Travel Galleries

This is my Japan! :

This is my Japan!

Updated: Aug 06, 2008 7:05am PST

Japan - Spirit Nation, March 2008. :

Japan - Spirit Nation, March 2008.

Updated: Aug 06, 2008 7:05am PST

The Nagano Snow-monkeys, March 2008, Japan. :

The Nagano Snow-monkeys, March 2008, Japan.

Updated: Aug 06, 2008 7:06am PST

Skiing near Nagano, March 2008, Japan. :

Skiing near Nagano, March 2008, Japan.

Updated: Aug 06, 2008 7:07am PST

My India - Women & Children! : The most influential people in my life have been women - my mother - Uttamjit, of course, who taught me so much and still continues to; of what it means to be brave, kind, a friend, a maverick, a father and a son, of grace under pressure and tenacity under stress. Mostly she taught me about love; about what it is and what it takes and the rewards that await those who walk the walk. My college professor (a geologist) who was probably one of the first female geologists in a field dominated by males in India in the 1980's - who taught me that there is nothing more pure than a relentless pursuit of knowledge and of excellence - that once that is kept in focus - all other things just have a way of 'falling into place'! I remember her telling me one day that there were no real limits, just imagined ones and I have kept that quote close to my heart. My SCUBA-diving instructor in Brussels at the time I was learning Deep-sea diving for my research on the muddy bottoms of the tumultuous North Sea and the English Channel - all of 5 feet tall, she was(is) a woman of steel with nerves to match - she had helped me reach a state of physical and mental control which after a year of practice in the pool every friday night, had allowed me to pass the stringent European Exam for Open-water diving and had involved tests including holding a breath for 3 minutes, swimming ridiculous distances (precisely what had saved my life at times!) and held back no punches because she believed in me. My Ph.D. Advisor at NC State University - who helped me 'grow' intellectually, both carefully and demandingly and always led by example - to teach things she wanted her students to learn -- something I do now - to my own students as I pass the baton on. My Chairperson in the Dept. of Geology at Northeastern Illinois Univ. in Chicago - who taught me that it was OK to do big things, to not await somebody's permission, and that anything done with a lot of love becomes worthwhile. Yes indeed, I have had the blessing of some utterly remarkable women in my life ... they are the 'stronger' sex - and these photographs are my tribute to them ... just like my favorite bookstore that still exists on the corner of Clark and Foster in Chicago - "Women and Children First"!.

My India - Women & Children!

The most influential people in my life have been women - my mother - U ...

Updated: Aug 07, 2008 7:04am PST

My India - The Ageless! : I have been very fortunate to have been schooled in India, Europe and the U.S., with more years of my life spent living outside than in India. I grew up there, through my teen years, but my most formative moments have come not from any one country but from a 'progressive juxtapositioning' of concepts and belief systems against a backdrop of different cultures that I have experienced. My world-view stems from a true amalgamation, a blending of things that made (and continue to make) 'sense' to me -- be it in something as innocuous as my greeting to a stranger on the street to something as personal as why was my marriage was a 'love marriage' as opposed to an 'arranged' one as is the norm in India! My regular visits to my parents in India have repeatedly thrust me center-stage into a society that senses me as a 'local guy' - in as much as I 'walk the walk' and 'talk the talk', however, my 'view' of the India I visit is not entirely from within but from the outside as well -- I am constantly switching back-and-forth between contrasting cultures in my own mind even as I blend seamlessly and almost anonymously with the multitudes on the street and in the bazaars. Studying my photographs and the content and manner in which I composed them, reveals much to me about myself, and about where I am in this unending yearning for a clear(er) definition of the self, of myself. Just like the way in which the 'act of writing' forces a writer to think through 'the cobwebs of ambiguity' in his/her mind and 'pen down' thoughts clearly and forcefully; similarily photography for me forces my mind to 'take a stance, a position' which in turn helps me discover where I am and where I have been and also offers just a glimpse of where I seem headed to. There are times when I recognize my roots in India, yet there are also times when I feel 'a homeless of sorts' -- and the whole key for me has been to grow to a point where a 'home' is what I make of the place that I am in, to 'bloom where planted' and to recognize that we all have two families that deserve equal attention -- one that we are brought into this world in and the other being the people we are surrounded by - in the community, the workplace, the Little League, the YMCA! A word about photographing in India. One of my heroes (photographically speaking) has been Steve McCurry (famed for his work covering Asia and the Far East for National Geographic and author of a stunning book simply titled - 'Portraits'). Steve once commented on his experiences photographing India for over a decade and he summed it very thoughtfully; he said - "In the West everone is very private about everything and very few things are sacred. In India, nobody has much privacy, and everything is sacred!". My own thoughts and photographs echo Steve's viewpoint but I do have a bit to add to his sensibility. I have often mused about why photographing in India seems so much more colorful, pungent, noisy, vibrant, hopeful and tragic at the same time as compared to the West. The best I have been able to come up with is by thinking of the two worlds as 'two lovers' - in the West, the lovers are waltzing, mindful of the personal space and nuances that somehow mean sophistication for some, whereas in India - the two lovers are in the act of eloping, frenzied with life, dancing not simply holding hands as in a poised waltz, but 'clutching'. These photographs, to me, mean it is this 'clutching' that I must do more of -- so I can feel each moment of this 'certain wild and precious life'! Namaste!

My India - The Ageless!

I have been very fortunate to have been schooled in India, Europe and ...

Updated: Aug 07, 2008 7:05am PST

Los Angeles: The Rhythms of a City! : Part of a series I did on Los Angeles, the week of Thanksgiving, 2006 ... my memories of those seven days are now tied to the music of James Blunt ... his CD was my constant companion on this solitary photo jaunt for me :)

Los Angeles: The Rhythms of a City!

Part of a series I did on Los Angeles, the week of Thanksgiving, 2006 ...

Updated: Aug 07, 2008 7:12am PST

My Mexico - Touring in Cozumel! :

My Mexico - Touring in Cozumel!

Updated: Aug 07, 2008 7:14am PST

My China - Slices of a time! :

My China - Slices of a time!

Updated: Aug 07, 2008 7:15am PST

My Turkey - Streets of Istanbul! :

My Turkey - Streets of Istanbul!

Updated: Aug 07, 2008 7:15am PST

My India - The Spiritual! :

My India - The Spiritual!

Updated: Aug 07, 2008 10:26am PST

My Costa Rica - Face to Face! :

My Costa Rica - Face to Face!

Updated: Mar 30, 2006 4:36pm PST