I saw a Raghu Rai exhibition today and I just don’t know how he does it. Each of his photographs has a story of its own. One could probably write a book about each one.

I had only just taken out my camera to click the marine drive and was adjusting the zoom and focus just to check; and I heard a woman by the roadside hurl the choicest abuses at me.
(I know they were choicest because I’ve heard my college batchmates use them to describe very serious situations.)

She had assumed that someone had come by to click a picture of the misery that was her street-life (she failed to note the skyward direction of my lens).

I did what anybody who hates confrontation would do. I ignored her. Pretended to not hear her.

It helps that I haven’t a clue what these abuses actually mean. This allows me to maintain my cool and look distracted and lost in whatever I’m doing. (I’m very good at that)

Ofcourse my planner of a mind started to think of possible outcomes
..Would she get up and try and harm my camera?
..Would she hurl abuses that I knew the meanings of? (unlikely, they’d be too mild)
..Would other people support her?

I decided that a click of a building in the distance might prove my decent intentions, and this picture was born.

It’s hardly a picture… but now at least it has a story