Friday, August 24, 2007

Sanjit Das: Indian Kashmir

Image Copyright © Sanjit Das-All Rights Reserved

Sanjit Das lives in Delhi, and has worked for various international newspapers, magazines, corporates, UN agencies and NGOs. He regularly works for Bloomberg News and is also a member of OnAsia Pictures.

His work principally tackles social issues in the backdrop of changing economic and political scenario in India, and his powerful images reflect the changing India through the lived experiences of people, especially women and children. His photographs are published in books, book covers, newspapers and journals in India and overseas.

Out of Sanjit's impressive body of work, I chose his photo essay on Dardpora, the Indian Kashmiri village which is also called 'the village of widows". Sanjit's writes that the village is not far from the Line of Control...the boundary that divides Kashmir and its people. The long years of conflict has taken its toll, and men are rare in Dardpora.

"Almost every corner has a graveyard with the day of death written on cheap tin sheets. There is an eerie silence and it’s as if one can smell fear in the village. Mothers keep their children indoors. There is only one dilapidated school in the village. There are 200 orphans in the village, but few go to the school."

Sanjit Das' Dardpora photo essay.

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