Jul 6, 2010

THE DECISIVE MOMENT

In my study the walls are covered with old black-and-white photos of Kashmir by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Bresson visited the valley in 1948, shooting pictures with his new way of seeing, the ‘decisive moment.’ He captured locals outside a mosque, Bhand Pathers, performance troupes, a solitary man in Shalimar gardens. My favourite is one in which five or six women in Islamic garments are standing on a sheer cliff. Only their backs are visible. Two or three are praying; one looking at the immense Kashmiri sky, another surveying the valley below—the poplars, the willows, the plane trees, the lake, the timber framed houses. Another stands bare-footed, her arms uplifted, palms open in prayer. A ribbon of a cloud is passing by and it is unclear if the cloud is touching her palm or the folds of the mountain. At the bottom left corner, a lonely shoe. One small push and it would fall into the valley... 
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Jul 5, 2010

KASHMIR

A Wounded Place: Interview
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2010/06/29/stories/2010062950230400.htm
The Herald (Book Review)
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/81805/of-love-war-food.html
Indian Express (Book Review)
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