All you need is love and a cat.
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Behind the bars – Chanchalguda Prison, Hyderabad
Life is an intriguing thing, so much of which is often dictated by the whims of chance and fortune. Would I be the same person as I am, had I been born a thousand miles away in a different continent, wrapped and immersed in a different culture? Often, our experiences shape who we tend to become, but with no power to choose where we are born and raised, in what household, with what ideologies, in what economic levels; our experiences tend to find us as much as we find them.
It’s precisely why I’ve often restrained myself from casting judgment at most people, thinking long and hard about a quote from Plato on the need for compassion – “be kind, everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle than you”.
And it is this thought process which has often made me wonder about the people who find themselves unfortunate enough to land in prison. The whys and hows are always at the forefront, but I gather the courage to believe in hope – hope that a prison doesn’t remain a house of misery but rather a home for rehabilitation, and the bedrock on which foundations are laid for a second chance.
When contacted by a Journalist from “The Week” to photograph a group of inmates in Hyderabad, I was eager, filled with this hope, and I’m happy that I went and even more so to be able to recount for you my little journey.
The Chanchalaguda prison appears to be a place dedicated to not shunning the shunned but raising their dignity and trying their best to put them back upon their feet, so that they may once more walk their own path, and this time, make better choices.
While not allowed to visit the internal portion of the institution, we were shown three places that highlighted the practices and ideology of the prison wonderfully. The entrance was filled with plants and trees and was gorgeously green; by merely looking at the landscape, it would be hard to believe that this was, in fact, a jail.
PROJECT OVERLOAD
A few months ago, I shot some photographs based on the theme “Overload” as part of the Indian Photography Festival, Hyderabad. Some of these images were printed and exhibited as a part of the festival in Chikkadpally on the streets for the public to view.
This project was quite challenging as it involved a lot of moving objects, and I had to be on my feet to capture these frames. I shot some of these images on a moving bike, while my friend was driving. I shot these images in areas; Srinagar Colony, Krishna Nagar, Tolichowki, Mehdipatnam, Erragadda, Sanath Nagar, Kukatpally and a few other areas I particularly don’t remember.
Hope you like these images!
STREET PROJECT – 1
As most of you know by now that I tend to speak a lot more with my photographs than words, maybe because I am good at taking pictures than writing, I would like to show you one of the facets of photography I love the most, the streets.
Whenever I go out onto the streets along with my camera, there is a sense of mystery. You won’t know what you’ll come back with, sometimes I don’t even come back with any interesting photos. But when I do, my eyes glow, and I wouldn’t stop smiling and grinning while I edit my photos.
I will be posting more of my street photos from now on labelled as projects which may pertain to a certain theme, or a place or a person, but these will be all about the streets.
The first post is about the famous monument of Hyderabad, Charminar. Since it’s ramzan season now, I only feel right that my first post is about one of the most happening places in Hyderabad.
CINEMA OKA ALCHEMY
Last Friday I was invited by my bro Venkat Siddareddy to the launch of his book “Cinema Oka Alchemy”, at The Muse Art Gallery, Marriott in Hyderabad. It was my first time at a book launch and I was asked to take photographs of the event. I never anticipated that I’ll be surrounded with some 20 odd photographers and videographers at the event, most of them from tv channels and local movie websites. I had to use my Ninja tactics to capture whatever I could capture but in my style.
Venkat Siddareddy quotes
“కదిలే బొమ్మల కళా రూపం. కలలని సైతం కళ్ళ ముందుంచగలిగే అద్భుతం. బొమ్మలకు ప్రాణం పోయగల ఔషధం.
ఊహకందని ప్రపంచంలోకి ఇట్టే మనల్ని లాక్కెళ్లిపోగల సాధనం సినిమా.
సినిమా అమృతం కాదు. క్యాన్సర్ ని నయం చేయలేదు. కానీ జీవితాన్ని కాపాడే శక్తి కలదు. సినిమా తో బంగారం తయారు కాదు. కానీ మేధస్సుని మేలిమి బంగారంలా మెరిపించగలదు. సినిమా ద్వారా అంతిమ జ్ఞానం పొందలేము. కానీ జ్ఞాననేత్రాన్ని తెరిపించగలదు.
