You can’t leave without trying…

Banta in Hrishikesh
There’s nothing like banta to beat the fierce north Indian summer. For the uninitiated, banta is an indigenous lemon soda sold all over north India in unique Codd-neck bottles with marbles in their necks to keep the fizz from escaping. The soda is served with loads of ice and a special masala, and is priced between Rs 5 and Rs 20.

Left: Chuski in Delhi. Louis Vuitton-ed ladies and street children alike find the lure of chuski—Delhi’s version of the ice-lolly—absolutely irresistible. When the mercury rises to the mid-40s, this crushed ice treat, drizzled with khatta meetha, cola, orange, rose or any other syrups the heart might desire, becomes a real favourite with Dilliwallahs.Even five-star hotels like Claridge’s serve chuskis, in exotic flavours and even spiked with Vodka.

Right: Lafing in Dharamsala Lafing is a spicy noodle dish that is a huge favourite with refugees in Dharamsala, although you’re likely to find this dish in Tibetan centres in other parts of north India as well.

Left: Sandwiches in Mumbai A sandwich doesn’t seem like a very novel idea. But when Right Place, a snack joint in Mumbai’s Breach Candy, simply layered potatoes, tomatoes, capsicums and onions between bread with a generous amount of chutney, and offered it grilled or plain, customers loved it like it was the best thing since sliced bread. This very filling snack costs Rs 60 only. To try something more adventurous, head to the stall near National College on Linking Road. Two slices of hot, buttery bread are packed close with grated cheese and a home-made jam of bananas, papaya and the fruit of the day, and then grilled till the cheese and jam blend together.

Right: Sugarcane in rural Bengal Banana leaves are an inalienable part of life in Bengal, especially on auspicious occasions, and sugarcane served in banana leaves makes the deal sweeter. While the rest of the country gulps down glasses of its juice on a hot summer’s day, villagers in West Bengal prefer to gnash into fresh sugarcane for better, stronger teeth, and to enjoy the natural goodness of the juice. Village boys participate in the sugarcane chewing competitions, and the winner gets yet another piece of sugarcane lovingly wrapped in a banana leaf. The real prize is the villagers’ pearly whites, for Rs 3 only!

Left: Pani puri on Juhu Beach, Mumbai Come weekend, and Juhu beach spills over with families and lovers enjoying the weather and waves. And no outing is complete without a spicy mouthful of pani puri while watching the sunset. Delicate puris are filled with potato, sprouts or boondi, topped with a dash of tangy tamarind sauce and generous amounts of spicy chilli- coriander pani. Bliss comes cheap at Rs 20 to
Rs 30 a plate (six to eight puris).

Right top: Ghevar in Jodhpur Deliciously crunchy and sweet, malai ghevar, paneer ghevar and misri mewa or rabdi ke ghevar are Jodhpur specialties popular throughout Rajasthan, especially during special occasions. Head to Jodhpur Sweets at C Road for the best there is, although most sweet shops will prepare fresh ghevar if you order it in advance. Ghevar is topped with thinly sliced almonds and pistachios and a sprinkling of cardamom powder.

Right bottom: Chhole bhature in Amritsar You can’t go to Amritsar and not try the chhole bhature. Spiked with dark, fiery masalas, the chhole here is irresistable. Anant Ram on Lawrence Road is a great place to sample this Punjabi delicacy.

Left: Tender coconut water on Marina Beach, Chennai Priced between Rs 15 and Rs 20 a pop, tender coconut water is the best bet on a hot day, and you can request the vendor to scoop out soft chunks of the coconut, which you can slurp up after. Coconut water at sunset equals sublime entertainment !

Right: Lassiwala’s special in Jaipur The best lassi you’ll find in Jaipur is available at Lassiwala, a street stall on the famous Mirza Ismail Road, close to Amrapali at Paanch Batti in Jaipur. The lassi here is so popular that only when Lassiwala runs out of its daily quota do the other shops (like Kishan Lal Agarwal) start selling their own. Lassiwala sells its rich creamy perfectly chilled lassi in kulhars or small earthen glasses. The locals swear by glasses of this fresh lassi, which they think is the perfect way to beat the desert heat. Head to Lassiwala early in the day, before they run out.

Left: Assamese bread in Goapalara Add some yummy to your ferry ride from Goaplara in Assam to Dimapur in Nagaland by munching on the local fresh bread. Grab some of it early in the day when it’s freshly baked and served wrapped in old newspapers.

Right: Chowmein in Kolkata In Kolkata, chowmein vies for the top spot with maach bhaat, and wins more votes, at least with younger foodies. You can have it any time of the day, it is inexpensive, hygienic, and you have options (chicken, egg, etc)—just some of the reasons it has emerged as Kolkata’s favourite food. Originally brought to Kolkata by the Chinese community, which started restaurants in Bow Bazaar and Tangra, chowmein street stalls later came up everywhere in the city. Now, every square kilometre of the city comes equipped with at least 15 chowmein stalls.

