Ancient India Rocks!

View Ajanta & Ellora Stock Photos by PhotosIndia.com



Excuse that pun, I was referring to some images we produced a couple of months back of Ajanta & Ellora. I had vague memories of visiting these cave shrines as a kid and it saddened me that I didn’t remember their magnificence. I was viewing the images in high resolution and the detail left me flabbergasted.

Ajanta & Ellora are the definition of the term ‘cave shrines’. Located near the city of Aurangabad in Maharashtra, India, these caves have been hand carved and built as far back as 200 B.C. These caves comprise of two sets, Ajanta caves and Ellora caves. Both are equally significant due to their history, architecture and message. The caves were discovered as early as the 19th century during a hunting expedition. All these centuries they lay hidden under the rocky landscape of the Sahyadri hills. They are called ‘cave shrines’ because they are essentially temples. Hand carved temples in man made caves, the sheer task seems enormous and near impossible for the era of their supposed construction. The granite these hills constitute of are still considered a construction nightmare but the faith involved in the Ajanta & Ellora caves seems to be the driving force behind this Herculean task. The rock is considered ‘living rock’ because the formations are a still in a process of development. The structures are prayers halls and monasteries where monks could meditate and pray in complete seclusion. These structures are also a symbol of religious tolerance and harmony. Here Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism co-exist and share their teachings. All three religions were founded in India and this is the only place in the world where their history conjoins. The Jain and Buddhist caves are places of peace and quiet while the Hindu caves exude more energy and divinity. The three construction styles found here are Stupas, Chaityas and Viharas. ‘Stupas’ are generally built of stones or bricks to commemorate important events or mark important places associated with Buddhism or to house important relics of Buddha. ‘Chaitya’s’ are meditation or prayer halls built out of rock and brick and ‘Vihara’s’ are monasteries usually made in excavated rocks to provide a haven away from the rest of the world.



The Ajanta caves are a set of 29 caves, hand carved tediously by Buddhist monks. Presumably the only tools available to these hermetic people had to have been hammers and chisels. The figurines depict the tales of ‘Jataka’, ancient text of Buddhists which tell stories about the various incarnations of the Buddha. The craft is definitely impressive but the physical effort involved enhances the beauty of the carvings. It is no wonder that the Ajanta is chosen as a ‘World Heritage Site'.

The Ellora caves are 34 in number. They are more ornately carved and the structures are more adorned. There are magnificent facades and examples of Indian temple architecture. These caves are carved in the basaltic sides of the hills. The most amazing feat in these caves is the ancient ‘Kailasa temple’, devoted to Mount Kailash which is the seat of Lord Shiva. This temple is carved out of solid rock and is a free standing structure comprising of pillars, podiums and spires, all intricately carved by hand. A website about World Mysteries has listed this temple under ‘mystic places’ because “it is the largest monolithic structure in the world, carved top-down from a single rock. It contains the largest cantilevered rock ceiling in the world.”



The best time to visit Ajanta & Ellora caves is from October to March, although the monsoon months of July-August are also highly recommended for the heightened scenic beauty of the area. Indian tourism offer a lot of excursion trips and tourists can engage tour guides locally at Ajanta and Ellora as well as from Mumbai, the closest metro to the caves.

I'm not superstitious, but ...

View Stock Images Gallery by PhotosIndia.com

We made good friends with this one model we worked with last year. Very lovely young lady, she was nice enough to keep in touch way after she received her images shot by us. We got a call from her last month saying she has a bunch of friends in town and they were all very keen to be professionally photographed. We were already riding high on our 6,000 sq. ft. studio so we asked the whole load of them to come in for auditions. So here we were sitting around waiting for everyone’s headshots to be assessed, when Manav suggested they all make a trip and shoot that. The motley mix of post-teens started discussing every possible drivable location from Delhi. They were all foreigners and from different countries too. This discussion didn’t take long to finalize into an overnight trip to Agra. The home of the Taj, the land of love and loss, the haven of a lovesick king’s biggest accomplishment. Some had seen it with their parents on a day trip, some hadn’t at all. The excitement was electric. The final list read, an Indian girl from LA, a Persian girl from Florida, an all American girl, a Scottish boy, an Estonian boy and finally a Zimbabwean boy. What an awesome bunch they made. So many nationalities and cultures of the world in this group of six. The only thing they shared in common was the age and the generation and that was glue enough to start this trip off very well.

