Hard at work

Less than 10 kilometers from the busy Goan beaches full of western tourists are some less developed areas (which I'm sure won't stay like that for a long time). Driving up towards the North border of the state we passed through few villages which still seem to depend on agriculture and fishing more than on tourism which drives the rest of the state. At the bank of a river which flows into the Arabian sea we stopped to take pictures of what i thought was a fleet of fishing boats. As we approached, we realized that these men were not unloading fish from their boats but sand. The boats would go out to the middle of the river, the sand was scooped up from the bottom and loaded on the boat and then unloaded onto the piles right there on the bank but all of this was done by hand and in the small wooden boats.



There was a complete temporary village built on the bank and women prepared food and children played in the sand as men hauled their heavy loads from the boats to the piles waiting to be cleared by trucks. These families lived and worked there on the edge of the river, slept in makeshift shacks made out of random material and ate fish they caught in the river. Someone said to me once that i shouldn't feel bad for any Indian who is doing something, no matter how hard the work, because they at least have a job. The conditions in which these people worked and lived were not much better than those of homeless people on the streets of Calcutta or Bombay.




The thing that gets to me the most about scenes like this, and I witnessed quite a few similar ones, is that the work being done in these brutal conditions is being done for the government projects. The families that live under roofs of scrap metal and plastic work in the conditions which are illegal in most of the other countries which are part of the G20 - the group of richest countries on the planet which India is one of.

Portrait of a Flowerman

Still on the hectic run across the sub-continent. From Kathmandu to Chitwan to Darjeeling to Calcutta to Sunderbans to Mumbai in less than 2 weeks. As of next week we're officially slowing down in Goa so I'll be able to catch up with my shots and posts and tweets and everything else. For now, enjoy this portrait of a flower merchant from Calcutta.

Back from the mountain

So here is the first entry in nearly a month and here is the reason for the delay. Three weeks on the trek in the Everest region and one week afterwards of resting and traveling from Kathmandu back to India. Didn’t really have much time to turn the computer on.

The trek was amazing and no matter what “trekkers” say about Everest trek being too busy and not being what it used to be, the views are stunning and standing underneath the highest mountain in the world is awe inspiring even if you do have to share the view with few dozen Western Europeans.

After a full week of walking and reaching considerable altitude of over 5000m you still have to look up because this peak is towering another 3500m above you.
Everest is not the prettiest mountain in the Himalayas, Nuptse (7861m) which stands in front of it, and hides it from the view once you reach the Base Camp, is much more impressive with its snowy peak and icy steep walls, but still, Everest is the main attraction which thousands of people come to see every year.

As we continue our trip – currently we’re stuck in a cloud in Darjeeling, great tea but no views so far. I will sort through the 1000+ shots I brought back from the trek and show of some of my favorites here in the Darkoroom.

When bad things happen to good birds

I don’t mind it when skillful and cunning businessmen and businesswomen of the tourist world take advantage of their lesser intelligent visitors. The fake pashminas, carpets and “antique” pots made in the backyard and dirtied with mud for authenticity are fair game. What grinds my gears is when innocent animals are involuntarily involved in sketchy transactions like the one I witnessed today on the street in Thamel.




A man was carrying a stack of tiny cages in which he had trapped some gorgeous colorful birds, few parrots and few white rabbits. The cages in which he had the birds were so small that the parrots could barely fit – something like the cages in which farmers in the west keep the chicken that end up as your McNugget. It really was heartbreaking to see the animals stuck like that and that was the catch on which he ran his business.

This group of Europeans was walking past; they’ve seen the cages and the girls started ohh-ing and awh-ing feeling sorry for the birds. The salesman (well, the salesanimal would be a proper term) approached and offered them the birds for a cheap price. It might seem silly to try and sell a live animal to a person who will be leaving the country in a few days but a friendly local who happened to be there suggested they buy the birds and set them free. What a grand and benevolent idea.



The tourists grabbed their wallets, picked out two colorful birds and symbolically released them into freedom. They made videos and took pictures of their compassionate act.



There are two things very wrong with this scene – first of all – the nearest branch for the parrot to land on in Kathmandu is probably a day’s flight away so the poor bird, even though its out of the nasty small cage, is stuck in an unfriendly environment and its doubtful if it’s gonna make it out alive. The second thing - the idiots like these particular tourists who provide these villains and poachers with cash. Did they really think they are hurting him by releasing the birds after he received money for them?! By not doing anything, few animals will indeed suffer and that’s a horrible thing but by sponsoring such behavior you will just increase the number of birds that will be hunted and another idiot will then do the same thing and our villain will be able to afford more traps and cages and maybe upgrade to more exotic and rare species in the future.

If you feel like helping – write to WWF or donate money to charity.

Few more portraits

It's been a hectic few days with trains and busses across the country to finally reach Kathmandu. Here are a few portraits of beautiful and friendly Ladakh people.

Buddhist Monks

Road to Leh

The road to leh is still very much under construction and it looks like it might take a while to finish it since the gravel is made by hand right on the side of the road by these poor people.

The sad thing is that India is a member of G20 and they say that it is going to surpass USA as the #1 economy in the world in the next 20 years and this is how they conduct their public works.