Right top: Ram laddoos in Delhi Ram laddoos are deep-fried moong dal pakoras, served with generous amounts of grated radish and mint chutney. A Delhi specialty, these snacks are sold at many public spaces, including at Lodhi Gardens, where vendors set up trays
laden with goodies, on their khomchas (tripod-like folding stands).
Right bottom: Woodlands’s dosas in Chennai Soft, fluffy uthappams, crisp, golden dosas, and the scent of coconut chutney in the air—Woodlands Hotel’s dosa stall outside Narada Gana Sabha on TTK Road promises all this and more! Try the masala dosa, an all-time favourite. The ghee roast is filling and great value for money, priced between Rs 25 and and Rs 50. Idlis, vadas and other fresh snacks are just
as popular. Open only in the evenings from about 5 pm, this is one of Chennai’s landmarks.

left top: Benarasi paan in Varanasi
The Benarasi paan is an important part of the city’s culture. Leaves are halved and a lime- and-catechu paste smeared on them. If you’re so inclined, your paan can be spiked with aphrodisiacs, intoxicants and even ground pearls, and covered with gold leaf or silver foil. Maghai is the most expensive kind, followed by Jagannath, and mitha and mahoba from West Bengal.
left bottom: Thandai in Varanasi Varanasi is justifiably famous for its thandai, that sugary cooling drink, infused with watermelon and muskmelon seeds, almonds, cardamom, saunf, rose petals, saffron, and if you want it, bhang! Thandai is also mixed with sookhaa mewa—crushed nuts such as cashewnuts, pistachios and almonds. Try the thandai at Mishrambu in the heritage city.

top right: Gulab jamuns in Delhi The halwais of Old Delhi are famous for their mouth-watering traditional mithais, like gulab jamuns and halwas. The best places are hole- in-the-wall little shops with no names, only advertising themselves with the heavenly scent of gulab jamuns being deep-fried in hot ghee.
bottom right: Lassi in Moradabad A tall glass of lassi is the drink of choice in north India during the hot summer months. Garnished with slivers of nuts and a generous helping of malai, a glass of thick, creamy lassi will keep you cool and hydrated. In small towns like Moradabad, ready glasses sit on a metal box containing ice, to keep them chilled.

top right: Phirni in Old Delhi Not too sweet, with a grainy but creamy texture, and infused with the cool scent of the earthen pot in which it is set, the phirni in Delhi is the perfect end to a meal. Chitli Qabar in Old Delhi is one of the best places to try this traditional dessert, or sample A-One’s superb phirnis that are priced at as little as Rs 10 a kulhar.
bottom right: Vada pao in Mumbai This is the Mumbaikar’s great weakness. Potato filling deep-fried in batter till crisp, and sprinkled with chutney, dark with garlic and masalas. There are many vada pao chains like Jumbo King all over Mumbai, but the taste that truly stays with you is sold in the ramshackle stalls on the road, especially outside local train stations.•

[With input from Anindita Ghosh, Anupa Shah, Neeti Jaychander, Roshni Mitra and Shivli Tyagi]

These are the opening lines for the feature about the growing middle class in India, written by Sebastian Matthes and published by the German business weekly WirtschaftsWoche. I was just informed that the feature is nominated for a CNN award, which made me very happy naturally, only that unfortunately I have not been able to read it as I do not speak German!

Never the less, I find the Indian middle class a very interesting subject to document, and I enjoyed traveling and shooting. As in many cases, the magazine does not always choose to publish the same images as the photographer would consider as his first choice, so I am attaching some of my options here. I think it gives a nice perspective on the process of work on such editorial assignments. The pictures where taken in the span of three days in five cities in India, Chennai, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Delhi, and Noida.

Ramya Chandrasekaran, 30, PR Manager at a local bar in Chennai. "My present life would have been unthinkable in India two decades ago". Ramya Chandrasekaran lives alone, has affairs, gone through a failed Marriage and makes a career. She regularly commutes between Malaysia, Bangalore and Chennai, and has friends who live all over the world. She is very proud of her being independent: "We are children of a new, exciting time."

Saurabh Adeep (30) is a software engineer with a degree from a good college, and several years of professional experience. People like him are in great demand in India. In six years his salary grew almost tenfold. First, he covered himself with brand clothes, and bought watches and expensive accessories for his motorcycle. Today, all that is not important for him anymore. He wants to get ahead professionally, do an MBA and acquire international experience. (next to the Motorola building at a Bangalore industrial park)

Bonita Vaz, 27, designer at her home in Delhi. Raised in a working class family managed to they leap into the modern Indian Elite upper education. Since her studies at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad Bonita Vaz is one of the most sought after creative directors across the country. She works for magazines and agencies and lives with her friend Jofree Shimray in Delhi.