The story I am about to tell you only goes to reinforce my crazy obsession with Lennon’s song ‘Imagine’. In my Utopian fairyland I believe that we can live without religion, without possessions and without countries, we can live like brothers and like thinking human beings. Ultimately we are all the same. I read an article by the photographer who shot the famous portrait of ‘the Afghan girl’, Steve McCurry he said to the effect that a farmer in Afghanistan is no different from a farmer in the US. I guess he meant that as people they are the same, their environments and scenarios are different but they share the same worries, the same ambitions and the same dependency on nature. Anyway, back to the story. These guys were on the road with our Art Director (part Portuguese, part Iranian), Photographer (All from the state of Bengal), Make-up Assistant (state of Punjab) and Studio Hand (I would assume Bihar). They stopped at a harmless looking vegetarian ‘dhaba’ (typical Indian roadside diner, usually very rustic). They ordered heartily and sat back and waited. Suddenly the girls started noticing dragon flies, not one, more like one million. So one of the girls got up from the table and crouched on the floor screaming for one of the knights to save her. The lovely Scottish boy got up, swatted away the dragon flies and stepped over her head to get back to the table. She shot up and said “step back over me”! That’s all she said. One by one each person on the table said “ya, my mom says you have to step back over the person if you stepped over them once.” The tempo got louder and everyone, every different person there knew that they had all heard and participated in one of the oldest ‘old wives tales’ ever. Across the cultures and borders they all grew up hearing this one ‘superstition’. The biggest deal wasn’t that they had all been told the same tale by their Scottish, Estonian, Indian, Persian, Zimbabwean mothers, it was how they all suddenly related on another level. This highly infused gene pool of people sat there, ages 19 – 35 years and said in unison – “coz then you won’t grow tall”. Across most of the globe, covering 4 continents, all these people were told the same reason too! When I heard this story, it stirred me in many ways. Are we all essentially the same? Just people. People with stories, lives, joys, pains, fun, work, family, passions, traditions, the list goes on and it goes on for all of us.

The Nirula's Story

I spent a considerable number of years hearing about the ‘great consumer experience’ that could only be ‘experienced’ abroad. Anywhere abroad, I asked? The spectrum for ‘abroad’ for most Indian’s was restricted to the US and the UK. Would I find the same costumer experience in Dhaka or Mogadishu? I seriously wondered! These lamentations have come into my mind since a friend of mine visited ‘Nirula’s’ the other day. Ah! ‘Nirula’s’ for those of you that haven’t had this baptism of fudge, ‘Nirula’s’ was India’s only fast food joint till almost a decade ago. There were several in New Delhi and one in Kathmandu. Yes, I have eaten there as well. There is a different novelty in finding a home grown brand ‘abroad’ … Nepal is pretty ‘abroad’ in my opinion! See that’s my take on home grown, the guy behind the counter is ‘uncle’ and he will remember you the next time you come and your friends will think ‘Nirula’s’ is your haunt, that’s the perfect life for a 12 year old. ‘Nirula’s’ also holds the symbolic title of ‘the place of many firsts’ … it was the place I saw a film star for the first time, I found my first ‘crush’, I got my ‘board exam’ results, I got 20 bucks extra as change, I got high on food (before you jump to conclusions, it was one of those innocent highs, that only food can produce).



The food wasn’t something to write home about but this was the only place where one could order, burger and fries with a milkshake on the side and feel on top of the world, teleported all the way to the home of junk food, the US. Looking back I must reiterate that Nirula’s meant just a handful of yummy things to most people. There were the footlong fiends, the veg. burger lovers, the ice cream soda devotees but the ultimate followers of ‘Nirula’s’ were those that swore by the hot chocolate fudge.

