KALAGHODA FESTIVAL 2012- part 2

LOCATION: MUMBAI. MAHARASHTRA, INDIA

DAY OF VISIT: 09.02.2012, 6.00 PM-10.00 PM

After PART 1 series that covered the art installations, this series shall speak about the performances and the way people interact with the space and other people that I found very interesting and peculiar.

  

 

Valentine's day is around the corner (to be precise, in 3 days) and this lovely couple seemed to celebrate it already.

KALAGHODA FESTIVAL 2012- part 1

LOCATION: MUMBAI. MAHARASHTRA, INDIA

DAY OF VISIT: 09.02.2012, 6.00 PM-10.00 PM

In my 7 years of life in Mumbai, never have I made it to the most celebrated festival of the city KALAGHODA FESTIVAL until the 9th of this month. KALAGHODA FESTIVAL is so called because its held in the place called KALAGHODA ( literally translates to a 'black horse'), which got its name because it housed the majestic black horses during the British rule in India. The festival celebrates the bustling 'Art and Culture' of Mumbai in a very lavish and extravagant way for 2 weeks every year. With my days packed with internship and an eternal struggle with my thesis, I never thought I would get to attend the festival. Somehow, destiny stepped in and stimulated the 'spontaneous' avatar in me which I had put to sleep for a while. I 'informed' my mom that I would be at the festival for at least a few hours and make the most of it. before she could react with open mouth and a fierce frown, I picked up my equipments and rushed out my home. 

I strongly believe that I could have clicked more 'candids' and 'events'. But as time was a constraint, these are he few significant captures I managed. As the title reads, this 'part 1' which is about the installations there. I shall very soon publish the 2nd part too.

A maze was formed with the use of disposed plastic water bottles as the partition.

A conceptual tensile roof was created which attracted a large number of people for its flexible and abstract nature. I clicked this in order to show how much it has an impact on the 'skyline' of the place.

LEFT: An installation promoting 'NO SMOKING' cause.
RIGHT: Disposed plastic bottles were again used in a different way as mini chandeliers hung from the banyan trees.

Handmade puppets and a few other dolls appeared to be straight from the 'Harappan civilisation'.

these adorable birds are made out of disposed aerated plastic packets. Most of them had 'lays' and other popular chips production companies' names on them.

This installation needs to be taken very seriously by Mumbai. As its evident here, it promotes anti-noise pollution.

This is an attempt to manifest the famous 'cutting chai' (half glass of tea is served in this very glass) culture of Mumbai.

WAKE UP my beauties!

To thee I bow,

to thou glow,

For you have the power

that I see in altars never

To thee  I bow,

to thou glow.

FOOTNOTE: This is how the sun wakes me up every morning at 8 am! I get exactly this view from my kitchen window.


 

AYN RAND's protagonist

FOOTNOTE:  Ever since the day I laid my eyes on THE FOUNTAINHEAD, I have a significant part of every character in me. This can be seen as part 2 of the The UNSPOKEN words.

LIGHT SOURCE:  Point source from book reading light.

DEVICE: Sony digi-cam.

Its NEVER too late

When vision gets blurred and speech gets slurred
Silence and books become your 'only' patient recipients.

LIGHT CONDITIONS: Natural light flooded from the French windows.

The COMPLETE relationship

 

All those 'entities' any relationship should encompass... 

Festive PUNE - Set 1

LOCATION: PUNE, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA

YEAR OF VISIT: 2011

The trip was planned by my mother in a very short notice. It was a perfect surprise visit. Mother wanted to cover almost all the holy places in the city and charted out a tight plan. As always, I trusted my 'instinct', my 'eye for detail's and my 'obsession' in connecting with a city, as I got into the car with my parents. The trip lasted for less than a day. Yet, I somehow ended up clicking nearly 450 photographs of very interesting and 'irrevocable' scenes of the city. Let me warn you in advance that this only 'one' of the faces of this city.
I shall be uploading the pictures in parts for both of us to enjoy the images better.This set emphasises on the street life of the city.

Have a great stay here and catch the 'whiff' of Pune.

A buffalo is decked up and given a re-vamp as a part of custom followed during the most famous festival of India, viz. Diwali.

Some Sanskrit texts are written and etched on its hairy skin. Its horns are coloured 'saffron' plausibly because it is the colour of sacrifice.

The organic 'squares' outside the temple inevitably form the 'spill out' space or 'interaction' space for the city dwellers.

CAPTURED AT:  Dhagudu Sheth Ganapati temple.

One of the many interesting faces I have come across in my life. His deep eyes unsettled me.

CAPTURED AT:  Dhagudu Sheth Ganapati temple

The 'shlokas' are painted on the walls of the temple. In earlier days,, such holy texts were 'engraved' on the 'masonry' facades of the temples.

CAPTURED AT:  Dhagudu Sheth Ganapati temple

 The queue system like in any other huge temple works efficiently here too. Those huge decorated bells are for the occasion of Diwali.

Lord Dagadusheth Ganapati himself sits there giving darshan to people inside the temple and outside, thanks to the glass facade.

An old man tries to get a glimpse of the Lord from the street.

CAPTURED AT:  Dhagudu Sheth Ganapati temple

A lady offers auspicious flowers to the Lord.

CAPTURED AT:  Dhagudu Sheth Ganapati temple

He smears the holy ash on a devotee.

CAPTURED AT:  Dhagudu Sheth Ganapati temple

CAPTURED AT:  Dhagudu Sheth Ganapati temple

Engrossed in his own wealth.

I was fascinated by this lady's 'balancing act'!

The MIGHTY pigeon

Judging the book by its cover

Might end you up arrested under power

The LINES speak his LIFE

Those lines of constant worries or surprises??? 

You never know...

The TICKING phenomenon

Past can be blur, Past can be dark
Past might haunt you and might tear the mask.
Every tic of the hand, freezes an irrevocable moment
Hence drown the dark past with the bright present.

LIGHT CONDITIONS: Natural day light.

The ever distracted ME

FOOTNOTE: This is an attempt at self-portraiture. My world is vast. But its all restricted to art. This picture speaks about the culturally rooted girl that I am and yet my eyes see beyond any thresholds. I owe it all to my camera.

Tireless HOPE

My world was vast...I was happily swinging in it

My world was simple...I was happily scratching my butt

Then you happened.

and I saw the dead end.

As I squeal tirelessly, I find fingers at me and that amusing smile

Now I am tired...all I do now is sit and hope all the while...

I SEE in the darkness

Deep within the darkness in you, keep your vision bright and clear.

LIGHT CONDITIONS: Nokia E 63 Mobile torch light.

A womb OUTSIDE a womb.

I find infinite peace now...I will soon lose it...

I will end up spending a whole life trying to claim it back...

So let me sleep for some more time...

Let me be one with peace. 

FOOTNOTE: This is a picture of my cousin sister's second son Anirudh. He is just 20 days old. I went to visit her and cuddle him for merely 2 hours. Unfortunately he was sound asleep and he seemed to be too much in peace to be woken up! What attracted me to this composition before clicking the picture was that, the fabric in which he was being rocked resembled the 'womb' in flesh, color and coziness. It recreated the real image of him inside my sister's womb! Hence I came up with such a caption. 

LIGHT CONDITION: Diffused sunlight filtering through the curtains of the bedroom and further through the fabric.