నేను రోజు వారీ కూలీనో, నువ్వో బిల్ గేట్స్ అయ్యుండొచ్చు; నేనో నిరక్షరాస్యుడిని, నువ్వొక డబుల్ పిహెచ్డి అయ్యుండొచ్చు. సినిమా హాలులో పక్కపక్క సీట్లో మనం అపరిచితులమై ఉండొడొచ్చు. కానీ నిన్నూ, నన్నూ, మనందరినీ ఒక్కరిగా చేసి, జీవితం మీద కొత్త ఆశ కలిగించగలదు. అందుకే సినిమా ఒక ఆల్కెమీ.”
Please pick your copy of the book from here –
http://www.amazon.in/Cinema-Oka-Alchemy-Venkat-Siddareddy/dp/9381172137/
Perks of being early.
The illustrations were put up in the art gallery.
The banner.
The man of the hour, Venkat Siddareddy.
This photo is an alchemy.
Discussion.
The present world is obsessed with recording.
Immersed.
Reflecting upon us.
Interview time!
Light moments.
A nice silhouette.
He did the proof reading.
Mahesh Kathi talking about the book and Venkat.
The publisher himself! (Perspectives publishers)
Notes being written by a journalist.
All that paparazzi.
Mahy was one of the most important persons responsible for the creation of this book.
National award winning director Satish Kasetty on his way to speak in front of the press.
t
Tammareddy Bharadwaj speaking about the book.
Ranjani Sivakumar Siddareddy.
Rana was the chief guest at this book launch.
Hogging all the limelight.
Lighting the lamp.
Unpacking the goods.
The press keliye showing the book moment.
Rana’s speech was short, simple and sensible.
All good!
That’s all folks! Hope you relived a part of the event here through my photos. Black and white makes everything look so dramatic.
Please pick your copy of the book from here –
http://www.amazon.in/Cinema-Oka-Alchemy-Venkat-Siddareddy/dp/9381172137/
This place called GOA.
I have been to GOA last year and I felt like living there for the next 3 months. I discovered this new way of life with the sea and all, because there is no sea in Hyderabad! I went again this year but to a different part of GOA. I stayed in cottages on Palolem and visited Agonda Beach and stayed there almost for half a day. Most of the pictures you see here are from Agonda and not Palolem. Palolem has a lot of activity and I was so immersed in them that I didn’t have time to take out my camera! But Agonda is different. It’s huge, serene and quiet. I hope you like these pictures.
What do you see?
Jumping on them waves.
I like to swim alone.
This is one of a kind image. Carefully observe and tell me what you see? Took me quite sometime to get this shot.
I was sitting really far away from the beach in the shacks. I saw this, and I pulled out my camera and stuck an 85 to it and VOILA!
This bird was playing with the sea! 
The dog found these humans.
Who’s that chutiya?
Legs, legs everywhere.
Sand was hot as fuck.
The only photograph I took in Palolem!
GOKARNA
For many of us travelling is a necessity. Others may fail to understand it, but you do need get out of the city you’re living in and cut off all your ties with all the problems and comforts back at home and go explore things which you never will and can, otherwise.
Check out these set of photos from a trip I took recently to Gokarna.
We stayed at cottages on top of Kudle beach, Gokarna. It literally took us 30 minutes to find these cottages. The view is just too beautiful from there. There was a way to the beach from inside the cottages itself. It was very easy to get down to the beach, but it was very tiring to climb the hill after a lot of swimming!
Kudle beach is one of the most serene beaches I’ve been to. Here is a picture of some locals just taking a walk in the morning. 
Sukesh being cheered as he walks into the sea. I follow him with my camera. 
Maybe it was one of those stupid things where I walked into the sea with my camera(not waterproof) just to get this photo. 
Talk about being there at the right time.
I want to go there right now!
There were a couple of cats, mom and kitten I guess, at the cottages we were staying in. The kitten was cute but really really annoying. The mom was just too chill and kept posing for me. 
This was at about 3 PM. We were trekking from Kudle beach to Paradise beach.
You have to pass by Half Moon beach to get to Paradise beach. A very small and cute beach. 
And finally the paradise beach. It took us about 2.30 hours to reach Paradise beach. 
Music scenes.
Spotted some cool graffiti!
We decided to take a boat back to Kudle beach as it was getting dark and we were really tired as well. 
Sunset at it’s best.
We were wondering how he got there!
Just another boat.
I want you to see this photo, and then close your eyes and just imagine how it would feel to be on a boat, with the sound of the motor and the waves hitting your ears, and the cool breeze touching your face, and the sun setting down the sea! 
