Merry Christmas

An account of my encounter with a drunk man outside the church on Christmas eve

Yesterday was Christmas. A day of celebration across the world. I was Home Alone! My missus has been in her native from last few days and she won't be back for next ten days either. Sigh! I had some errands to run in the morning. As the night approached, I got an idea to go to the nearest church and see what goes on. I took my camera in shoulder, hopped on my bike and reached St.Joseph' Church, Chamarajapete. I didn't know what to expect. I was thinking that there will be no one as everyone would be celebrating it in home with wine, cake and turkey. But when I reached there, I saw a good number of people outside. I started taking pictures of church from outside the gate. I was not sure if I could go in with a camera. Besides, I was wearing a trouser and not dressed to the occasion.

A guy in faded dress who was passing by saw me and waved at me. He was clearly drunk. He asked me if I know Tamil. I said no. He asked me if I know Hindi. I said I do. He started speaking in bits and pieces of Hindi. I enquired whether he knows Kannada and bingo! He was so relieved. It happens to me all the time. Whenever rickshaw drivers or people in general approach me on the road to ask something, they tend to use Hindi or English even though they are Kannadigas. I make it a point to start a conversation in Kannada with any stranger. Unless they don't know how to speak, I switch. But the trend is opposite in Bangalore. How can you speak Kannada in the IT city! It is considered below the strata. Most of the mothers here speak to their child and dogs only in English. My body burns whenever I see that. Anyway, this is a topic for some other day I guess.

This guy I met, Mani asked me to come inside and take his pictures. When I asked him is it okay to come in trousers and take pictures, he said anyone and everyone is allowed inside the church. I saw a Muslim man selling groundnuts outside, a man in orange dhoti, towel (Bhajarangadala uniform if I can call it so) enter the church and felt happy. Mani made me buy a candle. There were people outside chatting and inside I saw a lot of people capturing pictures with tablets, phones. People were lighting the candles and praying. It was a nice happy environment.

Mani would request me to take his pictures in various poses of him praying. I had to oblige. He photobombed lot of my pictures. He was happy to see the pictures on the camera screen. Just before leaving, he said that he does iron works and he is made to work like a donkey. Drinking a is habit with which he is ruining his life. He can't stop it no matter how he hard he tries as it is his friends who drag him to the bar. They even offer to pay. I asked him to take care. He said that he doesn't have anyone to share anything, but this is the best Christmas he had and he is very happy. I felt good even though I knew that it was the drinks inside him that was talking. 

A Street Photography Experience

I took photos of strangers on street, gave them printed copies the next day. This is an account of the contrasting experience I had.

Few days ago during the night time, there was constant power outage in my area. I decided to take a stroll outside with my camera. I came across an export company and the security guards were sitting inside a room with wire mesh near the gate. That frame caught my eye and I desperately wanted to capture it. It looked straight out of Anurag Kashyap movie. But I haven't done much of street photography especially alone. I feel that I am invading the privacy if I take people's photographs from a distance. In reality it is just a fear of being questioned rather than consciousness about other's personal space :P But if informed about photographing them, they tend to look at the camera and the candour will be lost. I was so fascinated by the frame that I went ahead and asked the security guy whether I can take the picture. They asked me why I want to take their picture. I said it's just a hobby. They asked me to go ahead. As I started taking the pictures, one of the guard asked me to wait and came out. He said that the mesh is blocking the view. He asked the other security person to stand for the photo with him. I obliged and took few photos of him. He was very happy. There were few people coming out of the company by now. He started to introduce them to me. People started to gather and everyone was amused that why I was taking the pictures of some random people. It may be common for the people of market, commercial street etc to see hoards of photographers roaming around, clicking pictures. But for the people of a galli in an obscure street of Chamarajapete, it was something new. The security person then asked me to take pictures of the people there and they all started posing. I spoke to them for some time, found out that they are exporting leather jacket, purses to European countries. It felt so good to see excited faces on the prospect of getting photographed by a stranger.

I was excited for meeting with the the next set of people. After few meters of walk, I saw an elderly couple preparing "Bajji's". I started taking their pictures from a distance without informing them. The lady saw me and smilingly gestured what I was doing? I walked upto her and told her the same story as I did to the security and asked if it was okay. She said, No problem. I started getting few close up shots as a person who may have been a son/acquaintance of the couple started questioning me. He felt that something was not right about it. Even though I assured him that I don't have any kind of malicious intentions, he wouldn't simple listen to me. I showed him the pictures and told him that if he doesn't like it I can delete them. He said go ahead and delete. All this while the lady tried to keep him quite and said its okay, what is wrong in clicking the pictures. I didn't want to argue with him as I felt that I am disturbing the environment and walked away.

The contrast between first and second experiences were stark but really enriching. The stranger photographer can be perceived as a friend or enemy. But going up to them and telling that they are being shot seemed like the best way. It brought people together. It may ruin a candid shot but it could help in bringing new joy. I would love to hear stories from pro street photographers on this.

Then I thought, if taking the picture itself can bring so much joy, what if I give them the photos by getting them printed. That thought itself gave me goosebumps. "Random act of Kindness". I patted my own back and started imagining teary eyed people. But the reality was definitely not as mushy as I imagined it to be :) I got the photos printed next day. It just costs 25rs for five 5*7 size pictures. I was not really happy with the print as it had come darker than the shots I had taken. I went to the security first. As I opened the envelope, security guy announced that "photos are here" as if he was expecting it all along! I handed over the photos to him. I told him that photos have come darker to which he said that they themselves are dark and there is nothing wrong with the picture and said thanks :) I asked him to share it with others. I went to the couples now. I said the same thing. Photo has come dark. I had taken only one copy of the picture (The first one posted here). Boy, was she disappointed! She said it is indeed dark and asked me if I have got the pictures I took of her alone. I said I didn't get them printed as it hadn't come that well. For me, the picture I gave showcased the couple's livelihood and their being together was important to me. Picture was dark but for me it was quite artistic. I like my pictures dark. I never use flash and try to get dark shades in my photos as much as possible. But all these "artsy" things meant nothing to the lady. She wanted to see fully lit face of hers. This gave me practical lesson on why hatke movies hardly get any commercial success. Love story, action, 'hero' are the most important things to them. They can't enjoy a movie without it. Well, most of them. I dropped the expectation of getting a free Bajji and left.

In spite of my shattered dreams to become an unknown special person in these people's lives, I left contented with having a satisfaction of doing a good thing.