Monochrome is as rich as it is understated.
The desire and passion of people at Pushkar had infinite shades of grey which provided an insight to a new discovery. The discovery that, colours might capture your attention but when you dig deeper, it is the stories that fuel your imagination.
For them, their life was all about grey areas where colours conflicted. It made me see more in black and white. Black and white were the alternatives of their hope and despair.
My photographs fed off these infectious emotions and energy.
Hobbled camels
The masters are the antagonist here who represent a sense of propriety on the lives of the camels.They hobble the camel to restrict it from wandering. For them it is a constant conflict between the deep component of their affection and desire to earn a living.
Piercing
The traders believe that they belong to the indigenous society where each person is first part of the group and the group a part of natural world. The natural world taught them to oblige their human relationship and animals should serve them. And this slavery comes with too much pain for the camel. To help control the animal, it's nose is pierced. And the method adopted is shocking and cruel. A medicated copper wire is inserted without a sedative and tightened through pliers. And to add to the plight of the animal, when it struggles, the rope running through the piercing is used to manage it.
Parting
The livestock and people form the structure of their culture. Characterisation prevails in manifesting animals with love, strong attachment with the cattle, identifying oneself with their animals and painful separation . The parting which brings them basic needs like food, clothing also brings an end to a dominate factor of their chores. But then, they accept the phenomenon as matter-of-fact which is not questioned. For rearing the animals is their occupation, not a choice.
The Camel refuses to go along with his new owner and future master. It takes a lot of effort by the proud new owner to forcefully take the camel along with him.
The owner of this horse told us that how passionately he took care of his horse. He treated the horse like his own child and after 5 years of caring it was time to sell the horse to earn money for his family. All the owner wanted was a picture of his horse to be put up on his wall. When I asked about his address he told me his village name and said thats all I know about my house address.
De-Monetisation
Half way through the Pushkar fair, Nov 2016; Indian government took the bold step to scrap Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes. While people of the nation were taking desperate measures to liquidate their wealth, the traders just wanted to earn as much as possible to secure the lives dependant on them. They proceeded the path of uncertainty with unquestionable dedication, for life had to go on.
I happen to meet a traditional folk singer whose source of income was from the tips he got from the tourists. His, was a family of 11 children and tips use to take care of the entire family financially for the entire year. But, due to demonitisation, this year, his income was 70% less and he had no idea about his future. But, he showed no compromise in his singing and kept up with his art of music.
Listen to his music from the below video embed.
Aspirations
Daydreaming for her was just a way to escape from the necessary chores of the world into fantasies of 'wish-fulfilment'. She was loosing the consciousness of her surrounding and her mind was wandering to dream a new dream, when suddenly the hot air balloon blissfully drifted her attention. For she wanted to experience her desire that were distant from her waking world.
Pushkar is a town in the Ajmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is situated 14 km (8.7 mi) northwest of Ajmer.
Story edited by Preeti Phougat