Back to Kudle beach. Hippies playing bong and smoking up. 
Scenes from Murudeshwar beach, Gokarna.
Mandatory group photo.
Our last night in Gokarna. Hope you enjoyed these photographs!
Yedamaki.
Have you heard of Yedamaki? It’s a place, a village to be precise, in Virajpet, Coorg. One of the most beautiful ever. My mobile doesn’t even get a signal there! Which is awesome! You need to get rid of technology sometimes, to ponder, think, and do nothing. Feels good. All I did was take a lot of photos; that’s technology too, but it is the kind of technology that is an instrument which has always kept me at peace 🙂
Now, the trip. So, being the always last-minute planners which we are, we actually didn’t plan anything about this trip. Not even the accommodation. Some other friends were supposed to join us, who dropped out in the last-minute, so we just said, okay let’s go there. Booked the tickets like two days before, and it started.
When we got into the bus, I told KAKA that remember one thing, whenever we go on a trip, “Nothing happens the way we want it to happen”. It is kind of unique to us, and I just reiterated the fact to him, which made it even more exciting.
So, we took a night bus to Bangalore, got down at Anand Rao circle, and then I tell my friends, I’ll book a cab. While I was doing that, all the autowalas came running towards us. And humans being humans, we wanted to uh, REFRESH, that’s a subtle way of putting it out :P. KAKA asks an auto guy, where can we refresh, and believe me or not, the auto guy starts rubbing the patch on his BARCA jersey’s sleeve, and says “200”. And I slowly lift my head up, and I am like WTF. LMAO! Richard was coughing and laughing at the same time, and I guess Akram wanted CHAI. Finally after 10 minutes of waiting, the cab guy shows up, takes us to the Satellite bus station on Mysore Road. We enquire, and then hop onto the first bus that was going to VIRAJPET.
This trip from Bangalore to Virajpet was probably one of the best trips we ever took in a long while. The thing about happiness is, that it always doesn’t lie in the luxuries. We got into a simple RTC bus, which made like a 100 stops before we got to Virajpet. It was almost an 8 hour trip, and still the best.
Wherever we go, wherever we are, we talk loud, we laugh hard. Richard laughs like a maniac. At this particular bus stop, where we wanted to have breakfast, but couldn’t, the conductor came to us and told, zor se mat baat karo, and all we could do was smile more!
Virajpet was raining at the time we got there, and it was such a pleasant thing to breathe that air! Such clean air! It was about 2.30 PM then, and we were like super hungry, since we skipped breakfast, and lunch was far away! The four of us tried to get into one auto, but the auto guy was like “Police case liktha”. So we took two autos, and we exactly dint know where our cottages were. The auto guy kept driving, and we were following the landmark instructions which were given on their website.
All through our auto ride, I dint care where we were going. I was just gazing at the beautiful thing that Coorg is. Like breathtaking. And the rain! And the view! I wasn’t hungry anymore. The auto drivers kind of drove past our cottages, and we got to see an even more beautiful view, until we realised that we missed the route. We went back, found our cottages, and, well, see for yourself.
Our cottages were surrounded by acres of a coffee plantation estate. Yedamaki cottages. Theesa; that’s who owns these beautiful beautiful beautiful cottages. Thank you so much Theesa!
After a while, we started to feel the hunger. And we were treated to ofcourse, HOT COFFEE!! and Onion rings, and alu fritters.
The cheapest and easiest way of getting around Virajpet is the auto. There were some people living beside our cottage, and one of them had an auto, and made our getting around the town even easier. The distance between our cottages and the town is 10km. But 10 km of never ending pure bliss and nature. And also most of the roads were awesome! Very well maintained!
We got into Virajpet town, and we were still hungry. So you know what we ate? KFC, Kodagu Fried Chicken!
We then enquired about the ahem, where we would find 100 pipers, went to the shop, told him we’ll come back and take it 😛
Meanwhile while were asking the locals where would be the best place to visit at that time of the hour, it was 5.00 PM, and it was already getting very dark, Theesa asked us to goto the top of the Virajpet hill. We walked for about 1.5 km and then we discovered that there huge steps to climb. And then climb, we did. Richard and I took turns carrying the huge camera backpack, and tripod. And we were all panting by the end of the climb, and realised our fitness levels are horrible!