Sarath Babu, 29, Entrepreneur, next to a mask against evil eye in the Chennai slum where he lives with his mother. In earlier times people like him would live their life in the shadow of a heavy stigma. He comes from a slum in the eastern Indian city of Chennai, and worse, he was born to a low caste family. But he has worked obsessively, passed the entrance test to India's most prestigious Indian Institute of Management. After graduation he has received many high-paying job offers but decided to go back to the slum and open his own catering business in university campuses across the country. He now employs more than two hundred people.

Text by Sebastian Matthes, Photography by Sephi Bergerson, published by the German business weekly WirtschaftsWoche

My late mother used to say in Yiddish; “A sach meluches, a kleine bruches”, which would roughly translate to “you cant get any blessings in your work if you are not focused”. In other words, if you sell sardines than don’t be selling tissue paper. let your clients know what you sell and come for that. Be an expert. You must be asking yourself why am I saying this here?  well, because I am not one of those photographers who do one thing, and I often think of what my mother had said. It would be very simple if I decided to be a food photographer, or a travel, or wedding photographer, but I can’t. I love photography and I love doing different things all the time. Like I wrote in my previous post, this is what I learned, on the negative way, from Ansel Adams.

How focused are you as a photographer?

So, I ran across Clayton Cubbit‘s website yesterday. A very interesting and inspiring fashion photographer. I don’t do a lot of fashion photography, but used to do more in my earlier years as a commercial photographer in Tel Aviv. Looking at Clayton’s work brought back some good memories, and reminded me of this fashion project I shot last year for Lecoanet Hemant in India, and have never actually put on my website. The reason was because I didn’t want to spread the website to thin,and maybe try to focus it a bit more. But then, it is who I am, and I also do this kind of work. A blessing or a curse?

Artist Jatin Das holding one of his fans at his studio in New Delhi. His collection of fans (Pankah) from all over the world counts more than 6,500 samples and has been exhibited worldwide.

Jatin Das, born in 1941 in the Mayurbhanj district of Orissa,  is acclaimed for his dynamic human figures. He also has a unique collection of over 5000 hand fans. See the article by Margot Cohen in the WSJ HERE

Artist Anjolie Ela Menon and one of her works at her home in New Delhi

Anjolie Ela Menon, (born 1940) is one of India’s leading contemporary female artists. Her paintings are in several major collections. Most recently (2006), a major work “Yatra” was acquired by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, California. Her preferred medium is oil on masonite, though she has also worked in other media, including glass (pictures of glass sculptures) and water colour. She is a well known muralist. She was awarded the Padma Shree in 2000. She lives and works in New Delhi. See the article by Margot Cohen in the WSJ HERE

“This generation wants to do everything now. They work hard, play hard, study for MBA’s, do the gym, perhaps learn a musical instrument. There’s a sense that it’s all out there to be had, and they want a slice of every pie”.

The magazine can be read online: http://www.sohohouse.com/housemagazine.php. The feature is on pages 58-60

The film aims at appearing at first as a traditional documentary depicting the few remaining individuals of a tribe of Walkers. Jule Japhet is one of those walkers who is taking a slow meditation walk that evolves into three interwoven parts, each connected with a level of perception, Childhood/ Body, Youth/Mind, and Elderness/Heart or Soul, each connected with a particular sound/image treatment and a rhythm.

The walker is wearing a white sari that carries a strong symbolical reference. Not like the ‘white wedding dress’ in the western world, in India a white sari is usually worn by widows.
To know more about the project, please send Jule Japhet a message HERE

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]]> http://www.sephi.com/editorial/on-the-streets-of-kolkata-2/feed/ 0 http://www.sephi.com/editorial/on-the-streets-of-kolkata/ http://www.sephi.com/editorial/on-the-streets-of-kolkata/#comments Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:38:01 +0000 sephi http://www.sephi.com/?p=348 i’ve just come back from Kolkata (previously known as Calcutta) form a shoot for a couple of Australian magazines. Not my usual thing actually, a kind of a celebrity shoot in India for women’s magazines. it is funny how these things happen. Anyway, we spent some time doing our thing but both magazines wanted some ‘genuine’ images of India and the celebrity in the ‘real life’ scenario, so we headed out to the streets.
I always love to go out into the mess of India and manage to get these ‘clean shots’ that still have so much character of the place. this is what i am trying to introduce in India for the engagement shoots. Stop this horrendous thing of posing for the photographers on your wedding day will you! :-) lets go out and have some fun on the streets!

So here are Isabel Lucas, a young Australian actress now based in LA who is definitely star material, and Camilla Franks who is a star fashion designer and a seriously fun person to hang out with :-)