The Hungry Siblings of the Mayur Mountain
Mayur mountain is a hill in the Purulia district of West Bengal, India, and it is totally godforsaken even at the time of the influx of tourists. While scouting the location, I spotted this girl with her brother in her arms, staring blankly towards nowhere and intermittently begging alms from the tourists who were very scanty at that hour of the day. When I pointed my camera, their gaze, which was very haunting, did not change and nothing did they speak, as if, they meekly surrendered to the nemesis of remaining hungry. Later I came to know that girls like her often trudge up and downhill with the stack of woods on their head for selling in the nearby village which is almost 40kms.
Commando 4
This slice of daily life clearly stated to me how the reel life and real life are strikingly different from each other. The unmistakable resemblance in the attire of these two heroes blatantly proclaimed how we just forget to give due respect to these real commandoes of our society. His broom acts as his gun and he protects people from dirt and grime, of course, one of the most laudable jobs. They really are the unsung heroes of our society, the 4th commando, no less than the one protecting the nation in warfare.
The Game of Life
I went to a place in my neighbourhood where I saw these elderly men spending their leisure time in the afternoon playing the game of cards. I was strolling in the vicinity and what I was attracted by was the juxtaposition of the indolent game with the logos of the dynamic games in the back wall. It somehow signifies the inevitability of mutation in life but at the same time, it also evokes how the spirit of the game unites even the old age. The lone woman, standing on the right-hand side may also depict the predicament of women whose lives, more often than not, translate solitude in the old age in this patriarchal society.
Growing up as a single child of working parents, Pradyumna Khan had soon imbibed the habit of talking to himself through various modes. Diary writing was his first conversational mode. Later, as a student of literature, he took up writing poetry for pouring his mind out. Pradyumna’s father used to possess an analogue SLR camera and though he could not do justice to his photographing skills, he succeeded in injecting the photographing spirit into his son. Pradyumna grew up reading various imported books on photography bought by his father and fidgeting with the bulky Minolta. Later on, only when he got established as a school teacher in his own suburb, could he afford to buy a DSLR of his own. He is basically a self-taught shutterbug, feeding on YouTube and reading motley books recommended by himself only. His main interest lies in Landscape Photography. Setting up a tripod in godforsaken regions in the wee hours spells meditative contemplation for him. Apart from photography, Pradyumna keeps interest in all types of games and sports. In his boyhood, he remained a state club champion in swimming and played football, volleyball. He played table tennis too in his university days.
The Pine Cone Review 