There’s nothing like armchair travelling to keep us inspired as lockdown measures ease. Today, I want to take you to Kolkata, a wonderful city for tea. In the evening, Bengalis gather along the banks of the Hooghly River, a tributary of the Ganges. They perform their ablutions and dive into the sacred waters, while others wait for the ferry to take them to the other side of this majestic river that floods this sprawling city with joy.
At 8 o’clock in the evening, everyone throws open their windows and starts clapping, or they bang on a saucepan or some random kitchen utensil to make as much racket as possible; they sing, they shout, they chant… And I cry because it’s beautiful, it’s so beautiful that in this sometimes selfish world, people still have the urge to do this, that there are still these moments of humanity, that people still find room in their heart to shout out their love, to say thank you, to encourage and support those who are saving lives while risking their own. Thank you.
Focusing is important, as any photographer will tell you. You can focus on the foreground, middleground or background, or you can try to capture everything with the same clarity. As for me, even when I have a stunning landscape before me, or a spectacular mountain, I only need an expanse of tea leaves to enter the frame and I switch my focus to them. I want to see them clearly. Their beauty demands to be focused on, and I forget about the rest.
