A Photographer’s Jungle Book

A girl with her face covered in black patterns looks out of one frame,prompting Ali to say fondly,“They used tattoos to make themselves look beautiful.” A series of adjoining images have women dressed mainly in masses of necklaces made of glass and silver beads. “Can you imagine,living with the weight of all that jewellery?. They didn’t care so much for clothes,but were fond of jewellery,” says Ali and his eager eyes stop at an image of another woman,her back turned to the camera,with a massive gajra made of cowry shells. “They would weave cowry shells like flowers,” he says. Another image,of a woman peering over a bamboo fence,could well be the representative image of this display of life in bygone Bastar — the camera highlights her beauty but keeps her thoughts a mystery. She belongs to a hidden world,the viewer can admire her but never really knows.

The 39 images are all in black-and-white and it is easy to forget that Ali worked in an era where gunpowder was used for flashes,images were developed by hand and shots were framed carefully in the mind before clicking. “I still use a Nikon,which is more than 20 years old. I don’t use a digital camera with which photographers dart around clicking a series of images at random. I like to plan my shots and take only one or two,” he says.

He last visited Bastar 20 years ago but is sure that the Battees Khamba temple,named after its 32 pillars,still stands. “Who will break it?” he asks,as he turns to an image of the ruin,“It must still be there”. About everything else,he is not so sure.

“Bastar: A Lost Heritage” can be viewed at Alliance Francaise till today Contact: 43500200