The Carts
In the movie Teesari Kasam, Raj Kapoor is seen in a bullock cart. He falls in love with Waheeda Rehman but realises they cannot marry. They remain tragic lovers.
Bullock carts remind me of my childhood. This entourage of four bullock carts moved slowly on the highway. Nostalgia guided my hand to the camera.
I did not see cycle-rikshas in Mumbai, these plied in Kolkata, Delhi, and Hyderabad. I was moved by the plight of rikshawallas, their poverty and exploitation. Felt sad. And helpless.
Two photographs – They bring a flood of emotions. Tragedy, Nostalgia, Sadness and Helplessness.
Henri Cartier-Bresson said, ‘It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera. They are made with the Eye, Heart, and Head.
How true it is!
Vivek S Patwardhan
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” All matter copyrighted.
I was moved by your Photos and took me down the memory lane.
I lived in the then Calcutta more than 45 years back and my heart wrenched when I used to see man pulled Rickshaws (or Tongas, if you wish). I had vowed never to sit on them, only to be persuasively told by a friend that by not hiring one, I will have only succeeded in denying that person some income for his livelyhood. Intially I felt this argument to be convenient and opportunistic by when he insisted that unless alternate source of livelyhood can be povided to them, my stand is self defeating. I found merit in what he said and it was not within my means to provide alternate source of livelyhood to the thousands of Rickshaw pullers. So I did what what I did, started availing the rides but not bargaining for the fares. Don’t know whether I adopted an self-serving stance.
Life, I guess is filled with such dialemas and dichtomies. We chose one and comfort ourselves with what we opt.
But what is true is that with sensitive photographers like you photos are not from cameras but from Hearts and Mind
Sorry for the rather long comment.