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Ganpati Visarjan in Lucknow

Ganesh Chaturthi is a 10-day festival that celebrates the birth of Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed god of wisdom and success.Though it has been a popular festival in Maharashtra, it has been gaining popularityin Lucknow over the years.

In this blog post, I will share some of the photos that I took during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Lucknow, and the stories behind them. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

The Ganpati Visarjan, a farewell to the Lord, with a carnival-like procession and the interesting people who take part in it.

A day with Chen in Lucknow

A fun thing about photography is that it leads you to meet a lot of interesting and different people. One random day after the New Year, I received a message from from a gentleman who later introduced himself as Chen (Bjack) that he plans solo trips and like to get his pictures taken in a certain way at the cities he visits. Chen is a radio presenter in Taiwan, where he broadcasts music. He has visited India a couple of times before and this time his agenda is to visit Lucknow for it’s monuments and get some portraits done here.

Although it wasn’t the best time to visit Lucknow in April because of the heat and more particularly because of the repair work done at Rumi gate which practically leaves it out for the pictures because of the huge scaffolding around it. But Chen had made up his mind and passionate travelers don’t visit a city just once.

Here are some of the images that we made together.

At Bada Imambara, the cameras have been completely banned by the authorities so one can only shoot with a phone, which is something I have never been able to wrap my head around but we had to do what we could and below some of the pictures here are taken with my phone.

It wasn’t a part of the plan but we decided to visit the Chhota Imambara the next morning to get some vacant streets and the early morning sunlight.

If you are curious about his suit, the orange suit was especially stitched for the Lucknow monuments to complement them. :)

BUDS: Abhay

Abhay is one of those sportsman who really signify the spirit of sports. Abhay exuberates positivity and has a forever smile on his face. He was the most excited and welcome chap at the stadium and always wanted a picture or a video to be taken. Like many other athletes he also has a 3 sessions/day session. I am just amazed on how these guys recover every day from this strenuous training sessions everyday. I decided to follow his training session for a day, turns out his training starts at a ground in Bijnor.

It was serene cold morning in Bijnor when I went there and had a feel of a life that started much earlier than mine.

Budding Boxers of Lucknow

A little more than a year ago, I had come home from a break between two shooting events. As we all tend to open our instagram during such trying times, I happened to see an ad about a workshop called ‘Find your creative voice’ by Indrajit Khambe. I was so ready for an experience like this that I immideately signed up for it without even going through any of their profiles. I had a faint memory of Mr. Khambe’s and went ahead with that hunch.

During our initial meeting over the zoom call, I showed him and the co-mentor, Ms. Suhitha Shetty, a lovely lady with practical and precise advice and warm support.

The workshop has to be consisting of any these subjects.
1. A documentary project

2. A Self portrait series

3. Photographing your family

I on an instinctive level had known a project that I wanted to pursue,it was to document the budding local sportsmen. I have always had an interestand practise in powerliftingbut that seemed to be an easierproject, rather I chose Boxing to be the focus for this project as although fascinating, it wasn’t a very familiar sport. It’s dynamic, fast paced and would be different from what movies show us.

I worked up my contact and got to talk to the coach at the legendary K.D Singh babu Stadium. As all things Lucknow, I was welcomed well, and a lot of folks were curious about this project. Some were reserved some enthusiastic. This is where I find this city very comfortable. You keep good intentions,a smile on your face and you are welcomed everywhere, well mostly.

This is where I begin the documentation of the Boxing department of the K.D. Singh Babu Stadium.

Junior boxers look up to their seniors not just in terms of techniques but also like their elder brothers who would chide them,nurture them and also push them forward in their training.

New entrants to the sport are mostly seen in the corner practicing their basic skills and strength to get fit enough to start their journey.