That’s where this whole rant began. Manav, my friend decided to relive the joy by visiting the newly acquired ‘Nirula’s’ last week. ‘Nirula’s’ was a traditional family owned restaurant, run by the grand old man Mr. Nirula, I imagine. He must have been a regal old man with a mighty ‘Punjabi’ heart and appetite, also ‘Punjabi’s’ (those that hail from the state of Punjab in India) had great taste and western exposure. So I could understand his need to supply North India with much needed fast food! After competition like McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Dominos hit Indian shores, it shook the foundation ‘Nirula’s’ stood upon. They didn’t have hand tossed pizza’s, their fries were insipid and they didn’t have the omnipresent ‘thali’ back then, so no fallback option. What they had in their favour was ice cream. It was good and cheaper than Baskin Robbins. So there was Manav, looking forward to his hot chocolate fudge at the newly acquired ‘Nirula’s’. In June 2006, Navis Capital Partners a Malaysia based company acquired the Nirula's Group of Companies. He was to realize when he took the order that he had been served a hot butterscotch sundae instead. He says he may have made a mistake in ordering which I find worthy of mention simply because the same benefit of doubt cannot be bestowed upon ‘Nirula’s’. They vehemently refused to address his quandary. Imagine an old customer, as old as he is today, ordering an all time favourite dessert, ready to pay the difference for even a dollop of fudge on his sundae, is told a simple ‘no’! Now I wonder if the foreign acquisition made a difference in this ‘customer experience’. Our childhood haunts are becoming commercial trash and we are treated like it. The ‘home’ feeling is totally absent and not even a smile will make matters better. I feel sorry that Manav’s history with ‘Nirula’s’ will end this way and end it will because we now have over 5 varieties of commercial ice creams available, we have Hershey’s chocolate syrup and who can’t dry roast few peanuts at home. This is a lesson for ‘Nirula’s’, the recipe for hot chocolate fudge given above doesn’t mention the ‘Nirula’s’ touch because I don’t think it exists anymore.

Take it to the Limit

View College Life Stock Photos by PhotosIndia.com

I don’t think it’s wrong to term “College Life in India” as the ‘ultimate freedom’. Drawing from personal experience I can safely say that whether it was a convent or a co-educational school, the claustrophobia was the same. Even the senior years were ruled by uniforms, punishments and a constant ‘big brotherly’ presence. I don’t know how it is today but back in the day, hair had to be neatly trimmed, nails had to be bitten down, socks couldn’t be rolled to the ankles and that awful perennial neck tie, it was hell. The only consolation was ‘friends’. Some of you reading this may have been super achievers, teacher’s darlings and the like but most of us just drudged through school only to get to the big, bad world of College. Thank God!



As luck would have it, I went to out of my hometown to study and the first thing to hit me was – I can wear what I want! For youngsters all over the world, the feeling of self expression is of utmost importance. The whole feeling of being ‘me’ comes from a style statement. It could well be just a bag, a braid or a BMW but we all want to stand out. I didn’t have any of those things but I did have a tool that surpassed all, attitude, and a healthy one! This is the high point of what I see in the campus life of today. The boys and girls are so confident and so chic. I don’t feel shallow in admitting that my most poignant moment in college was the day I left my hair open; after all it won’t be clichéd to say ‘college is the time to let your hair down”. Pardon the pun, I couldn’t help myself.



Student life in India is actually more than that. The residual guilt from school tends to stay on, so even though you can ‘bunk’ classes and you do ‘bunk’ classes, it just doesn’t feel right. Indian students are conditioned to work hard from day 1. There are no open book tests, no lockers to ease the load and by no means is there a provision to choose subjects before ‘high school’. This has long term repercussions that are very positive. Indian students know rote learning (not always a good thing), they respect their teachers (well at least they stand up and greet them before each class), they know how to burn the midnight oil and they know how important the values of school are to cope later in life. So it may not always be about fun and games, big deal, life isn’t all about fun and games either. This may be a good time for international students to check out courses available in India, may as well learn a whole new culture while you’re at it. Manipal University has superb Medical and Engineering courses and right here in Delhi University you can do your Bachelor’s and Master’s in any subject, language or stream. The world is an ocean for these young men and women and college is ‘lifeguard’ training!

More than a 'Dream'

I have splendid news in this piece. Our studio has passed its test run of 3 months with flying colours. We officially launched our 6,500 sq. ft. studio in May 2007. Set in the dynamic suburb of Gurgaon, the space is more than a studio, it’s a dream come true. The construction pace was like all such endeavours are, excruciating. Thankfully, Photosindia.com had a fabulous team of professionals constantly striving to get on with the ultimate ‘plan’ - our very own world class studio. The space cannot be explained it has to be experienced. There is an amazing splash of natural light that makes the white walls seem farther, makes the area enormous. It’s everything we need to produce quality imagery, from India to the world.