But the view made everything go away. I just forgot about everything for sometime, and was just enjoying the view. In fact I made one of the best panorama pictures!
The same night, we got drunk, and had a crazy jam session, and we ended up making a small impromptu music video. You can check it out here – https://vimeo.com/142065577
The next morning, we just lazed around, and had a little fun exploring our estate till about 11 AM.
Our caretaker called for an auto for us, and then we met the awesomest Auto driver ever. BAIJU. Language isn’t a barrier if you really know how to communicate. Oh man, he showed us around, he did! We travelled about close to 65 km in that auto! We made like 10 stops to just enjoy the views!
We then headed to Chelavara falls. I will let the photographs speak for themselves.
We wanted to trek even further up to the top of the waterfalls, and it started pouring like crazy. We waited for like 20 minutes, and it looked like this is never going to step, and we started going back to our auto. We went to chill, but it became more like an adventure. Getting down wasn’t that easy where the mud was slushy, and the rocks were slippery. Finally, we got out and we got into the auto, and headed back. We kept making stops even on our way back! The views are just to die for!
Finally we came back to the town at about 4 PM, and then we went to eat at the reputed Hotel Hill Palace. The lemon tea was one of the best I have ever tasted anywhere!
We roamed around in the rain for a bit, again to buy another bottle of 100 pipers, ahem! Got back into the room, kept our clothes for drying, and caught Akram in the SaiBaba moment.
Due to the moisture, my lens became fuzzy for a while, and hence I could make this portrait. One of my most favourite ever.
The next morning, I somehow woke up by 6.30, and I had to wait till 7,30 for hot water. Got ready by 8, and I went out alone for a walk, while these guys continued sleeping.
Best walk I had in a long time.
We then had breakfast, packed a few of our things. Akram and I shot a music video together which will be out soon.
Took some photos before we left to Bangalore.
Since we did all this, we missed our 1.30 PM bus at Virajpet. By then, we din’t even book tickets to Hyderabad. We did some chugli and got to Hyderabad, but we all slept hungry.
Trips, short or long, should be taken once in a while.
Insecurities.
Life exists in shades of grey. I have already made my point about this in my previous post. But I’d like to emphasize on it again. The past 12 months have been one of the most life changing 12 months of my life, probably. I underwent a major transformation physically and mentally.
I have made new friends, and lost old ones. I lost a very valuable relationship. A very long one indeed. I found pride in myself about the things I am capable of doing, and I was ashamed of myself for some of the things I did. I broke my hand, literally, and mended my heart. I failed to cry, but I always laughed.
I am guessing most of you might have been through what I have been. More or less. We all have insecurities; about our work, about our life, about our body, about our thinking, and much more.
Coming to my work, there is never a day when I look back and think to myself that I shouldn’t have become a professional photographer, and started my company, “Digital Stories” with my friend and partner in crime, Kaka. I think it is one of the best decisions I have made in my life. A life transforming decision, for better or worse. But still, no matter how good a photograher I am, I still have some insecurities, especially about my future. How is it going to change? Is it going to become better? Is it going to become worse? I have no clue. But obviously the aim would be to strive harder to become better. But still I can’t help but worry sometimes! I got to do something about it.
My personal life, well, it hasn’t exactly been how I want it to be. Well when is life like that. If everything is going right, it means it is wrong. Only when something goes wrong, it is right. Am I right? :P. Well, this pessimistic attitude, or I would like to call it realistic attitude is what, that has kept me going, and will keep me going. But I have my insecurities about this too. Since my last relationship, I have become more apprehensive about being in a relationship. It kind of messed with my brain. I fear of being judged. From a person who never cared about what people think of me to fear about being judged. Well I guess moved back in time. I am working hard to get back to who I was. Not completely, because I have acquired some very new characteristics which I don’t want to lose!
Talking about my body, well I have become fat! My body shape has been inconsistent, a lot! I broke my hand in the month of October last year, in a football game. Lesson in life, don’t do goal keeping without wearing proper gloves, and also learn a few tricks, like keeping your hand very strong when you are struck very hard by a 6’4 striker who is just a meter away from you!! He struck me with the ball, and he didnt kick me directly! And I broke my right wrist inevitably. Well, being a right hander, breaking my right wrist proved quite costly to me, when I couldnt take up shoots during that period! The reason why I went to that football game was because my gym had a holiday! A fucking holiday! So before this fracture I was kind of lifting weights and stuff, and that caused my metabolism to boost. I craved more food, even though I wasnt exercising. But the main culprit was coca-cola. Oh man, that drink makes you so fat! And also you don’t feel like eating anything!! Stop drinking a lot of coke, guys. It is as bad as smoking! And once my fracture healed I started going to the gym again, but it was just cardio, and I couldn’t maintain the consistency like before, so I am still fat. I put on 8 kilos! Now I have joined a regular dance routine, something that is interesting, and I get to become better at it, and plus exercise and lose weight!
