Of chappatis and sunsets
My grandfather (he was a keen photographer himself) once told me that preparation was everything in photography. But what happens when your preparation isn’t quite enough? You go and find yourself some chappati making roundels! Well, not everytime, but when I took “By the brook“, I did exactly that.
On the first day of my stay at Jungle Brook, I noticed in the evening that the sun set in a most wonderful fashion against the main lodge. Puffy white clouds, a few stars out and some bird fluttering home, but none of the goldeny hue one normally gets at such times. By the time I huffed and puffed to my tent and got back with the camera, the sun had set and the image that formed in my head was gone. So, the next evening, I setup shop slightly early. The camera was mounted on the tripod base and the three legged stand was put in place. And then things started sinking. Literally. The ground on which I had put the tripod was soft and grassy. Cursing myself, I looked around for something flatter and larger that would prevent the tripod from digging a borewell. The first thing I saw was the cook of the resort making chappatis. On a flat granite roundel. And in a flash, that piece of kitchen equipment was commandeered. Problem was I needed two more and he didn’t have it. And time was running short – the sun was already setting.
All this kitchen equipment talk had attracted the attention of the usually drunk watchman of the resort. But in an inspired moment of sobriety, he suggested I go down to the village of Terai and ask people there if they could lend me two for a few minutes. And so, I went. After much haggling and 50 rupees poorer, I was the proud and temporary owner of two pieces of flour dusted round granite!
Then the picture was taken.
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