We can now boast of international standards, handpicked sets, state of the art equipment, plenty of natural light, extremely talented photographers, a team of production staff that only think out of the box … and that little bit extra, passion! Everyone at Photosindia.com is driven by the prospects of the stock photography industry, we are producing signature imagery and we are good at it. With the studio in place, our horizons have broadened so much, that we are flooded with ideas, concepts and themes. The studio seems like a living being, like a part of the team, it has its own energy. The peripherals are perfect too, we have a view of contemporary office buildings at one end and a balcony garden at the other. When the sets are out, the transformation is unbelievable, we have our high school classroom, the next door chemist, a home kitchen and a kids bedroom all in walking distance.


The biggie came last month. We wanted to do the Kathakali shoot and we knew the artist would be wearing an outfit that weighs a ton and makeup that weighs more. He had never worked in a studio and we were just beginning to cover specialty Indian stock. He took 3 hours to get ready, we hit the studio at noon and right there in the middle of the studio was our ‘muse’. It was an awesome sight, his fantastic makeup, his overwhelming garb and yet he seemed so small, almost animated in all that space, with the sun overhead, it was truly a sight to see. We had another quandary to deal with, we needed a motorcycle up in the second floor studio for a concept shot. That was great fun. Lugging that 500 pound piece of machinery up on the set, readying it for our custom shot, getting our model seated firmly on it … all the while we were applauding ourselves quietly.

We had multiple shoots that day. It seemed heavy but in retrospect the team made it all happen. We had frantic studio hands carrying boxes of mobile phones, frenzied art directors readying their shots, make-up artists, hairstylists, prop hands, all this while our extremely calm photographers meditated with the lights. All in all the studio has added a whole new dimension to Photosindia.com pursuit of exquisite Indian stock.

That’s the thing about Photosindia.com, there is always something new and exciting going on. Watch this space for our next adventure and check out the gallery for a sneak preview of all the amazing stuff we have produced since the studio got ready.

Eyes open wider

I took me a couple of weeks to get over the whole ‘Bharatanatyam’ shoot. I don’t know why, it never takes me this long to absorb something extraordinary and I tend to produce very varied stock for my brand - Photosindia.com. It was probably some latent disappointment regarding my own experience with ‘Bharatanatyam’ that did it, I wasn’t great at it but I am sure I could have pursued it longer such to let the grace and discipline seep into my everyday life. Anyway, I kind of obsessed with the idea of exploring the various dance forms our country had to offer. And if you are still gaping at the number of languages, cuisines and cultures we actually have, then this topic will surely amaze you. Almost every state of India and we have 28, has a dance form they call their own. That meant I needed to get cracking, book my studio space with our Creative Director and get a hold of all these lovely artists. My endeavours were well rewarded within weeks. I found just the right person for one of India’s most awe inspiring dances – Kathakali. Certain elements remain common to all dances of India, they are storytelling personified and they are all extremely graceful, vibrant and emotional. But ‘Kathakali’ is just a wee bit more of all the adjectives I have used. Kathakali is the traditional dance-drama of Kerala, the way ‘Bharatanatyam’ traces its roots to Tamil Nadu and it is sheer, raw ‘power’. That’s the best word to describe it.



The day of the shoot started early. Our model was a veteran performer very keen to enlighten us about the nuances of Kathakali. He had prepared us for a 3 hour makeup session and we all thought he was exaggerating, apparently …. He was not. The first hour he lay motionless on the floor, while his team prepared colored pastes in little bowls made of coconut shells. It’s this kind of quaintness that always gets me. I mean, this man has a mobile phone, he probably downloads his performances from the video camera to DVD and yet they didn’t start getting him ready till the traditional brass lamp was lit and a little prayer was said. I always knew that most of the south Indian dance forms were rooted in Hindu mythology but this was true devotion. The base coats on his face took longer than a fashion model's makeup, then came the colors – rich parrot green, bleeding orange and the stark yellow of the ‘tilaka’. The makeup itself that transformed this man into a living caricature, a living, breathing mythical creature from way back into our past. He seemed to loom larger than he was when he came in. One by one, ornaments came out of an old, dented trunk (there was the quaintness again).