But amidst all this success and failure, I kept thinking so much about my insecurities, and I let it get to me, sometimes, and the thought of death creeps in. Why do people commit suicide? Don’t they think about the loved ones they are going to leave behind, in a pit of sorrow? But, I guess that is what is best about death. You aren’t there here to answer anyone anymore. But no. Death isn’t a solution. Death is an escape. I don’t want to escape. I don’t want to run away. I want to face it. I want to solve it. And so should you.
Don’t be afraid that you aren’t going to make money.
Don’t be afraid that you aren’t going to succeed. Every failure is an opportunity to succeed.
Don’t be afraid to ask out that girl you like.
Don’t be afraid to fall in love again.
Don’t be afraid to fail in love again.
Don’t be afraid of the future.
Don’t be afraid of the present.
Don’t be afraid because of the past.
Don’t be afraid to eat.
Don’t be afraid to eat a lot.
Don’t be afraid of your insecurities, because they don’t matter.
Do not compare the beef ban and the rapist’s interview.
I initially thought I’ll give this one a go, because there are already a lot of people discussing about this, until I saw one very very very stupid person say this – ” In a way its good, these monsters kill cows and buffaloes just for food, its so mean! where does the cheese in their pizzas, milk curd and ice creams come from? they kill these innocent animals who cannot fight back and give us a lot what have we given them in return? nothing! infact we are killing them. India is becoming a slaughter house for cows and buffaloes!”. Yes, these exact words!
And one more reason is my friend Siddarth. He said this “the rapist interview and then the french cartoon that depicts that indain cows are safer than women is very very offensive. I’m not jingoist or even a patriot..but that rapist interview is not a representation of india or even human race…
if you read his interview or got a chance to follow the entire case.. you will only notice that the rapist is not only a criminal and a monster but he is also stupid. He is some one who cannot process information.. Even if we did have capital punishment for rapists and told him about the consequences he would still commit the crime.. because he is stupid…
I understand people emotional comments about how to kill him or castrate him… but do you sit and plan on taking revenge on a snake that bit some one.. we just put it away from society.. study it.. try to understand its nature.. so we can avoid similar incidents in the future..”.
Now, let’s talk about the first one. So this person calls people who eat beef, monsters. I understand that everyone is entitled to have an opinion, yes, and so am I. Firstly the beef ban in the state of Maharashtra shows the declining state of the democratic and secular India. It’s very funny that you could be jailed for eating beef. Why don’t they create a ban on eating food which has life? Like chicken, mutton, leafy vegetables, etc. I mean atleast that way it would be justified that they are not violating any religions or castes. Moreover I would love to listen to the reasons the POLITICIANS in power would give as to why they had to ban it in the first place. Because our politicians always give excellent reasons for everything they do. Unparalleled, and unmatchable.
Now let’s talk about the interview that the rapist gave, and why people comparing both these issues are totally wrong. As my friend mentioned, the rapist is stupid. He was stupid in the first place to have raped, apart from being monstrous, ruthless and a criminal. Now guys, have you heard about criminal profiling? I am not very sure if it is happening in this case, but not every criminal should be killed. Criminal profiling needs to be done so that crimes like these can be prevented in other cases. It helps in understanding his mind, behaviour, under what circumstances, did his development as a child have to do anything with this, it is basically to create a better society, and also help the government to create better strategies to prevent such heinous crimes. But if that isnt happening here, then yes just kill him hoping that it would instill fear in other’s minds.
How important is eating beef to you than the safety of a woman? Are you questioning the law’s stupidity? But if you are you have to question yours to even compare both these issues.
A woman’s safety in our country is something we all got to worry about. I do. It is a very serious issue that needs serious consideration. I agree that the beef ban is a biased decision, but please don’t compare both.
Now
I don’t understand people outrage for not being able to eat a cow.. and the immediate comparison to women safety in India… it is very very offensive..
A view to see. 