The Lady with Grit

Being a government clerk for all of her life in a bank,its hard to take on an adventure trip.To take your body out of comfort zone and push yourself(specially the weight including the rucksack) everyday,is not easy..
Last year in may, i took part in  youth hostel's Chanderkhani pass trekking programme exactly at the same time. We were group of sixty people from all ages and different walks of life.
I was there with two of my best friends,abhishek nathany and my camera .
After two days of acclimatization in Seobagh base camp we headed towards our first destination malana village.
On third day, we started our trekking around 9 am and while all were in hurry, me and my friend was in complete lazy mood, in fact we were last. After two hours of trekking we saw this lady,sitting on ground totally exhausted and high on breathe. a potter was there to help her and also carrying her rucksack. we also helped her and motivated a bit to move forward and she asked us to stay with her during the trekking. Though it made us slow but we happily accepted to help her only because we need a reason to be behind all of them, lazy and enjoying the nature. After taking fifteen,twenty steps she used to take rest and then start again in quite depressing mood. By looking on her condition we thought she can't make the whole track and may return from the first or second camp. but if she complete the whole track it will be a great achievement for her. its a wonderful idea to capture her journey through photographs and make a wonderful series on it. so we tracked her everyday ,took pictures of her without letting her know. Sometimes she carried her rucksack on her own and sometimes she gave it to the potters. Though the cool breeze of Himalayas and the peaceful environment itself was working great to heal anything in our bodies. Everyday as we were climbing up she was looking more tough,more agile and finally she did it.
 Here is her whole journey through photographs which depicts her mental states in different times. She struggled a lot to reach till the summit and when returning she fell down miserably but all good when your finish the task.
Overall it was an experience of lifetime and i always miss the moments there.

As i look back,we are all lives in the same mental state,initially afraid and full of self doubts but it all about consistent efforts which brings out the best within.

And once again the sky changed its colour with mixed emotions red, blue, green, yellow. .. it was like a colourful umbrella up above the world...
Extra loud music but still it was unable to beat up the voices and chores of the people saying "WO KATTAAAAA"..... The most amazing feeling of the kite flying festival is that you enjoy this with family, friends and neighbours ( the very first competitors wink emoticon ) from dawn to dusk. Somebody is busy with "Charkhi and Manjha" where some are busy in managing the right track and serving the Halwa, pakode and Chai" .
Apart all of this a different kind of category forced me to look upon them " Kite Runners" which can be easily found on roads of "Mohalla". So fearless, daring and proudly can say "target oriented" that dont realize if they would have taken next step they could loose their life. I captured their courageous moment in camera and celebrating their victory by sharing with you all.
‪#‎BESAFE‬
‪#‎FLYHIGH‬

Pappa and Kids

Pappa and Kids

Pictures,  images, photographs though they can only be seen or can be visualised but sometimes they speaks, actually speaks a lot and makes a deep sense... 
 Recently I was just juggling the pics I have ever clicked and found a wonderful series "Papa and kids". "Father" a very first hero of the child and I am sure you will agree with this fact ;-).  The feeling of being a father can only be understood when we will be like him "A father".  With the series I tried to embrace the emotions,  sacrifice,  responsibility, careness of the father and innocence, selfishness of the relationship. I also would like to share some lines of poem "Pitaah "which is a true and pure reflection of the series.

पिता अप्रदर्शित-अनंत प्यार है,
पिता है तो बच्चों को इंतज़ार है,
पिता से ही बच्चों के ढेर सारे सपने हैं,
पिता है तो बाज़ार के सब खिलौने अपने हैं,
पिता से परिवार में प्रतिपल राग है,
पिता से ही माँ की बिंदी और सुहाग है,
पिता परमात्मा की जगत के प्रति आसक्ति है,
पिता गृहस्थ आश्रम में उच्च स्थिति की भक्ति है। 
You can read full poem here http://geeta-kavita.com/hindi_sahitya.asp?id=445

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The Emotions on father's face are the best precious moments of my photographic journey

A Father who is a Rickshaw Owner ..takes his kids on the top of his rickshaw to show them the Teej Fair Procession

A Solo ride to sambhar lake

Why we take solo journey ..why we want to go all alone...is there anything which drives humans to experience that much solitude may be by living in caves for years or living in wild lands without any money or any extra support. I have all these questions since i read the thought provoking novel "into the wild" by john krauker. The Novel is based on a  life story of a young boy christopher maccandless who left everything just to explore wilderness of Alaska. Going on this trip,I took a smaller bite in his mental process. Personally for me it's all about going to somewhere. Feel the place with all it's rhythm and chaos and the way i prefers to go alone.

Why going solo matters that much,I often search  and the best answer i got yet is from my good friend and adventurer Aditya, He told me after having a lot of struggle during his manali-leh cycle trip"Any self help book,any motivation doesn't help you much to discover yourself,nothing gives you much knowledge about your own demons or qualities than your own mind and body in those lonely situations."I feel when you are totally alone you become true to yourself,no body to blame,nothing to help you then yourself and you are there struggling with your self..it's kinda fun.

First time in my life, i saw that wild flat land. Took the unknown roads. My bike slipped and i got some injuries too,Slept outside a temple in mid noon. saw the rural life again and once again i saw the beautiful sunset.