Mélangé

I'm back and making up for lost blogs and time. This is two rolls worth, so there is a bit of a variety. The first set are from a humbling, enlightening, unforgettable, first-time-out-of-Calcutta-ever trip with my co-workers. My only regret of this trip is that as I could not purchase anymore film (terribly planned on my part) and subsequently had to travel with only 16 frames left in my camera! I'm a world class idiot, I know, but I managed to take a few shots with Sugato's digicam that I will eventually add for documentation sake. The photos that could've been are ingrained in my memory, and that will just have to do.

The photos following my country adventures range from rugby at the club, sidewalk/people/animal photography to a whole bunch of photos of Mamoni that I find absolutely stunning.

Anyhow, less words, more photos, they speak for themselves anyway..


New Howrah Bridge. On our way to rural Bengal for a traditional ceremony. We drove for over 3 hours.


We stopped for some food.

At Shere Punjab Dhaba

Photo By Sugato

There was a dwarf-warden.

Photo By Sugato

Photo by Sugato

By the river bank where the Ganges meets the Bay of Bengal. This is a tributary of the River Ganga. We were waiting for a boat to take us on a ride.

Rural cattle life by the river.

We were waiting for a boat just like this one. It ferries people across the river.

Photo by Sugato

*****
Inner Circle all aboard. Only after getting on this river boat did I learn that these boats are highly illeagle because they are not ecologically sound. For when the river floods, it's supposed to offer nutrients for the many rice paddies and other farmlands along the banks. There isn't much waste from each boat, but every cause has its effects.

*****
*****

Not only did we see much rural life, for the first time in my life I saw DOLPHINS! They are the Ganges River Dolphins that I learnt about in my NatSci class this past year. I'm assuming that these small mammals are highly endangered because of the pollution and susbsequent hunting that goes on. We must've seen 3 or 4 swimming and surfacing fairly close to the boat. The Yang Tzee River Dolphin in China was classified as EXTINCT as of December 2006. Think about that.
Photo by Sugato

Photo by Sugato

Looking over rice paddies.

Afternoon snack. Guava's from the guava tree behind Shreya.
Photo by Sugato

Photo by Sugato

I only half apologise for this untimely crude photo.

My mother just told me this joke (please take no offence my fellow Bongs):
A Brit was travelling through India and when he reached Calcutta, he commented "Calcutta really is the asshole of India, its so dirty!" A Bong replies, "Yes. and you're passing through it!"


Incriminatingly doing what I do so well.
Photo by Sugato

*****
- Sugato

-Sugato

-Sugato

I'm not terribly fond of babies, nor do I photograph them often, but Sugato took this photo, and I really couldn't resist putting it up. She was just crying. Meet Neha, they very reason we made this trip.

Time to go home...
-Sugato


At CC&FC...

This past Saturday. It's rugby season, so the teams were out in full force. Through rain or shine, but mostly rain.


Daddy Bikram and Peter Hooper looking on.

I think by this time, rugby finished and the football players came on.





Monkey Business.

A dog's life. What a bitch.

Down the gulley where I work.


Amitabho at Inner Circle.

Indranil. A truly gifted artist. Man with a Sound Mind. A true creature of habbit.

Anirban. An amazing painter. Taken on our way to CIMA gallery to check out the monsoon collection. It was fabulous!

Samir. A grand photographer. He took me to Victorial Memorial for some shooting and sightseeing.

Shreya. She has all these hidden talents. The more I get to know her, the more I adore her.

Ahona. Giggle monster galore.

Kingshuk. He's cheeky business. Can you tell? Anty's partner in crime.

Ayan. He does the running around for us. He is the grease in the Inner Circle gears. A true trooper if I've ever met one.

Ahona, Anty. Two loud and strong air signs.

The start of a fabulous night with Mamoni and friends..

Diya. This girl is georgous and a great time. More photos of her to come.

At Roxy Nightclub.

DJ Luis? He was spinnin some tracks at the Atrium Coffee Bar. Cool Dude.

Empty Streets.

The Morning After. I love this photo in all her glory.

The rains have really been coming down in full force, putting a halt to all tennis plans. Today I couldn't make it to work due to intense flooding, but went out later in the day in the hopes of getting some things done. As we were driving through the flooded streeets it felt like we were in a boat, not a car! Looking down one road I saw a taxi more than half submerged. My biggest observation is that most people seem to enjoy such mildly chaotic and water logged situations.
In the end you can really only laugh along with mother nature.
Many hand drawn rickshaw drivers, if not all, travel with no shoes at all. I couldn't imagine what water borne diseases they must pick up, on top of diseases like tuberculosis, due to air pollution. The world is full of many good, bad and ugly juxtapositions, that I notice everyday.

Lightning has begun again, which means there is a likely a huge downpour in tow.

Anyhow, hope you enjoyed these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.
Meow.
Ro


*****Series of shots taken with Sugato's digicam, which I borrowed whenever I could pry it out of his claws (for documentation's sake, of course).