering around Asia for the past few months, and John, an interesting Aussie who's great for eating any food you don't want to finish. Finally, there's Karina, our tour guide, a 25year-old 6ft tall, blue-eyed Aussie, who's been living in India for the past 2 years. this is her last trip, and then she's off to Morroco. I'm so impressed by her - she speaks fluent Hindi, and really has embrassed India in such a way that its not chique or cute or about finding one's self. She knows her history, culture, and bollywood songs. And its great, bc when people are talking about one of us, she gives us the translations. On the bus, a couple of school girls were talking about me, trying to figure out if I was Indian or not. They concluded that I was pretty, so was Indian, but obviously not from here. :D

Anyways. Hopefully things will clear up here. Still waiting to see if we can get in to see the Dalai Lama - hopefully tomorrow. And if the rain lets up then the treks will begin from Dalhousie.

Will write more soon

Holi

susmita — Wed, 7 Mar 2007 18:24:00 GMT

Holi Festival was celebrated on Sunday...luckily an old friend from Saudi days invited me to her friends party to celebrate Holi. So I totally underestimated Holi. I saw all the pictures before, and thought it was a bunch of cute kids smearing a little bit of colour on people's cheeks. Yea. No. I get to the party and am instructed to leave all valuables in the car and then were greeted by my friend, Ambilika (Pami)'s friends dyed purple. Pami got thrown into this kiddie pool that was now a dark purple (from the combination of so many colours) and then smeared with some more colours for good measure. Since I obviously looked shell-shocked, they were polite and talked to me nicely. For about 5 minutes. And then I got tossed in the kiddie pool as well. My eloquent line of defence..."oh my..no really, that's okay..". Yea that got their attention. Throughout the afternoon I was attacked with colours..I wound up a brilliant neon pink. Oh, and did I mention the eggs? Yes...eggs smashed in my hair. With a bit of beer. Good conditioner? Luckily everyone spared me from the mud throwing...but still, I think I paid my dues. I did get some great shots, and I can't wait to share them with you. But now for some sad news. When I finally met up with my group to begin the travels to north india, we started off at the Friday Mosque in Old Delhi. As I went to get out my beautiful new digital SLR camera, the strap somehow came loose from around my neck, and the camera dropped to the cement ground. So I think its the lens that's the only thing that's messed up, but basically, I can't take any pictures because the apeture isn't working..so its over or under exposing everything. I've been mourning this for the past few days now - anyone who knows me knows how much I treasure my cameras. I'm thinking of buying a cheap digital point-and-shoot while i'm here, but so far everything I've come across is pretty expensive (twice as much as we'd get at home). So I don't know - Didi, any suggestions? Anyways - I met up with my group and they're a good bunch. We spent Monday walking through Old Delhi, coughing and sneezing our way through the chili market, wide-eyed around the marriage market, and always always, on the lookout for pickpockets and spitters. Oh, and I've resumed my favourite eau de toilette for the season - Off Skintastic with DEET! Good stuff. I've been downing 4 cups of chai a day, eating wonderful vegetarian thali's (reminds me of Vatika), and trying to pick up a bit of Hindi. Yesterday we spent all day travelling by train to the hilltop city of Shimla - the summer home for the Brits back in their heyday, and the site where Gandhi, Nehru, Jinha and Mountbatton began their talks and plans for the partioning of India and Pakistan. We're about 2000ft up, and the altitude is certainly felt. Its chilly, but sunny and its really hilly - so great for hikes. So tonight I think I'm going to try and catch a Bollywood movie at the local theatre and catch a sunset at Hyunaman Temple at the top of one the hills. In a couple of days we'll be heading to Dharamsala - the home of the Dalai Lama, and apparently these few weeks is the one time a year that the Dalai Lama gives public lectures in Dharamsala, so we're trying to register there in hopes of catching one of his lectures. Will keep you posted on that!! Thanks for reading guys. Hope all is well on your ends of the world :)

Delhi

susmita — Sun, 4 Mar 2007 13:39:00 GMT

So the journey to the motherland commenced on Wednesday evening - a mad dash to the airport as usual in which my cabbie pulled over right before the highway and asked me to take another cab for fear that his car would breakdown. The flights were painfully long as expected but I managed to meet a few people on the plane - in particular these Kiwi girls who spent 6 months in india travelling and were enroute back home after a visit in the UK. I had not slept on either flight (so I got a good dose of movies), and the lay-over in Heathrow was exhausting, I think I did about 20 laps around terminal 4. Anyways, arriving to Delhi was what I expected, humid, warm, and dark. I had airport pickup thankfully...my first two nights were spent at the exquisite Le Meridien in the heart of Delhi. Its the last remaning gift from Deloitte. Seriously, I walked in the hotel and was like...ahh..I love Deloitte. Why you might ask? Because I travelled so much for my former employer and acquired quite a lot points as a result. I had asked the front desk if my airport pickup car was included in the cost of the room, and he said "Madam, for our platinum guests, everything is included". At that point, I had to think of Monica, because she introduced me to the world of platinum.

So driving from the airport - it was incredibly misty so it was hard to see (making the drive that much more nerve-wracking). As daylight took over, it was like a line in a book - and the mist cleared to give me my first sight of Delhi - the famous statue of Gandhi leading a salt march. It was beautiful...from not seeing a thing, to the fog lifting to welcome me here. Ok - so that's as poetic as I can get - sorry Mims. (By the way Mims, I'm using that Boomerang passport bag you gave me - ohh...so nice to be organized for once). And Yans, you don't know how many times as I was reading my guidebook I was like, oh yea, Yans and I can do this...

Anyways, its Day 3, and today is the day Holi is celebrated - where people go crazy and return to child-like misdeameanors and throw paint on each other. And old family friend was kind enough to invite me one of her friend's parties, so I'm expecting to get messy today. I'll report on that later...as of now, I'm strategizing how I'll take pictures without getting my camera coloured.

As for Delhi..I think I've been inundated with so many horror stories (thanks Mon), that I judged the city before I've given it a chance. And plus, staying at a crazy nice hotel like this, contributes to the invisible wall I've built around myself. I explored a bit of Connaught Place and although its cool, I feel like a bit of a walking target. There are lots of other tourists here, but maybe its just my ego, I think I look a bit weirder (the Indian kid feeling misplaced). And since sooo many people are constantly coming up to me, touts, men and the stares, etc., I'm walking around with such a serious face. Seriously, I'm so used to smiling, that my cheeks hurt from all this stalwart seriousness.

I think I'll get used to it in the days to come. These 2 days have mostly been about getting over jet-lagg. I'm up in the middle of the night, catching up on the latest bollyood dance-music songs hitting the V-channel and MTV. Interestingly, there are a lot of white people spotlighted in all these dance videos (mostly women more scantily clad and intensenly girating than the Indian heroine). Seriously, I think a few more nights of these videos, I'm going to believe that love is found in a theme park where people randomly come together to a synchronized dance with wind blowing in my hair until the rain comes down and I embrace my hero in a hug.

Anyways, tonight my gift from Deloitte will expire (seriously, I'm all out of points now) so I'm returning to my roots, and staying at the YWCA. Sweet.