Pilgrim’s Progress

There’s a lyrical and poetic quality that defines Sanjay Kumbkarni’s photographs,which capture emotions and expressions of people on the streets. It’s almost as if the geologist and passionate photographer has photographed people in varied shades in the exhibition “The Streetside Brew”. Giving up city life to settle in Kangra village in Himachal,Kumbkarni’s work is both earthy and rooted. The word “streetside”,he notes,is a metaphor. “The meaning and its vision having always been with you,” says he.

The frames in the exhibition have common people on the streets of Varanasi,Kolkata,Delhi,banks of the Ganga and villages in Himachal. They depict varied emotions,from joy to struggle and pain. The pathos in each photograph is hard to miss,as many elements merge to create a complete picture. One of the stunning images is of the kavariyas in a queue,waiting for their turn to fill the urns with water from the Ganga. Kumbkarni chooses not to show their faces,focusing only on their urns. A father and daughter lost in a melee on the banks of Ganga is also a mesmerising shot,and the silence speaks in the image of a woman praying. The struggles of the idol makers of Kumhar Tulli in Kolkata are indicated in an image of a dark,dingy room where they work to “create God”. Life and death seems to co-exist on the ghats of Varanasi,where there are sadhus,widows,pilgrims and others engaged in the evening prayer. “It’s different from all the cities. There is joy on people’s faces,they smile against all odds,” says Kumbkarni.

Each photograph is accompanied by a detailed plaque where Kumbkarni shares his observations. His camera not just captures faces,expressions and emotions,but also small stories — like a woman in Chithul village in Sangla Valley,who stands on the door with tea,waiting for her husband to finish reading the scriptures. It’s a ritual that has remained unchanged for 65 years,as does the recipe for the tea. “The visions burrow themselves somehow,somewhere and forever in our hearts. Miraculously,the dictionary of our heart imbibes these visions,” says Kumbkarni.

The exhibition is on at Punjab Kala Bhawan,Sector 16,till October 28.