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a photographer armed with a digital camera and a printer hawks family portraits at the taj hotel, in bombay.
this family seems quite happy with the results of their photo; the backdrop of the gateway of india assures that the below family will be satisfied with theirs.
“what are you taking a photo of?”, he exclaimed, as i snuck a quick shot behind the scenes of an indian army post outside of victoria terminus (renamed chatrapati shivaji terminus) in mumbai (nee bombay). and perhaps with good reason, given everything that happened around here a few months ago. as he beckoned me over, i felt certain he’d ask me to delete the image. but i forgot this was india; really, he was just unsatisfied with my angle.
and so it is: a man poses for a portrait in a quiet lane of otherwise busy ahmedabad, gujarat.
january 14 was uttarayan, gujarat’s annual kite-flying festival. with nearly the entire population laughing playfully on ahmedbad’s rooftops, life was slow for most of the rickshaw drivers, including this one, who called me over to insist on having his portrait taken. it takes so little to make people smile sometimes: i was more than happy to oblige.
unlike many places in india, in my experience, ahmedabad’s 37,733 rickshaw drivers are generally friendly, helpful and honest – partially because of a metering system that eliminates the hassle of bargaining over fares. in the past few years, the ahmedabad municipal corporation converted all local rickshaws from petrol to compressed natural gas in an effort to combat an air pollution problem that has spiralled out of control. the action has been an overwhelming success: from 2001 to 2008, ahmedabad moved from 4th on the list of india’s most polluted cities to 50th.
an important story to keep in mind if you’re ever driving behind a rickshaw in ahmedabad:
IN Ahmedabad, it is very important for you to understand the body language of rickshaw drivers or else you may meet with an accident. For those who don’t believe it, this will indeed come as an eye-opener. On Sunday morning a car driver ignored that a rickshaw driver had just stuck out his left leg. Avoiding this suggestion he continued driving on and suddenly the rickshaw driver turned to the left and both of them collided. The angry car driver told the rickshaw driver to at least give an indication by showing his hand, to which quick came the retort, ‘‘Didn’t you see my leg? Both my hands were on the steering wheel and hence I showed my left leg. Didn’t you take notice?’’
i love india.
the indian vince carter, in sindhanur, karnatka, characteristically avoiding contact.