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In Gujarat – The Hijras or Eunuchs

Hijras

The Hijras

In India, Eunuchs or Hijras often describe themselves as a third sex, and refer to themselves as “she. They are tolerated when they show up uninvited at special ceremonies such as births and weddings where they cash in for performing dances and blessings.

They are largely left to their own devices to sustain themselves – which include, dancing, singing and sexual embarrassments of various kinds.

It was not always that way for the Hijras.They used to have a place at court and were generally valued by society.

We were staying at the wonderful Rann Riders resort in Dasada, and its owner Muzahid Malik, suggested we visited Becharaji where hijras frequented its temple.”

I had read William Dalrymple’s City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi, in which he tells the stories of a few hijras in Delhi. I knew of their existence but didn’t know I would get to meet them.They live in a secret world and do not share their stories easily.

We visited the temple and they suggestively and playfully danced for our cameras amidst some wonderful old broken temple statuary.

Hijras - members of the ‘3rd gender’ in India

Hijras dancing at the Temple

Dancing Hijras

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Nomad Camps and Tribal Villages

Rabiri Women

When I travel I am always looking at our differences and our common threads- what do we place value on – what matters.

Home and hearth, for all of us, that is part of our center. We walk into a nomad’s camp in Poshina and communicate our good wishes and are warmly received. They are pleased to see their images on the backs of our cameras but it doesn’t seem like enough.

I wish I could carry a small printer and make some prints to give as gifts. Everyone needs their family history in pictures and the tents that have family photos display them proudly. Sometimes our local guides had images to give from photographers who had previously visited and sent them back.

Rajasthani Girl In the window

Rajasthani Girl In the window

Water- clean water, enough water -hot water- boiled water- its all a problem here. A daily struggle for the women and children who carry the jars  home on their heads.

At the Well for Water

At the Well

Wadha Village in Bhuj

Visual images arre a universal language.

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Guru Hanuman’s Akhara in Delhi

At the beginning of my trip in Rajasthan and Gujarat, I spent a few days exploring Delhi, with Tewfic El Sawy, who organized the expedition, Wink Willet and Tewfic’s friend Anamitra Chakladar,

a photojournalist who works with NDTV.

We visited the most famous wrestling school in India, Guru Hanuman’s Akhara. a Kushti Akhara (a traditional Indian mud pit wrestling arena), and spent a couple of hours learning about their life and photographing.

A door separates the Akhara from the outside world and opens into a small courtyard .The men wearing only a loin cloth, – pumped weights before entering the pit to learn the art of wrestling. The trainees, many of whom live on the premises, follow a strict regime, which begins early in the morning with a long run followed by exercises and weight training. I find one of the key elements to success in  any endeavor is perseverance and focus and it was clearly on display here. I asked “did the young men get to  go out in the world” and the answer was no, they lived a pure and simple life totally devoted to their training.

I am starting the second edit of the images now – looking for the individual stories I want to tell – seeing  how they fit together and what I have learned. There is an arc to  mentally processing  a trip just like there is an arc to the entire journey. At different points in the arc, as time passes,  different images become important to me.   I was using the lens baby on my Canon 5d Mark 2 for the first time here.

.Kushti Wrestler in Delhi

.Delhi Wrestlers

Then the infrared images, often my favorites, were  well suited for the atmosphere here. There is a timeless quality, an element of mystery added when using the infrared light spectrum.

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Still Points in a Turning World: In Rajasthan and Gujarat

CLICK HERE to Slideshow link

I am back from India a few weeks now and after a side trip to California to celebrate with old friends, I am now in the process of creating a new body of work from the images. India is amazingly colorful with rich traditions and rituals. Taking the picture is always just the beginning of the process for me. I am now working in the digital darkroom, the same way I used to work in the traditional darkroom, to tone and create my Infrared images and shape the stories I want to tell.


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Tribal Life in India: South Rajasthan and Kutch Photo Expedition

I am just back from a wonderful trip to Southern Rajasthan & Gujarat. In recent years I have been planning my own trips with well-known Photographer & Writer Mary Altier, her husband John Walker and my sister Ellen.  After meeting Tewfic El-Sawy and following his blog, The Travel Photographer, I decided to join the Tribes of South Rajasthan & Kutch Photo~Expedition™. It was wonderful group of accomplished photographers, well traveled with great stories to tell on those long bus rides and each with their own unique style and vision. The focus of the trip was exploring the tribal cultures of the Rabaris, Garasias, Bhils, Wadha and the reclusive Jats who we came upon one day by the side of the road. I am always looking at our cross-cultural truths, the importance of family, community, and ritual, and the amazing diversity of its expression. What intrigues me is discovering how people live, as if in different millennia, yet co-existing at the same time. Minds set in different ages, walk the same dusty streets, drink the same water and live out their lives amidst the cows, which wander everywhere, and the riotous colorful confusion.

My work is interpretative in nature. I was shooting with a Canon 5D converted to Infrared by Lifepixel.com and a Canon 5D Mark II often using the Lensbaby. I have always been attracted to creating imagery using the invisible infrared light spectrum and using other special effects lenses and filters. It adds an element of mystery and surprise to creating the work, to the post production and then to its presentation.

I found it interesting to see what caught each photographer’s eye and how it could expand my way of seeing. Some people went straight into the villager’s personal space and caught and held their eyes. Some posed their subjects like models while others looked for color and pattern. Also interesting to see the different configurations of cameras and gear; from computers, backup devices (I used the Hyperdrive Colorspace UDMA) to camera bags.

I met some amazing people, friendships were formed and future travel companions made and I had experiences that I will not forget. Now the next stage begins with creating and shaping a cohesive body of work.

Imagery and more stories to come in the days ahead…



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Happy Merry Everything

Wishing everyone all joys of the season and all warm wishes for a wonderful New Year!

I am off to California for the holidays but all my  friends and family where ever they are  are in my thoughts . This image is from a performance of  the Buglisi Dance Theatre , who I love to collaborate with.

Let us all celebrate wonder in 2010 !!

http://www.buglisidancetheatre.com