I noticed him change from an ordinary person to a revered character, his team was all over him, cajoling him like he was a child, adoring him like they were his mothers and keeping his comfort our utmost priority. There were steel talons on one hand, headgear that rose a foot in the air and solid gold arm bands that I had never noticed before. In a way it saddened me, I had seen quite a few performances in the last 15 years and I never stopped to notice these fantastic details. Sure enough, it took him 3 hours to get ready and all I could think of was how an Amazonian state like Kerala could have a dance form that requires a thermal costume weighing over 8 kilos?? This had to be true devotion! I remained mesmerized for the next few hours. Not just by the movements and expressions but by the subtleties. Our model’s team had a different attitude towards him once he was in costume, they were short of worshipping him and we all felt it. It was like being in the presence of God, or at least the closest thing to it. After a few frames we noticed that his eyes were very blood shot, so we asked if the atmosphere was bothering him. He gently informed us that he needed to portray the angst, the power, the menace and the megalomania of his character, thus the red eyes. He had applied a powder derived from a 'brinjal' like vegetable (which I suspect is the chili family, don't the seeds look alike?) in his eyes and thats what made them burn red this way.

Before we knew it … the shoot was over. I felt awful, there was still so much to explore, so many questions to ask. All I could the end the day with was an apology to our model, I apologized for being just the ‘audience’ all these years. I apologized for not recognizing the immense talent and fervour that goes into being a performer of Indian classical arts. And finally I thanked him, thanked him for showing me the essence of ‘Kathakali’. Apart from the makeup, the costume, the élan and the rich history, it was the devotion, the discipline and the traditional grounding that I will never forget. So next time you go to see any Indian classical dance, remember to feel the history and appreciate the entirety of what you see.

Dance Therapy

“She is the embodiment of grace. She flows like water, she glows like fire and has the earthiness of a mortal goddess. She has flowers in her hair, jewelled hands and kohl dark eyes. Her eyes speak a language that her hands will translate, her feet move in tandem to make the story complete. She is a danseuse, she is a performer, she is almost ethereal.” – These were my thoughts when we were producing the ‘Dances of India’ images at the newly built Photosindia.com studio. Our model was unique, she wasn’t here to strut her stuff or pout and be pretty, she was here to blow our minds. I learnt ‘Bharatanatyam’ for seven years as a child but even I didn’t remember this kind of magical aura and splendour. It wasn’t the costume or the jewellery, it was the motion, the fluidity, I could go on and on.



Dance in India symbolizes more than just entertainment; it actually serves as a communication tool. Dances were mainly performed in temples as offering to the Gods, these dances relayed messages of community living, fictional plays depicting an ideal way of life and mythological tales of people and places. Most classical dance forms still remain physical manifestations of the music they are performed with. In Indian culture, song and dance are inseparable companions of classical arts. One compliments the other and neither can survive on its own. A typical example would be Bharatanatyam and Carnatic Music. Bharatanatyam is a dance form supposedly created by Bharata Muni, the sage who wrote the ‘Natya Shastra’, ancient text dealing with dance, performance and theatre. Bharatanatyam was performed by ‘Devadasis’ in ’ancient times, dancers that appeased the Gods, much like the mythical ‘Apsara’s', Hindu equivalents of angels or celestial dancers. The entire performance is actually a play, with stunning costumes and feline grace. The emphasis lies in the movement and expressiveness of the eyes, intricate hand gestures that speak volumes and most essentially an attitude that emotes confidence and beauty. ‘Karanas’ are classical postures in Bharatanatyam, these are 108 and 125 positions in the classical Indian dance. The word ‘Karanam’ means conscious and systematic action in Tamil. Another distinctive feature of Bharatanatyam is expressive hand gestures as a way of communication. Hasta Mudras refers to the varieties of hand symbols that a dancer uses to convey the story they are performing.



Bharatanatyam evolved as a dance form of the deities and went on to be performed across Tamil Nadu at festivals, in temples and in palaces. It had a mystical aura that spoke of eternal wisdom, enlightenment and purity. It I still considered a ‘fire dance’ as compared to Odissi being a ‘water dance’, the inclusion of elements adds a more metaphysical aspect to dance performances in India. All the technicalities aside what is most striking is the colors and the movements. The costume is elaborate and physically flattering to the female form, the hairdo is accented with fresh fragrant flowers, the hands and feet are adorned with a red paste and the jewelery too is loud and expressive. All these elements are essential to make the impact that this dance is all about. After all it is a story told with no words, the music is an accompaniment not the storyteller, the dancer is the only medium truly communicating with the audience.

View Bharatanatyam Stock Photos by PhotosIndia.com